My Student Film Experience

Yesterday I had a shoot at Santa Monica. I was to play an Asian gangster girl in a remake of Goodfellas.

The call time was 7:15AM. And on google maps it says it takes 30 minutes or so without traffic. So I left my house at 6:45 AM. It was already pretty nah for me, getting no pay for the project and at such an early time. But I was like, I am an actress, so this is part of my job, and tell myself to start driving. However, oh it was bad. I was stuck in traffic jam after traffic jam. I was not planning on so many cars out there at 7AM, both on the highway and off. I was going at 10-20 mph for-ever! the whole 20 some miles, and stopping so I don't run into that truck in front of me.
It ended up taking me 75 minutes. And on top of that, I was worried because I couldn't call in to tell them I would be late because I forgot my cellphone (a result of waking up too early). So I was stuck at 5mph and so frustrated and without breakfast.

When I finally got there, more than an hour later, they haven't started shooting yet! Yeah, I kind of expected that a little. Being a student film and all. But why the early call time??

So I take a deep breath and move on.

In the film, I am to be the cool bystander bartender. So I was just listening to the conversation going on before me and wait to deliver my one line, in which I am making a joke. After the joke we are supposed to all laugh. That morning, that first scene with my one line, they repeatedly shot at least 15 times. Over-the-shoulder shots, reaction shots, close-ups... two or three of each.
And the "laughter" just gets more and more awkward by the take. It was so dry. By the end, I was like OMG this is such a student film! while I go "hahaha".

Because we only had until 1pm, and they have used up 75% of their time on the first scene, they ran out of time to shoot the other scenes. So they made up an easy shortened whatever ending right on the spot. With me covering the dead body with a tablecloth and delivering a sort of punch-line with the word fuck in it. The end.

Even though it was not a particularly fun day, I thought it was a pretty good experience. And I can't wait to see the final product later. After all, how often do you get to be an Asian gangster and cover a "dead" body with a tablecloth and get fake blood on you?

I think that's the whole point.