Carnivale (5)

All rightie! This is gonna be a doosy, so ya’ll might wanna grab a cup of coffee and settle in. This Tale will cover the best shoot I’ve ever been on. Ever. Like ever in my whole little career of being an extra.

Admittedly, that isn’t very long (2 years at the end of this coming January) but during all that time, I’ve worked about a hundred days and while some shoots were great because I got out early or the work was fun or easy, this particular shoot was the best because the hours were both long and interesting at the same time. I really thrive on that. Full costume, good catering, stunts and great people. I couldn’t ask for more.

So, without further fanfare, Carnivale…

It was a two-day shoot in the carnival tent on the soundstage which happens to be less than ten minutes from where I live. Usually, I have to drive about an hour or more, so having such a short drive already put me in a great mood.

Once there, I did the usual rigamarole of getting my voucher, then going to wardrobe where the costumers were pretty grumpy due to the previous day having been rained out and half the costumes were still wet. I hadn’t worked the day before, so I got stuck in a different line with costumers who weren’t quite as grouchy. They still gave me a short-sleeve dress, but I’d come prepared with all sorts of stuff to wear underneath so I wouldn’t get cold.

Breakfast was good and there wasn’t a whole lot of down time before we were taken over to the stage and herded into the tent. The prop guys attacked me as usual. I ended up with a glass bottle of Coke and bag of peanuts. Now, keep in mind that I had to carry these two props all day, both days, just about wherever I went on the set. That should be worth a chuckle or two or three in some cases.

So, after collecting props, I was assigned a husband by the 2nd AD (assistant director). So far, John is the absolute best fake husband I have ever had. Wonderful, wonderful man. I hope I get to work with him again. He’s hilarious and when I got cold, he put his arm around me and warmed me right back up.

Okay, so we learn that the scene is one of those healing shows. 1930s carnivals had those kinds of shows where us townsfolk would go in hopes that we, too, could be cured of our illnesses. John and I walk into the tent and hit our mark a few million times before they move the camera and start getting into the real healing stuff.

And my oh my was that interesting. After doing dolly shots with the camera in motion, they got out the steadycam. The camera operator, who’s name is Henry and has long dark hair to go along with those bulging arms from carrying around the camera (yum!), his assistant, the sound man, and another camera guy all literally ran around the principal actors so they could do a nifty effect with each of the three healings.

It’s one thing to see the camera operator moving around with the camera, but to see him hustling plus three other guys all trying not to step on each other or anyone else and doing a damn great job with each take…I was so blown away. All of us extras were.

Oh! I almost forgot the funniest part of my fake marriage to John. Yeah, we were at a healing show, right? Well, we’d agreed that the reason we were there was because he…uh…couldn’t get it up anymore and I was about to leave him if he didn’t get healed. Okay, so we got a lot of chuckles out of that.

…Then, Paul (the 2nd AD) gave me two fake children! Ummm…yeah…we had fun trying to explain to the 12 and 10 year old exactly why Daddy needed healing without really explaining why Daddy needed healing!

For the rest of the first day, me and my fake family had an absolute blast. Toward the end of the night, we’d even added on a couple aunts to our little fake family.

See, on set, things can get boring. It’s the people you meet who keep it interesting. One of the aunts had been on the show a million times before and ended up striking up a conversation with one of the principal actors, too. That was pretty cool because usually principal actors won’t even stand near extras let alone talk to us. Waaaay cool end to that evening.

Once out of my costume, I headed home in torrential rain, once again thankful that I only live 10 minutes away. The rain was hell and puddled across the street in some places.

The next day was a little misty, but not too bad. I went through the whole rigamarole again, getting into costume, having the make-up people douse me with fake dirt, etc. I realized that the shoes I had on were the exact same ones that I’d worn the very first time I was on the show and this time, they were more comfortable, but still hurt my right foot. Oh well. This was still by far my best shoot ever and it was only getting better.

I picked up my props…again…I really hated them darn things by this point, but I’m a good extra…I play along…and went into the tent again. This time we were moving on to some stunts. Of course, when I learned there were going to be stunts, my ears perked up for anything Jen and I could use in Driven To Distraction. I reunited with my fake husband and Paul took a liking to us. We could follow instructions and actually looked like a couple because we got along so well. Anyhow, Paul always assigned us certain crosses right at the top of each set-up.

The first stunt was a guy getting his throat cut. I don’t want to ruin too much of the show if anyone watches it, but it’s kind of hard to describe stuff without a bit of a spoiler…Brother Justin is a very bad man. He goes into the tent and falls to his knees.

When a guy asks him if he’s okay, he pulls out a scythe and slits the guy’s throat. From there, chaos ensues. All of us extras are running around terrified, trying to get out of the tent, but can’t because the guy who got his throat cut fell by the entrance and a whole new pile of stunt people dog pile on him, too.

So, us extras are totally freaking out, running around. And yes, I’m still carrying that damn bag of peanuts and the glass Coke while I’m running seemingly for my life. My good-for-nothing fake husband and I split up, too! That was pretty fun. We claimed that we were looking for our kids who didn’t work during all the chaos.

So, Paul gives John and I special crosses for each camera angle on the throat slit stunt. I must say, that appliance with the fake blood was even icky close up and knowing that the guy wasn’t hurt. Gave me the willies!!!!

