geese with stripes and my bio…again
In the very short time that I have owned my Armani suit, it has already inspired me…and I haven’t even worn it yet!
I redid my bio…slightly.
Here it is again:
Rina Slayter lives in Los Angeles with her writer husband Jason Stoddard and absolutely loves life. When she isn’t writing romantic women’s fiction, she’s working as a background actor in television shows and feature films. Visit her blog for more details and screen captures from her blink-of-an-eye performances. As half of the award-winning Ashleigh Raine writing team, Rina writes mostly paranormal, erotic romance and is published through Ellora’s Cave. She is webmistress of www.ashleighraine.com (check out all the bonus features), www.rinaslayter. com (read her Tales From Hollywood) and www.fictionados.com (she’s one of the founding members of her local genre fiction group). Outside of writing and Hollywood, Rina has a passion for early English history (especially Celtic Wales), cars (with Jason, she owns 8 and works on them), sewing (see some of her creations on her website), and antique dolls (she buys them in pieces and restores them herself), snooty green tea (no day is complete without a cup or two…or three or four) and thrift shopping (watch for her $30 Armani suit and the infamous Out Of This World swirl dress).
I couldn’t resist my addiction to shopping second hand stores. They’re incredible. I’ve been the exact same size since high school and have been thrift shopping since the year after I graduated…that’d be 12 years now. Consequently, my wardrobe is gigantic and includes quite a few gems.
Also, when I work as a background actor, it helps to have a diverse wardrobe. I discovered 70s clothes while working on Starsky & Hutch and Anchorman. Since then, I’ve learned to cherish my polyester shirt with geese and stripes.
And my grandma would be proud to see me in a purple and pink floral pantsuit. I swear she had one just like it when I was a kid.
Then there’s my crazy 80s stuff. Good golly don’t ever get in a clothing war with me–I can accessorize, too!
But throughout my years of apparel hunting and collecting, I have come across quite a few favorites and things I would’ve paid full price for if I’d had the money or if I’d found them new. The Armani suit, the thigh-high black suede witch boots, the blue flame pants, the black leather trenchcoat, my green Doc Martins. But then again, it’s the thrill of the hunt that truly lights my shopping fire. I never know what I’m gonna see or what I’m gonna come home with… geese with stripes, pleated swirls, or fluourescent daisies.
Buying second hand is recycling and saving money for the times when I might really need it… Like for super-nice gowns to wear to awards ceremonies. I’ve thrifted a few, but they’re on my to-be-mended/shrunk pile in my sewing room for that day or two when I have some good sewing time.
My Armani
It’s official. I now own an Armani suit. It’s a sort of celery color and it’s incredible.
…and I paid a whoppin’ $30 for it.
Yes. $30. Three-oh-dollars.
While perusing a vintage shop in Montrose of all places, I raided the 99-cent rack and then hit the half-off rack. Amid a 70s shirt (with geese no less) I came across a real Armani suit for $60 but marked down to $30. Zero stains. The pants zipper works. The buttons are intact. I have absolutely no idea why this suit was there, but it was and I left with it. The darn thing is gorgeous…as far as suits go. I now have a total of two actual suits. The other one cost me $30 and it was new! Quite a range there, huh?
Now the real question is what convention do I wear it to?
And on which day?
So far, I simply haven’t had a day when I’d wished I was wearing an Armani suit!
Ah well. I suppose I have some time until my next conference–World Fantasy.
But then again, what would truly warrant an Armani? Hmmm…Maybe finding the suit was a good luck charm in my quest for publication and agent representation. Maybe there’ll be a day when wearing an Armani suit is absolutely appropriate.
…Actually, what’ll likely happen is I’ll get called to be an extra on some snooty show and end up in the Armani. Figures…
“Jason Stoddard week”
Through Jay Lake, I received a link to Jonathan Strahan’s blog saying…and I quote…
“…it’s Jason Stoddard week.”
Yes, my wonderful husband Jason’s week has arrived. We knew some of his stories would hit in September, but we had no idea they’d all be posted/published during the same week! Words cannot describe my elation. Jason’s awesome. I’ll admit that I can’t read most of his work because it’s more sci-fi than I’m familiar with, but his more accessible stuff is great.
