night moves

it's almost midnight.

we're almost done with our first location.

but not yet.

and then we get to move.

to the next location.

to a bar. an actual bar. with drinking patrons.

downtown.

in the rain.

where 15 (drunk) extras wait for our arrival.

and then the cops arrived

actually, it was a sheriff's deputy.

he showed up on set looking for a guy on crew.

to give him paperwork. or maybe a warrant. not sure. but it didn't stop filming, which is all any of us care about.

fun morning.

grand central station

we set up an 'office' at every film location. it usually consists of three or four of us hunkered down at our laptops. we keep on working so the film can keep on filming, and we take whatever setup we can get.

so far, we've been on a picnic table under a tree, in an auditorium with the cast of 'hairspray' rehearsing behind us, in a board room flush with furniture from 1987, an empty store in a strip mall, the upstairs private dining room at a country club, and an out-of-business furniture showroom.

today, we're in a quiet, cool room with four large, round tables with white tablecloths and white chairs. it's called the 'terrace room' and as offices go, this one is pretty nice, except that, for some reason it's become the hot spot for activity.

it began this morning when the women's tennis team at the club decided to have their 'after match snack wrap' in this room since we were filming on their patio. they were sweet and talked about lots things like the olympics in beijing and salmonella poisoning. then one of the girls playing a stripper came in because she needed a good place to do her yoga. she stretched in a couple corners, but found the best place to be right inside the door. one of the grips decided to play some upbeat, jaunty songs on the piano. one of the actors fell asleep on a love seat, snoring loudly. i walked back in from lunch to find lights set up so that another actor could film an audition, but it took longer than he intended because the snoring kept interrupting him.

really, it's like any other office.

paranoia strikes deep in the heartland

i didn't sleep last night. i tried reading, watching tv (two and a half men), reading a book on kindle, taking a shower, closing my eyes, journaling, and crying.

the reason for my insomnia might be that i had too much sugar and no actual dinner.

or it might be that, as i was leaving the set, one member of the crew said something to me that made me terrified that the entire cast and crew hated me and i would never work again and that i had completely done something wrong that i would forever be blacklisted.

what, you ask, was the conversation that gave me such pain and anxiety? it was thus:

me: okay, i'm headin out. see you at 9 tomorrow.
crew member: 8.
me: 8? but the schedule -
crew member: you know what? get there when you want. whatever.

i left in tears.

this morning i approached this person and asked if there was an issue with my arrival time for the past two weeks. he looked a) confused at my approach, and b) terrified of the crazy in my eyes. he said he was just tired the night before and didn't even remember the conversation, but he certainly didn't mean anything.

so...

clearly, stress, lack of sleep, and an insane schedule has had no affect on me.

the inevitable

last night, amid the chaos of the continuity collapse and the world ending, the production designer approached me and asked if i had ever received photos of the lead actor as a child. i had not. nor did i realize that it was my responsibility more than sending out emails to him to ask.

so this morning, the director came to me and asked to talk and questioned i wasn't on top of this. i almost cried. i was frozen in a non-answer.

and then i attempted to fix the situation.

but seriously, it's inevitable. whenever fifty people are working insane hours for an insane amount of days on end, it's inevitable that something goes wrong. and it's inevitable that it's your fault at some point.

and this morning it was mine.

tension and fun

late last night, it was realized that a scene shot earlier in the day was completely out of sequence, costume-wise. which means we have to reshoot.

it was crazy. and quiet and angry whispering and grabbing of notebooks and exhausted 'thank you's' to the people still in the dark to the entire thing.

...funny thing - it upset the cast and crew more than the fact that a human being in the cast had to be rushed to the emergency room earlier that day.

she's a lady

the lady cop is back. wearing riding pants and boots.

?