Gilmore Girls Secrets Shared by Set Costumer and Ice Cream Lover Valerie Campbell

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EPISODE SUMMARY:

Valerie Campbell, a costumer and author, is renowned for not only her talents working on well-known television shows such as Gilmore Girls but also for her artistry in ice cream. Her book, The Story & Recipes of Valerie’s Cat Eye sCream, is full of delicious ice cream recipes and eye-catching illustrations for readers to try and enjoy. In today’s episode, we spoke with Valerie about how she became a costumer, her experience working on Gilmore Girls, and what inspired her to make her recipe book. First, we asked Valerie about her journey into working on television and film, and she told us that in high school, she was inspired by her drama teacher’s husband, who was a stage manager at the time, to get into the film business. At first, Valerie went from one show to the next, interning with costume designers for free. Eventually, after building her resume, she became a set costumer herself. Her job is to take care of the costumes chosen by the designer and ensure that there are no continuity errors with costumes during filming. We then asked what it has been like for her to work with so many celebrities, and she told us that over the years, she has learned how to find the nicer actors and avoid the more difficult ones during filming. When asked which celebrities have been the best to work with, Valerie said there were too many to list, though she did mention that George Clooney and Liz Torres as two of the best.

For Gilmore Girls, she started working on the show during episode ten of the first season and ended up working there until the very last episode. When asked what her experience was like working on the show, she said that it was an incredible but tiring time. The work week involved very long hours, and sometimes, she’d end up working for 70+ hours in five days. Her call times were very early, sometimes around 4 in the morning, and she’d often be onset anywhere from 10 P.M. to 12 P.M. She told us that her favorite scenes to film were festival scenes, for everyone was in a good mood and the sets were beautiful. She also said that Melissa McCarthy was fun to be around when they would be on set.

We also asked Valerie about her time working on the Gilmore Girls revival for Netflix, and she said that it was a different experience than filming the original show. For the reboot, Valerie was a supervisor, so she was able to hire crew, break down scripts, and know set secrets that others would not. For example, she was one of the only people who knew that Melissa McCarthy was returning for the revival. She spoke to us about how she was one of the only people on set when they filmed the reboot’s final scene and how emotional and overwhelming it was to be there.

Finally, we talked to Valerie about how she came to write her book The Story and Recipes of Valerie’s Cat Eye sCream. Valerie explained that while working on sets, she often brings one or two flavors of ice cream for cast and crew members to try. After working on the most recent adaptation of A Star is Born, she decided to write a book of all of her recipes. Originally, she was going to type it, but after she started handwriting the recipes and sketching pictures, she decided that she would illustrate the entire recipe book herself. The book has 48 different ice cream flavors, 12 of which are sorbets and 2 are vegan. For those interested in purchasing the book, it can be found on her website valeriescateyescream.com.

Valerie Campbell

From Her Website:

Valerie Campbell, a costumer for film and television productions, is known particularly for her work on Gilmore Girls (as well as for her distinctive “cat eye” glasses). She has developed and crafted more than 130 ice cream flavors over the last 20 years. She continues to serve these at frequent potluck tastings that she hosts with her husband, Colin.

When not creating new ice cream flavors (and improving old favorites), she enjoys indulging her passions for crafts, history, cooking, woodworking, her pets, hiking, drawing, and doing everything from scratch.

In this episode, we discuss…