Jericho (1)

When I found out my call time was 6PM, I assumed it was going to be a late night. Since crew call had been 9AM, I knew I wouldn’t be there all night, but definitely late because it was a Friday.

I arrived at the parking lot and hopped on a shuttle. No surprises there. The driver and his friend were talking about a friend of theirs who was having girlfriend trouble and I really, really, really wanted to pipe up/offer advice/commiserate, but I refrained. I’m just an extra…

That night, I was going to be a townsperson. The wardrobe was supposed to be rundown small town casual given the premise of the show. I was in heaven because, for me, that meant even though it was a night shoot, I wasn’t going to freeze! This was one of those calls when spaghetti strap mini-dresses weren’t what all the girls were supposed to wear and goodness was I thankful.

In fact, when I went through the wardrobe line, she loved what I was already wearing. I didn’t even have to unzip my bag. My dirty-grey Levi’s, shaggy blue shirt with lightly frayed flannel shirt are usually the costumer’s delight when I play downscale characters.

Anyhow, after that, we were herded into holding and I busted out my Palm Pilot and wireless keyboard to get a little writing done. (I wanted to really dissect my stunt driving school experiences and writing them down is the best way for me to do that. Plus, I wanted to cull my notes for Book Two of my Otherness Series]).

I ended up tickling my keyboard for about three hours before the PA came back and signed us out. Apparently they were going so slow that night that they weren’t even going to get to our scene. No worries. I got paid a full day’s wage for doing all that writing. I can’t complain about that.

Plus, the people on this show were really awesome. They even let us have pizza from the craft service table. All in all, a great night. It would’ve been nice to work on set, but whatever. At that point, I was pretty into my writing, so I wasn’t upset about not getting to work. Besides, this makes up for some of those days that are non-stop, never-get-to-sit-down, action. Life is great. I can’t wait until my next gig!

Bones

Night shoot. Well, kinda. More like a get-there-before-dark-and-leave-when-it’s-still-dark. Usually night shoots last until the sun comes up.

Anyhow, I was a ‘fight club patron with car’. I gladly brought my Viper.

After misjudging traffic by more than an hour (I’m still shocked that the Sepulveda pass was not utterly jammed at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon), I parked my car and sat in it for about a half hour before heading to base camp. This was one of those rare occasions when they say there’ll be a shuttle from parking to base camp, but there isn’t. And then it didn’t matter because base camp was about a block away. I’ve walked further to catch shuttles.

Okay, now, as an extra there are a few events right at the beginning of the shoot which can make or break the experience. This show, made it. Oh hell yeah.

I was walking with another guy who’d been early. When we got into base camp, there was a friendly-looking guy making what to the street racer world is the spinning finger circle denoting that there’s a cop nearby, but in Hollywood, that’s the signal that the camera’s rolling, so be quiet and stay still until the moment passes (can be as long as maybe ten minutes, but is usually somewhere just under a minute). Then, the fellow showed us to where holding was–and sounded welcoming. Weird. Extras are usually treated like a necessary evil.

From that first moment, myself and the guy I’d walked in with agreed that this was going to be a pretty good night. We hadn’t been to the set yet, but if one person was that cool toward extras, there’d likely be lots more.

Our call time coincided with the end of the lunch break, but the extras got to go through the chow line, too. Awesome, awesome, awesome. If I’d’ve known, I wouldn’t’ve eaten before I came. (See, I’m really not used to being treated so well.)

I survived wadrobe by having to change into what I thought was one of the least likely things I’d brought: my violet/black vinyl snakeskin pants, burgundy tank top and black burn-through velvet blouse. That meant that while my shoulders would freeze, my legs would bake. Believe me, that was a billion times better than a spaghetti strap minidress. Night calls get cold no matter what time of year it is.

Anyway, I spent the down time reading a book about the Hundred Years War while in holding.

Funny thing, though, I got to see something I’d never seen before… While in holding, we could see through windows out into the warehouse where there was an SUV parked between two screens. What looked like a suburban neighborhood scrolled by, projected on both sides as though the SUV was in motion.

Not that I didn’t know about the technique, I’d just never seen it done. Being that close to it was kinda disorienting, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. Weird, but nifty. I love Hollywood.

Anyway, when the time came, I went out to bring my Viper around and was directed to park it near the entrance. I’m still amazed that I got it shoe-horned into the tiny spot they wanted it. Thankfully, they never treated me like ‘a girl’. Sometimes, when I’m in any of my cars, I get treated like I can’t drive before I’ve even proven myself. It’s just like when I get asked if my ’68 Mustang Fastback is my boyfriend’s or husband’s car. Grrrr… Anyway, the guys on this show seemed to accept me for me and that was awesome.

The 2nd AD was very thorough with us extras. Admittedly, he did have a lot of time to place us, but it was really nice of him to walk us through our crosses and make sure we knew what he wanted to see out of us. That was nice. Consequently, we didn’t get yelled at, we got directed during the shooting.