Next up was a girl getting the scythe in her back. There were three scythes. One was hard plastic, another was somewhat floppy plastic and another was retractable…for obvious reasons. The real trick with this stuff is the camera angles.

Paul gave John and I a million different crosses during the scythe-in-the-back sequence because it was intricate and the people running through frame had to be consistent and hit their marks every time.

There was one angle where I had to dodge 1) the scythe 2) a camera moving toward me 3) a camera that wasn’t moving and 4) a whole bunch of camera dolly track laid all over the floor, not to mention 5) all the crew guys. Yeah, talk about intense… I really felt like I’d accomplished something when I navigated all that stuff without running into anything, including other extras who were also running for their lives!

After that, another stunt guy got his arm chopped off. Paul gave me a couple crosses, but then I wasn’t immediately needed so I hung out a little beyond the action and just watched.

I’d thought I was out of the way, but wow. Clancy Brown kicks serious ass. He chopped off the guy’s arm and continued past the camera, saying his lines and swinging the scythe…and heading straight for me. I didn’t know he was going to do all that. The first take, I just looked like a deer in headlights. After that, I cowered from him and I think he liked it, helped him stay in character, in the moment. That was pretty friggin’ cool, if I do say so myself.

They didn’t have the blood rigged for the first few takes, but when they started rehearsing with it…wow. I’d never seen it done before. The stuntman had his real arm sort of twisted in his shirt and the fake arm out through the sleeve. The small arm chunk that got chopped off was held on by magnets. When the arm chunk was removed, a pressure pot blew the fake blood (corn syrup stained red) through a plastic tube and it blasted out of holes in the fake arm. Pretty nifty, if I do say so myself.

I mean, the girl who got it in the back just had the blood line hooked up and when Clancy hit her back, they blasted the blood out. But the arm stunt seemed a little more involved. It was from this area that I heard my favorite lines from the set “Watch out for the blood line” and “Don’t step in all the blood.” It was pretty funny if you didn’t know what the gag was.

My favorite crew visual was when one of the camera operators turned around and his face was all covered in blood. It gave a certain air of danger to operating a camera. I liked that. It looked so hardcore.

After doing a bunch of close-ups, they decided to get some wide shots and I got filtered back in again. When the guy’s arm came off, three or four extras got sprayed so badly they screamed. I hope that take goes in the finished product because it was so real. I was nowhere near the action. I only heard it.

Still in wide shots, they decided to forgo the blood, but still do the stunts one after the other. Paul instructed John and I on yet another cross. It was around this point where I realized how stupid I was. I mean, here’s this big tall guy with blacked-out eyes, swinging a scythe, killing people while saying some horrific stuff and what do I do? I run STRAIGHT for him!!!! Yes, all the while still carrying a bag of peanuts and a glass bottle of Coke. Ain’t I a smartie?

Anyhow, it was during these crosses where I really felt in the moment. The girl gets it in the back, I run right in front of Clancy, he swings the scythe at me, I cringe and keep going. I actually felt the swish of the scythe a few times!

The first few takes, Clancy didn’t really go for me, but he noticed that I hit my mark every single time, consistently like clockwork…and he used that. I really got off on it, too. I mean, he kicks ass. He really does and whether or not he was conscious of swinging at me, he did and that made me really feel like I was doing something, really part of the scene instead of just another stupid extra in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There were three more stunts after that: another girl got it in the face, a guy got it in the shoulder and yet another guy got slammed, but I can’t say who because this was the season finale and I just can’t give that away.

Anyhow, throughout all of that, Paul continued to give John and I great stuff to do. I found myself coming up with really great motivations for why I ran toward the danger, then ran five other directions…I was looking for my fake kids. That’d make any sane person do pretty crazy stuff, right?

I told ya this was gonna be a long one. There’s still more!

Once most of the blood was spilled, the director (who was absolutely wonderful in every way a director could be (he loved us, he really did)) wanted to get some other inserts of the healing stuff from the day before, so we all got back into the spots we’d been in and went from take to take. It was nice to not have to run a whole lot for a little while.

Between various takes, I ended up talking with two of the principal actors: Toby Huss (he plays Stumpy) and Nick Stahl (he plays Ben). Definitely a highlight of my two days there. It’s just not normal for principal actors to talk to the extras.

There were a few set-ups that didn’t really include John and I, so we weren’t paying much attention. We’d join the action when it was necessary, though. That was cool. At one point, John, Toby, Nick and I were all joking about something when I looked toward the action and saw Paul crooking his finger beckoning me while saying, “You. Come here.”

I was terrified.

I thought I was going to be in trouble for talking to Nick and Toby and not paying attention. I dutifully went toward him and he put me DIRECTLY in front of the camera! Yeah… The director directed me where to stand, too. Henry also told me where to look.

Unfortunately, no one told me what to do and I hadn’t been paying attention to what all was going on in the set-up, so I just had to fake it. I glanced over at Toby who gave me a thumbs-up and John grinned at me. I was terrified. There I was in the MIDDLE of a crowd of people all by myself with the camera on me to start the shot. It eventually moved past me, but still, it was insane because I didn’t know what to do.

Shortly afterward, Henry told me there’s a real good chance that I’ll make it into the finished product because he was right on me and there was no one else around and he stayed on me for awhile. I’ll just die if I end up in the finished product. I really will. I mean, the shoot was already my best. I didn’t need anything more!!!!

