A weekend very looonnnngggg

This is the first weekend of March.
I was booked for the whole weekend for 2 days shoot as background for a new tv pilot.
It was a rainy weekend so I was glad the shoot was indoors.

The first day was actually kind of fun.
Not the call time though, call time was 7am in downtown, which means I need to wake up at 6 at the latest.
But I still went and parked my car in the garage they said to park in. And arrived at 7:10.
Then I was in a blue temporary tent stand thing out in the parking lot with about ten others. The tent was leaking drops of rain from time to time and we had to be careful to not get wet. It was very cold.
But the good thing was there was hot catering breakfast.
Nice!
I ate and we changed into office attire as they wanted us to. I had my blazing pink jacket on. Good and warm.

Finally we got on set, which is inside the office building that I think they rented.
The shoot was already on, with the main cast.
I was going to just walk around the office while the main actors talked in the first scene.

Second scene we did a "chaotic" office, with me fighting with another employee, spilling paper everywhere. That was wild and fun. All of us was just improvising, but it probably looked pretty nice.

I met 2 girls, one is very loud and one is giggling all the time. We kind of talked a little, but I brought my laptop again like last time (see last post) so I can work on things such as my blog! hehe
But the girl warns me to be careful because of possible theft. I said got it. And so I was hauling the laptop with me from the set to the resting area downstairs, back and forth all day. Yeah I don't know if I want to bring my laptop again...

As background actors, there are a lot of waiting times. People just sit on benches and swipe their phones until their phones die. Some people talk. A group of African Americans are chatting loudly. They got some funny jokes.

In the afternoon we shot a scene where the boss talked to everyone, which was super funny. I think this is definitely a funny show if it makes it.

Unfortunately I had to leave early and I already told them before I booked the job. So I did, and then found my car stuck in the closed parking lot. The parking lot closed at 4pm!! and it was 5:45pm.
So I cannot drive my car home because there was no one to open the garage! I was a little panicky. The crew tried to help me, but he had to wait until the assistant producer was out, which meant I waited until the shoot is done, so there was no point in leaving early.

The guy was nice to help me, but he couldn't find anyone to open the garage anyway, so he suggested to pay for my uber. So until Monday, I would have no car... But he would pay for my uber..

So I ubered to my meeting with another TV show producer, and fortunately they were still there when I got to the cafe in Hollywood. And meeting ended very soon after that. So I bought some dessert and ubered to my friend's house all the way across the city, for the birthday potluck for everyone who has a birthday from January-March. And randomly met an actress in the crowd. So it is true that in LA if you throw a stone, you would hit an actor.. Yes I had a full day...

But I didn't stay long and didn't drink, because a 6am morning next day awaited me.

Day 2 started with me Ubering from home to the set. Ate breakfast and talked with one black lady she was younger than me and came from Georgia. Her accent is so cool.
Then it was endless waiting. The whole day we only did 1 scene, which was epic but short.
It was the all hell break loose at the office, and we were to throw things around, fight each other, and do all the crazy things.
That was fun but I kicked a chair too hard and hurt my big toe really bad. It was bleeding lightly. And I was limping after the scene. Hey talk about sacrificing for art.

The good thing about it was that we had no other scene so until 5pm we just sat there and did nothing. There were a lot of snacks so we just ate and I read my book. Many people were just hanging and talking. The two girls I met yesterday did not show up today even though we are supposed to do both days.

We got off, and the producer ubered me home again. And then I had to uber back Monday morning to pick up my car.
What an experience!! It was cool but I didn't want to do it again...

First time on set at a super professional movie shoot

This was 1/26, on a Saturday. It was a great day, for the most part.
I was to be a background actor in a feature film. Later I found out it is a very serious legitimate production. I had to say it that way because, of course there are many productions that are kind of different. Maybe made in their backyard, with some friends, neighbors staring, etc.

But this was a nice full cast and crew movie. I was the first extra there. And I saw a guy stocking up a table with food. Yes there would be a whole array of food provided the whole time. Yay for that.

We didn't start to shoot until like an hour or so after call time. I am glad I was chosen to sit next to the person next to the main guy. So I was pretty much in the frame for many scenes. Or maybe just my shoulder but that's ok.

We are shooting at a classroom, pretending to take a test. It was a long time ago that I was in such a setting. But I did what I can. I looked at the physics exam that was passed down to me and that I was to be "taking", and I would probably get an F on that because I did not know any of the answers. Oh my, the falling object, the salt water density... I had not seen these phrases since high school! Reminded me of the bad memories of high school...  I just hope my smirk when I recalled my physics class wasn't recorded on tape.

The story is about a deaf girl and a guy who has an interest in her. I am not sure about copyright stuff so I will not write the title yet, until the movie's out.

I wore a pink sweater. The stylist asked me if I brought another set of clothes to change. I did but it was white, which she didn't like either. So I ended up just wearing my sweater. I wonder if pink was not a good color for the film...

Anyway, I was just "student #1". So there wasn't a lot of work, and sometimes the wait time was very long. The few of us background actors would talk for a bit.
But I was sooooo glad I brought the laptop as a prop. Now I can write about my camino trip blog which I am writing in Chinese. (I walked the Camino de Santiago last year, which was a blast and I will share more here if I have time) (But I'd have to finish my taxes first that's higher on my list of to do's lol).

Lunch was burgers and they used gas burners to heat them up so they're hot!(no kitchen) So nice as it was kind of cold and we were waiting outside. Love the professional crew!

And then I was called in all of a sudden, and put in front of the camera. I was super nervous because there was no prior notice! The producer was just like, ok you know what to do right? I was just like NO!  And they laughed. So it was a joke... lol ok. So I was to do a "roll my eyes" move. I did it, and they told me to do it again, more discreetly. I did it again, and they told me I was done. Phew, that was nerve wrecking because there was no rehearsal. But was that ok?? Later I heard 4 people were doing the roll eyes move. I wonder if mine was good or not.

So. That was my 2 seconds of fame. And I went back to blog writing.

The day was from 10am all the way until 7 or 8 pm. Very long day for me but apparently this is a short day. People were getting restless as some background extras didn't have much exposure at all so they just pretty much sat the whole day. I met a girl named Rachel and we had a nice talk.

By the end I was just so tired and I had to pay respect to everyone at the set. The lighting, equipment, camera, sound, producer, actors, everyone was working diligently without complaints even though they must all be tired. They are a good crew/cast!

At the end they wanted to record some background tracks (voice only), so they asked us to form groups. And they asked my group of 3 girls, who obviously do not know anything about physics, to talk about physics! Good choice you producer! And the "fake" conversation was soooo dry I was almost laughing out loud. I think everyone might be because we were just like,
hey did you do the homework?
Yes.
It was so hard.
Yes it was
.........
Why on earth would you asking 3 apparently nonscholar girls to talk about physics? I felt sorry for them but our clip was probably unusable.

The previous 3 guys got to talk about parties and theirs was a lot more entertaining. I was jealous they got the good topic to talk about. But then they said something about this slutty girl messed up the party house so bad so sick. It got a little wild, so theirs was probably unusable too Hahah.

So I started this day in warm Cali sunshine and ended when the stars came out and it got chilly. But I liked today's work. Hope I'll see it on screen soon. I will definitely update on this blog when it's out!!