Pelham 456

(originally from April 19,2008)
I was on the set of Pelham 123 all day on Saturday. It was an extremely early call time of 5:30 am. The worst part was that set was all the way down town by the wall street area, which is a huge drag to get to, especially when the trains go at a snails pace.

I got up at 3:30 am, barely getting any sleep as I was worried I would not hear the alarm. I forced myself out the door by 4am, walking into the dark streets and praying that I would not get attacked on the way to the subway.

The streets were desolate, save for one or two stragglers. I got to the subway and there was one guy intoxicated in the corner and another foreigner waiting for the "R" train which at that time never comes until 6am. Though he thought that the drunk guy would give him better information, then it's your problem.

After 45 minutes waiting on the subway platform, a light was coming through the tunnel and the "E" for Evil train was approaching. Late at night this "E" train goes on the local tracks and is the only way in to the city.

The reason why it is indeed "EVIL" is because this train, because it runs all night, collects all the riff-Raff's and the homeless who set up their kitchen and dining room sets in the subway cars. The more they dwell the more putrid the stench gets on these trains. This is why if you get a car that is empty, and the other one packed with people, there is a reason for it.

Anyways, when I entered the subway I was very surprised to see a fellow Background actor, this older man, on the same car. He must have come from 3 stops earlier from Roosevelt ave Stop. This was great because I sure did not want to be alone on that subway.

When your on the "E" train, something always happens. This time the train stopped for quite a while at W. 4th station in Manhattan. We looked out the doors and there was this black guy in handcuffs, pinned down with his face to the floor by an undercover officer. Probably a drug bust! It's good to know that the NYPD is working and making arrests at 4am!

We finally got off the train and at our stop at World Trade Center. It exits out to the Wall Street are. Normally this area is jam packed with people, though at this time it is a desolate ghost town. As we walked out, I saw my friend Julia talking to a security guard and asking directions. I called out to her and the three of us ventured off to the set holding area which was at a restaurant called The Mercantile Grill on 126 Pearl St.

I was thinking when I first got the address that there would not be so many people considering it's a restaurant. However this restaurant had 3 floors with over 35 seating capability on each floor.

The SAG holding was on the first two floors and of course Non-Sag was all the way on the top where we had to climb all these stairs to get to that we needed a defibrillator by the time we got to the top. Okay so it wasn't that bad. Still at 5 am, walking up any flights off stairs can be hazardous to your health!

They did have a breakfast buffet provided for both Sag and non-Sag outside though by the time we walked the food upstairs to our table, we were soon called to go to wardrobe. The wardrobe line was another adventure indeed. The line started outside on the other side of the street and "snaked" all the way inside to 3 wardrobe people.

The thing was Myself as many others were cast as business casuals, so unless you are wearing a hot pink fedora with a matching boa, I don't see why this line took 2 hours to get through. It really was a long time down there as I got into wardrobe while it was still pitch dark and it was daylight by the time I got through it.

Finally after that process was over, the P.A. s hauled us over to another holding area which was closer to set. This holding area had no food. Though they did have cases of baby Poland Spring water. Then we sat around and sat some more. This holding area was in the underground of a mall complex and I'm sure that this area is highly congested during the regular work day.


After couple of hours went by and they brought us all upstairs to set. On the list I was originally cast as a "parent" and had a low number of 10, so I thought for sure this was going to be waivered. They booked me as for this part, though I had no kids plus I got no waivers either!

When we got outside, nobody had any real parts save for being cops,spectators, journalists, paparazzis, and general non-descript "fillers" as the majority of us were. . I thought that was pretty funny. All the cops of course were SAG. In fact a friend of mine Theresa, who I used to get rides with to some sets in Jersey last year is now SAG. Many people, and friends of mine are either SAG eligible or have just begun attending "SAG University".

It's SO depressing when you see how many people have made it to "the other side" and you are still left behind. I feel at times as if I failed a grade and am being held back and I have been placed with the retarded kids on the short bus! To make you feel even worse about the waivers, you hear about these foreigner's who don't speak English, just got off the boat and get 3 waivers within starting this business! Amazing!

