"Gossip Girl" Pilot (2007)

Director:

Mark Piznarski

Writers:

Josh Schwartz (teleplay) &
Stephanie Savage (teleplay) ...
(more)

TV Series:

"Gossip Girl" (2007)

Original Air Date:

19 September 2007 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

At a privileged prep school for teens on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the students first learn that...

Plot Keywords:

Upper East Side | Private School | Prep School | Party | College

Cast

Blake Lively	...	Serena van der Woodsen
Leighton Meester	...	Blair Waldorf
Penn Badgley	...	Dan Humphrey
Chace Crawford	...	Nate Archibald
Taylor Momsen	...	Jenny Humphrey
Ed Westwick	...	Chuck Bass
Kelly Rutherford	...	Lily van der Woodsen
Matthew Settle	...	Rufus Humphrey
Sam Robards	...	Howie 'The Captain' Archibald
Florencia Lozano	...	Eleanor Waldorf
Connor Paolo	...	Eric van der Woodsen
Nicole Fiscella	...	Isabel Coates
Nan Zhang	...	Kati Farkas
Kimberly Hebert Gregory	...	Nurse (as Kimberly Herbert Gregory)
Andrew Stewart-Jones	...	Concierge
Lindsey Broad	...	Girl Who Takes Photo of Serena
Robert Stoeckle	...	High Society Man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jessica Andres	...	Girl #1 (uncredited)
Kristen Bell	...	Gossip Girl (voice) (uncredited)
Zuzanna Szadkowski	...	Dorota Kishlovsky (uncredited)
Brian Vowell	...	Hotel Guest (uncredited)

Directed by
Mark Piznarski

Writing credits
Josh Schwartz		(teleplay) &
Stephanie Savage		(teleplay)
Cecily von Ziegesar		(novel)

Produced by
Jonathan C. Brody	....	co-producer
Trey Coscia	....	associate producer
Amy J. Kaufman	....	producer (as Amy Kaufman)
Bob Levy	....	executive producer
Leslie Morgenstein	....	executive producer
Joshua Safran	....	consulting producer
Stephanie Savage	....	executive producer
Josh Schwartz	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Transcenders

Film Editing by
Timothy A. Good

Set Decoration by
Christina K. Tonkin

Production Management
Bart Wenrich	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Brian Kenyon	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Jill Alexander	....	property master
Charles E. McCarry	....	assistant art director
Kevin L. Raper	....	additional graphic artist
Ari David Schwartz	....	on-set dresser

Sound Department
Vince Balunas	....	adr & dialogue editor
Vince Balunas	....	adr recordist
Ed Carr	....	sound re-recording mixer
Daniel Colman	....	sound effects editor
Nick Foley	....	adr mixer
Todd Grace	....	sound re-recording mixer
Sean Keegan	....	foley mixer
Jack Levy	....	supervising sound editor
Doug Madick	....	supervising foley artist
Douglas Murray	....	adr mixer
Beauxregard Neylon	....	adr mixer
Richard Partlow	....	foley artist (as Rick Partlow)
Richard Partlow	....	foley artist
James J. Sabat Jr.	....	sound recordist
Kevin Valentine	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Elizabeth Alvarez	....	visual effects coordinator
Michael D. Leone	....	visual effects supervisor
Trista K. Wahl	....	visual effects producer

Stunts
Peter Bucossi	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
René Crout	....	first assistant camera: second unit
Steve Drellich	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Christopher B. Green	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Eric Liebowitz	....	still photographer
Patrick Lowry	....	dolly grip
Sal Martorano	....	rigging gaffer
Guillaume Renberg	....	remote camera operator
Guillaume Renberg	....	remote head technician
Tim Ross	....	second assistant camera
Adrian Washington	....	grip
Jamie A. Marlowe	....	first assistant camera: second unit (uncredited)

Casting Department
Daryl Eisenberg	....	casting associate
Anthony J. Kraus	....	casting associate
Brady Smith	....	casting associate
Lindsay Swartz	....	extras casting assistant
David M. Waldron	....	background casting associate
Arthur Dutkanicz	....	extras casting assistant (uncredited)
Grant Wilfley	....	extras casting (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jessica Chaney	....	key on-set costumer
Tonya Huskey	....	costume supervisor
Lauren Miller	....	costume coordinator
Angela Mirabella	....	set costumer
Vanessa Lee Rodd	....	costume coordinator

Editorial Department
Brandon Lott	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Steve Durkee	....	music editor
Alexandra Patsavas	....	music supervisor
Transcenders	....	composer: theme music

Other crew
Frank Cattano	....	assistant location manager
Al Cerullo	....	helicopter pilot
Tanya Doyle	....	assistant production coordinator
Nicholas Fabiano	....	staff production assistant
Glenn Ferrara	....	production assistant
Eli Gurevich	....	assistant accountant
Sally May Homer	....	production assistant
Hannah Hoover	....	production assistant
Margaret Jacobs	....	production coordinator
Joseph Lombardi	....	production accountant
Elizabeth MacSwan	....	set production assistant
Randy Manion	....	location manager
David M. McGuire	....	assistant location manager
Elizabeth Pellegrini	....	production coordinator
Camilla Plummer	....	payroll accountant
Stephen Seidel	....	stand-in
Eric J. Sonntag	....	location assistant
Christian Vendetti	....	key production assistant
Dana Zolli	....	staff production assistant
David Shupp Jr.	....	construction office production assistant (uncredited)
Ramona Wong	....	second assistant accountant (uncredited)
Imran Yusufzai	....	accounting clerk (uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stephanie Savage		creator
Josh Schwartz		creator