Also, Toby gave me a Christmas CD that he’d put together. It’s a collection of lounge style comedy songs that he and a friend had written and he sang. I was absolutely blown away. I swear I’ll never ever forget him. I love listening to the CD, too. It’s hilarious!!!! I mean, my world has been rocked repeatedly by Carnivale and this time, it just couldn’t get any better. Toby’s the best guy I’ve ever met on a set, too. Between him and John, I was very well taken care of.

Yeah, best shoot ever…got better…got better…got better…got impossibly better. I mean, I can’t even think of anything that would have made an improvement on that shoot… like at all! I was completely blown away and still am! I wish they could all be as incredible as this one. But alas, that’s just not the way this business works. Oh well. At least I’ve got the memories and tons of stunt research for Hollywood Heat books. Zowie-wowie did I get a lot of ideas.

Where The Truth Lies

It took me three tries before I finally figured out what gate to go in at Universal Studios and then they didn’t have any maps for getting to set. It was still dark outside because it was only 5AM when I headed in.

According to the convoluted instructions that the lady at the gate gave me, I hopped on the right street and then came to a suspicious looking stretch that said, “Do not enter.” I was thinking, “Well, if I don’t go here, where the hell’s the rest of the road?” as I stopped in front of the sign. …Then I saw why I wasn’t supposed to continue. That was the part of the backlot tram tour where the Red Sea parts!!!!

I had half a mind to drive through it, but I was in my husband’s ’66 Corvette and I still didn’t know exactly where the set was. With a playful frown, I threw the car in reverse and set about finding the way around the Red Sea. It wasn’t lit very well, but I did find my way.

Once at base camp, all the guys were drooling over my car. That’s always fun.

I went to wardrobe (who of course hated everything 70s that I brought) who gave me a short dress…It was many shades of beige, complete with mountains and geese. I felt sooooo ‘happenin’! Then, I went to hair who gave me a Cher wig with bangs. Then make-up, who dolled me up…a lot like a toned down version of Cher.

Once on set, I parked my car and did a bunch of walking-through-frame kinds of things. I bet my car got more camera time than I did!

That day was short. I got to go home at a reasonable hour. I had as much trouble getting off the Universal lot as I did getting on. Most of the gates are closed on the weekend. But I did drive past one tram tour! 🙂 They probably thought I was Jennifer Beals or someone. I was just glad to be booked for another day.

…And wouldn’t ya know it, I almost drove through the Red Sea again!!!!!! It was 5AM and dark! What did I know? (I tell ya, though, I really, really, really, really wanted to drive through just so I could say I’d done it!)

Anyhow, the day started much as the first one had. Except the costumers changed their minds about hating one of my outfits. But didn’t tell me they wanted me to wear that outfit first, so I screwed up and wore the wrong thing. They didn’t get mad, they just had to give me something else to wear later on.

In that first set-up, I struck up a nice rapport with the First Assistant Director. He at first didn’t realize that I’m not like most extras…I actually have a brain and can understand and follow directions. He gave me a starting cue and an ending cue and I hit them every time.

When the lead actress got to a certain spot, I walked down the stairs of a water tower and then when the lead actress started going up the stairs, I was to cross her path right in the middle. The First AD even singled me out specifically to tell me I was “Wonderful!” It was just nice to know that he’d noticed.

And that water tower–which by the way, I was getting serious stair-master exercise on–it’s actually a tank for shooting underwater stuff. It was empty, but nonetheless nifty to look down into just to say that I’ve seen it. Kinda like the Red Sea, only no risk involved and if I were to have gone into it, I would not have been chuckling like I would have done while parting the Red Sea.

After that scene was done, the costumers gave me another outfit…which had THE most stuck zipper on the planet. Just when I was about to give up and go get help, the darn thing came down and I shimmied into the beige pantsuit.

The next shot was in Hollywood and I had to get in my Corvette (yes, still wearing wig and costume, passing 2 tram tours this time, plus all the people on the freeway) and drive to the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Ironically, the location was out front of the nightclub where Jason and I got married!

They were doing a minor stunt where one car cuts off another one, but my ‘Vette was parked and they had precision drivers running. I was totally jealous. …And annoyed because I was instructed to walk away from the action and didn’t get to see any of it. I only heard it. The second take included some brake-squealing that didn’t sound intentional. After that one, the Coordinator had a few words with the girl doing the cutting off. Okay…so it was more than a few… But at least the next 4 or 5 takes were good.

I must have walked up and down that block a hundred times by the end of the day. One side, then the other, and I never really saw the scene. Oh well. I guess I’ll have to wait until the movie comes out. I still bet that my car got more camera time than I did!

Carnivale (4)

Super early call time out in the middle of nowhere at a small lake. As I arrive and head to wardrobe, extras are being asked if they don’t mind wearing wetsuits and getting wet. Ummmm…no thanks for me. I get dressed in my rags and grab some breakfast.

When the time comes, we all hop on the bus and go to the set. I weaseled a decent sized purse out of the costumers and managed to fit a bottle of water along with my palm pilot and cell phone into a brown clutch purse. As unfortunately usual for me, despite the fact that I was already holding a purse, I became a prop magnet. First I was given a parasol, but because I only had two hands, I had to pass on two fans and a bible. Ah well. At least I had shade. Thank goodness that prop guy got to me first! [I have no idea why the prop people always love to hand me stuff. I almost always get singled out of crowds to carry props or wear the spectator t-shirts. I don’t know why.]

