Day 3: The Scoop on the Tae Bo Video Shoot

Our own Marisa is on set in California as Billy tapes the latest Tae Bo workout DVDs. She wrote this post Wednesday night.

Whew! What a fantastic week this has been. Another two terrific videos in the bag today. I know I said this in my previous post, but I have to say again after talking to more of the participants today — this is by far our favorite series. Seriously! We can’t wait until it is released so that we can get our hands on these videos for ourselves. Billy has made some great changes to Tae Bo — changes that you will see in your bodies when you begin doing this new series.

Another 8 a.m. call time today — I think most of us are getting pretty used to it by now When we arrive, the crew has already been there setting up for at least an hour, sometimes since 6:30 a.m.

Craft services, which provides all of the food throughout the day other than lunch, has a huge spread of breakfast items, coffee, snacks of every kind and shape for munching throughout the day, and of course, lots of water. And, you will see us drinking water during the videos this year. Hydration is so important and I am so glad that people will see us stop to take a drink!

Lezli, the production assistant, figures out who has been placed on the list for the first video each day, then reads the list. Those on it get ready to get on set where it is a little like chess as the director moves people from spot to spot based up on their overall look (guys interspersed throughout, making sure we have people of different levels and abilities throughout, etc.), their clothing color, etc. Sometimes we can be out there for an hour and a half before tape rolls, but it’s all part of the adventure

This morning I got to watch the first video and cheer the team on. They are all doing such a great job, and it is wonderful to see the support both on and off the set. The plan was to get the second video of the day done before lunch — which is what we did. I was able to participate in that one — the hardest of all the videos we have done — but it was such a fantastic and challenging workout. I know you will love it!

After we finished filming video two, we had lunch, which is catered by a great company :)- The cast was able to go home if they wanted to — a nice break from the late evenings we had in previous nights — but I stayed with my dad (Billy’s manager) while they did some still shots and filmed some additional things with Billy and Shellie. Still, not a late night.

With two more videos to go tomorrow, we hope to be done and out the door after lunch. Nine videos in all, and we will be done with the video shoot and moving on the next day to the infomercial. This is the first time we have ever done this back to back. I’m excited to see how it goes.

Well, time for some much needed food. Until tomorrow!