Back in NY, where it's cold, and almost froze yesterday, but what I good time I had! I have a friend who's a writer/producer on Law & Order, and he invited me to a location shoot. I spent the afternoon in a sort of tent over the front window of Monte's restaurant in Brooklyn, watching them film a double murder. Way cool. I can now recite Jerry Orbach's dialogue. ("So Chief, what the hell happened?") I also learned that Props does not supply the blood: if it's on the victim it's Makeup; on his clothes, it's Costume; on the furniture, it's Set. The scene with the detectives was shot seven times from the front of the room, then a few more from the back, and a few closeups of each actor doing a few key lines, so they can cut them all in. But the actual murder was only shot twice, once from each direction, because the room gets wrecked each time -- tables, chairs and food flying all over the place -- and they only put it back together once, based on detailed Polaroids of where everything was before they wrecked it. And when the stand-ins, who look really a lot like the real actors, walk through the scene for the light and camera guys, it's the Second Team Rehearsal.