Anyway, we’re ready for the scene to start. They do the safety meeting and then the people who were willing to get wet walk into the lake. Three or four stunt/safety men went in to the water as well in case someone tripped. During the wide shot, the costumers put one guy in the same smock as the people in the lake and he acted in the scene with the rest of everyone. Cool guy…and looked damn good in a wetsuit. Yeah, lots of eye-candy that morning.

Once the wide shot was done, everyone who wasn’t in the water went back to holding. Hell, I even took a short nap. The sun was hot, but I still had my parasol for shade. I pulled out my palm pilot and goofed around. It sure looked funny…me in 1934 clothing playing with my palm pilot! I even made a few calls on my cell phone! That’s the magic of Hollywood.

After lunch, I waited around another few hours and then finally got to go work again. Men in wetsuits…yum… Then I hear a horse whinney. I turn around and see Mr. HotSexy1934Cowboy and my knees got weak. Yum-yum-yum-yum-Yum! I was so not expecting to see a man that hot, dusted with dirt, on or near a horse. In other words, I looked one way and there were men in wetsuits. I looked the other way and there was a real cowboy. It was definitely a day for eye-candy.

Then there was the dead body which floated up in the lake.

But don’t worry, it was supposed to and it wasn’t real, but darnitall, it sure looked real! I saw it up close when the effects guys were rigging it. Wow. They did a damn good job. And when it came through the surface of the lake, it definitely got the desired effect out of everyone.

4Mula1 Music Video

The following is from an email sent shortly after the shoot:

On Sunday night, I was on the set of a music video for a brand new boy band called 4Mula1. And actually, I wasn’t booked, my car was.

It was a night shoot and I got there at 5:30PM knowing I’d be there until the sun came up the following morning. No big deal, it’s just been a little while since the last time I had a night shoot plus I’d also been in England the week before and hadn’t realized that I was still a little jet-lagged. Consequently, despite the fact that I was tired, I was remarkably awake the whole night due to the 8 hour time difference. What does all that mean? Well… unfortunately not a whole lot.

I spent from 5:30 until “lunch” at 8 reading Things That Go Bump In The Night IV because my car wasn’t going to be used until later.

“Later” ended up being 4AM! Right after lunch, they did the performance part of the video in which all the guys plus dancers did their thing in front of 4 cars on the 6th street bridge near downtown LA. I must say, I really like their song “Gotta Roll.” It doesn’t come out until later this month, but even after hearing it for about 5 hours straight, I didn’t get tired of it. It’s a combination of R&B and Pop and it’s their very first single. It’ll be fun to see where they go because judging by the size of the shoot, they’ve got some real money backing them even though they’re just starting out. They’re also very talented singers and dancers…and nice guys, too! I spoke to one of the guys’ girlfriends. She was really sweet, but I didn’t catch her name.

When that set-up was done, they went to the next location which was where my car was finally used. The actor who drove it was really nice, too. He played the sort of bad guy. See, there was also a mini-storyline through the video in which G catches his girlfriend cheating on him. My ‘66 Corvette was the car the guy was driving when G caught up with him. Unfortunately, the shot might not even make it into the finished product. I’m not real sure, but it just seemed like by the time they got to that shot, everyone was restless and didn’t really have their hearts in it so they didn’t do a whole lot of takes. I hope it gets used, but I’m not betting on it.

As soon as that was done (around 5AM) I finally got to go home. I was sooooo tired, but all in all it wasn’t a bad night. I mean, because my body reverted to England time, I was alert and awake the whole night even though I wasn’t actually doing anything but watching or reading.

The only real bummer was that I was scheduled for a wardrobe fitting at 10:20 the next day… I only got 2 hours of sleep before I had to be up and gone. It was for what I think might be a flashback to 1974 in a movie called “Where The Truth Lies.” I brought a ton of stuff and the wardrobe people hated everything.

I totally hate it when that happens…not mostly because I lugged all that crap with me, but because being that I’m in SAG, I don’t actually need to bring clothes with me, I do it as a courtesy to the costumers especially on period pieces because that way they can save a few dollars not having to rent an outfit for me and they never seem to appreciate the fact that I tried.

Only Anchorman really appreciated me bringing wardrobe. The rest of the period shows I’ve done have first turned up their noses at what I brought, then tried to fit me from their selection only to discover that I’m so damn small that they don’t have anything that doesn’t fit me like a tent, and they end up chosing something from my stuff anyway.

I don’t know why it is that they freak out when they see an Extra who brought period clothes. I mean, it’d be one thing if my stuff wasn’t the real deal, but it’s genuine. They always look at the labels and say, “Well, I guess it’ll be okay.”

Happy Birthday to me!

From my old blog:

This being my birthday and all, I decided to make it my first blog entry as well. I plan to add frequently, but who’m I kidding? With the amount of writing projects I’ve got open all at the same time, I can’t promise which will get the attention when…this being my latest and hopefully longest lasting project!

