The whole crew arrived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, yesterday, to begin shooting our latest episodes -- the Royer and Porter families. Guru Brian was jazzed about flying on a prop plane for the first time, and getting to actually walk on the tarmac, like a superstar hopping on a private plane. (It was kinda cool, actually, even though nobody asked for our autographs.)

This morning we arrived on set at the Royer house and were greeted by...a camera crew?

Above: Cale and Carson Royer

Oh wait, that's Carson Royer, documenting the shooting process with his Hi-8 video camera (if you recall, the same one that's such a pain in the neck to sync with their old computer to edit videos -- hopefully the Gurus will be able to help them out on that front, though.)

After working on a bunch of episodes, it'll be really cool to get a glimpse behind the scenes from the family's POV -- a first for the show. And the fact that the Royers are talented budding filmmakers makes the prospect even more exciting -- can't wait to see what they shoot!

Above: Guru Brian teaches Kay Royer his signature pose in the My Home 2.0 RV

Another first this time around is the fact that we're shooting 2 episodes simultaneously, which should make for a pretty crazy-but-fun week. Today we're at the Royers', shooting "before" shots of the house and interviews with the family. Then tomorrow we'll move over to the Porter home and do the same, while the build crew starts doing their thing at the Royers'. This back-and-forth method should work out pretty nicely -- this way, nobody will have to stop sawing or hammering so we can hear the interviews. (We'll still need to shhh Brian, I'm sure, but that's par for the course.)

Since it'll be such a busy week, the producers devised a system to keep everyone motivated and having fun: bling! Each day, this fabulous jewelry, modeled above by our line producer Ryan, will be placed around the neck of the crew member who worked the hardest, and they get to wear it the next day. So far, it's working like a charm -- even our producer Kathleen is lugging camera cases in an attempt to be the bling-bearer. Me? I'm not so into jewelry (or lugging things, for that matter) but I'll do my best to keep you posted. ;)

More behind-the-scenes updates coming soon....

Posted by Jim 2.0 | tagged: Royer, behind the scenes, photos, during