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Friday, January 18, 2002
Booked
I got a page from Angelique Midthunder at
Central Casting
for my being booked on the
TV sitcom
Three Sisters
(which
[at the time aired]
on NBC
Tuesdays nights at 8:30pm).
"Do you know someone on that show...?" she asked, more pleasantly and curiously than suspiciously.
Unfortunately, she had paged me mere moments before a Small Claims Court Appeal was starting, so I could not go into detail as to how my cousin Kevin had suggested I send my headshot to a friend of his who does work both on Three Sisters and the current Ellen series.
I simply replied hastily, "Well, a friend of a friend."
She gave me the details-recording number to call after 6pm.
About 5:50pm, I wondered if the recording might already be available, so I called it and got my information.
There were two calls times:
11:00am for the Sportsbar atmosphere;
10:00am for Baseball Card Auction atmosphere.
Whoops.
When I was booked I had not been told in which catagory I was.
So I just figured I'd call Angelique at 6:05pm and ask.
I went to set my pager's alarm to that effect when suddenly in my hand it startingly went off.
It was the very considerate Angelique re-confirming my booking dates, my catagory (I would be in the baseball card auction scene), and my call time!
So she pretty much gave every scrap of information in for which I was to call (and already had...).
I was booked/scheduled to go to the Lankershim gate at
Universal Studios,
to stage 43, Monday the 21st at 10am.
Attire was to be casual, but I figured I'd best bring along a selection or three.
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Monday, January 21, 2002
On the lot; rehearsal
I bussed down and arrived a tad early and good thing too.
I had no problem at the pedestrian gate; the security guard typed in my name and it printed out a Day Pass with my name on it, the show title, etc.
He gave me a map of the studio backlot and yellow-highlighted Soundstate 43 on how to walk there.
Meanwhile, cars entering the lot had two security guards using mirrors to look beneath at the chasis...
I found the soundstage without a problem, as tour trams whizzed by on James Stewart Street, etc. (a few people even waved to me: I did not notice if anyone was taking photos of me).
It reminded me of the work I did with
Paul Pruett
on the Universal Studios backlot New York Street set for the
award-winning Stray Dog
Sweden-aired commercial for
Volvo.
I found a very pretty A.D. (whose name I neglected to learn) who brought me into Soundstage 43 (on the next soundstage they were shooting an episode of the primetime crime drama Crossing Jordan).
Once inside I was invited to "sit in the Staples center:" a set of eighty-five seats done up apparently to look like the basketball stadium (while it was reported to me that at least one of my
Fox Sport Interactive commercials has aired on its Jumbo-Vision screen,
I've not been to the Staples Center myself).
Eventually as more background showed up, we were met by A.D. Wendy, who signed us all in.
It was explained to us that today we were also there to help the cameras and actors rehearse for two others scenes towards the actual filming the following evening.
We were also told that
Jay Sandrich
was this episode's director.
At one point lovely Three Sisters star and startlingly rail-thin
Dyan Cannon
(who plays Honey, the mother of the show's sisters),
walked by and waved to us all with a cheery, "Hi, everybody!"
It didn't take us long to find craft services.
It also didn't take long for me finally to find and meet Al, whose invaluable help had me land this gig.
Very friendly and personable, we discussed the industry and such, and his mentioning that possibly the people over at
The Ellen Show
(on which Al also works), might book me as a teacher
(as in, to sit in the teachers' lounge scene[s]...).
[That never happened.]
We'd arrived at 10:00am and we broke for an hour lunch at 1:00pm.
With no actual meal provided to us, we were left to our own devices.
I chose to wander around much of the lot.
Al had told me about the studio store and its substantial discounts, but I was correct that being Martin Luther King Day, it was closed.
So instead I tried to see if I could make it over to the New York Street on which I worked on the Volvo commercial.
It turned out it was far enough I might have been late getting back,
but I did come to the "rickety bridge," and watched inobtrusively as the tram took across the tour: I had to listen for their screams.
As they would not have the people for the Staples sequence until the next day, we filled in for them so the cameras knew where to be, where to move, where Dyan Cannon would be, etc.
After that scene, same thing; we were taken to the SportsBar scene where we filled seats for focusing, camera moves, etc.
Peter Bonerz
began using the dart board at one point as he had nothing else to do.
At one point he bcaked up and bonked into the chair in which I was sitting.
He casually turned and looked down at me as though I were something at the bottom of his shoe, and he returned to tossing darts (with some good groupings).
Finally after dozens of false starts ("Okay, auction scene next!"
"Wait - no - make it five minutes and then we'll get to the auction scene"), we set up the baseball card auction scene.
The twenty-five seats encompassed the background performres, three series regulars
(well, two actually, plus the guest star),
and a kid who was bidding as a shill.
The man in the front row bidding was Just Selected to bid.
I don't think he was a day player.
The rehearsal of the sequence didn't take long.
Director Jay gave his notes to his crew, essentially what walls to move for better camera coverage for the next day.
We were given our 2:00pm calltime for the next day and we were wrapped at 6:12pm.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Shoot
For my 2:00pm call I arrived at Universal Studios at 1:30am.
Wendy was quite busy checking in the 100 plus people for the Staples scene.
I waited until she got them all settled, then with a few others from the baseball card auction scene we signed in
(I was there at 1:45 and got my 2:00pm voucher at 3:00pm).
Once again we rehearsed and then filmed various angles of our scene.
These were "coverage shots."
The live audience that evening would see the scene filmed live as well, but different angles.
We broke for dinner at 6:00pm, this time a substantial meal was provided: roast beef, string beans, rice, etc.
The theme park was closed; my only shot had been the day before.
Around 6:30pm I realized that the audience was being brought in around 6:00pm.
Recalling my own audience attending, I went to see if I could watch the "example episode."
Generally this is an earlier episode most likely not yet aired, which gives the audience a "starting point" for being in good spirits and laughing at the actual episode they watch being filmed that evening.
I sat in the auction scene seats, out of the way, watching the Staples scene being shot live, as the two sets faced each other.
One the scene was done, those background performers were wrapped.
Our baseball card auction scene only took five or so takes to do before moving on.
I watched with growing dread the passage of time.
Normally I've no problem with overtime
(personally I love it),
but no one with whom I'd spoken lived anywhere close to me for me to wrangle a ride home.
(As the cameras faced us),
I was seated directly behind and between the male lead and guest star
Jeff Garlin
playing his brother Joel.
We were wrapped at 11:06pm, giving us the slightest hiccough of overtime, but as I had begun to anticipated, it was just late enough for me to miss the last buses back to Van Nuys...
I began walking from Soundstage 43 on the Universal Studios backlot at 11:15pm.
According to Yahoo maps, the distance
(from the front gate to home)
is 7.7 miles: during which the temperature maintained its slow but inexorable descent.
I arrived home at 1:40am...
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Monday, January 28, 2002
Fast payment
Picking up my post at my rental box I found to my surprise a bank draft "payment" for my Three Sisters work already!
Looking at the date thereon, it was for the second day.
If that was the case...
Upon arrival home, sure enough, in the post I picked up the other day was for the first day, making this the fastest time in which I'd ever been compensated!
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Tuesday, February 12 2002 and beyond
Airing and update/s
The
Three Sisters
episode
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
aired February 12, 2002, at least that was the the date of the listing past the final episode anyone bothered dating at its IMDB entry.
I saw it air, so I know it did.
I cannot
guarantee
it aired on the 12th, as it always might have been postponed a week, but most likely it aired the week after the previous episode.
There is no hint of any video/DVD release, so that two-season series has passed into the archives of television history.
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