Right around the corner from my house (slash office) in Wilmington NC is Screen Gems studios – where they film all kinds of movies and tv shows. Our neighborhood is an old neighborhood with some cool old houses and they frequently leave the studio and film at houses in our hood. When they film near us, someone comes around and asks everyone in the neighborhood to sign a document saying we are ok with the film crew taking over the street. It’s nuts to see how much stuff they need to film for even just one day. There are dozens of giant trucks with equipment, miles of cable, cranes and tractors with cameras mounted on them, dressing room trucks, tents with food and tons of people. I’ve seen some big stars milling around too – my favorite so far has been Kenny Powers (and his sweet truck). They film eastbound and down here.

Well last winter – 3 doors down from our house – they were filming at a small, dark (and kind of creepy) house that had been vacant for awhile. When they asked us to sign the thing they bring by I always ask “who’s in it??”. Sometimes they say a name I recognize, usually not. This particular movie had no one I had ever heard of – but they said it was a horror film based on a true story. I thought that sounded creepy, but of course I signed it and they left. A few days later the crew and the set took over the street. They mostly filmed at night and had these insanely bright lights shining most of the night – and my bedroom faced the set – so it was like daytime in my room for a few nights. Other than the lights, everything else about it seemed dark and dreary. They even created a fake rain storm one night – a fire truck had its hose hooked up to a big crane and showered the set while they filmed. It was cool to watch how all that works.

I never thought anything else about it until today when I found out it was the movie – “The Conjuring”.

It looks absolutely terrifying. I guarantee watching them film that fake storm scene from the street is as close as I’ll ever get to watching it.

Wes