JAGFanFest 2003

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JAGFanFest 2003 raised a total of $26,184.59 for the Navy/Marine Corps Relief Society and the American Red Cross! The total amount raised for charity from JAGFanFest 2001, 2002 and 2003 is $50,439.59. This is thanks to the people at JAG Productions and the incredible fans. THANK YOU!

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JAGFanFest makes the news:

WRJH jazzes up ‘JAG’ song

Never in her wildest dreams did Joy Maynard think the Will Rogers Junior High Jazz Band tape would have a place in the JAG Fan Fest in Van Nuys, Calif.

A longtime JAG fan, Maynard’s junior band recorded the theme from JAG and played it on their concert tour.

After her summer tour with the band was over, she did her R&R in California at the JAG Fan Fair. The Fan Fest slogan is “By the Fam, for the Fam.”

But, before she went, she sent the tape to one of the Fan Fair officials.

“She called and said she had been listening to it all day,” Maynard said proudly.

A copy of the CD went in to a raffle of items to benefit American Red Cross and Navy/Marine Corps Relief Fund — and made its way to the auction with a hat and license plate — and brought $100. The auction and raffle raised $20,000.

Maynard, whose much touted band makes 20-30 appearances a year and during the summer went to Branson for a special expense-paid invitational appearance, watched proudly as the CD sold.

The visit included a trip to JAG Productions in Valencia and visits to the JAG set as well as the NCIS set.

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Hanging Out With Bud Laurel has been busy every since she won a giant poster of Bud at JAGFanFest 2002. If you haven't checked out Bud's adventures with Webb, this site is a MUST see!

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The JAGFanFest has been a resounding success!

Our goal was to have fun meeting all our JAGnik friends, the wonderful people at JAG, and to raise enough for the American Red Cross and and the Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society to reach the $50,000 mark for all three years.

We are so proud of all those in attendance and the AWESOME Auction talents of Jade Carter, Zoe McLellan and Karri Turner, and all the wonderful raffles we have collected AT LEAST $25,000 this weekend alone!

We still have some various raffles and other donations to account for, and charitable accountin will be forthcoming once we all return home and collect our thoughts, but initial totals indicate this to be the largest attendance and THE largest donation each from Club Raffles and Auctions!

This has come from the JAG Fans!

Thanks so much for your AMAZING support! We all appreciate it so much and the donations to the charities will make sure it is put to good use.

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The following is an account posted by KATROSE on Maeve's JAGnik Central Message Board. PLEASE do NOT use these pictures without her permission (click her name for email address). Thank you!

I know it's actually Saturday morning, but it was a late night and a veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrry long week, so please forgive me. I'm also still working on the pix I took last night, so as soon as I get those finished and uploaded, I'll post a few.

Friday afternoon Harrison Page and Norm Harris conducted a writers clinic. Unfortunately, due to the fact my boss actually wanted to be at work, well, working!!, I missed the workshop. Hopefully someone who was able to attend can fill us all in later. I did, however, get there in time to meet the men and take some pictures of fans getting autographs. I noticed a lot of familiar faces from past FanFests and a lot of new faces.

Both men were incredibly gracious about the time it took to get all the fans through the line and signing autographs and getting lots and lots and LOTS of flashes going off in their eyes. At one point, Harrison made a comment about only seeing dots. LOL Then it was time for them to get dinner and the fans headed off to do the same.

I hooked up with JNTS for dinner and had an enjoyable time debating the finer points of JAG and production in general. We headed back to the hotel just in time for the doors to official open the 2003 JAGFanFest.

The ballroom was split into two sides. The right side had chairs set up for the Q&A session. The left side was set up with various fan booths as well as the JAG Fans Care area and the fanfic competition.

The first person up (that I recall, anyway) was Paul Brinkman the Locations Manager. He spoke about where they did some of the locations shoots and how they made those places look like somewhere other than Southern California. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear most of his Q&A because I was helping man the TRG booth and selling raffle tickets with Kathy. I do remember him talking about some of the Paraquay scenes being shot at a lake near Coldwater Canyon, which is only a stones throw from my home. I've done some hiking around there, so I knew where it was. Nice area stuck in the middle of the city, but enclosed on all sides by the hills so it can feel like you're anywhere but in a city.

Sitting at the BLA booth was Michael Bellisario. He signed autographs and took pictures for over an hour with the fans before joining Peter Murnik up at the head table to do their Q&A session.

