A teen fan snuck onto the abandoned OITNB set, and the show issued her a truly inspired joke-citation
Remember those two friends who traveled 7,500 miles for the ultimate fangirl photo project: traveling to iconic filming locations and holding up photographs of iconic scenes from the shows? One teen has taken a leaf from their book. . . and it involves Orange Is The New Black. Oh, and also, breaking the law in the best way. Now, we have to say, we don’t recommend ANYONE break the law, but what 19-year-old New Yorker Samantha Gardella did is pretty darn awesome.
When Samantha, a film student, heard that her fave show was filmed nearby — the abandoned Rockland Children’s Psychiatric Center, half an hour away from where she lives in Hudson Valley — she had a risky idea. She grabbed her camera and headed over to the real-life Litchfield, taking along screenshots of the show and taking pictures of them in their exact location. “I had never been there before so I didn’t know what to expect, but to my surprise when I got there, there was no gate at the entryway to keep anyone out,” Samantha explained to BuzzFeed. “There were other fans walking around too.”
“When I went there the second and third time, all of their fences and doors were unlocked, which was odd because you’d think they’d lock everything,” she explained further to Huffington Post.
She posted the pictures to her Tumblr, and the amount of attention they’ve received is massive (not very shocking TBH, because her shots are pretty awesome). The pics have been reblogged almost 150,000 times since she originally posted them on June 26, and she’s had a “huge amount of positive feedback” from friends and strangers alike, as she explained to HuffPo.
All of that reblogging also drew the attention of the show, and a legal representative sent Samantha an email respectfully asking her to stay off the premises. “While we appreciate your creative eye, you may not be aware that the land used as the location for the prison is private NY State property exclusively leased by us,” the representative wrote in the email, according to BuzzFeed. “As such, no one is allowed to enter the property without our permission.” She was asked not to return to the property without permission in the future.
But the show also sent her a hilariously amazing fake citation via Twitter. “To the kid who snuck onto the #OITNB set. . . Game recognize game,” the official OITNB account tweeted, along with a snapshot of a citation signed by the (gorgeous) officer John Bennett. The incidents reported? “Illegally entered Litchfield Correctional Institution set. Took fantastic photos featuring scenes from OITNB. Posted said photos to her personal Tumblr.” That’s a shot, inmate.
Best thing ever right? Hysterical fake citation or not, Samantha told BuzzFeed that the email from the show’s legal team was enough to deter her from trying it again. “I don’t recommend other fans follow in my footsteps,” she told the publication.
Luckily, she also created a video of her set tour, which you can watch here. Thanks, Samantha, for your creative ingenuity! We’re super glad you didn’t end up an inmate in Litchfield, because we have a feeling you’re going to do amazing things in film. Just don’t get into any trouble!
