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Tuesday December 22, 2009
The Universe insists...
I was booked again on the
Amish Grace
shoot, this time to play part of a news crew.
Farther along in its production, it now had its IMDB entry.
To my relief the recording did convey I could make it to this shoot, it being "only" up on Chatsworth.
The 158 bus I take regularly took me right from the block by where I'm staying up to Devonshire, the location being a private home
to which I could walk from Devonshire.
I arrived at 7:20am for my 8am calltime.
I found the house but there was zero activity, and being at the time for which others had a 7:30am calltime, I was concerned I was at the right place.
I found the trailers hidden around the corner, and the basecamp being accessible from the back of the same property.
After my scrambled eggs and bacon breakfast, I procured my voucher.
Wardrobe approved my khaki vest over my green shirt, it being noticed briefly I'd been fitted as an Amish man.
I pointed out being released from that aspect due to my inability to be able to get to that location.
In holding
(a half open tent being buffeted by frigid Santa Ana winds),
Richard
recognized me from the episode of
Dirt
on which we'd worked as paparazzi.
Mostly he remembered me as since that Dirt shot just over two years earlier, he'd been relaying to others the anecdote I'd relayed to him, regarding my audition experience for my
first SAG principal commercial booking,
regarding the casting director's assistant requesting Star Trek outfits, when she should have been saying Star Wars.
I gave him the promo card for
Strictly Background
as well as my personal information, and he made good on his word, that night adding me on
Facebook.
We got propped up; I was on News Crew #2 as a boom operator, though on set I got swapped out and a taller fellow did that.
I became a newspaper reporter, notepad in hand, standing more to the center of the group than at the side
(I'm relatively behind
Bob Rumnock
as Reporter #1; I'm standing next to Richard who has a video camera on his shoulder).
Accomplished sci-fi project actor
Gary Graham
played Henry Taskey, father-in-law to a school shooter
(we were told this was based on true events, and that it would air on
Lifetime).
Taskey emerges from the house and gives a statement, then wordlessly returns to the house despite the predictable barrage of questions from the throng of news people, including but not limited to Jill and her partner Danny
(good natured
Fay Masterson
and
Eugene Byrd),
who were also on hand.
After finishing the brief scene
(the day would consist of two scenes with reporters),
about half of us were released, the rest would stay for the second scene.
Considering my immediate situation
(commuting to and from Sherman Oaks and Pasadena, as my friend and roommate was back with her family for the holidays and I care for her dog Dumbledore, whilst my Pasadena friends were on a Hawaiian trip for whom I was checking on and feeding their bird and snake),
I accepted being released, meaning only being paid for the day, no overtime or meal penalties.
We were signed out at noon.
I told the girl about my fitting and that it was to be noted "on my first shoot day" voucher
(my not wearing that outfit for the shoot notwithstanding: the wardrobe fitting still had taken place),
so she had me make a note to that
effect.
Ironically after waiting at the bus stop for fifteen minutes, that hour's 158 bus was running fifteen minutes late.
Once I walked and fed Dumble I headed to Pasadena and after making sure the parrot had fresh food and water, I ate some dinner before heading back to Sherman Oaks for the night.
Checking out the information and background on Amish Grace
(including but not limited to a
Hollywood Reporter
article on the project),
I learned on
Gary Graham's website,
that he is also an acting teacher, even having
published a book on film acting.
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