The scene was about three minutes and all of us extras just had long crosses through the parking lot into the warehouse. Simple stuff, but stretched out over a long time.

Both the big stars were there. I know my best friend was jealous that I’d get to see David Boreanaz again. (I was on Angel a few years ago.) He’s so friggin’ hot.

And I almost ran him over after I was instructed to move my car. There just wasn’t a whole lot of clearance between one of the trucks and the corner of the building. It wasn’t a near-miss or anything. He and the other actor he was walking with yielded and I waved my thanks. I was a little terrified, but whatever. I had to get my car parked and run back to set.

But the parking structure was closed. And there was nothing but red curbs near base camp.

I finally got the last spot after moving a traffic cone that I nearly didn’t see and almost ran over. By the time I hoofed it back to base camp, the 2nd AD was wrapping various people. I was gladly one of them. WooHoo! I got to go home after a short day–well, night.

Great gig. I wish more were like this one.

Hollywoodland

All this time I’d thought I’d posted about Hollywoodland. I worked on it over a year ago, but I just checked the archives and it’s not there.

When I worked on it, it was called ‘Truth, Justice and The American Way’.

The week before the shoot, I went to a costume fitting. The costumers on the show were very picky. Very, very picky. Or at least the designer was. The other girls were pretty cool, nice, lacking the holier-than-thou attitude which gets tiring as an extra. Background actors are truly the bottom of the totem pole and get treated like dirt most of the time. This was no exception so I kept my mouth shut and changed outfits three times even after saying, “I’m extra small.” and variations on that theme because sometimes in order to fit me, I’m given clothes out of the section they consider children’s even though they really are adult. But still, costumers never believe me when I tell them how small I am and I have no idea why.

The Costume Designer finally settled on a green gingham sundress that I absolutely loved, too. The belt she added didn’t seem right, but I guess from far enough away, it’d look okay. The light pink button-up sweater reminded me of my grandma and was super-soft. And I was glad for that little sweater because I get cold very easily. The shoes looked great, but felt awful. I prayed that I wouldn’t have to be on my feet for very long on the day of filming.

The Hair and Make-up lady gave me nail polish and lipstick and a sheet on how to do the rest of my make-up. I was pretty scared because I’m lousy at putting on make-up, but it didn’t sound too difficult. And she was the first Hair Designer who didn’t freak out that my hair is short. The scene was to take place in 1953, I think.

Fast forward to the big day.

I showed up early to the school auditorium that’d serve as holding. There were two categories: children and parents. Guess which category I fell into?

For some reason our costumes either didn’t make it onto the truck or were misplaced. It took a little while to find our outfits, but I got into mine just fine. The shoes…oh, the shoes…ow, the shoes.

Anyway, they were shooting in multiple locations. Of course, my scene was up last. I got my hair done in a great 50s style and my make-up was retouched from the job I’d done. I felt like I looked great to start. But I was feeling pretty wilted after waiting in holding for nine or so hours and finally boarding a bus to the set.

It was a neighborhood scene in which about twenty kids were playing with all sorts of cool toys and the three of us ‘Moms’ were gathered together talking. Then, all of our kids start running toward the houses and we break up and follow. You see, the theme song to Superman came on and all the kiddies had to go inside to watch. It was a very big deal for us.

UPDATE: Yes, that really is me waaaaaaaaaaay in the deep background, almost hidden by the tree and the bicycle. This is probably one of my smallest appearances on screen!

We did several takes. My feet ended up numb, but I felt pretty good about the work I’d done despite the pain. I don’t know if I can be seen, but my little bit was supposed to be during the opening credits of the movie. I haven’t seen it yet, so I don’t know if I’m on the cutting room floor or not.

The best part about the long wait and then the single, relatively simple scene was that once it was done and the sun was going down, I got to leave…and slip on my comfy shoes for the drive home!

Numb3rs

Very long day, but not a bad experience.

Upon arrival at the abandoned hospital location, I became aware that there were two productions sharing the place. Unfortunately, the production I was working on was the least obvious. See, the basecamps sort of glommed together and where I was supposed to be was down in the loading dock. Everyone I asked failed to mention that tidbit and I ended up walking around the building a time and a half.

Which gave me blisters.

Yeah. Before the day had started, my heels had grown blisters the size of nickels. And we were there for 13 hours…walking through frame.

Well, it wasn’t all walking through frame…

I went to wardrobe and got my scrubs. (I was playing a nurse.) The girl who handed them to me said that they were Mediums and that they’d be a little big on me. I went to change and I actually felt the need to back to the wardrobe trailer and ask if I looked okay. I felt like I was wearing a tent and I had to pull the pants up and roll the waisband in order not to trip on them. The costumers said I looked, “Very comfortable that day,” so I shrugged and walked away. I really don’t care what I’m wearing, I just don’t want the costumer to look like an idiot for putting me in something wrong, wrong, wrong.

