Movie Magic

From tomorrow's Geek in Review:

I looked around the empty stage for a moment. Something about it was incredibly familiar.

"Hey, you know what I just realized? I shot Family Ties here right before I started Star Trek."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was cast as Tina Yothers' boyfriend. I only did one episode before I booked TNG, but the word on the street at the time was that Gary David Goldberg was going to write me in as a recurring character before I went into outer space." I said. "And, uh, the future."

I looked around while I spoke. The stage was completely empty, except for a couple of work lights, and the bleachers where audiences once sat. This stage, once filled with laughter and the energy of filming "live, before a studio audience," was little more than an empty room. My whole life, I've been in love with the magic that goes into creating the suspended disbelief of movies and television; but it wasn't until I stood in that empty stage that I fully appreciated the effort that went into transforming 12,000 square feet of soundstage into the Keaton's lives for eight years.