As for the rest of the day, it was really long with the scene they were shooting. The P.A.s had to deal with the picture cars, real traffic, and on-lookers/tourists. The scene involved having the mayor of New York driving in with his huge entourage in a line of motorcades. The cars stop by the MTA building where the driver gets out of the car and opens the door to the first car where the mayor is in. The mayor who gets out of the car is none other than James Gandolfini

He aims towards the entrance of the MTA building where he is swarmed by paparazzi, journalists and us the spectators all yelling out in outrage. He walks briskly through surrounded by his entourage walks by us all as we are all barricaded back by those "Police do not cross" lines. A couple of the journalists stop him in his tracks screaming out "what about the bomb". The mayor, makes a quick stop and shouts "There is no bomb"! and continues walking quickly to the entrance of the building to get out of this mess.

This was the main scene for the entire day. What took so long of course was shooting this from different angles. The other scene with Denzel Washington was much shorter. I didn't even know he was there. That's how short that scene was.. As for the other scene...

We ended up wrapping at 7pm. Considering we started at 5:30am, that was a really long day. They did feed us in a buffet style food line. Food was decent, though not A plus. Perhaps a C minus. I should be a food critic on these sets! LOL.

The only good thing about a day shoot is that you know they have to "wrap it up" before the sun goes down. So it was. We were there shooting this scene until they (Film people) soaked up every last inch of sun to get the shot they wanted. Some people literally soaked up the sun.

A couple of my friends who were cast as paparazzis were right in the front, all day long. This of course meant they were in the sun all day long. Getting close to the last hour, I could see my friend Owen's forehead beaming off a bright red hue. I'm so glad I stuck in the background by the shade as I can't handle the sun too well. I am pale and I want to stay that way. In fact near the late afternoon hours, this gay Irish friend of mine who also does not do the sun so well, kept inching back every time the sun would increase on our side of the street!

On the set of Duplicity, JFK

(from April 15th, 2008)

I worked on the set of "Duplicity" this past week. It's a feature film starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti(Played 'Pig Vomit" in the Stern Movie, Private Parts).

Last week we were on this movie where they were shooting a huge auditorium scene where Paul was the CEO of this fortune 500 company and we were the shareholders. There were 1500 extras there and NO food at all!!! The only concession they made for us was water from the Hudson river.

This week I was booked on this movie again through another agency. This is one of those bullshit movies where they say that if you have been on it once, you can't work on it again deals. So when I called up the agency, they asked if I worked on it before, of course I said no. I knew it was a cheap movie, though I need the work and money.

This time we were booked to be at JFK airport, Terminal 4 to play passengers.

We were told to bring our own suitcases and carry on luggage. Smart people brought tiny bags and purses with newspaper fillings inside the bag to make it light like Shakura did posing in this picture:

The "newbie"s to the business of course brought the biggest and heaviest suitcase imaginable, thinking of course they would get wavered for their effort. Of course that never happens, or rarely.

Our call time wasn't bad though. Surprisingly our call time was for 8:00am bus pick up in Manhattan to take us to JFK. Another nice surprise was the bus was a SAG bus with a VIP lounge in the back! This was So different form the Non-Sag bus. On the Non-Sag bus, it's like the "Fred Flinstone" express where it's rickety and falling apart with no "stewardess" service.

On the SAG bus, you felt like you were going on tour with Bon Jovi as it was luxurious and cushiony. In fact as we were going through the mid-town tunnel through to get to Queens, it was such a smooth, clean ride it felt like you were in First class.

So it was nice to experience the nice SAG bus for a change, even though there was no "Bus Stewardess" on duty to take our orders of martinis. So we got to the airport at record time. It was the usual cavalcade of people and of course the usual segregation of Sag and Non-Sag.

However when we got there, there was No breakfast food set up at all. So me and a couple of friends went downstairs to purchase a coffee downstairs in the food courts which of course had airport prices. Even McDonald's at the airport is expensive. So I figured I may as well get good quality and purchased a corn muffin and medium coffee at the Bon Pain which was Manhattan prices.