At that point, I went to my car and changed shoes, but it was too late. The damage had already been done. Thankfully, my other pair wasn’t as tight and I was able to slide my heels away a little.

The prop guys set us all up with badges and name tags. I became an Orderly named Jordan. Nice.

The first few hours were great. I sat in holding and read a book. CRAZY HOT by Tara Janzen. OMG, it was incredible. By the time we were called to the set, I was deeply engrossed and didn’t want to put the book down so I brought it with me.

Right from the get-go, I could tell that the day would be long, but not difficult.

I was placed and when the time came, I crossed up, then halfway down, then across, then all the way down. Ignoring my blisters became more and more difficult with all of that walking.

Most of the day was spent doing either all or portions of that sequence and in between, I read CRAZY HOT. It was so freakin’ good!!!! People were asking me what I was reading and noticing my progress on it.

After two more scenes, I finished the book and was almost disappointed just because it was sooooooo good I wanted more!!!!

I wish I had more to report from this shoot, but apparently I missed the good stuff. They’d done a stunt before coming to the hospital location. Ah well. Maybe next time.

I don’t even have any good spoilers because I couldn’t hear most of the conversations going on. *sigh* At least it was a great crew and I did have fun–even when my nose wasn’t buried in CRAZY HOT.

Brothers and Sisters

Good golly it has been ages since my last gig.

Okay, Brothers and Sisters. It’s a new TV show with a huge ensemble cast. There were familiar faces plus a few I recognized: Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and Balthazar Getty.

And I must say everyone was looking wonderful–despite the shot being a funeral.

This was my first trip to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and I wish I’d had more time to explore. I suppose I’ll have to go back in order to pay my respects to William Desmond Taylor, Rudolph Valentino, Florence Lawrence and others. I did, however see Mel Blanc’s grave. That was the street I was instructed to park my Viper on when I arrived.

My trip through wardrobe wasn’t surprising. I always try to wear something that might spark interest in diversity, so it was no surprise when I had to change. Every show loves my plain black pants. (Thanks Mom for buying those for me in, like, 1990)(They’re good pants, and I wore them so infrequently that they’re still black!)(And now that every costumer under the sun loves them, I dry clean them to keep them black!) The costumer gave me a black shirt with beige flowers. She sounded apologetic when she gave it to me, but I really didn’t care. It wasn’t ugly. It was considerably more conservative than I usually wore, but it wasn’t a bad shirt.

My biggest objection to anything was simply that I didn’t want to be wearing black on a 90+ degree day outside in the sun, but as this was a funeral, there was no chance of wearing anything other than black.

Once through wardrobe, I was instructed to stay with my car. No biggie. I pulled out my blanket and layed it on the grass over some nice people’s graves and sat down to read a book–A Horrible History of England by Terry Deary. It wasn’t for another hour or so that I pulled out my folding chair. And then, of course, it was time to go to the set.

All the cars got turned around and in line to go about a block down the cemetery road to provide a backdrop for the memorial. It was going to be a day of leaving the car parked while I worked. Cool… ‘Cause ‘drive-forward, back-up’ in my Viper can get super expensive.

When everyone was being placed, I did my best to get in the shade. At that, I succeeded, however, during the first shot, I was literally behind one of those standing bouquets of flowers. I’ve learned never to take offense and to just let the day go on as it will.

Wise choice. As it turned out hours later, there was even one shot where they gave me my very own mark on the grass. Oddly enough, in order to frame the shot properly, I was standing in front of the line of cast members. Weird, very weird. But nifty in the same manner.

There were several shots of the memorial itself and several more shots of everyone breaking up and going to our cars. And I think I really had the toughest job of all. See, once the flowers were gone, I had a straight shot of Balthazar Getty. So there I stood, for hours on end, forced to look at such a beautiful man. Oh, the hardship! (OMG I wanted to call Jen just to tell her how hot he was in person. Very intense in his acting, yet easy with a smile and a joke between takes. I have one word to describe him: Yummy!)

Anyway, somehow, I ended up working in every dispersal shot except one. Depending on the footage they edit together, you might be able to see me walking away in both directions!

I mentioned it, but no one seemed to care. And because of that, I assumed the shots weren’t very wide and if I’m seen at all, I’m only a blur. Fine by me. I get paid whether I’m on camera or not. It’ll just be funny if can pick myself out of both directions.

I wish I had more action and adventure on this one–seeing as how it’s my first one back from that bizarre, extended hiatus I unintentionally took. Oh well… I still have yet to cash in my ticket to stunt driving school (And I gotta do that this year!) Hopefully, I’ll get a few more exciting gigs soon.

Courting Alex

I wasn’t on the list at the guard shack and I didn’t quite know what to make of that. But I’d driven my Prowler, so I at least looked somewhat important and the guard got his supervisor to okay me. That was really nice. It totally felt like good luck had smiled upon me because it’s next to impossible to get on studio lots without a pass these days.

