On-set and behind the scenes at Reginald the Vampire (Part 4)

This continuation of the series covers my third and final day watching filming in Victoria, BC

Missed the earlier posts in this series? Start with Part 1 here.

Having discovered the ultimate Covid-defying hack for being face-to-face with cast members the previous night, I slept well into my third day. Until, that is, I was awoken by all the next-door construction I’d been so sure I wouldn’t be around to hear.

As with the previous days, shooting was scheduled for nighttime, so I had all day to kill before the Slushy Shack set opened. Instead of walking around Victoria this time, though, I ended up with much cooler plans.

Associate Producer Caitlin got in touch and asked if I’d like to see the other sets — all of which were nice, cozy, indoor spaces where I wouldn’t have spent my nights getting frostbite if they’d been shooting there during my visit. I thought that sounded wonderful, so she and Jeff picked me up and away we went.

First, we visited Angela’s mansion. In film lingo, the mansion was a “location” — a shooting place that exists in the real world pretty much the same way it exists on the show. It was a bit outside of the city, so it took us a while to get there.

On the way, Caitlin, Jeff, and I talked. As we did, I noticed that something had changed between us. When I first arrived, I’d been a nominally important guest from their perspective … and I, in turn, had been intimidated by them as representatives of THE FILM INDUSTRY, which of course was worthy of saying in all caps all the time. By now, though, we’d just become three people. They were getting used to my sophomoric sense of humor and (if I may be so self-flattering) my understanding of business and marketing that went a bit beyond the artsy writer-type they’d probably been expecting. It was nice, to be able to talk without artifice.

Hangin’ at Angela’s place

The mansion location turned out to be a wonderful old home on sprawling grounds with a moss-covered roof and all sorts of Scooby-Doo shit inside like dumbwaiters and secret passages. I was immediately in love.

This is what it looked like from the outside:

The inside had been fancied up by the production design team (most notably the addition of some freaky art and a mammoth facade on the central fireplace), but most of its architecture was original to the home.

Here’s what it looked like. Note that although I started out taking my own photos, my two newly-familiar friends quickly insisted I get in the pictures as well. I’ll just drop the full series so you can get all the permutations. And, of course, see the freaky art.

The house was enormous, and the vast majority of it was unused by the show. Really you only ever see the living room pictured above.