By the time we get back upstairs to the holding area, which by the way was so confined and tight with all those people and trying to fit these bulk suitcases, the PA calls for lunch at 11:00am. We saw the catering setting up this mini-buffet which I was thinking was in no way enough for 200 people. Sure enough the PA makes the announcement that there is not enough food for non-SAG and that we would have to purchase our own food in the expensive food court.

We were like Oh great, Non-SAG is making 75 dollars for 14 hours, while SAG clears over $200.00 with meal penalties and we are denied food.

Then the PA really makes us non-union feel like crap when he says, "This is why people join the union!" We were like "Thanks, than give us a waiver so we can get into the union.

After an hour once the SAG line went through and the food was sitting there getting cold, the crew took pity on us and said we could take the remaining scraps of food. We were like gee thanks for letting us have a piece of macaroni to split with 200 people! How gracious of you!

Soon after wards, we were called to set which basically consisted us going up and down escalators and stairs. The Sag got the escalators and of course us non-Sag got the stairs. The only good thing about where I was positioned was that I was near the end of the rotation of people to go down the stairs, so I didn't have to go down and climb back up every time.

That was the extent of excitement that day. We saw Clive Owen and no Julia of course. She is too busy having a million dollar breakfast and manicure and can't share her scraps with the non-SAG players.

Seriously this has to be the cheapest set I have worked on in a while. I mean I could see when there are 1500 people on set, but with a set of 200 and you can't feed us. Ya right.

The only good thing was that we were wrapped at a decent time of 4pm. Could have been way worse I suppose. Still No waivers after working on all these crappy movies.

Yet I am hearing how these 20 year olds get on these sets, smile, wink their eye and get 4 waivers. I just don't get this business anymore. It's SO depressing.

Sigh :(

Gloomy Gossip Girls

I got booked on that CW show, “Gossip Girls” for 2 days last week.

I was really happy and excited to get the call as I have been trying to get on this show forever as background, and I know they give SAG waivers out like candy. The other great news was that they shoot over by the Silver Cup Studios in Queens which takes me 15 minutes to get there.

I get there on Thursday, sign in with the PA to get my voucher, and grab a table where a few of my background friends were already occupying a table. We all had that look of “Yes finally our day has come!” That is to get a SAG waiver.

Because this show is under a SAG contract with AFTRA wages, waivers are given out like candy. We have heard from all our friends who have been on this set that they all got “waivered” for basically showing up on set.

Well wouldn’t you know it, the only time that I even get booked on “Gossip Girls” Production decides NOT to give the waivers. I was SO upset on Thursday after getting this news.

EVERYONE that has been booked on this show, and I mean everyone has received a waiver on this set just for getting out of bed! You can imagine how excited I was when I got booked for this the night before; just to be shot down like this. It was a total devastation. I thought for once I was on my way to getting into SAG and that my days of being a non-Union loser was over.

I was SO angry that I sent a nasty e-mail to Grant Wilfley Casting, mind you using a fake name, and blasting them about how they give waivers out to 20 year olds like candy, and how they can't even give us one.

Of course after hearing this news, we were trapped in holding area for 13 hours until they released us. The scene was for this Rock Concert where Lisa Loeb was the starring guest. We, the extras were cast as audience members. They used the exact same set that they use for the show “30 Rock”. So the set wasn’t bad, and I must say the food was amazing!

The spread they had has to be the ultimate best food ever. They had your typical buffet, though it was fit for a King's wedding feast. They had steak, chicken, a huge slab of pork on the cutting board. The salad station was this mountain of salads from your Caesar to Fancy roasted asparagus and peppers salad. This was gourmet to the nines.

Being the fact we were booked for the second day, and after learning that we were not getting any waivers, we decided to cash in on the food, and brought tupper wear and ziplock bags with us.

I came there to set with an empty bag, and I left with 20 pound bag loaded up with food. For one thing they were going to throw the food away, so we were doing them a favor. I thought I was being bad. This one Woman brought an empty suitcase and loaded it up!

You know I am just SO pissed about the waivers. I would rather have zero food and get the waiver. It was such a slap in the face and an embarrassment not to get waivered on the Gossip Girls.