As of today, my 30th birthday, my writing plate holds many titles. I write with Jennifer Martin as Ashleigh Raine and obviously as Rina Slayter even though my name is actually Lisa Stoddard. I think my plan is to just thorougly confuse myself while at conventions when people are using all of my names at the same time. Otherwise, I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment.

Anyhow, with Jen as Ashleigh Raine, we are currently in progress on 2 projects. For simplicity’s sake, that’s ET and DTD. As Rina Slayter, I’m currently working on BR and OR. More details will be revealed later. At the moment, I’m just getting this blog up and running.

It’s all good, though. I’ve got lots planned. I’m a founding member of the Fictionados (Southern California’s only genre fiction writing group) as well as a Background acting SAG member. In other wor

Clubhouse

The following is an excerpt from an email I’d sent shortly after this shoot:

I was on a new TV show called Clubhouse. I don’t know all the stars, but the two principle boys were Jeremy Sumpter and Dan Byrd.

Getting to the parking lot was kind of fun. It was in the upper 90s, so I wimped out and brought my air-conditioned Prowler. As I pulled in, somehow, it was a high-end Plymouth/Chrysler/Dodge convention among all the production cars. Not only was I there with my Prowler, but there was also a Crossfire and a Viper! I knew I’d be in for an interesting time.

The crew was actually running late and we ended up chasing daylight. The scene was New York street where Van Nuys Boulevard somehow doubled for New York.

I was supposed to be an art vendor, but that didn’t pan out and I just ended up as regular walking-through-frame background. I wore my New York artsy hottest clothes, thinking that wardrobe would make me change, but she didn’t. She loved what I was wearing. In the end, I was almost bummed because with the intense heat and my 100% spandex and polyester, I baked. Oh well. At least I looked good and only got one blister on my heel.

There were two scenes. One where the kid buys the necklace, the other when he sells it back after dark. But because they were running late, they’d had to use high-powered lights to fill in sunlight. Boy, did my sunglasses come in handy. Up close, them lights feel brighter than the sun!

For some reason, there were a lot of newbie background actors on this call. It was fun to remember back to when I had no idea how to “go on action, banana around left, bear right along a line, then diagonal out of frame.” Reminiscing was great. And between takes, I got to work on notes for Eternal Talisman.

As the crew was setting up the second scene, I was outside calling Jason, asking if he still had some steak left to barbecue for dinner whenever I got out of there. Just as I was about to go back into a beauty salon that was doubling as extras holding, the rest of the extras were hurrying out. The set medic rushed in, followed by a few more people with big orange plastic toolboxes.

I found out a couple minutes later that a guy had a seizure, but was okay. Then the crew started scurrying faster because they wanted to get another shot done before the ambulances came. We were delayed only about 20 minutes by the ambulance and firetruck sirens and lights. The guy was fine, but as far as I can tell, standard procedure is to give him a ride to the hospital. I learned that on a different set.

Yep, this wasn’t the first time I was on a set where an extra had a seizure. Last time, it was Navy NCIS and it was a woman. Her seizure happened before anything got going, though. It was just strange to hear sirens and see the ambulance coming…then stop right in the middle of all the production trucks and equipment. Bizarre. I’m just glad that in both cases, everything turned out okay. I’ve even seen that lady on another set since then, so she must be doing fine.

After all that, it was business as usual. I “went straight, banana-ed right, went for the tree, then followed that line all the way out of frame” about a million more times, taking care that when I passed the garbage can, I always pulled my bag from my right shoulder, lowered it and carried it in my left hand, not by the bag’s strap. Yeah…that was my little bit of business just to keep myself interested in working once I’d finished with the Eternal Talisman notes.

I have no idea when this show aired or if I was even in it after all. I did have a great time, though. Even now, I’m thinking that there’s got to be a place in a book for “go on action, banana around left, bear right along a line, then diagonal out of frame.” There’s just got to be.

Hmmm…maybe a few books down the road.

Medical Investigation

This one’s a little on the short side, but sometimes that’s just the way the show goes.

On Monday, I was on Medical Investigation. Yes, Mr. Ultra-Sexy, Neal McDonough was there. In fact, just after I’d done a wardrobe change, I was heading to the back of the soundstage and Neal was coming toward me in the walkway and with a big smile said, “Hi” to me.

The general rule is that as background, you don’t talk to the talent unless they talk to you first and you refrain from eye contact, but darnit-all, how can a woman refrain eye contact from that man? Besides, it was a little dark and I wasn’t sure I was really seeing him. I nearly fainted, but I managed to eek out a “Hello” back to him. The rest of my walk through the stage was spent gasping for air and with a big ol’ watermelon grin plastered on my face!

All the while thinking “Jen’s gonna kill me!” ‘Cause she totally digs Neal, too. So far, of all the celebs I’ve seen, few have spoken to me without me speaking to them first. My very first speaking encounter was with Antonio Banderas…He said, “Excuse me.” I was standing in his way! 🙂

Anyhow, back to Neal… Later on, after a trip to the ladies room… OH! I almost forgot about the irony factor… When I was on Angel last year, it was shooting on Stage 5 at Paramount… the exact same stage Medical Investigation was shooting on. Talk about deja vu.

Anyway, there are about five steps going down to the stage door. As I was taking the first step, Neal came out through the door while talking on his cell phone. He was about to let the door close, which would have been perfectly fine for me because I wasn’t anywhere near it yet, but he scrambled to hold it open with his foot. And, yep, I flew down the last of those stairs, oh hell yeah! When a sexy gentleman is holding the door, it’s just impolite to make him wait!

