ATLANTA — The Atlanta entertainment scene continues to expand, now including The Resident, a hit medical drama that airs weekly on Fox. 11Alive reporter Jay Plyburn recently landed a recurring role on the show which is now in its second season.
Plyburn plays a news reporter – a classic example of art imitating life! His character first appeared back in January during the “winter premiere” also known as a mid-season premiere, following the holiday break. Plyburn gave us a play-by-play account of life on the set.
His call time was 11:12 A.M. but Plyburn showed up a little early. If you’ve ever watched The Resident, you know many of the scenes take place in a hospital. Those interior shots are actually filmed inside a production studio in metro Atlanta – Conyers to be exact. However, for this scene in episode 213, the shoot was setup at Stone Mountain. First things, first – hair and makeup.
“They even gave me a close shave,” Plyburn said. “Then, before I did any acting, it was lunch time.”
He said the food was fantastic and there were lots of options. After eating, he waited.
“I’m in my little trailer now waiting for the wardrobe people to come pick out a tie for me to wear,” Plyburn said while filming a video of himself. “Soon enough, we’ll be on set.”
He said there’s not much to see or do while waiting, so he just rehearsed his lines. Eventually, he made another video update.
“It’s about a quarter till 2 in the afternoon right now, so I’ve been here for about 3 hours. But I’ve gone through hair and makeup, gotten to eat some good food. Now I’m just waiting. This is part of it,” Plyburn said.
Finally, around 2:30 P.M., he was taken from base camp to set. The production team attached a wireless microphone to him then asked him to wait patiently.
“Okay, I’m finally on set,” Plyburn whispered into his camera. “They’ve actually made this area look like the site of a car crash where a car has gone into a body of water.”
Finally, around 3:45 P.M., it was Go Time! A person from the props department handed Plyburn a “stick mic” to hold, and he jumped in front of the camera with the car crash scene behind him. Unlike most characters on the show, Plyburn delivered his lines directly into the camera. Afterall, it’s supposed to look like a news report – not a huge stretch for Plyburn who’s worked in TV news since 2008.
He was instructed to say his lines a few different times, and each time the videographer did different movements with the camera. According to Plyburn, dozens of people were involved in the shoot which was directed by Valerie Weiss and only took a few minutes. Then, after snapping a pic with Weiss and returning the microphones, Plyburn was taken back to base camp.
“That’s a wrap, at least for my portion of the scene we shot today,” Plyburn said. “I am very excited to see the final product. You’ll just have to watch the show to see what I did on set today.”
The Resident airs Monday nights at 8 EST on Fox. Plyburn will be in at least two more episodes this season, unless his performance gets left on the cutting room floor.
To see Plyburn’s news stories, head over to MyCummingNews.com.