I parked and went to the stage, glad that I’d have some time to read more of Heaven Tree–which I’d started a few weeks ago on West Wing and was still in my bag. I read another ten pages or so before the AD started checking us in.

I wasn’t on the check-in list, either.

Okay, now I was starting to doubt my sanity. I’d been booked as ‘street atmosphere and art gallery patron’. And that’s what they needed. I couldn’t’ve coincidentally pulled those two categories out of my imagination. Yes, I was on the right stage for the right show.

But I wasn’t on the list and there wasn’t a voucher for me.

That was a big problem. No voucher, no paycheck. Big problem. But the AD told me to hang out while he got it figured out. The best part of that expedition was that a lot of people learned my name. On sets, it’s rare for ADs to know and remember the names of background actors, so I figured I was either in for trouble or a great day.

As it turned out, I wasn’t on the list, there was no voucher, but I had indeed been booked on the show. Whatever. Once we were all sure I was in the right place, I was given a voucher from someone who hadn’t shown up. By this point, I was somewhat late getting to wardrobe.

I’d thought I was in for hell with wardrobe, but they actually fell in love with my clothes. That soooooo rarely happens, but it has been happening more lately and I don’t know what I’m doing now that I wasn’t doing earlier. Whatever. They gave me a different sweater and gushed about my art gallery stuff. (Funny how the shirt they’d liked for the art gallery was a shirt I picked up literally the other day at a thrift store because I knew it’d be perfect for extra work…guess I was right.)

The production needed some upscale cars so I volunteered my Prowler. Remember, I was late, though, so I had to practically run to get my car and then get out of the structure, off the lot, back in through the main gate and over to New York street.

Apparently, no one in New York has a Prowler.

I was apologetically told to go put my car back in the structure and walk back to the set.

Thus, I was even later. By the time I got to the set, the AD had already set just about everyone. He looked at me, considered the scene, scratched his head, then gave me a cross to do when the scene was about half over.

Great! I was in business. There was nothing left to do but wait.

During that time, Jenna Elfman came onto the set. She is sooooooo tall and gorgeous. I’m so jealous… Anyway, as I was standing there in lalaland, I hear that unmistakable voice–one I’d only previously heard through television speakers–say, “Lisa.”

My heart did a weird flippy-floppy thing. Why the hell was Jenna Elfman saying my name? How did she know my name? Lots of people who didn’t need to know my name had learned my name today, but why was Jenna saying my name? I thought I was going to die, but I looked up with raised eyebrows, ready to do whatever she needed.

She obviously wasn’t talking to me and I was glad for it. She did look surprised when I looked up so attentively, but the real Lisa approached and life went on as I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Coincidence had already been weird that morning, this was weird enough on its own.

We started rehearsing the scene. I waited halfway through and went to do my cross, but Jenna and Hugh (I never learned his last name and I’m sorry for it.) were side-by-side on the sidewalk and skinny little me couldn’t even fit through so I just crossed behind. It seemed to work, but it ‘felt’ wrong, so I went up to an AD and explained.

I knew I was in weird territory, but I carefully phrased my concern, “Could you please let Jenna and Hugh know that there’ll be extras making crosses against them? There’s not enough room on the sidewalk without cutting between them and the camera.”

On the next rehearsal, I was able to get through. It was awkward, but Jenna and I didn’t do any funky dance steps and I didn’t get yelled at afterward, so I assumed all was well.

We shot the scene several times and then it was time to go in for coverage. I waited and read more of Heaven Tree while they got the stuff before my cross.

Okay, now this was a unintentionally big moment…

While shooting coverage of where my cross happens, there was a false start. They were still rolling. Hugh and Jenna were resetting. I was down the block and my cross was at the top of the take, so I literally ran back to my spot.

…Thus endearing myself to all the ADs. One in particular (the 1st AD, I’m guessing) promptly thanked me from the bottom of his heart.

But I’d just been doing my job. I felt weird being thanked for doing my job. Whatever. That was cool. I was the golden extra during the rest of the takes involving me–there weren’t many–and then I read more of Heaven Tree. (This is why I always carry a decently big purse–great for hiding paperbacks, my palm pilot and a notebook.)

Once the exterior was finished (We were on New York street where Seinfeld used to shoot. Once upon a time, I actually parked my car on that street while it was still dressed for Seinfeld. It has been fun to see it morph since then.), we were allowed a one-hour walkaway lunch as usual when shooting on the lot. I got a grilled cheese sandwich at the commissary. Yum.

Next up was the art gallery, so I changed into my fun outfit. Earthy green and beige, but lots of drama in the styling.

I was assigned a date and then told where to stand. The scene was going to be shot in three or four separate parts. We were right in front in the middle. That was cool.

During the second part, we were given a cross to the opposite side…where we were given certain marks to make sure we were in frame.

