by Diana Birchall
The sign
Come and spend an afternoon on a movie set, and watch THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB being filmed. That was an enticing invitation I received a couple of years ago. The producers were kind enough to allow me to observe on behalf of our local JASNA chapter, and to report on my impressions. Although I’ve worked in the movie business for over 30 years (as a Story Analyst for Warner Bros Studios, reading novels to see if they’d make movies), I’ve been on very few film sets. There’s not much occasion for that in story departments, and anyway I never sought out such experiences, being more interested in books than films. But THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB was another story and the invitation was eagerly accepted.
After a flurry of e-mails from publicists, I was intrigued to learn that the filming would be at the Golden Oak Ranch owned by the Disney Studios in Placerita Canyon, about thirty miles north of Los Angeles. The Disney Studios are extremely guarded with their properties, and this ranch, one of the last surviving movie ranches, is not open to the public. In all my years in the business, I’ve only known one person who has actually worked at the ranch, an outsize Indian who did riding stunts in Westerns. I’d always longed to see the place because of its rich film history. For starters, it’s the original Triple R Ranch where Spin and Marty, a segment of the original Mickey Mouse Club, was shot, and I was of that generation of girls who were in love with its star, Tim Considine. (The boys liked Annette.) Little House on the Prairie was filmed there too, as well as bits and pieces of movies and TV shows ranging from Mame to The Waltons. The 800-acre ranch is little changed since Walt Disney bought it in the 1950s, and there’s enough left of the beautiful California wild land that you can imagine what it must have looked like when it was the site of an 1842 gold strike. And then there’s all the movie history to revel in. So I was glad that the visit, though in December, turned out to be on a golden Southern California day.
All anticipation, I drove north on the Antelope Valley Freeway to Spin and Marty country, now temporarily Jane Austen country. As I turned onto the canyon road, I laughed and knew I was in the right place because on a post was tacked an impromptu sign reading simply: JANE. Another half mile along a country road with a beautiful vista of golden rolling foothills and live oak trees, and I drove through the inconspicuous wooden ranch gates. It was surprisingly rural and low key for a studio facility: no guard tower, no security check. No one was around. I drove into the Crew Parking Lot, a dirt lot surrounded by a few old wooden buildings. Still no one was in sight, and I didn’t know exactly where to go – I’d been told the set was in “Jocelyn’s house,” but where was that? As I stood looking around, I noticed a man waiting in a van, and asked him where the Jane Austen set was. He said he wished he could take me, but he was unfortunately waiting to pick up a V.I.P. who hadn’t arrived yet. He guessed he could drive me after that, if I didn’t mind waiting. But when he radioed to ask if the V.I.P. was on his way, and if he could drive me up, we learned that I was the V.I.P.!
It was a short drive uphill to the set, but in that drive I saw what I’d wanted to see of the ranch: a beautiful scene of soft autumnal foothill countryside that looked the way California must have at the turn of the last century. And there was the very same vista of fences that featured in the opening sequence of
Spin and Marty – and even a sign saying “Spin and Marty Lane.” A picturesque old covered bridge by a lake, a dilapidated log cabin and other old-fashioned buildings, and you knew you were back in the world of
Little House in the Prairie or the setting constructed for
Roots II. Unfortunately it was not permitted to take pictures, but I will always have the lovely images in my mind.
The set
The film set was on the porch of a clapboard gray house, and except for being in a such a lovely setting, looked much like any other film set: a thicket of cameras, booms, equipment, networks of wires, and a score of people in blue jeans and earphones walking around looking busy. The focus of the shoot was half a dozen women and one man sitting around casually on the porch.
I was greeted with great warmth and courtesy by a PR person and the director’s assistant, and introduced to Diana Napper, the English co-producer. She was the one who had optioned the book, and she confided that she’d been initially attracted by the title, which obviously held great appeal to a wide audience of readers. Everyone did everything possible to make me feel not only welcome but like a part of the team, and to understand everything that was going on. Every other film set I’ve ever been on, has always been a scene of mystifying confusion to me; I’ve never known who everyone was or what they were doing. But here everything was kindly explained. The actors were going through the scene of the first book club meeting, at Jocelyn’s house. It’s a scene in which they discuss what a matchmaker Emma is, and how like one of the book club members – and opinion is divided on there being a sexual undercurrent between her and Mr. Knightley. It was a couple of years since I’d read the book, but I was transported right back into it. I was also impressed by the natural, quiet tones in which the actresses (Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman and Maggie Grace) and the one handsome young male member of the book club, Hugh Dancy, were speaking. The large booms overhead made this possible, there was no need for them to theatrically “project,” and I had to stand fairly near for the speeches to be audible. I was allowed to get close, as long as I was silent and stayed behind the director, Robin Swicord.