One of the fans asked Michael what it was like to be his father's son. He laughed, said "lucky" and then went on to say that he had been exposed to much of the industry just by being around DPB. He talked about how he's grown as an actor on the show and when asked if he actually auditioned for the role, he laughed and said, "I better say 'yes', right?" The audience laughed with him.

Peter did his story about meeting DJE for the first time and how DJE did the tall man's posturing ... trying to make sure that *he* was the tallest one in the room ... Peter acted out that DJE stood on boxes and other objects to be taller than Peter (PM climbed on the chair pretending to be DJE looking down on PM). When Peter asked DJE how tall he was, the response came back of "Six feet, four and a quarter inches." Peter said he replied, "Well it's not what it used to be" and laughed. (For those that don't know, PM is 6'5"). The audience got a great laugh out of it.

We were also treated to a wonderful surprise by a couple of Marines just back from Iraq. The first was Javier (forgive me for not doing last names, I didn't have a pad and pen with me when I met them) and he had been injured during a fire fight so he was limping a bit and using a cane.

The second I didn't catch his name at all. But I did get a picture of him.

When they were introduced to the fans, they got a standing ovation. It gave me chills and the boys didn't know what to do about it. They were humbled by our response almost as much as we were humbled by what they'd been doing for us.

HarrietJAG had brought along a blooper reel for the fans to enjoy. I believe it was the same reel they showed at the set tour last year, but I couldn't swear to it since my long week at work kinda forced me to head home for bed before it finished. I'm sure those that stuck around will be able to share what bloopers were included on the tape.

We're heading off to the set this morning around 11AM. If there's time between the tour and the evening session, I'll do my best to get back here to post a tour report. Otherwise I'll post late tonight or tomorrow morning about the entire day's events.

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Saturday morning dawned way too early for me, but I got up regardless. I headed out to meet up with a friend for breakfast and an early set arrival to help our Erica Macintosh (who's been promoted from Asst Production Coordinator to Production Coordinator this year when Sara Chaiken moved over to NCIS). Erica gave us our assignments and timelines and off we went to the formerly empty stage that had been set up as a Q&A area for the fans. There was also a massive rear-screen projection screen for the videos they were to play throughout the day. At the back of the room was the craft services area with sandwiches, fruit and cookies for the fans' lunch.

The busses arrived around 11:40 and as the fans filed in, they were given a raffle ticket, told to grab a seat (which had cast photos on each chair) and then head back for food and drink. While this was going on, Keith, the sound guy, played the DVD of photos from Season 8's episode shoot. It included pictures of the cast and crew going about their day from being in the office or building sets or going to location or whatever. There were fun pix, serious pix and goofy pix. This was the same DVD played at the Season 8 wrap party.

Around 12:30 Charles Floyd Johnson, aka Chas, got up, welcomed everyone and had Keith play a welcome message taped by DJE and CB. Both thanked the fans for coming out to the set, thanked them for supporting the show and wished us all a great weekend at the fanfest. Chas saw that David Bellisario had arrived early and asked him to come up for a short Q&A session before moving onto other things. I don't remember too many of the questions, because I was busying working, sorry guys. Maybe someone else can help out on that.

They played a reel of footage from upcoming episodes. And if this is ANY indication of what's in store for us for Season 9, this is going to be a GREAT year! I'll post some of the scenes inside so I don't spoiler it for anyone who doesn't want to be.

When the fans calmed down from the reel, Chas introduced Harriet who thanked the FanFest planning committee for all their hard work and asked the head of the committee to come up and accept a token of their appreciation. She announced that a special guest had agreed to come out to present it. As she did, out from the wings came John M. Jackson carrying a gift basket and a wrapped box. The crowd went wild and Nancy burst into tears when she saw him. She got wrapped in a bear hug and was a pretty happy girl. JMJ stayed around to answer a few questions. One that cracked me up was "Would you be back for a season 10 if there is one?" He responded that he was under contract and would have to come back! LOL It was such a straightforward reply that I cracked up, not because he seemed upset by that idea, but because of the delivery of it. He's got great timing and, from what I understand, he's not used to being at such a large fan gathering, so it was fun to see how he reacted to such adoration from the crowd. He couldn't stay too long because they'd worked late on Friday and he'd gotten up early to play baseball before coming out to the set. Before he left, I was able to snag him for a private 'hello and thank you' with TRG Kathy (one of the committee chairs) since she'd been in the bathroom for part of Nancy's presentation.