Okay, now I’m just wondering when it gets to be Rina Slayter week!
The New Adventures of Old Christine
My second call with my Viper…
Old Christina is a sit-com starring Jula Louis-Dreyfus–who’s really great, I might add! She’s about my size, too. Not that I didn’t expect it (I never know what to expect) but my curiousity was satisfied. She’s skinny, but otherwise normal and exactly how she looks on TV–gorgeous!
This was my first time through the main Hollywood Way gate at Warner Brothers Studios. Not that the experience was any different there than at any of the other gates, but still. It’s always weird to go through different gates. I’m at the point now where I know the perimeter of the studio, but not the stuff in the middle! It’s strange to get in and then try to use buildings and stages as reference points when approaching from a different directions. In this case, the water tower came in very handy!
The earliest part of the morning was normal. I parked, I latched onto a few other extras as we made our way to stage 5 and sat in the sit-com audience while waiting to be checked in, etc. Nothing odd in any of that.
Wardrobe went well. I did end up changing, but that wasn’t a surprise. If the call warrants it, I always bring my beige suit, but I hate wearing suits so I don’t wear it in hopes they’ll like me in a different outfit.
But nine times out of ten, I end up in the suit.
This time, there was also a small rip in the crotch where the stiching just decided to come undone. I wasn’t flashing undies or anything and truthfully, I wished I hadn’t noticed the little hole because I ended up self-conscious the whole time I was wearing the suit. Oh well. No biggie.
At first they didn’t want to use my Viper. I mean, it wasn’t exactly the kind of car a parent would use to drop off a kid, but whatever. That’s what they’d booked me with. My car spent the first part of the day parked out of frame.
I was awarded a kid–named Anthony (this was his first gig, but he was so professional I’d thought he’d been doing this for awhile!)–and we did a simple cross from the parking lot, under an archway where Julia, etc. were doing the scene, and then up a long walkway between buildings. Not bad at all.
…Except for the pain in my feet!!!!!! This was the first time I’d worn those shoes. I’d worn the suit before, but wanted to wear different–lower heeled–shoes. DUMB IDEA!!!! Yeah, the shoes looked nicer, but good golly I was about to pass out when lunch time arrived. In fact, I changed my shoes to go to lunch at the commisary.
Lunch was actually great. I like the WB commisary. I dunno exactly why, but I do. Last time–when I was there for ER–I only went to Starbucks rather than get a real lunch. This time, as I talked to other extras, they suggested going to the Taco Bell across the street from the studio, but then myself and another lady mentioned that we can go to Taco Bell any time. We need a studio pass to get into the commissary.
Yum.
After lunch, my Viper was finally parked, but I had to remind them that I’d brought it. Whatever. I get paid for it whether or not they use it.
I did a bunch more of the same kind of crosses except mostly without my fake son. Kids can’t work as late as adults, so he left and I got to do the crosses by myself.
I wish more oddities happened on this one, but oh well. Of all the extra gigs I’ve done, this was definitely one of them!
Maybe I’m just getting a little to used to all of this. I’d call myself bored, except that I am truly not bored in the least. Every gig is an adventure in its own way. Every gig gets me into a place I wouldn’t normally have ever gone. Gig after gig helps me be the best background actor I can be.
…Not that background acting is difficult, but there are some certain things a person needs to excel at in order not to lose her mind. My hardest is usually the relinquishing of all assumption of intelligence. Because background acting has zero entry requirements, us extras aren’t always the sharpest tools in the shed and are therefore stereotyped like everything else in Hollywood. So, when an extra shows up on a set, she is automatically assumed to lack intelligence until she shows otherwise.
A good background actor should also excel at taking direction and not taking things personally when yelled at for executing those instructions. I’ve developed a pretty thick skin for this kind of thing… Plus the whole ‘am I allowed to stand here/eat this/do this?’ thing. I use it to my advantage. I do/eat/stand wherever and if I don’t get yelled at for it, I assume it’s acceptable. After all, I’m just a dumb extra who doesn’t know any better.
And it’s really nice to have zero responsibility sometimes. It’s also fun to collect a paycheck for going on adventures not to mention seeing myself and my cars in movies and TV. Not that I get any credit, but it’s still fun.
