
DATE: Sunday, August 10, 1997               TAG: 9708090060

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ADAM BERNSTEIN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  168 lines

QUIET ON THE SET HAMPTON ROADS RESIDENTS FIND OUT WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE A FILMING CREW IN THEIR HOMES AND NEIGHBORHOODS AS NEW DOMINION PICTURES SHOOTS ITS ``GHOST STORIES'' TV SERIES AT LOCATIONS AROUND THE AREA.

MARY COOLBAUGH lives on a 13-acre farm in southern Chesapeake, neighbored distantly by similarly secluded homes. Some days, the most noise she hears occurs in early evening, when the green fields surrounding her home stage a recital of chirping crickets.

Then, after a summer rainstorm a few weeks ago, Jay T. Rockwell began rigging explosives at a defunct store on Coolbaugh's property.

First, he connected fire bars to two propane tanks stored behind some bushes. Suddenly the fire bars thrust flames about 10 feet in the air, causing gusts of heat to sweep over like the breath of a dragon - but leaving enough space for an actor to pass through safely.

Rockwell was testing the fire bars for New Dominion Pictures, a local television company filming a suspense series called ``Ghost Stories.''

New Dominion, a decade-old, Virginia Beach-based firm, recently has become more visible as it shoots all 22 episodes of the syndicated series in homes, businesses and neighborhoods throughout Hampton Roads.

Rockwell, a soft-spoken, 36-year-old special-effects coordinator who previously worked on ``Con Air,'' was setting up the scene where a cop and a bad guy are having it out at a gas station, which is really Coolbaugh's old store. The crew converted the building's exterior into a gas station in one day.

The cop's gunfire accidentally hits gas pumps instead of the bad guy, triggering an ``explosion.'' Out blasts the dragon's breath, and a special effect is born.

While the back end of Coolbaugh's store became a gas station, the front exterior was converted to a diner. The title of the episode being shot is ``All Night Diner.''

After culling the region for locations, New Dominion lucked out in finding ``two-in-one,'' as one production assistant called the store.

Perhaps three-in-one is more appropriate. Inside Coolbaugh's house, only 150 feet from the store/ gas station/diner, the crew was shooting a few interior scenes. Coolbaugh's home was carpeted by cardboard boxes crushed flat, so the kinetic staff wouldn't track mud into what is generally her quiet domicile.

Also on the premises was a small food truck; about 25 cars, minivans and other vehicles; boxes of power and lighting equipment; and two tractor-trailers lugging in ``condors,'' cranes that support powerful lights for night-time shooting.

Shooting was scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. The crew stayed until its job was done. It planned to be at Coolbaugh's place until 6 a.m., to finish every scene of ``All Night Diner.'' Filming wrapped at 6:30.

Coolbaugh, a 30-year Navy wife retired on her farm, stayed up with the crew, ignoring New Dominion's offer to pay for a hotel room.

``I get on their schedule,'' she said, remarking repeatedly on how excited she is to be working with New Dominion.

She does get paid a few hundred dollars a day for what some might see as an inconvenience.

It may seem a cold cash comfort, but as one company manager said, New Dominion has invested $2,000 in lumber alone to repair the old store and put it in working order. Gravel costing $500 also was brought to the property - gravel Coolbaugh gets to keep.

Coolbaugh had worked with New Dominion the previous month for a different episode. And she'll do it all over again the next day, when the cast of seemingly thousands returns to start shooting a new story, ``Loved Not Wisely.''

Many people's futures are at stake with ``Ghost Stories.'' It's the most-ambitious assignment yet undertaken by New Dominion Pictures.

The company has made a few series already, including ``The Quest'' for the Learning Channel and ``The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science'' for the Discovery Channel.

New Dominion is about halfway through the 22 episodes - two half-hour stories per episode - commissioned by All-American Television Inc., which will syndicate the series in September. Locally, it will appear on WVBT.

