Becca Rhodes shares how she built her TikTok visiting movie sets and sharing informative blog posts
By: Julia Lawrence
(Becca Rhodes/The Film Tripper)
Is there a movie set you’ve always wanted to visit in real life, but didn’t know where to start? Becca Rhodes had the same question before beginning her journey as FilmTripper.
Rhodes researches where movies and TV show sets exist off-screen and then spills all the info about the set's location and building’s history on her blog and TikTok. She’s visited places in Etobicoke, like the high school in Mean Girls, and Greenwich, England, where the Bridgerton House is located.
Travel alongside CanCulture journalist Julia Lawrence through Rhodes's journey to starting her blog and how she combines her bachelor's and masters in architecture from Carleton University with her love for films in this in-depth Q&A.
What sparked your interest in creating a blog and social media presence?
I kind of have been obsessed with movies my whole life. So once I found out that not every movie is just filmed on a soundstage, I was like, well, if I'm travelling with my family, and we're close to something where something's gonna be filmed at that, then of course, I'm gonna make everybody haul ass and go see it.
So I kind of just started building up all of these little things over the past couple, I guess maybe 10 years, I've been going and seeing stuff. But then, just before the pandemic, I had been kind of putting stuff together for an actual blog, because I've already found all these places, I'd love to share them with people. So I started compiling them for the blog, and the pandemic hit, literally, I want to say a couple of weeks after I had done my first blog post.
I had all of these things that I was like, ‘what am I supposed to do with all these photos now?’ So that was how I started it. I started the blog as a resource for people to come and find stuff because it's so hard to find all that information, especially about really niche things such as y2k movies. It was kind of a little hobby and then once TikTok kind of blew up, it was kind of figuring out, well, how am I supposed to take all these photos that I've collected and put them into a video format? So it’s still building, but that's kind of how it started. It was an interest of mine that I wanted to share and then it kind of took off a little bit.
What was it like maintaining the blog during the pandemic?
I had a lot of pictures and stuff backlogged, thankfully. So I was like, what things do I already have in my knowledge base without having me to actually go to these places? Luckily, living in Toronto, there's so much that's filmed here. So throughout the pandemic, we couldn’t do anything inside. I couldn’t see my friends, but I could walk to a diner and look at the outside because that's where they filmed Hairspray. I can see it from the outside, I can social distance and I don't have to go talk to anybody. I could just have this way to explore the city that I already know, but through a different lens, if that makes sense. So it was a fun way for me to get out and about and I definitely don't do as much exploring now when everyone is fully functional back working in society, but it was a fun way to do all of that.
Do you usually film your content yourself?
I typically do a lot of the stuff by myself because it's hard to convince people that aren't film people to do stuff like this with you. My sister will tag along for stuff that she's interested in because she also is in the social media world, so she's able to take photos for me. Usually, I'm just like, ‘oh, I'm having a me day, let me go see if there's something that I can find.’
Have you had to deal with situations where a building is covered by scaffolding? How do you handle situations like that?
That specifically has happened to me twice, where it's not even worth me taking a photo of this because there's so much scaffolding in front. The house that Nate Archibald lives in Gossip Girl when I went there was [under] renovation. So full of scaffolding that we couldn't even figure out which building it was and we were like, ‘it's totally the one that has scaffolding.’ And then, a building in London, that was one of the workshops from Cruella, was full of scaffolding.
It makes sense for some buildings, once they get the money after being used in a movie, they're like, ‘well, what a great time to do a renovation. We just got a bunch of money being featured in this movie.’ So that is kind of sad, but then it's a good excuse to go back.
How’s it been combining your architectural background with your movie-lover side?
It is fun. I would say sometimes it is, I don't want to say distracting, but because I have an architecture background and when I'm writing articles or creating posts or anything, I'm writing them from an architectural way. I have to remember most people want a clear-cut answer, they don’t care what type of window frames are used in the building, and I have to pull it back.
I know Architectural Digest does a cool series on TikTok where they have well-known architects break down movies architecture, houses and stuff, and so I'm feeling people are starting to become more interested once they see people, concisely breaking it down from a reputable place like Architectural Digest. I do say that it's a benefit, it's easier for me to pick out buildings because I have a background in it. If I'm looking for something I can narrow it down, because the architectural style is something I'm familiar with.
I’ve been trying to work on some building-specific series, where it's like, ‘well, this building was featured in this many shows,’ let's talk about this building first, and then the shows. So I've been trying to work on a couple of things that are more in line with that just because it is my background and I want to talk about these cool facts that I have about these buildings. So if there's an audience for that, then I'd love to continue moving in that direction.
How do you balance your work and social media projects on the side?
My job as an architect is obviously really demanding. So I don't put as much time into my blog, I have so many half-started articles that are on my Google Docs that I'm like, ‘I promise I haven't forgotten about you.’ But it is like anything, it's hard balancing your job with just seeing your friends, being healthy, making yourself meals. So to balance my job with all that regular stuff and then my hobby that takes up so much of my extra time, you definitely have to enjoy it in order to do it.
Editing videos, making posts and all that stuff definitely takes longer than putting a blog article together. The hardest part is obviously the research so if I recognize this building but where's it from? Then I have to deep dive and be like, ‘has anyone else found this building?’ ‘No.’ If I know this movie says it’s in Montreal, was it filmed in Montreal or was it actually filmed in Vancouver? It's a whole breakdown of how I got to the answer. It takes time, that's for sure, and I'm definitely not producing as much as I'd like to.
What are the logistics when it comes to finding the sets?
Let's use Harry Potter as an example because that one's easy and a lot of people have already done a lot of research on Harry Potter, which is also nice. So usually I’ll dedicate a day to Harry Potter; I research Harry Potter filming locations in London, and I see if there are ones that are easy for me to find. Like Kings Cross Station, those types of places are iconic, then I put them all up [on Google Maps] and I see what's close to what. If I already know in my head a lot of places are in this area, then I'll be like, ‘Okay, well, how about Bridget Jones's Diary, how many Bridget Jones places are close to Harry Potter places?’ So then I take two different maps and I tend to overlay them on top of each other. I put in as many filming locations as I can possibly find on the internet. So after I do all the research, and figure out everything via the maps, then I section off by neighbourhood and then I'll go to that neighbourhood and see all the things I wanted to see, document everything.
I always have on my phone the stills from the movie so that I can hold it up and see exactly where it's supposed to be and line it up properly when I'm taking photos and stuff. I try to take at least one and then that's how I like collecting, I guess, all of the data. The research does take the longest and I try not to go to any locations without having done at least the bare minimum of research. Otherwise, I go there and if I'm filming something I don't know what to say or I don't remember the exact spots because there are just so many buildings that look so similar.
Do you tend to focus more on nostalgic 2000s movies or take requests for newer shows?
I try to do a mix. I try not to do anything that I haven't watched, everything that I talk about is something that I'm interested in or that I've watched. My niche I would say is the late ‘90s, early 2000s type movies era of Amanda Bynes and Lindsay Lohan, that key era from my childhood. Because there is so much nostalgia, people love to see things that they remember and things that they watched a lot.
I do try to do TV shows and movies that are coming out, I try to plan my content so that if there's a show coming out in two weeks, I've started to build up some stuff so that I can post it a week before. For example, Wednesday was obviously everywhere, so I bet I could find this building. So I did some research and figured out it was in Romania and there's only a handful of places in Romania where you can film that looked like this. I posted that because it was trending and that video did pretty well, but it was because it was in at that moment.