Part 3 – After the event:

I don't recall if it was publicly announced at the actual event that there would be no autographs, but the regular Paleygoer's are used to approaching the stage to get autographs and this was no different. As soon as Tom Bergeron wrapped up the evening, people rushed the stage, and since others were doing it, I decided to go for it too. At my side of the stage was Jon, so I got his autograph first and told him that I loved him on the show. Next was Tamala, she was very nice and very pretty too, certainly not dressed like an medical examiner, lol. I told her I loved her on the show and she was definitely better than Pearlmutter, and she said, “oh but he's really sweet too”. I said that I was sure he was a nice guy, but I just liked her better. By this point, there was a mob of people in the tiny space in front of the stage and I literally couldn't move. I never saw Molly or Susan, they were on the other side of the stage. Reuben, Seamus and Nathan all made it over to my side of the stage and I could hear both Nathan and Reuben say “is everyone good, did everyone get autographs?” but I couldn't even move to get near them to get theirs before they left. Eventually, it was just Stana out there signing away, and I know I've said it before and I'm biased as a fan, but she was just lovely to everyone, she took the time to sign everyone's autographs and personalize it, even to the point where I think she annoyed an autograph hound, and that just made me smile. The woman was likely one who just trolls events looking for autographs to sell on Ebay so she had a copy of Heat Wave and she gave it to Stana to sign and Stana nicely asked who to make it out to and the woman said, you can just sign your name, she didn't want it personalized, which is usually an indication that they want to resell it, but Stana persisted and said “oh but I'd really like to make it out to you” LOL. I don't think the woman was happy but she finally told Stana her name and she signed it to her. I don't know if she meant to annoy the woman or if she was just trying to be nice, but I think Stana foiled the woman's Ebay plans. Also, during the autograph signing, just like when we met Stana in January, her manager came up to her and politely tried to pull her away, and Stana told her “oh, please just let me finish these autographs for them”. She could have used it as an excuse to make a quick departure and let her manager take her away, but she didn't, she stayed and signed for everyone. She was the last person on the stage, just her and two Paley security guards, and she asked if everyone had what an autograph and then finally she headed up the stairs and left. It was more than generous on her part for a woman who worked all day to do a show that makes the fans so happy and then to stay so long to interact with everyone personally.

After all of the excitement winded down, we headed down the street to Cheesecake factory for a post event meal and discussion of all things Castle. It was a great evening with great company all around, and 18 hours after I arrived in Beverly Hills, I was headed home with great memories of the day :)

Stana thinks the swordplay is sexy

Thanks, kitten. That was a great recap, with all the details a fan like me really wanted to hear.

Great job, Stephanie!

Thanks for the great recap and pics, Stephanie!

Wowza, thanks for your recap as well, Kitten. Can't believe you were at the line 12 HOURS before it started.. serious dedication. Lol @ the lady planning to sell her her signed book, tsk tsk.

Stana seems incredible, staying there to sign for every last fan… just when I thought I couldn't love her any more.

SparringSession said:

Wowza, thanks for your recap as well, Kitten. Can't believe you were at the line 12 HOURS before it started.. serious dedication. Lol @ the lady planning to sell her her signed book, tsk tsk.

Stana seems incredible, staying there to sign for every last fan… just when I thought I couldn't love her any more.

Yeah, selling signed items on eBay literally minutes after getting them signed happens quite often, unfortunately. I don't understand it.

And the same here, everything I keep reading about Stana makes me admire her more and more

I never get tired of hearing Stana described as awesome :)

Awesome trip report Kitten! You did a fab job recounting the event, and I am grateful for that.

Part 3 made me love Stana even more! Seriously, my love for Stana seems to be without bound I love how her manager tried to pull her away but she wouldn't go; that is so sweet! And I love how she foiled the eBay seller's plans! Go Stana! She makes me proud to say I'm a Stanatic

Thank you for sharing your story kitten it was was nice of stana to personally sign heat wave for that woman (even though she didn't want her too) sounds to me like that woman was a b***

That woman and her autograph request were just so wrong. How can you tell the star that you're trying to get a sig from that you DON'T want it personalized, that's just saying to their face that you dont' really care about them.   I think that's why it cracked me up so much that Stana was so freakin' polite to that woman, it was like she was almost eager to personalize the book for her and the woman was so not eager for her to do it.  She was probably the only person in that room who was NOT excited to have Stana's autograph so that's why it made me happy that Stana was so sweetly persistent about signing it. 

Yeah, the thing about Stana insisting on staying to finish the autographs really just makes her win even more in my book, especially since it's the second time I've actually witnessed it first hand.  That's a manager/handlers job, they're supposed to be to give the actors an excuse that they have to leave, and some managers will physically lead an actor away, I've seen that happen too, but Stana said right there in front of the fans, at two different events that she really wanted to stay.   At Paley, people were crowded around the stage and asking Stana for autographs and pictures and she spent so much extra time doing it, and it was really hot in there, I was getting a little clasustrophobic so I can only imagine how she was feeling, and by that point, I think she was looking even more tired, but she remained warm, kind, sweet, gracious and generous, there was ZERO celebrity attitude or any sense of her being self-important at all.  That's really why I like to write up stage door/event recaps, mostly because I like to share about how wonderful people really are to their fans so we can all know and love & respect them even more.  I also like to hear fan enounters with b*tchy celebs, so I can also know who not to waste my time supporting, but I can say without a doubt that Stana is a real good egg.

(Also again, I'd prefer it if my posts in this forum weren't shared on other forums or radio broadcasts. Thanks!)

is there a (derogatory) term for autograph hounds for the only purpose of reselling for profit? god i hate those people… somewhere down there in the 9th ring of hell with papparazi and scalpers IMO. i'm glad to see stana saw right through it for what it was.

I was surprised when Stana asked me whom to dedicate the autograph to.  I admit, I debated whether to give Toni or Cate, my 2 nicknames.  [Toni is my Starbucks name so I went with Cate lmao.]  She signed it "to 'another' Cate" which is so cute!  :)

I don't think its easy to forget that Stana is not Beckett at all, I think she's made reference to that in interviews. Actually, that question came up at Paley, about who was most like their character and Stana immediately pointed at Nathan and some others agreed and I think they also said that Seamus was a lot like his character.

Really, the whole cast is just such pros, they make their characters so real and multi-faceted and believable so that the fans get fully engaged in the characters and that's what really matters for the success of the show.

Its just nice to see actors who show up and go the extra mile to interact with the fans, beyond their obligation to simply appear at an event. We already know that Nathan is good to his fans at Comic Con and such, but all of the actors were there for the fans, they all socialized and signed autographs and I heard all of them ask to make sure no one else wanted an autograph before they left. Its those kind of people who win the fans support outside of just being a fan of their characters :)