All-American, based in Santa Monica, Calif., distributes ``Baywatch.'' ``Ghost Stories'' has the potential to be seen in at least 70 percent of all U.S. homes, said Danya Browder, who oversees the series for New Dominion.

The series has a six-figure budget, Browder said, but because thousands of dollars are spent every hour for production, New Dominion wants to keep shooting local.

Courtney Murphy, a 29-year-old Virginian-Pilot designer, had a vengeful ghost in her apartment, on Colonial Avenue in Norfolk's Ghent neighborhood.

Her front room, which had white walls, was painted ``bile green'' for the shooting. Most of her bedroom furniture was used during the shoot.

The crew set up in one day and shot from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. the next.

Murphy was paid $150 each day for her apartment. To keep Murphy from worrying about her house and from disturbing the set, one location assistant even walked Murphy's golden retriever.

Although Murphy said the crew was professional, she did experience a few anxious moments.

``It was unnerving to have 50 people in my apartment,'' she said. ``I have a small place.''

One small light fixture was broken. If anything does get broken - which residents say happens rarely - the company is quick to replace it.

When homeowners let New Dominion on their property, Todd Gidley becomes very important in their lives. Gidley, the location manager, is fond of saying that he becomes the homeowner during filming.

Nothing gets nailed into a wall, removed from a bedroom or painted until Gidley says so. If a homeowner would rather not have an exorcism take place in his kitchen, he would see Gidley about it.

Furthermore, New Dominion takes out a $1-million insurance policy at every site.

In a way, what Gidley oversees is a small miracle. He and his crew turn water into wine and back again, usually within three days.

That is to say, the gas station and diner built on Mary Coolbaugh's non-functioning store will be removed. But the store will be left with a fresh paint job.

``We improve the property's appearance usually every time we go,'' Gidley said.

Besides repainting, the clean-up crew will shampoo the carpet - if necessary - and sweep and polish until the homeowner is satisfied.

``They told me they were going to spray stuff on the floor, as if a ghost had written it,'' Murphy said.

Not only was the floor cleaned up, she said, but it was cleaner than when New Dominion arrived.

Another benefit is the property-value-raising potential of having a show shot on one's premises.

Still, the biggest concern among homeowners with New Dominion is filming time.

``Things change,'' Gidley said. ``We think we're going to be able to film from 8:30 (a.m.) to 5 at night, and a camera breaks, or it rains, or there's an accident on (Interstate) 64 and a key actor is late.''

Vincent Wilson, 21, who caters food for the crew, said Gidley always comes through in a crunch. Wilson remembered once when the cast was filming at a local hospital.

``The hospital was saying we had to be out by 10, but we were not finished. Todd done his magic,'' he said. ``Todd is good at talking. He can talk his way into your home. He's a good salesman.''

True, Gidley, 36, earned a master's degree from Regent University in organizational communications and interpersonal communications. His father was a salesman.

But Gidley inevitably gets his way with his soft-spoken manner.

He said he can read homeowners in the first few seconds of meeting them, whether they'll be ``uptight or flexible.'' He said he backs off the moment a homeowner says no.

``Our attitude is, we're in your back yard; we want to be a warm, welcomed neighbor.''

Taken one step further, he said, the next house he may want to use may belong to that homeowner's uncle. ``Your reputation precedes you, lives with you and it will follow you,'' Gidley said.

And if, for example, he were not polite, considerate and efficient as possible at Mary Coolbaugh's, word would get around that one oughtn't let New Dominion explode things - much less shift furniture around - in one's home. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Jay T. Rockwell...

About 40 actors and crew members turn Mary Coolbaugh's home...

L. TODD SPENCER

...defunct store on Coolbaugh's property...

Photos by VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Crew members from New Dominion tromp across flattened cardboard

boxes in the hallways of Mary Coolbaugh's home as they prepare for

filming.

Clinton High, script supervisor for New Dominion, sits on

Coolbaugh's porch and tracks script pages and scenes before shooting

begins.