During the next part, we were given another cross all the way to the other side past where we were in the first section and then instructed to make our way back around and follow two of the principles to take their place looking at a painting when they left. We landed in the front again.

At some point my date noticed. I had been oblivious because my feet were killing me for having been standing on them all day.

I really took in his observation and realized that it was probably because I was the golden extra. The AD knew he could count on me to cross in the right place at the right time so he used the hell out of me, making me drag my date along. Which worked great.

I explained it in a nutshell while we waited do do another take, “This morning. False start. They were resetting. I ran.” My date chuckled knowingly, then rolled his eyes, “This really is your fault, then. We could be in deep background, with our backs to the camera, but no, you had to go and do a good job. Great. Just great.” We quietly shared the laugh.

Our crosses got rearranged a little as far as timing…And then there was the one where we were supposed to go when Josh Randall sat down…

…but he didn’t sit down.

I was terrified, but quickly faked it and walked through with my back to the camera while pantomime-talking to my date.

It ‘felt’ good and we didn’t get yelled at afterward, so we did it the same way every time. That was fun. The scene was great.

And then we were released. Great experience. The crew was wonderful. They still had another scene to do with Dabney Coleman. Long day for them. I was only there for eleven hours. I wish I could have more gigs like this one. I really do.

Windfall

I believe this is a new television show airing sometime in the new year. I don’t know for sure, though. All I know is that I almost don’t want to post my experience on this show for fear of coming off like a whiny bitch, but I feel some of it was justified. But, I ain’t gonna lie, some of it was also PMS.

I found the location okay. No surprises there. I was early and opted to sit in my car until closer to call time. When I got out of my car, good grief, it was freezing cold outside. I think that was the beginning of my grumpiness, but I didn’t let it hamper my day because I knew the weather would warm up eventually. I grabbed some breakfast and looked for holding…But there wasn’t one. There weren’t even chairs and tables set up around catering. That was weird, but whatever. I ate standing up. No big deal. It wasn’t the first time.

We were checked in and for some reason the PA hadn’t grabbed my voucher from the office. Okay. Fine. No big deal. I stood by and waited in the wardrobe line.

I was playing a waitress. They didn’t like what I’d brought–nothing new there–so I had to change. Once again, no big deal.

We were herded onto a people mover and taken over to the set. We were all a little worried when we saw that our holding was a dirty, empty storefront, but then glad when we were put to work immediately. I personally never went into holding for longer than the time it took me to put down my backpack.

Now here’s where I started getting a little iggy about this shoot. The crew talked down to the extras. Not just me or certain people, all of us. I was placed next to a table as though ready to take an order. That was fine. I nodded, smiled. I was ready. But then the crew decided that all the tables were in the wrong place on the sidewalk. Why on earth should I be standing next to ‘my’ table if it’s going to move and if there are an army of people walking around. I was in the way, so I took a few steps back.

I was then instructed to stand by my table again like I was an idiot with a short attention span. I didn’t bother explaining. I just did as I was told and then promptly moved away when the table moved again.

Then, I was wondering if props had either a tray or an order pad for me. We were getting close to rehearsal, so I just grabbed my little spiral notebook and pen from my purse and figured I’d make do. Finally the prop guy brought me pad and pen, that was cool. But he also asked me what I was doing standing there. “Uh…I’m ready to take an order,” I replied, wondering why he’d asked, but whatever.

I stood near the table unless people were around. The same AD gave me the ‘get by your table’ look a few times, but if there were too many people, I didn’t go there.

Finally, I guess he was frustrated with me and he reiterated that I should stand there and take an order, but then said that there wasn’t much else I could do now that all but my table had been moved away. I replied, “I could walk into it.” And he seemed surprised–like how could an extra know to do something as smart as that? I dunno. By this time, I’d had enough of the way I was treated and seeing the way others were treated, too. I just wanted to be done with the shoot.

We did a bunch of takes and then they said we could go home. We all replied, “Yeah right, uh-huh.” To which he said that we would, indeed, be allowed to go home once we got back to base camp. So we all piled onto the people mover and were driven back. Those of us who needed to, changed back into regular clothes and waited at the back of the wardrobe truck.

But no one came.

Apparently, we’d been told that we were wrapped, but no one else had been told that.

They’d decided to use us in the other scene.

Some of us did get to go home, but most of us didn’t. A little communication could’ve helped this show a whole lot. Just because we’re extras doesn’t mean we don’t have the right to know what’s going on especially if it relates directly to us. We’re people too. We understand if you want more out of us. You’re paying us for 8 hours, might as well use us as much of that time as you can. We understand that completely. But if you tell us we can go home, reiterate that–causing several of us to line up other stuff to do with our afternoon–but then tell us we have to work…we’re not gonna be thrilled.

