Friday, July 31, 2009

The Vampire Diaries Start Filming in Covington

vampire diaries


Covington has yet another persona. Our little town has been known as Hazzard County (The Dukes of Hazzard); Sparta, Mississippi (In the Heat of the Night); Haddonfield, Illinois (Halloween 2); and most recently Mystic Falls, Virginia.

Covington has actually been in many films and TV series. Here is a list, according to IMDB, of films and TV shows that list Covington, Georgia as a film location. It's a lot more than most people expect.

'The Vampire Diaries' is set in Mystic Falls, VA. After looking for a suitable film location (and all the Georgia incentives didn't hurt) the 'Vampire Diaries' finally settled on Covington. I know there are already previews being aired on the CW. Those are scenes from the pilot episode that was filmed in Vancouver, Canada.

Last Thursday and Friday was the official beginning to the craziness. The actual filming began. I rode by the set on Thursday and stopped for a few minutes on Friday. With my schedule, that was about all I could manage.

Both days, the filming didn't start until 5-6pm and ran through the night finishing up around 6am. The only issue I witnessed was massive traffic congestion around the Square on Thursday and Friday. On Friday, they temporarily 'blocked' a lot of parking spots around the filming location and that caused some issues with people trying to get where they needed to go.

Basically, the filming centered around one corner of the Square. It is actually a lawyer's office but the film crew has turned it into the Mystic Grille. They have painted the brick work dark green, placed a large 'Mystic Grille' sign above the door and placed tables and chairs on the side walk.

I understand that they are shooting ONLY exteriors on the Square and that the interior shots are being done on a local sound stage.

Here is a picture of the film area before it became the Mystic Grille.

vampire diaries,covington,mystic grill,mystic falls

The building in question is near the center of the photo. It is the small white building next to the town clock.

Here are some of the quick photos I took on Friday. They had reset the town clock for the filming.

4 comments:

armani said...

do u guys no if the vampire diary cast is still filming, and are vistors allowed to come watch??

Annabella said...

They have been filming around town the last few days. They will let you watch from a respectable distance.

armani said...

Thanks I'm actually thinkin about visiting hope they r still there in dec.

Annabella said...

I have a friend that has been an extra on the show several times. Follow him on twitter, he might have some more information. His twitter handle is TheMcJagger. Good luck.