THiS is FIOS. This IS BIG!

(Originally from August 7, 2008)

The biggest highlight or career thrill that I have had lately had to have been working on this Verizon Fios promo. This wasn't the usual Verizon commercial where we sit around for 6 hours doing nothing and then they bring us to set. "Spock! What -is -this -FIOS??"

This was a promo and we were hired by a marketing company called "Two-dots" in California. The work was distributed thorough Barbra McNamara casting. As this was not a typical Verizon commercial, we had to do more paper work than usual. Drag! We had to join this agency and fill out "profile" forms on-line.

If that wasn't bad enough for computer illiterates, (insert computers for dummies) we had to print out and fax out W-9's (independent Contractor forms) out to California! Since I never fax anything, I kind of don't have a fax machine at home. I never fax anything these days. I felt like I needed an administrative assistant!

We started at 9am on Thursday morning. There were over 300 people lining up to find their name on their list and get situated. After I signed in as many of us do, we gravitate towards the side of the room where they had a breakfast of consisting mini-bagels, mini muffins, and a big urn of coffee on the side. It was decent food, though the portions were small. I guess they don’t want too many “fatties” to represent their product!

After we feasted, we were then divided into groups with color coded wrist bands. The “Orange group” was commissioned to wear the jumpsuits. I was assigned to the “Blue Team” and got the long sleeves cotton shirt which was great to wear in 90 degree day with humidity. I was ready willing and able to SWEAT!

The best "outfit" had to have been the humongous Remote control with all these buttons on it.

In fact that remote should have been the winning prize for females who performed their duties the best. Who needs a Man when you got the remote? So many of us began fondling and stroking this beast of a remote. It was VERY fulfilling.

I tell you that behemoth remote was my motivator. YES! OHH YES!!!
(Insert a few orgasms here) !!!

Once we got into our groups, we were quickly delegated throughout the city to various locations to distribute these fliers which advertised the promotion. You would think it is easy to hand out fliers though it gets exceedingly difficult with humidity and restless people (especially around Wall Street) dodging you to avoid getting the flier.

Of course you get your overly ambitious people who want to hand out these fliers to everyone passing by and literally make you look bad for still having your first stack of fliers and they just went through 4 packs. Some people were just obnoxious placing these fliers on people’s tables that were sitting down and really couldn’t care less for any kind of flier as I’m sure they get fliers shoved in their face on a daily basis.

Some guys were being a smart ass and put a stack of fliers in the postman's bag. Others offered the fliers to anyone including a homeless strolling by with their cart.

Though nobody could hand out fliers as fast and aggressively as the one and only "FLYERMAN".

This guy is such a phenomenon and actually made an independent movie on handing out fliers. He is from Toronto and his real name is Mark Vistorino. I knew this guy when I was really young before I left Toronto to come to New York. I got my very first headshots done by him. Also one of my first sexual experiences. I also recall that he is someone who was SO out there, and eccentric, VERY interesting, and VERY hard to EVER forget. He was also the most self-destructive and mis-understood soul I ever came across. Though his relentless passion to become famous is perhaps something in my early influence that pushed me to come to New York in the first place to follow my dreams, which is why I am mentioning this at all. His energy and enthusiasm to hand out fliers was truly a sight. To think he made a successful career at handing out fliers. Guess anythings possible. Good for him. check out more on him go to:http://www.flyerman.com/pk2.html

...Back to Fios.... After about an hour of distributing the fliers, we get called back to our "command station" which was the holding area in Union Square area. We had lunch, which was a box lunch of sandwiches and wraps. Not a bad lunch considering how cheap Verizon commercials are these days for non-union.

Once lunch was done, all 300 of us were commissioned to go to the heart of Union Square to demonstrate the Fios product. The demonstration was a success as we pretty much took over Union Square.


The way they had it set up was that they had two people hold up this wooden frame with a hole in the middle to represent a TV Flat screen. So we were the background to represent the change of channels. There was this BIG guy (not as big as the remote) on the side pressing the buttons to indicate channel changes.

For instance if the guy pressed a button for Football we would start cheering, if they pressed another button for movies, we put our hands on our faces to do the "home alone" look. Basically we were the TV and we were HDNY, with REAL digital effects! It was kind of cool. I tell you he should have changed the channel to the “O” channel for “Orgasm” b/c every time I was looking at that remote, I was feeling great! Again, who needs the Man, when you got the remote!