My bio! My bio! Yaaaay!
Let me just say that I suck at writing bios. I really do. I’m not one to toot my own horn about anything. I’ll toot someone else’s horn, but my own? Nah… Or at least not entirely willingly if the horn-tooting is necessary or truly a big deal.
Well, today, I’m tooting my own horn about tooting my own horn…
I wrote my official bio last night and I just gotta post it here or I’m gonna go insane:
Rina Slayter lives in the Los Angeles area with her writer husband Jason Stoddard and absolutely loves life. When she isn’t writing romantic women’s fiction, she’s working as a background actor in television shows and feature films. Visit her blog for more details and screen captures from her blink-of-an-eye performances. As half of the award-winning Ashleigh Raine writing team, Rina writes mostly paranormal, erotic romance and is published through Ellora’s Cave. She is webmistress of www.ashleighraine.com (check out all the bonus features), www.rinaslayter.com (read her Tales From Hollywood), and www.fictionados.com (she’s one of the founding members of her local genre fiction writers group). Outside of writing and Hollywood, Rina has a passion for early English history (especially Celtic Wales), cars (with Jason, she owns 8 and works on them), sewing (see some of her creations on her website), and antique dolls (she buys them in pieces and restores them herself)…and snooty green tea (no day is complete without a cup or two…or three or four.
This also means I better get my website up and running. As you can tell by my bio, I’ve got a lot planned. I’m pretty excited and hope to have things up and running within a month–even if it’s small.
Hey, I gotta start somewhere.
Background Acting
Yesterday, I was on ER.
I don’t work a whole lot anymore–gotta leave time for writing!–but I do what I can. Truthfully, if I felt safe enough bringing my laptop, I could get stuff done while I’m on set, but batteries only last so long plus I’ve heard horror stories about people having stuff stolen. I don’t want to be a horror story!
I might write one, but I don’t want to be the heroine!!!!!
I do bring at least one notebook. Sometimes I noodle with writing and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I print out scenes or chapters and edit, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I have twelve hours of doing nothing and sometimes I have about five minutes. Every shoot is different.
Hollywood is a strange place and so is background acting. Yes, background acting is more like a place than a job. Extras are at the very bottom of the food chain–sometimes not even allowed near the food! [I’ve been on several sets like that] But I say place because it’s a certain frame of mind…a certain place you gotta be in if you’re going to do lots of background work and still retain your sanity.
You have to accept that: [in no particular order]
~You’re not important
~You’re not intelligent
~No matter what, you’re wrong
~You will be blamed for everything–literally everything–that goes wrong whether or not it has to do with background acting
~Some sets appreciate background, some hate background and there’s no way to know until something goes wrong
~The days are long
~The pay is low [non-union actors make minimum wage]
~You probably won’t be seen in the finished product
~It’s a lot of work for a different kind of reward than money or fame.
However, it is nice to not have any responsibilities and to be assumed stupid sometimes. Then, there are no expectations of brilliance and you can goof off without getting in trouble.
Personally, I do it for stories and characters. I never know who I’m going to meet or what I’m going to do. It’s all an adventure and I go into it hoping it’s fun rather than work… It’s usually fun. Usually.
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!!!! 🙂
Excitement and such
The final few scenes of DTD are upon Jen and I. And it’s about friggin’ time!
This was our most-interrupted book–2 years in the making–and it’s finally going to be finished. I’m pretty damn excited about it, too. I got to use my movie-making knowledge as well as fantasize a much better ending to a little incident I had years ago involving a hot guy with a broken car whom I’d stopped to help.
In real life, he waved me away, saying he’d be fine. In DTD, well, guess you’ll have to read and find out!
In other news, I got my first rejection letter the other day. I finally feel like I’m a real member of the writing community. I look at the letter as my initiation. I have landed and I’m here to stay.
If I can take one rejection, I can take them all!!!!!!
Changing my mind
So, I’m still not done editing SR. It’s getting tighter, happier, yummier and I’m still loving it despite that it seems like I’ve been working on it for an eternity.
I’d assumed that OR would be up for editing next while I do all my crazy backstory research for O2, but then I got a better idea. A much more fun idea. One I can’t ignore.