Thing I learned while on this set: Use the ladies room frequently, it somehow enhances the chance of running into the talent.

…And I never did get to see the actual set. I remained in holding the entire day!

Herbie: Fully Loaded

In this Tale, I’ll combine last week and the week before…Yep, Disney’s dusting off the Love Bug. I don’t know much about the plot other than that Linsey Lohan is the ‘good guy’ and Matt Dillon is the ‘bad guy’ and they go from town to town, race to race.

I took part in two different towns. The first of which, I didn’t catch the name. The second, I think was Riverside, but I’m not positive. In both cases, there was a car show followed by racing, but the racing was fake. I’ll explain a little bit later.

The first town: It was a 2 day shoot during their second week of production so essentially, they were still getting into the groove of things. There were about 200 extras, some with cars, some without. Many with cars had never been extras before and didn’t know what to do or how to do it. This plus the crew’s newness to the project made for somewhat strange and interesting events.

The casting director had specified that our cars needed to be in tip top shiny condition…but then getting to the set, there was a mile long dusty/dirt road. Thanks.

Anyhow, in my ’68 Mustang Fastback, I was in the domestic muscle car group. The AD told us to go stand by our cars because they were setting up the shots. It was around 6AM.

They took one car from our group and then promptly forgot about us…for the rest of the day. We waited around for over twelve hours, but they never took another car from our group.

The following day, they didn’t want our cars at all so we ended up with the rest of the extras. We cheered for Matt Dillon, who after a bazillion takes finally started losing his lines…the last take before lunch. Poor guy. We were all feelin’ for him, but at the same time starving!

After lunch came the worst of it. Mind you, it was in the high 90s temperature-wise. We were in full sun, sitting on metal bleachers from about 1PM until about 6:30PM. My ass hasn’t been that sore in a very long time.

We were supposed to be watching a race between Herbie and Matt Dillon, but instead, there was a poor PA holding up a big stick with a yellow X on it.

When the director called “Action,” the PA ran as fast as he could and we cheered along with the announcer. Eventually, the PA got worn out and they used a van. Then a golf cart.

I have no idea why they switched vehicles, but I think we all felt pretty silly cheering the yellow X no matter what it happened to be on.

That’s the extent of that week for me.

The next week was different. A lot different, but same idea.

Once again, first day, I didn’t work at all. I just hung out by my car (my 2000 Prowler, this time) for thirteen hours. The average in time was 5:30AM, average out time was 7:30PM.

And I missed the milli-second that Matt Dillon admired my car and asked who’s it was. Darn my need for breakfast!!!! The guy parked next to me said Matt liked my car and walked around it, admiring it, wondering who owned it. Ah well. I guess it just wasn’t my moment to talk to him.

Second day, they finally pulled my car from the deep and put it near the car show.

I had to be a watchdog because extras were leaning on people’s cars, sitting in them…It’s just not cool to do that without the owner’s consent. Some people’s cars got scratched up pretty good. A tent fell on another one.

I was in my Prowler for this shoot and really worried that someone was going to sit on a fender and crack it. They aren’t cheap.

Luckily, the ADs understood and let me work near or within sight of my car. I didn’t have to police too much, but there were a few people who didn’t understand that at car shows, you just don’t mess with the cars.

Lots and lots of walking around the car show ensued. What they wanted was movement. Lots and lots of movement. Once again, it was in the 90s…and wardrobe wanted me to wear a black t-shirt. Thanks. At least there were a few shade trees this time.

I always stayed in deep background so I never heard what the scene was about. Essentially, Herbie pulls up to the show, smoking and running terribly.

I won’t give away what happened after that, but let’s just say that I did get to see Herbie having a mind of his own and it was really, really cool to see some of that Hollywood magic in action.

Oh! I almost forgot the most exciting bit… During the afternoon, we were all doing our usual walking around, looking at cars and all of a sudden [while the camera was rolling], a guy comes running at me with an AD, a PA and another guy chasing after him saying “Call security!” I thought I was going to get trampled and I had no idea why.

The guy got into an SUV and drove off like a bat out of hell. The instant rumor was that the guy was trying to steal a car.

Ten minutes later, I talked to one of the guys who gave chase. Apparently, the runner was a paparazzi posing as an extra and snapping pictures of the scene during filming.

I was thinking that in either case, I should’ve tripped him. He held up production for a good half hour with that stunt. I wonder if it was worth it. I did find out that he wasn’t the only one.

He was actually one of two guys that day and a third on the day before. I never thought Herbie would attract paparazzi, but I guess because it’s been so long since the last movie, there’s lots of buzz.

I don’t know. I had fun, though! The hours were just way too long and way too hot.

UPDATE:I thought I saw myself in the deep background a couple times, but it was really hard to tell. I couldn’t remember for sure where I was during filming, so I can’t be positive enough that the little blur in the deep background really was me. There were a few people wearing black shirts.

This following capture wasn’t shot on the same day as the rest of that scene. They called in a few of us car people a couple months later and had us strategically standing in order to match the rest of the scene. I was blocked by the person in the big hat, but my Prowler is seen. Funny how both times, it’s through the foggy window of Herbie. Ah well.