So, I stood around–remember, there were no chairs–waiting until they finally decided to use me. I had to go to wardrobe and get another sweater. That was fine, but by the time I got to the set, things were changing. When I walked in, I followed a PA who told me to go talk to an AD. When I went to talk to the AD and make myself available, he started yelling and complaining and I turned right back to the PA and said, “I’m not gonna walk into that.” He broke in and told the AD myself and another woman were ready to be placed and he yelled back, “I don’t need ’em. Get ’em outta here. Get ’em outta here now. Go. Now.” He waved, shooing us away.

And I really didn’t want to be there in the first place! Especially by now. I was ready to kill someone. I didn’t deserve to be yelled at–especially for following directions. The PA then led me to a room and said he’d get me a chair. The other woman had brought hers from home. I sat on the floor while I waited. No big deal, right? the chair came and all was well.

Except that the room was about 55 degrees. I shivered. We were instructed to ‘stay close’, so I couldn’t go outside and warm up. Finally, the PA took pity on me when the scene changed and put me in. Yeah, it was warmer, but not by much. Thankfully, I was playing a patient, so I just used my shiver and made it bigger.

After that, we were allowed to go outside. Most of us were looking at our watches, calculating when we got there vs. when lunch should be. It’s usually right at 6 hours from call time. Well, 6 hours was in about fifteen minutes.

And what did they do? They finally let us go because otherwise, they would’ve had to feed us.

Nice.

See, I told you I didn’t want to come off as a whiny bitch, but it happened. This was the worst show I’ve been on in a very long time. Yeah, I was PMSing and I hadn’t had enough caffeine, but still, just the down-talking to the extras was too much to put up with. Everything else was completely forgiveable. And the PAs were absolutely wonderful. In general, it’s usually the boredom that makes a show bad. This time, it really was a few key people in positions of authority.

Desperate Housewives

I don’t recall the last time I worked on a soundstage on the Universal Lot. I recall Where The Truth Lies when I almost drove through the Red Sea…twice…and then hung out on the lawn of the Back To The Future clock tower. But that’s totally different than working on a stage.

However, I was lucky this time…I immediately found the correct gate and then surprisingly enough, there were plenty of empty parking spaces in the structure–unlike last week on Twins on the CBS lot.

And then the stage was right across the street from the structure. Talk about easy as cake! Although, I do think it’s fun when I can’t find the stage and end up taking a tour of the whole lot before I find wherever I’m supposed to be like when I was on Everybody Hates Chris.

On this gig, the hardest thing for me to find was the bathroom–one building over and down a set of stairs that weren’t very clearly marked. Ah well. Now I know and I hope I get more work on that lot. During lunch, I found the comisary, but didn’t go in. I sat out front for a whole hour while yacking with Jen on my cell phone. Thankfully, craft service on Desperate Housewives kicks ass!!!! The food wasn’t just good, it was plentiful, too.

Anyhow, there were only six extras on the call. That was refreshing. We were all cool people to talk to.

I know a lot of you are reading this in hope of some good gossip or even a spoiler or two, but I’m sorry, I’ve got very little. I spent all but a half hour of my day in holding. All I saw was one character being let out of jail and I don’t really know who she is because I don’t watch the show (Yes, I live under a rock and haven’t seen the number one show on TV).

I know, I know…you’re in the show vicariously through my posts here, but I’ve brought you nothing this time. That’s how I felt, too, during hour after hour after boring-as-hell hour, knowing I’m on the biggest show in the USA, knowing that Jen loves it and was dying for something good and all I saw was about three seconds of action. Sorry. I mean, I didn’t even part the Red Sea, get a flat tire, get rescued by a movie star, wave at tourists on the backlot tram tour, go into the theme park during lunch and go on rides, or get lost on the way to the stage. The only thing I did a little bit of was walking around on their stages, through some of the sets. That was nifty, but still, I can’t pull anything good to post here except that the crew is incredibly nice.

But hey, I might’ve gotten some camera time behind the cop who gets Bree [I think her name is] out of the jail cell where she was talking to a hooker. I could’ve sat in a padded director’s chair with the name ‘Marcia’ embroidered on it, but I didn’t. That’s the closest I got to anything of interest.

Oh, and my voucher [the sort of receipt we’re issued for working] said, ‘Criminal’. It joins the ranks of other bizarre ones that have said, ‘Hooker’, ‘Perp’, ‘Prostitute’ and ‘Dead Nun’.

Update: Yep! I didn’t land on the cutting room floor!

West Wing (2)

It had been two years since my last time on West Wing, but I found that not much had changed.

I misjudged holiday traffic and ended up an hour early to the Warner Brothers lot, but I was totally okay with that. I’d brought 5 books plus my palm pilot and keyboard. I was totally prepared.

As I walked through the lot (parking was at Gate 3, but the stage was closer to Gate 7…whatever), I sort of had a little moment…of thanks, even. Because as I walked down the main drag, a golfcart full of tourists whizzed by and I recalled a time long ago, when I’d dreamed of just walking on a studio lot.

