February 2, 2015: An unexpected encounter! Paolo Barzman at the helm! Amanda Tapping on deck!

“Hey!”said one of the set P.A.’s. ��“There’s a homeless woman eating a sandwich at the craft service table!”

While other crew members angled to get a look at our unexpected guest, I alone approached, drawn by a mixture of pity and sadness. ��She looked so frail, her hair disheveled, bony fingers clutching what was probably the last solid meal she’d enjoyed in days and, as I drew close, she seemed to start, pulling the food possessively close to her chest, and she stared up at me, her eyes a myriad of conflicting emotions: fear, contempt, despair, and defiance. ��She was in such a lamentable state that I immediately reached for my wallet, prepared to give her whatever cash I had on hand.

It was then, upon closer scrutiny, that I realized the homeless woman wasn’t eating a sandwich. ��She was nibbling a banana scone. ��And she wasn’t a homeless woman at all. ��It was actually my good friend Tara Yelland!

Her pockets are stuffed full of fruit bars and packaged crackers!

It turns out Tara had dropped by for a second costume fitting (You know the old drill: Send in false measurements and then come in, discover your wardrobe doesn’t fit, then make an appointment to come in for a second fitting thereby seizing the opportunity for a double raid on the production catering.).

Anyway, after escorting her off the premises (Last time, I merely walked her as far as the front desk��only to discover, hours later, she’d set up camp in our infirmary set), I returned to video village for Paolo Barzman’s first day directing episode #103.

Paolo getting it done!

Many of you have asked: “What does an executive producer do?”. ��The answer: We just sit around mostly, watching television:

Occasionally, we may voice a request (ie. “Could you hold the prop higher?” or “Can we get Game of Thrones on this t.v.?”), but really, for the most part, it’s just sitting around watching people make a television show.

Hey, if you hadn’t heard, or figured it out, our episode #104 director is a former Stargate colleague – none other than the lovely Amanda Tapping (https://twitter.com/amandatapping). ��We kicked off prep on her episode today and she has already made a bunch of fans in the production offices.

Too much fun!