Casting by
Lindsey Hayes Kroeger

Art Direction by
Doug Huszti

Art Department
Pete Dancy	....	assistant props (pilot)
Lee Malecki	....	assistant set decorator: SDSA
Philip Saccio	....	property master

Sound Department
Jorge Montijo	....	sound editor
James Sabat	....	sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Kristen Branan	....	head of production: Zoic Studios

Camera and Electrical Department
John W. DeBlau	....	lighting consultant
Jason Lanci	....	electrician
Barry Minnerly	....	digital imaging technician
Ronald Paul	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Meredith Markworth Pollack	....	assistant costume designer

Other crew
Alitzah	....	adr loop group
Heather Gauntt	....	location scout
Sarah E. Leonard	....	production secretary
Christopher M. Lewis	....	office production assistant
Mike O'Neill	....	location scout
Anthony Palmini	....	office production assistant

Production Companies

• College Hill Pictures Inc.
• 17th Street Productions
• Alloy Entertainment
• CBS Paramount Network Television
• Warner Bros. Television

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Television (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• CW Television Network (2007) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Net5 (2008) (Netherlands) (TV)

Other Companies

• Grant Wilfley Casting  extras casting
• Keep Me Posted  post-production facilities

Runtime:

42 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:TV-14 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

College Hill Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

Was originally pitched as a feature with Lindsay Lohan as Blair Waldorf. When that fell through, its backers (who had the rights to the stories) approached Josh Schwartz about turning it into a series.

Goofs:

Continuity: While talking to Nate in the park Chuck offers to take some of his mother's medicine. It is revealed later in the series that Chuck's mother died shortly after Chuck was born.

Quotes:

Serena van der Woodsen: I miss you. I just want things to go back to the way they used to be. Ya know walking to school together. Dancing on tables at Bungalow. Midnight swimming at your mom's country house. Your like my sister. And ya know with our families, we need each other.
Blair Waldorf: Well, you missed some classic Eleanor Waldorf meltdowns. If it wasn't such a tradgedy it would've been funny. Actually it kind of was.
[both girls laugh]
Serena van der Woodsen: Well I wish I could've been there.
Blair Waldorf: You are now. I have to meet Nate. Kinda have something special planned.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References "Smallville" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Hard to Live in the City

Welcome to the Upper East Side

"I don't read Gossip Girl. It's for chicks" says one of the show's leading characters (a boy, obviously) at one point in the first episode. It might be an ironic reference to the program's source material, a successful series of books that qualify as "chick lit", hence making the small-screen transition (originally pitched as a movie starring Lindsay Lohan; wonder why...) a potential marketing problem. Then again, having a male writer, not to mention the man who created The O.C., aka Josh Schwartz, as one of the two show-runners (the other one is Stephanie Savage, who also worked on Schwartz's most famous creation) solved that problem elegantly. Whether the series can live long enough remains to be seen (The O.C. started losing steam after just one season), but the first 18 episodes suggest it has a lot to be recommended for.

The series takes its name from the eponymous, mysterious woman who runs a highly popular blog on the Internet, which allows the rich, spoiled teenagers of New York's Upper East Side to know everything about everyone. This all-knowing person remains unseen - all we hear is a voice-over (done by an uncredited Kristen Bell, aka Veronica Mars) that acts as our guide in this world of greed and deception. Her news of the day? Former party queen Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively) is back from a self-imposed exile at a boarding school in New England. Her alleged best friend, Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), greets her return with unexpected coldness, something that the scheming, horny Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) is happy about since he's aware of a dirty little secret involving Serena and Blair's boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford). In a less glamorous part of town, Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) and his sister Jenny (Taylor Momsen) strive for better friends, which works out pretty well for Dan once he meets Serena (Jenny is stuck with Blair, unfortunately). And why shouldn't he be that lucky? After all, his dad Rufus (Matthew Settle) appears to have a past with Serena's mother Lily (Kelly Rutherford).

Following the example set by The O.C. and taking things up several notches, Gossip Girl is an opulent slide-show of teen drama clichés, all depicted with a gleeful self-awareness that gives the show its true narrative meat: the plotting is basic at best (we've seen this stuff a million times before) but like the equally smart (and a tad superior) Desperate Housewives, the soap opera aspects are handled with a postmodern mixture of seriousness and irony. And let's face it, it's just too damn much fun watching those obscenely wealthy youngsters hatching conspiracies against each other.

The other key ingredient (aside from a killer soundtrack, that is) is casting: none of the main young actors were well known prior to appearing on the show (something that applies to most teen dramas), a fact which helps when it comes to seeing them as those people and not, say, some former child star doing a self-parody (perhaps the Lindsay Lohan idea was best left in a corner, then). Also, just like in The O.C. and pretty much any good teen-centric series of the last decade, the adult thespians (mainly two: Settle and Rutherford) do more than just sit in the background. Besides, Rutherford's casting isn't merely a good choice, it's also a cunning nod to her most famous TV role, that as Megan Lewis in Melrose Place. And of course, Bell's uncredited voice is perfect.

What may have looked like just another teen show at first is actually a pretty smart achievement, and for a good reason: it knows about its conceptual weaknesses and makes fun of them in a loving way. The American television way.