I really can’t get it out of my head. It keeps getting better and more fun every time I think about it, too.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to write it yet. The research is already done. I just need to cull and hone and come up with a decent plot. I think I’ve got an idea about at least the hero and heroine, but they aren’t cemented yet.
I love how stuff hits me when I least expect–nor truly want–it. Oh well. I suppose that’s the price I pay for being a writer.
Hell, SR came out of a poignant moment in time and sustained me for over 100K words. This next one came out of several long moments so therefore it should sustain me for far longer…
It’s a series. Definitely a series.
Now if I could just come up with a way to make it work.
In the mean time, OR and O2 get to languish in a proverbial drawer for a later time. Big deal. They’re timeless and I can always go back to them.
Grandma’s Boy
It’s either called ‘Nana’s Boy’, ‘Mama’s Boy’ or ‘Grandma’s Boy’. I have no idea why it had three names or what name it’ll actually come out under. Adam Sandler produced it, but was not there. [which for me was kind of a good thing seeing as how years earlier while being a seatfiller, I tripped and landed in his lap…yes, my forehead, his hip]
I was a patron in a vegan restaurant. I wore very comfy, natural fabrics and my silly blue Indian slippers. This was one of the most comfortable costumes I’ve ever worn…except that my happy shoes gave me blisters, but I overlooked those because the experience was nice.
It was the last day of principle photography and a general happiness was in the air. I spent a lot of time in holding, reading a book that must not have been all that great because I genuinely don’t remember it. But when I went into the restaurant they’d set up and was seated next to the pan flute player, I started to enjoy the gig.
I was across from a fellow who was supposed to be a stand-in, but due to his spiky hair, piercings, tatoos and happy-gay attitude, they put him in the scene and gave him a nice lady for a date. My ‘date’ turned out to be a funky, short-haired chick-a-dee who came up with the idea that we were roomies…very close roomies. I soooo went along with it and we held hands through part of the scene.
The prop guy came by and gave us all pretty glasses and then a choice of drinks. There were some wild berry ones and fruity ones and I simply opted for water. That was the only liquid I knew I could drink on camera without the possibility of spitting it all over the wheatgrass centerpiece. Then, a plate of snap peas was set next to me.
I’d never eaten them before. I didn’t know how… Were they like edamame where you eat the beans, not the husk? Was I supposed to just dive on in and shove the whole pod in my mouth? Dammit, why did the plate have to land next to me? It made me nervous, but I didn’t say anything…yet.
We did the first take, pretending to eat our food and miming fabulous conversation with all four of us involved commenting on how delicious the food was and passing around the dish of snap peas–which I was thankful to hand over…except that my ‘roomie’ handed it back and no one else wanted peas. Oh the horror…the terrible plate of questionable food was now being commented about–with my roomie suggesting I try one! Good golly, I was terrified!
But just as I daintily picked one up, the word “CUT!” was shouted and I breathed a sigh of relief. The prop guy came back to refill a few drinks and add a couple more snap peas to the plate.
And then I met the star of the scene.
See, this movie has a million cameos. I was in one where the main characters go into this vegan restaurant, piss off the waiter and then leave without having eaten.
The waiter…David Spade.
He walked up to me and asked, “Are those real?”
I was a little more stunned than I would normally be when a principle actor actually speaks to an extra. Thankfully, my roomie was more attentive… “Yeah, they’re great. Try some!” She encouraged him by biting into a snap pea.
He was inquiring about the snap peas. What did you think he was asking about?!?!?
We all had a good laugh and I learned that snap peas could be eaten whole or just the peas. I also learned that David Spade really is great and is very easy to smile. I like that a lot in people.
During the next shot, the camera was going to be where my table was, so I went to holding…not the holding where my book was, but the holding right next to the set–where the producers had rented a chocolate fountain in early celebration of wrapping that night.
Yes…chocolate fountain…with strawberries, bananas, rice krispy treats, marshmallows and various other goodies ready to be dipped and eaten. Yum yum yum yum yum.
Another hour or two went by and then we all got to go home. I got paid to learn how to eat snap peas and dip yummies in chocolate. Now you understand why my blisters didn’t matter by the time I signed out.