That had seemed so far-fetched at the time, yet at the moment, I was recalling that little-girl reverie, there I was, walking on one of the oldest lots in Hollywood. I mean, the stages there have big placards that say what shows shot there and when all the way back to the thirties. Yeah. And I walked right by stage 24 which now has a placard proclaiming it the “FRIENDS stage”. Yeah, all this was stuff I’d never imagined I’d see and yet there I was.

I am very thankful for my tiny little part time Hollywood job. It puts me in places I never thought I’d be. I’m livin’ the dream!!!

Okay, so I got to the stage and couldn’t find holding. I followed another extra and we wondered together where holding was. I recalled years ago, that holding was in a trailer, but it took one of the crew guys showing us where it was for me to fully realize that not much had changed in the last couple years.

My sojourn trough the wardrobe line was painless. They wanted my green suit. Okay. I put it on.

And then I waited…

I finished Donald Maass’s “Writing a Breakout Novel” and then moved on to Edith Pargeter’s “The Heaven Tree” and my eyes started to glaze over for some reason so I switched to my palm pilot and wrote out some notes for my next novel. Of course half the extras in holding marvelled at my palm pilot/keyboard setup. Another day another dollar…

But then it was finally time to go onto the stage. I was a White House staffer. Immediately through the stage door, there was a row of Emmys. That was pretty cool, seeing them displayed so proudly right there by the door. I’d never seen one up close before. Pretty. Shiny. Gold.

We set up in the lobby. I might’ve actually gotten some camera time. I walked behind the principle actors as they came into the lobby. Nifty stuff.

But the most bizarre thing–one of the many that I also love about Hollywood–was that things aren’t always what they seem. My starting space was literally inside the front door where a security guard pretended to check me in. Now, I dunno why I found this so amusing, but the presidential seal on the floor–which looked to be brass–was squishy! Yeah, I stepped on it and it flexed underneath my weight! So, between takes, while I read more of “The Heaven Tree”, I sort of swished back and forth on the squishy presidential seal while marvelling at how the ‘brass’ buckled under my weight.

I dunno. Maybe I was bored or just easily amused, but that was fun for me.

My next task was doing a top-of-shot cross in front of the actors as they walked down a hallway. I’ll bet I got camera time on that one, too. I mean, I was walking perpendicular to their path while they were talking. I was only there for a split second, but still. I was there. I hope that makes it in.

Actually, speaking of West Wing camera time. I recall recently getting a screen cap of the last time I was on.

Anyhow, after everyone got wrapped and sent home, there were four of us left to do the last scene of the day. At first, I was being sent home, but then the guy changed his mind. It was fine with me because my drive was going to suck no matter what time I got out of there. Plus, I’d already changed into my beige suit.

[Oddly enough, last time I wore the beige suit was on the same lot for Old Christine and to make matters sillier, one of the Grips that I’d talked to on Old Christine recognized me and we chatted for a bit. Hollywood is a very small place sometimes.]

So, during the last scene of the night, I started in frame at the top of it. I hope I got camera time there. I believe the episodes shot that day were 10 or 11 and 13, so I might be in both. That’d be fun.

Anyhow, toward the end of the shot, Brad Whitford looked at us four extras and said something like, “Geez, I haven’t said Hi to the extras yet.” He scolded himself and then introduced himself to each of us four and asked our names, making sure he got them right. That was so freakin’ cool. And yeah, on that show Martin Sheen supposedly does the same thing, but still when the magic moment happened, it was awesome.

Yeah, it was a simple introduction, and I hadn’t thought it would really make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but y’know what…it really did make a difference. I felt better about my role in the production–like I wasn’t just ‘goddamn background’ and that my job mattered for once.

We’re usually so maltreated and condemned because of a few stupid people spoiling it for the rest of us that this one simple little gesture made all the difference to me. In fact, it even improved my performance! Or at least my performance felt more meaningful and I liked that. It was nice.

And I can add Brad Whitford to the list of recognizable actors who’ve spoken to me. I dunno…Add that to the little girl reverie from earlier and this whole background acting thing is astoundingly, incredibly, beautifully wonderful and I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world!

It’s nice to live the dream…and get paid for it.

UPDATE: I found that other scene I was at the top of, but I guess I landed on the cutting room floor. Ah well. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

Twins

This was the very first time I was on a sitcom where it actually shot on the stage…in front of *gulp* a live audience. Every other time I’d worked a sitcom (Macolm in the Middle, Frasier, Old Christine), I was on location.

Anyhow, because the drive wasn’t long, I took my Viper–top down, enjoying the SoCal November sun. Once through the CBS gate, I was instructed to park in the structure, 4th floor or above. Okay, sounded easy.

But I drove around the upper floors three times. There was only one space–it could barely fit a Mini let alone my big fat Viper–so I went back down to the guard shack and asked what I should do. He told me to park anywhere on the third floor. “Anywhere?” I really needed clarification before I parked. It’d suck to come out and find that my car had been towed. He replied, “Yeah, anywhere on the north side. Not the south side where Passions is.”

