`Creek' Filming Expands to Durham

As the show?s cast prepares for the fall season, some characters will be going off to college. The school scenes take place in Boston, but will be filmed at Duke University. Fincannon and Associates, a Wilmington-based agency, held an open casting call for extras in the lower-level Belk court of South Square Mall in Durham last Saturday and Sunday. Although not highly publicized, the casting call received a great response.

?I got here at 10 a.m. and the line was backed up down the mall,? said Shannon Deantonio, extras casting director for Fincannon and Associates. ?This is a really great turnout.? Deantonio said the agency holds casting calls only when they are working outside the Wilmington area.

As word has spread that the show will be filming in the Durham area, rumors have circulated that ?Dawson?s Creek? was making a permanent move from Wilmington to Durham. But Deantonio said the show will be filmed in both Wilmington and Durham.

?They are expanding their territory,? Deantonio said. ?They are still shooting in sound stages in Wilmington.?

While some auditioners came with headshots and mile-long resumes in hand, others had no prior experience.

?I came out because I thought it would be a lot of fun,? said Meghan Crawford of Fuquay-Varina.

Fincannon and Associates was looking for a variety of people to fill the extra positions.

?We?re looking for all shapes, sizes and ages to build a database,? Deantonio said. ?Predominantly, we will be using ages 18 to 32 to play people in their college years.?

Although extras do not play a prominent role in television shows, they help bring realism.

?They work as background extras, which makes the scene look real,? Deantonio said.

The audition consisted of filling out a card with general information such as height and weight, which was then attached to a Polaroid headshot taken by Fincannon & Associates? staff. Some auditioners took the casting call very seriously, in hopes that becoming a ?Dawson?s Creek? extra could launch their acting careers. ?You never know who may spot you out and say, ?I want her in my movie,?? said Donna Bass of Durham.

Bass also viewed the casting call as an opportunity for diversity on the show. ?There are no black people on the show and I think they need some diversity,? she said. Auditioner Jessica Factor, a Maryland resident, said she has wanted to be an actress since she was 2 years old and thought the casting call was a great opportunity. Other auditioners simply wanted to meet the show?s cast.

?I have been in love with Katie Holmes since the very first episode of the show,? said Kyle Payne of Carrboro. ?I came hoping to meet her today.?

Ashley Williams can be reached at willia30@email.unc.edu.