Cold Case (2)

It was ‘Nobody Likes Lisa Night’. I have those kinds of calls now and then where I continually feel like a sixth grader raising my hand, waving it like mad while saying, “Pick me! Oh, pick me! Please!” and no one’s interested.

I got to the Warner Brothers lot more than an hour early because I’d expected to hit Friday traffic on the way in. But there was absolutely zero traffic. I drove between 55 and 60 the entire way there, intentionally getting behind semis just so I’d drive slower, but it was all to no avail. I was waaaaaaay early, but at least I could still get on the lot.

…That is if my stupid trunk would open. It took five whole minutes of jiggling the key in order to get the darn thing to open. (Yes, a new lock and key has now been ordered and should be arriving momentarily so I won’t have that stupid problem again.) Luckily, there was no one behind me waiting to get in. I was on a car call, so without my car, I could’ve been sent home, docked pay and probably banned from getting booked ever again. But all ended up just fine. The guards had a great sense of humor considering I was driving a ’68 convertible Mustang and wearing plaid burlap bell-bottoms.

But once on the lot, I got totally lost. The casting director had said to park in one certain spot, the guard at the gate had drawn me a map to another section and every time I stopped to talk to another guard, they either didn’t know where to send me or just pointed to keep me moving. I ended up on a side street in the backlot. Had I driven another block, I would have found a real parking lot and wouldn’t’ve had to worry about whether or not my car would be towed. But once again, all turned out well.

I grabbed all my junk and went to the wardrobe trailer to check-in. SAG background isn’t required to bring more than the clothes on our back, but I always bring more. I’ve got a huge wardrobe, so I might as well use it. And since I was supposedly only going to be driving through frame, I figured my stuff would be fine. Some of it was a tad fashion forward for 1968, but it wasn’t really that far off.

But wardrobe hated everything I’d brought. In turn, they gave me essentially a tent of a dress with a sash to try and make it look a little better. Oh well. I figured I’d be in a car. No one would see me in the ill-fitting dress anyway.

I shoved on to the hair trailer and the fellow was in absolute shock that us extras were in need of hairdos. He was a hoot while doing my hair, though. I was just thinking that everyone was putting in an awful lot of effort for someone who was only supposed to be driving through frame once.

While my masterpiece of a hairdo was being completed, Chad Lindberg [he played Jesse in Fast and the Furious] came in and started chatting up and running lines with the girl sitting next to me. He’s pretty cute in person and downright hilarious, joking around with the hairdressers and such. It was fun to be there and be invisible at the same time.

It wasn’t long after having my hair done that we were all shuttled to the set. I had to hike back and get my car, but there was enough time, so at least I didn’t have to run. And no one was mad at me for parking in the wrong spot. Luckily I wasn’t the only one. I was, however, the furthest one from the correct parking lot.

The A.D. asked for some cars. Mine, of course, was hated for one reason or another.

Then, he asked for extras. I, of course again, was hated. I sulked back to holding with my lower lip extended so far I nearly tripped over it. I looked the most 1968 out of everyone and yet I wasn’t wanted. Sigh. Pout.

After an hour in holding, I was called closer to set ‘just in case’. I remained there and was accosted by the wardrobe crew. Apparently, the reason I wasn’t chosen earlier was because I hadn’t been given a thick enough coat. The scene was supposed to be late autumn in Philadelphia but wardrobe had neglected coats on everyone. After trying on four coats, they finally found one that fit me. It was so great, I wanted to take it home with me. Red, white and blue plaid doubled up on itself. It’s too hard to describe, but it was really, really great and fit me like a glove.

But, I ended up sitting there in my makeshift holding close to set ‘just in case’ for another hour or so and never got used throughout all of the 1968 shots. Sigh.

Then, the AD looked at all the extras, pointed to me and had me sent back to wardrobe to change again. Sigh.

I rushed back to the set after my pants had been pinned up, no longer threatening to trip me. And I finally got used! Yaaaaay! I walked down the sidewalk with another fellow who had been wondering all night if he’d ever get used, too.

By two in the morning, I really didn’t care if I was ever gonna work, but was glad I finally did. Even if it was only walking two car lengths five times in a row.

But then, as if completing the cycle, after my scene was done, no one told me that I was wrapped. I wandered aimlessly for awhile before discovering that I could go home. It was pretty funny, actually. Once the last take was done, the whole crew just disappeared down a dark alley. The few of us extras that hadn’t heard the plan were apprehensive about following, but we had no idea what else to do. Thankfully, we didn’t get too far when an AD informed us we were allowed to drive back to base, get changed and check out.

Serenity

I wish I had more to report about Serenity, but mostly all I’ve got are one-liners. The whole story isn’t interesting enough and I’m so bummed!

As far as gigs go, yesterday didn’t really have that special magic that some gigs do. Everything felt exciting, but not in a story-telling kind of way. Hell, maybe I should just list out all the instances of niftiness I encountered. That way ya’ll can see that it was really great to be there even without an adventure or two stirring the pot. But because I can’t do a coherent story of the day, this is gonna end up being long, so you might want to get real comfy…

The costume department had trusted me when, during the fitting, I’d told them I could bring my own shoes, gloves and jewelry. They’d even written it on my costume tag and had given away the shoes they’d initially chosen for me. That was really cool of them. Usually, the costumers don’t trust the extras to have the ‘right’ stuff or to actually bring it.