Okay, that was good enough for me, so I found a nice wide spot on the third floor and put my car in it. I still felt guilty for taking the guy’s spot–his name was Bill something-or-other and he was working on Twins, too–and I worried I’d see the guy when I got to the stage. But then as I got my junk from the trunk and headed down, I realized that today of all days was the best to be in the Viper. I mean, depending on what Bill drove, how pissed off would he really be to find a Viper in his parking space?

I walked to the stage and set my crap down in the audience bleachers, still not knowing there’d be an audience later that night. I waited around to be taken to wardrobe where I somehow ended up first in line.

The casting director booked me as a coffee house waitress and said for me to look ‘geeky’. Well, I didn’t know exactly what that meant so among others, I brought my geese-with-stripes shirt. Of course wardrobe didn’t like most of what I’d brought nor what I’d worn, so they just put me in my most boring–blue sweater and jeans. No biggie. I was comfy and happy although devoid of geese. (I really wanna wear that thing on a set someday!!!!)

I waited what felt like an eternity as all the other scenes were rehearsed. I was only in one–the last one, of course. The crew whipped through everything with amazing speed, although it still felt slow. The best part was getting to watch everything. That was nice. I enjoyed having something interesting to look at while bored out of my mind.

Then, it was finally time to do my scene. The prop guy set me up with a tray, a pen and a order pad. Cool. I’d never been a waitress before. This could be fun, could be interesting…

The AD told me where I was allowed to work and all was well. When the scene started, I sprung into action, taking orders for four people, dashing back behind the bar, dashing behind the set, coming back, taking a couple more orders, then the gag happened and I gasped before following the character off the set.

Not bad. I felt okay about my performance, especially since I was given zero instruction. That either meant I was doing okay or nobody saw me. Either way, I was fine with that.

But then the prop guy came over to me and said, “I have a job for you.”

I was terrified. “What kind of job?”

He grabbed my tray and flipped it over. “Peel off the price tags. I guess the tray’s new.”

We shared a chuckle and I got to work.

The price tags came off easily, but the big, huge, white bar code sticker proved a wicked nemesis as I was running out of time before the next take. In fact the damn thing wouldn’t come off at all!

So, during the next take, I was focused on my “acting” as well as hiding the bar code with either my hand or by keeping the back of the tray away from the camera. Afterward, I was still pleased with my performance and no one complained. I assumed I was okay.

Then dinner happened and I chowed one table away from Mark Linn-Baker. (When I’d first seen him earlier, I had total deja vu and time-warped back to watching him on Perfect Strangers. And I always think it kicks ass to see the principle actors going through the same chow line as the rest of us.)

After what felt like another eternity, my scene was finally called and we were herded onto the soundstage. That was when it really hit me that I was about to perform in front a real live audience. I examined that moment, surprised that I wasn’t at all nervous.

I mean, my background is in live theatre, so this shouldn’t be any different…BUT…I’d only acted in one play, all million others, I’d done sound, lighting, set, followspot, etc. for. No one saw my face except for one time when I was an on-stage followspot operator in costume, but I didn’t have to act. Yeah, I majored in Theatre (Design and Technology) and had to take a ton of acting classes, but still, the last time I’d been on a stage in front of an audience greater than a class of about twenty-five was almost ten years ago. So, why wasn’t I nervous?

Because I was just background. Who cares about background? Besides, I can act. I learned that from my classes. And I knew I’d do a better job if I really thought that no one was looking.

So I wasn’t nervous. A little excited, perhaps, because of the new thrill of doing my first gig with an audience, but that was about it.

Then, the director started moving people into the path I’d used during rehearsal. Oh dear.

Then, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do everything I’d done in the rehearsal.

Then, there was no time to worry because the scene started and I had to perform.

Somehow I made my way through to the people whose orders I took.

Then, I dunno what happened. I started sucking. I couldn’t remember if I was supposed to go to the bar or backstage. Good grief! This was a terrible time to be crappy! And I was terrified that I’d accidentally show the damn bar code to one of the FOUR cameras!

I muddled through the first take, horrified at how terrible my performance was.

I figured someone was going to come up to me and confirm that, whether it was the prop guy warning me about the bar code or the AD giving me notes about where not to go or what not to do.

But none of that happened and we did another take.

…Which I flubbed, too!!!!! Oh my goodness, gracious, golly, why the hell was I sucking so hard tonight?

I never did figure out what had gone wrong in my head, although I did notice that when I’d screwed up during the takes, I’d at least been consistent! Perhaps that’s why I didn’t get in trouble.

Anyhow, after a pick-up and an insert that didn’t really involve us extras, we were released.

The Viper was still where I’d parked it. No threatening notes were on the windshield, so I assumed everything was okay. Maybe the guy didn’t come in to work. Whatever. I went home tired, but happy.

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