It’s times like this that I wonder if I am wasting my time and will be in a walker wearing depends undergarments by the time I ever get one measly SAG waiver.

Sigh

CA=(

My Day in Prison. Law and Order SVU

(originally from March 13th, 2008)

I had an extremely early call time of 6 am to be on a bus in Manhattan for 7am to go to the Women’s Correctional facility in Westchester to tape an episode of Law and Order SVU. I managed to get there on time, because I would really hate for the bus to leave without me. I just got on the bus and I had my friend Julia saving me a seat. That was a relief because I didn’t recognize half the people on the bus and didn’t want to sit with any “butchy” lesbians. In fact, save for the bus driver and PA, the entire bus was reeking of estrogen.

Normally this would be hitting the jackpot for the male bus driver, though I really doubt half of the Women on that bus were into the male anatomy. So off we were on the way to WestChester to a real prison facility. I immediately made friends with this Woman who called herself “Poppi”, who was a very proud Lesbian. At first I was intimidated by her as she was an older Woman, and I am not into bull-dykes or Lesbians. Though she was very colorful and sociable character that really was fun and outgoing, you had to like her.

We get to the Westchester facility where the entire place is fenced and barbed wired up. Then Poppi yells out “This is your last chance to get rid of your contrabands!” We all start to laugh and then one of the guards comes on the bus to check our ID’s for security purposes. Then Pappy gets all “Shifty” and tells us that she has been in the joint for 5 years for selling a kilo (of cocaine). I’m like great of all the people I end up sitting next to. Well I guess I was lucky to have “Poppi” on my side.

We got ourselves situated up in holding and we soon gravitated to one table in holding and became "Poppi's Posse". We started posing for pictures which were funny though came rather naturally while in the “orange suits”. Poppi of course was our fearless leader. Here is a picture of “Poppi’s Crew”.

The scene was set up in the indoor basketball court/recreation room. All of us were dressed in those orange jumpsuits. Some of us were by the basketball hoops, and others were situated by the backgammon and trivia tables. They also had a Yahtzee game there. I haven’t seen that or played it since my youth.

On set, it became the usual milling around and waiting for something to happen. When you are bored you look for people or situations to amuse you. There was this one SAG player who looked really nasty. She had that really worn out look with massive ingrained wrinkles probably from over-exposure to the sun. She really did have that hard look of a convict. In fact we thought she may be an escapee! Not only did she look the part, but she acted like a convict and bitch like she owned the basketball court!

That skanky looking bitch really owed up to her title when we had finally had a break. There was one table set up with trays of Ham and turkey slices and huge slices of rye and white bread. Also on the table were grapes, and some minor snacks like skittles.

Since we were down on set for several hours, when they yelled out “break”, you can imagine this tsunami of “orange suits” all piling up the stairs to get to the food. I admit the way they had it set up was ridiculous. They had the one big table in the middle of the corridor eight by the prison cells. The SAG players were coming in from one end of the table as the Non-Sag players were coming in from the other end. It was a huge “tranny” mess.

Then the really harsh looking SAG player showed her true colors and owned up to her demeanor. She started complaining how she could not get to the food table and when she finally did she got into a huge scrap with this other over the “prison” food.

Once the fight finally settled down, I got to the table and investigated to see what the fuss was all about. They were fighting over a piece of ham. I really don’t get it. It wasn’t like it was quality ham like Boars head or something like that. It was more like a cheap PathMark sloppy and slimy slices of ham. Plus there was still an entire tray of Turkey. I personally would “kill” for a quality boars head slice of ham, Pathmark brand not so much.

Shortly after we were summoned by the drill sergeant to come back to set. A wave of Orange suits filed down back to set. I tell you they should have taped the “ham incident” as it was far more entertaining than the actual scene.

Luckily it turned out to be a decent day and the majority of us were signed out while it was still daylight. After spending a day in prison I realized that I never want to do anything wrong to be locked up in a prison cell. It’s a really dreary place. The only good thing about this prison cell was that we were released and at the end of the day. Let me tell you it is a great feeling, this thing called freedom and having a slice of ham of my choice.

A.