I got to wear my pink Chinatown shoes, fluourescent green fishnet fingerless gloves, 6 dark silver twisted metal-and-flower bead necklaces, iridescent triangle earrings, and silver/grey jelly bracelets done up almost half my arm in what I call reptilian style.

After having my hair pin-curled and stockinged in preparation for wigging and after I’d gotten my costume on, while I waited to get my make-up done, I saw Nathan Fillion as he walked away from the catering truck with a plateful of breakfast. He was heading for his trailer and I was quite happily pleased that he looks even hotter in person- without his Captain costume on yet. Oh, and it was about 6AM…just for reference. 🙂

After having 40s “Rosie the Riveter” make-up put on followed by a black Betty Boop kind of wig, I went back to holding and tried to keep myself awake by writing in my mini-journal. At one point, I glanced up and Adam Baldwin walked in and opened each of the breakfast food warmer thingies. I guess nothing looked good because he left empty-handed. It was about 8:45AM and an odd juxtaposition because I really wasn’t assuming I’d see the cast before we got on stage. And if any of you remember the tv show Firefly…he was wearing an even sillier hat.

We were led onto Stage 12 some time close to 10AM at the Universal lot and my very first glimpse of Joss Whedon was as he directed Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Summer Glau, Sean Maher and Adam Baldwin…while standing in the open cargo bay of the ship Serenity. Oh hell yeah, that sight kicked ass and I really wish I could download the mental image in my head just so ya’ll could see it.

Imagine a short little video of Joss using his hands and walking up and down the ramp, describing what he’s looking for in a scene, Nathan nodding his head and the rest of the crew following intently, the big door at the back of the ship is open and the cargo bay is visible as well as most of the back end of the ship. It was at that moment, that I really realized I was on the set of Serenity…it was real…I was about to be in a Joss Whedon movie that even my husband was excited about seeing.

The 2nd AD [assistant director] placed me next to a giant wok where there were two cooked ducks…complete with beaks and twisted necks. I stood in that same spot for about 6 hours total throughout the day. I learned that in order to make it look as though the ducks were freshly being cooked, the prop guys put powdered walnut shells underneath and lit the powder with a torch.

The scent of burning walnut shells and smoldering cooked duck gets pretty old after the first half hour or so and the walnut shells don’t smell like walnuts anymore…and the smoke gets in your eyes to the point where you can’t help but blot the tears and worry that make-up’s gonna smear all over the place. I did okay. I’m a trouper. But I did request the smoke bump on my voucher. Coughing and crying from it tend to be worth those few extra dollars at the end of the day.

If I get seen at all in the main part, I’ll have to do freeze frame on DVD because the crew ran past where I was and my back was toward the camera most of the time. I tried to turn around, but it wasn’t always possible.

After the big shots were done, they did some vignettes. The 2nd AD kept me and another fellow to do some deep background work that probably won’t even be seen, but it was fun in any case. If I was quick enough walking forward and they use the vignette of the bicycle going by, maybe, I got a split second of camera time. I doubt it, but hey, I’m always hopeful.

The next vignette happened to be of the dead ducks in the wok. The cameraman loved my gloves, and jewelry plus a gold leaf glass the prop guys had given me to hold. When Joss came over to set up the scene, I could tell he wasn’t sure if he could direct us extras. If a director directs a non-union actor, that actor can get an upgrade. I’m in SAG, but he had no way of knowing that and it wasn’t like I was gonna announce it. Anyhow, as we stood there and he framed the shot, he said that the shot was all about the ducks and stopped short of specifically saying he didn’t want faces.

That was nice of him, I thought. I hope it wasn’t because he looked at me and thought I was ugly!

Anyhow, he did specifically say that he wanted to see hands, and fabric and drinks and pointed at my hands, fabric and drink for emphasis as he looked at me, too. It was nice to have been noticed by Joss, I just wish I hadn’t been in the company of imbeciles.

They only did one take with the dead ducks. The guy ‘cooking’ them wasn’t much of an actor and couldn’t handle working with tongs very well. Dammit. My one chance of getting my weird hands on screen with some dead ducks and it got botched. Ah well. Better luck next time?

As the walnut powder smoke cleared from my eyes from that darn wok scene, I stepped away, thankful that I wouldn’t be bothered with that stuff anymore. The crew was moving to a different vignette and I just happened to look up and see Nathan Fillion looking at me. I, of course, instantly wondered if my proverbial fly was down or something. I ‘checked’ and it wasn’t. I’d just caught him staring off into lalaland.

After the next vignette was done [which I wasn’t in], the 2nd AD released me, telling me to go to the prop table and turn in my sunglasses and that darn gold glass I’d been holding all day. As I near my destination, I have to pass by monitorland where the directors chairs are set up for the lead actors. And once again, I caught Nathan Fillion looking at me. I liked it. I liked it a lot, but let’s face it. I was wearing a Betty Boop wig and a bunch of weird stuff that while I might wear on the street on any given day, I certainly wouldn’t wear it all at once! I know he was just marveling at the costumery and I’m really glad I got to use some of my own stuff. It all became souvenirs of the wonderful, but sadly typical time I had as an extra on Serenity.

I’m praying there will be a next time…I’ve got my fingers crossed at least!

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