As there was more than one person involved, IMHO, more than one person should have been brought up on stage to be thanked. So on behalf of myself, the cast, crew and JAG production folks, I want to thank all the other committee members for their hard work and dedication in getting this year's fanfest together. Here's a list of the planning committee and their various committees (the italisized items are the booths they ran):

Becky - Military Women of JAG; Research/Writing/Editing; Auctions, Name Tags

Kathy - The Rose Garden; Treasurer, Hotel Liaison; Registration; Cookbook; Auctions; Raffles; Timeline; Name Tag Design

Laura – Auctions; Raffles; Decorations; Transportation; Games; Timeline

Rick - Peter Murnik Fan Club; NCIS; Facilities; Security; Booths; Decorations; Cookbook; Auctions

Katherine - Bud Lovers Anonymous; Program Design; Graphics; Cookbook; Research/Writing/Editing

Cathy – Website; cookbook

Jenni – Welcome bags; Publicity; Name Tags

Sandy - Steven Club Fan Connection; Research/Writing/Editing; Decorations

Maeve - Maeve's JAGnik Central; Website; Cookbook; Graphics; Program

Barb – Registration; Website; Publicity; Welcome Bags; Name Tags; Cookbook; Auctions

Susan - Randy Vasquesz Online; Donations

Carol - Official Chuck Carrington Home Page; Booths; Research/Writing/Editing

Ok, back to the recap.

We took a short break and then split the fans into groups of 20-25 for easier tours through the sets. We were going through both NCIS and JAG this time.

You know what? I think I forgot to tell you guys what *my* job for the day was. Any guesses? Yep, JAG asked me to shoot the fans on the set again this year. Can't say I was unhappy with the request, nor was it unexpected. What can I say, they like me.

Before anyone asks, the pictures I shot belong to JAG. Until they decide what can be done with the pictures beyond productions' records, i.e. allowing me to post them or put them on a CD, there will be NO sharing of the pix from the Q&A session or the tours. I did shoot over 200 pictures, so I'm hopeful that they'll allow me a few of those for fan enjoyment either at a website or on a CD to be sold to raise more money for the charities. But at this moment in time, there's no plans to do any of that. If and when I get word back from them, I'll let y'all know. But until then, please don't ask for pix of yourself or friends that were there. I can't do it based on my agreement with Chas. Okay?

So, I headed off with Crystal, the production designer, and managed to attract a rather lare group of fans to our little tour. I think it had a lot more to do with the fact I had a camera than the fans wanting to be with little ol' lovable me. We started off at the NCIS bullpen set. This is the one that had the Wanted Wall we saw in "Meltdown." I haven't gone back to see the wall in the episode, but in the episodes they're shooting now, you might see a few familiar faces. DPB and Chas hold prominent space on the Wanted Wall. I'm sure y'all can guess what some of the comments were for DPB's pic! LOL

We went into the autopsy set, which looks incredibly real, in spite of the fact the freezer door opens onto the hallway surrounding the outside of the set. Our group headed into a hallway inside the set, I stopped to take a picture of someone in the set's elevator piece and when I turned back, my group was gone. So I just hooked up with another group and took pictures of them.

I spent the rest of the hour running from group to group making sure to get as many of the fans as possible on film. Fans were allowed to sit in the Admiral's chair and at Zoe's desk. They were allowed to step inside the carrier set (which had been redressed to look like a submarine for "Close Quarters" which they were currently shooting). They also showed us part of the ship set that was being used for NCIS. It was a cabin that had been dressed to look like an explosion of some kind had occurred. It was pretty amazing with all the soot, melted computer parts and fire damage. There was also a smell of smoke in the air. Talk about authentic.

The hour was up and time to head back to the Q&A area. David Bellisario, Chas Johnson, Dana Coen and a new writer (who came from Law & Order and who's name escapes me at the moment) sat down and willing subjected themselves to fan questions for about an hour. Chas tossed out the first one … how do the writers deal plan on dealing with the five-year deal (aka the baby deal)? Dana answered by saying that at that point in time they didn't have an idea beyond that it would be addressed. They haven't decided if they're going to do more than just acknowledge it with a conversation or go further. A lot depends on how the rest of the season pans out. So it was more of a non-answer than an answer, but personally speaking, it worked for me.

Someone asked how the writers go about planning out the stories and does anyone have more 'power' than the rest in getting their ideas pushed through. The answer came back that if one writer really wanted to see H&M together, but the rest had other plans, then the one would be overruled or put on the backburner until a later date. Dana also said that DPB reviews all the story ideas and has ultimate veto power if he doesn't like something they come up with.

