On May 14, Epitome Pictures (Degrassi) invited fans to participate in a unique filming experience at Canlan Ice Sports.
My friend Amy and I went to the Degrassi shoot yesterday and it was an awesome experience being an extra! It was Amy’s first Degrassi event, so I think I was even more excited for her that we were there! We got there around 11:30, and waited in line until they let all of us in. I was surprised at how many people were there already! When we were waiting in line to get into the arena, we saw Krista and I talked to her for a bit. Around noon, they started to let people in and we went and went to our seats in the arena- which was thankfully cold since all of us were wearing winter clothes!
There were a lot of cast members there (Annie Clark, Munro Chambers, Lyle O’Donohoe, Olivia Scriven, Chloe Rose, Justin Kelly, Shanice Banton, Demetrius Joyette, Craig Arnold and Dylan Everett) and all they showed up at different points during the day. I don’t even think Munro or Annie were filming, but it was nice to see they came out! Plus, I’m sure Munro wanted to skate on the ice- which he did!
I didn’t take any pictures during the day, but I’ve seen some pictures floating around the Internet- especially Tumblr!
Throughout the day, Annie and Munro would come out and give out prizes (through the raffle tickets). Some of the prizes were signed scripts, a signed Degrassi poster, a TeenNick mini ping pong table, Degrassi DVDs and the grand prize- a day at the Degrassi set with a walk on role! Also, people from the crew came around in the audience and were giving out Degrassi Soundtracks!
I won’t say anything about what happened during filming- but there’s something very surprising that happens! I don’t want to spoil anyone, but I was definitely shocked!
It was really cool to see how Degrassi was shot. I definitely didn’t know that it took so many takes and shots to get the scene just right! I knew that there was a lot of work that went into the show, but it was interesting to see how everything was put together!
Even if we didn’t get to see any of the cast members, it was still an awesome experience, but towards the end of the shoot, I asked Krista if anyone was going to come out, so that my friend could meet someone from the cast. She asked who Amy’s favourite was (since I mentioned that it was Amy’s first Degrassi event) and Amy said Justin Kelly. She said she’d see where Justin was at with filming and would see if she could possibly bring him over. We weren’t really expecting anything, since we knew that it’d probably been a long day for him (and everyone), but after Justin was finished filming she brought him over to see us so we could get pictures with him, which was the nicest thing ever! I probably thanked Krista a million times- she probably thinks I’m nuts, and I don’t even know if she remembers my name. We also met Munro too and my friend got a picture with him.
After a long and exciting day, we headed home!
I just want to thank Epitome for giving fans the opportunity to participate in the filming of Degrassi! It’s definitely something that doesn’t happen everyday and I’m glad that I was able to be apart of it.
If anyone has any other questions about the day (since this was a very brief summary), you can tweet me @ashleyshimski