E.R.

The show has only been on for eleven years. I’m amazed I got on it all… Ha!

I don’t do a whole lot of television. It’s actually more difficult to get on than features because I’m in SAG [Screen Actors Guild] and more jobs are available for non-union work. SAG pays better and only a small amount of SAG actors are required before non-union people can be hired.

ER was pretty fun. They’re a long-running show so they know what they’re doing and are used to each other. That’s always a plus. It makes the day go by faster and in a more organized fashion.

I showed up, got my scrubs and went to holding where I read a couple chapters of ‘Welcome To Temptation’ by Jennifer Crusie. It didn’t hook me like I’d hoped and when I’m in holding, that means lots of boredom, so reading a book that doesn’t hook me? Oh hell no… I’ve learned never to only bring one book.

During lunch, we were told to go to the commissary or wherever…we were given an hour. I wasn’t particularly hungry so I snagged a vanilla bean frappacino after yacking on my cell phone with Jen for awhile. When I got back to holding, it was freezing! It was a hundred degrees outside, but stage two was about fifty.

And there was still probably an hour or two before us extras would work.

Sometimes, I talk to people. Sometimes I don’t. This was one of those times where I was more interested in reading than talking. I pulled out ‘Ill Wind’ by Rachel Caine and got sucked in pretty hard…

When it came time to work, I didn’t want to put the book down.

On the set, I was a poison control lab technician. The AD [assistant director] separated myself and another woman to do crosses in the deep background.

That lab–with the dead lizards, snakes and fake mice–was the height of ‘interesting’ for about four hours. I intimately got to know a green folder with safety rules in it, a thin black binder with blank pages, and another green folder whose contents I couldn’t figure out. Yeah, this was a typical office background pinball day to start. I banana-ed. I mimed. I looked busy.

Then, the snake handlers came in with the rattlers. One of the handlers milked the snakes, but I wasn’t allowed in the room during that shot. I watched it on the monitor. Too bad. I dig snakes…

Next, a pissed off rattler was put into an aquarium and another aquarium of scorpions were brought in. This was the martini shot–the last shot of the night–and of course the darn scorpions kept ceasing all motion once the camera was on them. They’d all be running around, messing with each other, but as soon as the board clapped, they froze. One of the camera guys tapped and shook the aquarium and the snake handler reached in to stir them up, but most of the shots had very little motion from the darn things. Oh well. The snake was pissed off enough. It rattled a lot.

I got to walk right past Shane West as he tapped on the snake’s aquarium. Oh boy. Lots of fun for me!

Truthfully, just listening to the safety meetings and hearing the crew talk about how they were going to shoot, not to mention all the action with the snakes was a million times more interesting than my background pinball. Ah well. I had a great time. The danager aspect kept it interesting.

I hope I get called back to work in the poison control center again, but somehow I doubt I will. I was misinformed by a PA about where I was supposed to turn in my props so consequently, I was late and the prop guy wasn’t thrilled about it. Oh well. I know in my heart that I did the right thing and that’s all that matters. When it comes down to it, I’m still just another stupid extra.

Ignorance is bliss!!!! 🙂

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