There were a lot more questions, but I can't remember them all at the moment. Hopefully someone else will be able to fill in some of the gaps of my memory banks.

They then played a tribute to Trevor Goddard. It was the 'Waltzing Matilda' piece from the episode where Mic heads back to Australia. You could hear the fans chiming in on the chorus and, standing with Chas and Erica, we all had tears in our eyes watching. Mic may not have a fan favorite, but Trevor was a good, loving man and he'll be missed.

Chas then played the Season 9 promo that's currently airing on CBS (or can be found at their website) and we headed out for the group shot. Because we were all a little tired (and obviously not thinking as far ahead as possible), we'd neglected to get a ladder out of the construction bay before the crew left for the day. So I had to grab my Jeep and stand on top to get everyone in the shot. Can I tell you guys, I'm not too comfortable with heights, let alone on the top of a car roof that bends and bounces with every breath. I wedged my toes until the roof rack and prayed while I was shooting. I'm hopeful that I can get Chas and Erica to approve the group shot's release to the fans long before we have to deal with the set tour pix. So keep your eyes peeled, we might be able to see that within a couple of weeks.

The fans then piled back into their busses to return to the hotel and I headed up to Erica's office for some cold air, cold water and a comfy place to put my backside. We had about an hour of decompressing and then we headed for our respective homes.

I'll post the Saturday night recap later today as I need to do some laundry and get the over 400 picures I took yesterday downloaded and start working on the ones from last night for the recap.

Talk to y'all later.

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I'm finally getting around to doing my Saturday night report. Sorry for the delay, but I was a little worn out from the weekend!!

I returned to the hotel around 6:30 and headed into the ballroom to help with any last minute prep stuff before the fans were allowed in. Jade arrived and set up at the table next to the BLA booth. Someone got a call just before 7PM saying that Karri and Zoe were a few minutes away and could the fans be held outside until they arrived? The answer was "yes" and we all waited.

When they arrived, Zoe went straight to her table while Karri stopped to chat with a few of the organizers. She blew my mind by remembering the fans who'd been at the 2001 FanFest. She and I laughed about her split pants at that fest. She danced around to show off her better, looser and less likely to rip clothes (a skirt and blouse). She's a hoot! The fans were let in a few minutes later and they lined up to get autographs and pictures taken.

Everyone seemed to be having fun chatting in line with their buddies or getting to know new people while they waited patiently for their turn. There was a lot of laughter going on and much "oh, THAT was you?!?!" LOL

Around 9PM the trio of stars were called to the front for the live auction. The fun was just about to get ramped up.

Zoe wasn't sure how to handle being auctioneer, so she gave the microphone to Karri to start. Depending on what the item was, one or more of the stars would model the items being auctioned off.

There was a package of Karri Turner things, including a KT T-shirt signed by her. She made Jade model it and then got to do a little fun groping of her own.

The highlight, at least in my mind, was after Zoe had auctioned off one package with a t-shirt that Jade had been modeling. The fan had been allowed to take the t-shirt off Jade. Zoe then made a comment about, "now how about the shirt off his back." Before he knew it, bidding had gotten up to $200. He turned to her and said, "Are you serious?" She said something like, "It's for charity." He was a little embarassed and trying to figure out how to tell his wife about the change in wardrobe. Then he got into the swing of things. Told the fans that this was the shirt he'd gone to the audition for JAG in. It was also the one he auditioned in for Buffy and a sitcom. Then he made a remark about, "Hey, this is the shirt I wear to ALL my auditions, I can't sell it!" Everyone laughed and it was sold, I believe, for $225.

After Jade made a comment to the fans about his burns from childhood and saying they wouldn't too impressed with seeing the special undershirt he has to wear, someone in the back yelled, "We love you anyway. Take it off!" The lucky winner got to take it right off his back after a huge hug.

The auction lasted until around 11:15PM with around $15,000 raised from that alone. Harm's Academy ring sold for around $230, Mac's for $440, a package of things including Harm's dogtags was sold for over $700 and the set visit went for $5,900!!! I hear that we raised close to $24,000 at this year's fanfest and I have to say that our fans are very generous people.

I headed out to get the pix downloaded from the camera and try to get some sleep before meeting some of my new friends for lunch at BJ's on Sunday. I'm sure someone else will come along with other and more details.

Thanks for letting me share this with you all.