Recent Filming
My sister and I just got back from the filming of this movie. They retrofitted our mall in Valencia, CA with Christmas decorations. We walked into the food court and instantly saw a large group of people huddled around a table, where Drake was casually talking to fans and signing autographs. He got up and we followed him to the middle of the mall where a large take-a-picture-with-santa set was constructed. The first floor of the mall was eventually sectioned off to the general public, and we were told to go up to the second floor if we wanted to watch. Before heading up, my sister got a picture with Drake. Looking around, we found a small section of the upstairs was turned into a miniature set of The Premiere, the movie theater that Josh works at on the show. It looked nothing like the set on the show, so I'm not sure how they're gonna pull that off.
Looking down from the second floor balcony which surrounded the downstairs set, we watched a few scenes being filmed. Drake was sitting on a large chair in a Santa costume next to Josh, who was dressed up as "Santa's Toy Bag." The first scene was of Drake talking to a little boy on his lap. I couldn't make out any dialogue other than "HO HO HO!" The next scene was of Drake making out with a girl (his age, of course), with Josh trying to dismiss them. She walks away and a large, nerdy woman runs up next to take a picture with Drake/Santa. She tries to kiss him and he quickly pushes her off and runs away. It was pretty hysterical.
Aaaaaaand that's it. Dan Schneider was there looking busy and a woman was directing; not sure who she was. On the plot side, I'm going to guess that the Santa photo shoot is being run by The Premiere, as Gavin, the guy with the crazy mullet hair that works with Josh at the theater, was standing at the end of the line letting the kids in one by one to get their picture taken. Helen, Josh's boss, was seen at the mall earlier by a friend, so I'm guessing she recruits Drake as Santa and Josh is pushed aside to play Santa's Bag. Unfortunately, Crazy Steve was nowhere in sight in our time being there.
Today is August 7th and they're supposedly filming until the 9th, so I still have a chance to get in as an extra, haha.