I watched in fascination as the scene was methodically set up. Filming was interrupted because of some business going wrong with a wine bottle. The clapboard “clapper” you see in movies was held up, but it was a state-of-the-art one, with blinking lights. Then the scene was done again, just the same as before, with the Emma discussion, and the cast members getting up and going into the house one by one. Over the four hours that I was on the set, the scene must have been performed a dozen times. Not because it wasn’t right, I was told – it was nearly always right – but so that it could be shot from all different angles, for editing purposes. This was the 25th day of a 30-day shoot; filming was nearly done. I was surprised that it made no difference that the scenes were at first shot in the golden afternoon light, yet filming kept going just the same after it was fully dark; I was told that the bright lights maintained the appearance, but certainly the hills and brush didn’t show at night, so it was only the porch and the people on it that would be seen.
But I didn’t just sit and watch the scene over and over again. I was given freedom to walk all over the set and see whatever I wanted, talk to anyone. I went inside the house, which was plain and barnlike, the floor covered with wires, and a row of monitors set up with headphones and high director’s chairs before them. The co-producer gave me her headphones, and I was able to watch everything that was happening at that moment outside on the porch, through the monitor. After preparation and discussion, the call of “ROLLING!” went out, everybody fell silent, and the scene played through again.
Then I was told that the director Robin Swicord had a free moment, and would like to be introduced. What an honor – I’ve admired her ever since she did such a fabulous job adapting
Little Women (the 1994 version with Winona Ryder). She is a down-to-earth, soft spoken, slim woman with brown curls in sweater and slacks, who looked as though she might be a member of my own Santa Monica book club! Intelligent naturalism and sensitivity to women’s themes seems to be her keynote as a writer and director, and I felt sure that if anyone could successfully adapt
The Jane Austen Book Club, it was Robin Swicord. It’s an ensemble piece, of course, without a strongly dynamic central story line, and she told how she had worked in her adaptation to unify the themes, bring out the women’s dramatic stories, and relate them to Austen’s novels. I was sure, from listening to her, that it would be a fine film. And in the event, of course, it was: though I was surprised that all I’d seen that day, showed up as only two short scenes in the movie.
Director Robin Swicord, producer John Calley, and Diana Birchall
I was also introduced to the legendary producer John Calley, who was working with Robin. He was an elderly but spry gentleman in blue jeans, who darted all over the set, peered through cameras, ran over to the monitor, and chatted with the actors, with the energy of a kid. He was graciousness itself, but had a wry, iconoclastic wit himself and said he wished he had a T-shirt that said “Jane Austen Gave Me the Clap.” Robin shushed him and looked sideways with a touch of anxiety, but everyone laughed!
Behind the house, lit up with floodlights, was a table with coffee, tea and all sorts of snacks, so, tired after standing for several hours, we took a break, sitting importantly in director’s chairs, to eat some delicious sushi. Then, as the filming was winding up for the night, one of the actresses, Maggie Grace, a great Jane Austen enthusiast, came over. A charming, pretty girl of twenty-three, she said her favorite Austen novel was P & P and she’d been reading them all over and over again since high school. I told Maggie about my Jane Austen-related novels, and suddenly she got a look of recognition and said – “wait, are you Diana Birchall? And do you hang out at the Novel Café?” What a funny moment, when she was the famous one! But it seems she was at the used bookshop next door to the cafe where I hang out, and the owner chatted up my books! We laughed and agreed the Jane Austen world was pretty cozy. I arranged to send her one of my books – I’d already given a copy of my Mrs. Elton in America to Robin, because she’d been working so much in the world of Emma. She was so truly kind in her acceptance of it, it made my day…as if the day hadn’t been already made by a kaleidoscopic wealth of unforgettable and wonderful experiences.
(Previously published in a different form in Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine)
Diana Does Austen 
I loved the reference to Juliet McMasters. I met her this summer when she came from Canada to be the speaker at our JASNA region’s Austen Festival. She was an absolute delight! So warm and funny and smart. We had tables with our books sitting right next to each other and spent way more time chatting with each other than our customers!
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us here on AuAu. I know your insights will be a remarkable asset.
Congratulations on your continuing success. I look forward to the rest of the stories…
I’m looking forward to reading your books.