Our demonstration was interesting and I guess you could not have missed it being a passerby with all the people in one group doing Karate Chops simultaneously. However there was another demonstration just behind us which resulted in an NYPD arrest of this black guy trying to steal this salt and pepper shakers designed for drug use.

The rest of the day was a total wash-up, at least for the blue team. I was then sent to Bryant Park with my group. There was nothing to do or no point of handing out fliers there as there was a huge line wrapped around Bryant Park with kids and their families stationed and camping out for the Jonas Brothers Concert overnight for the next day.

I have to tell you this is the first time that I have even heard of the "Jonas Brothers". Yet here were kids, ranging from age 8-14, all girls, with their parents waiting for this big event. I guess these "Jonas brothers" are similar to the group Menudo back in the days!

Since we had a cool group leader, we were told just to make ourselves scarce and be back by 7pm. So a couple of friends of mine went to this hair salon on 5th avenue. It was one of these hair salons where they really treat you like a princess and pamper you. We sat down and were offered drinks and used the internet. After all we needed a break. That remote can really wear you out.

Once we got our fill of the salon, it was time to move on to our next venture which was doing Yoga stretches on the lawn of Bryant Park. Yes, what better way to end an over-exerting day then to do a couple of Yoga stretches for the road.

As the day was winding down, we headed back to our command center at Union square and signed out. Now the fascination of the BIG remote was just merely a memory, a dream.

Sigh :(

On the set of Lipstick Jungle

(originally from August 1, 2008)

I got a call from out of the blue from Grant Wilfley Casting to work on NBC’s “Lipstick Jungle” starring Brooke Shields. Wow she came a long way. The last time I heard of her was when she was on the Oprah show discussing her post-partem depression and how Tom Cruise is just a "Scientologist jerk" for jumping on Oprahs couches !

This show was in hiatus since last year from the writers’ strike. Here is the blurb on Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipstick_Jungle_(TV_series) In my opinion this is just another “Sex in the City”!

The scene that I was hired to do was for a formal for a "faux" fundraiser event for Autism. Since this was to be a high society “who’s who “type of gala, we had to dress for the part. Upon being booked I was informed that I would need to bring a gown. I told casting that I had a dress, even though they only requested pastel color, no black and white gown which is the one I have.

So I went to the local Thrift store here in Queens. Since I gained some weight I was afraid that I would not find a dress that would fit me well. By sheer luck and chance I found a dress that was not only the right color, though it was the right size!!! I was SO happy; I rushed home and got myself ready for the long night ahead.

On the call in to get the information it says to get there “hair and make-up ready!” I was like” I don’t think so!!!!!!!” Are you kidding, they want you to get to set, which is located 4 blocks from Crack-infested/ghetto East Harlem and wear a gown. Not only that, but the day was really humid and just to roam around the city in rush hour with a formal dress on is unbelievable!

I found out later that the SAG got a message to come in street clothes and change when they got to holding. It really IS upsetting how you get treated like garbage being non-union. What happened next really made me angry and proved how being in the union gives you rights. Non-union you have NO rights at all!

I barely got to set and was about 10 minutes late. The reason was b/c there was a stalled train at 59th Street Lexington avenue lines. The only way to get to E.103rd stop is via the 6 train. A few other people came after me, making them about 20 minutes late. I got to the check in line and was safe.

A few people, actually 20 people who also took the same route as I did, ended up with the same delay and ended up coming a few minutes later. They got to the check in line and were ALL dismissed! The P.A. said that they (Grant Wilfley) overbooked. What a crock of shit!!!!

So you can imagine how pissed off these people were. I knew about 4 of the people being sent home. If that happened to me I would raise bloody hell! For one thing, they were only 20 minutes late, not an hour! Of course all the people sent home were non-Sag. How convenient was that to make the SAG’s call in time for 5:30pm, an hour before it really gets crazy on the trains, and have non-SAG sign in, hair and makeup ready! I really can’t wait to become SAG to stop being treated like this.

I had to get myself ready and put on the dress that I just bought hours ago. I actually got a lot of compliments about the dress which made me feel good. After getting dressed, we all had to go through this endless line for hair and makeup. It took long, though once you got into the chair; it made you feel special having your makeup and hair done by a professional.

My makeup person was outstanding and the hair person was magnificent! My hair person was this gay black man from Nashville and he didn’t just style my hair, he sculpted it. In fact he was a sculptor and he managed to make my drab hair look like a million bucks!

Finally got to set and they had this gorgeous set for this high society fundraiser scene. Everyone was divinely dressed and everything was perfect. There were beautiful arrangements of flowers and shrubbery in an outdoor park setting. They even had an elaborate water fountain in the middle to tie in as the centerpiece of this elegant party. To add to the atmosphere there were Clowns, Musicians and stilt walkers. It truly was an event and this is what a party out in the Hamptons must be like.

The night ended up being really long and after wearing those dresses and shoes for hours standing up, your feet really start to hurt. It was so bad that when we finally got a break, we took our shoes off and ran out of central park through the dirty streets, around the corner back to holding in bare feet! You get to a point you really don’t care anymore.

It gets really difficult to stay in character just to stand around for hours doing nothing. When they did finally come around to tape you, they did the same scene over and over again. “Cut, back to one!” Re-set! I got to the point as did a few other ladies where we didn’t want to volunteer to be in the scene and sat down on the bench. One elderly Woman was not as lucky as she was standing by a little cocktail table and ended up fainting, not once but twice!

The only thing that saved her from falling and hitting her head on the concrete was this man who was her partner in the scene and managed to catch her in time. Within seconds, the on-set medic came up to her to assist. Shortly after the Police were on set and the EMS came and took her away on a stretcher. All while this is going on, the director is oblivious to this and continues shooting a scene.

We found out later that the Woman was okay and was just tired and dehydrated. One they gave her some food and water she revived. After the Sag rep came on set, things changed rapidly and they began giving out water out by the case to everyone to avoid another person fainting or getting sick.

It’s amazing how they wait until something happens before they will take the initiative to prevent something like this happening in the first place. It’s amazing how hungry they are to get the shot done that they will “Starve” everyone just to get it to perfection!

This show may make it, as it premieres this fall. However, in my experience over kill always ends up in disaster. They want perfection and the most elaborate sets and scenes and will end killing someone one day.

Amazing!

CA ;)

Cupid Coney Island Times Square Winter Scene

(originally from July 31, 2008)
I have not got too much work from Extra Mile this past month. In fact I haven’t heard from them since the beginning of July and then, finally I get a call from them. I was excited to hear from them and was expected to be booked on something good.

So I get ready with my pen and paper to take down my check in number and information. First I get my check in number and then I get told that I am being booked for the show Cupid, again.

Though this time it was going to be filmed at Coney Island for a New Year’s winter scene! They told us to bring winter hats, scarves, parkas, thermal etc in the 90 degrees ( 40 degrees Celsius)heat! I love it. It was SO crazy.

People came with suitcases full of big HUGE wool winter coats, scarves and hats! This one person brought winter hats and 4 heavy coats they lugged all the way from Jersey! My good Russian friend Natasha looked the best in her coat!

All I brought was a small bag with a leather jacket, the wool hat, and a small scarf. I can understand the outer layer has to look like a winter coat, though this does not mean you have to wear a thermal sweater underneath. I had to help some people out and tell them they didn't have to wear a long sleeve shirt underneath! These Newbies really need to be taught what you can get away with.

The reason they were doing the Time SQ scene there in the Key span parking lot of Coney Island was b/c they were shooting another scene simultaneously over by the Wonder wheel.

So they split half of us into groups for the scenes. I of course get the Times Square scene where they gave us New Years Eve balloons, noise makers, funky 2009 eye glasses, and other accessories to make the scene feel real.

There were also these two crazy gals who really got into character and wanted more accessories. I think they got escorted off set and joined the Coney Island Circus of Freaks!

It was actually fun as we did the countdown and when we got down to one, the ticker tape went off and all this confetti exploded in front of us covering everything up with all the rainbow of colors. I swear after doing the countdown over a hundred times, it was actually starting to get chilly and I felt I needed to put my shawl on!

It was not a bad night at all and the food was outstanding! They had these "Frenched" pork chops that were SO tender and juicy. It was mouth watering. It was So good that I jumped right in a sliced a big slab of it myself! This production was definitely not cheap and had one of the best spreads for food that I have had since Gossip Girls.

The first group that went to the Wonder wheel wrapped at 1am. The Times Square group were there until 3am. Still not bad considering we started at 7pm!

I honestly thought that at least a few people would be "passing out" wearing the winter coats. Only one person to my knowledge had to be taken off set to see the on-set medic. I tell you though for a SAG waiver I would have wore the heaviest parka and walk into a blazing fire! No one got the waivers on this set. Shame :(

The only thing that was horrible was the F train ride home which took one hour and 45 minutes at 4am! At least I can’t say it was a boring ride time went by fast watching the rats on the platform and witnessing a homeless man penetrating himself. Ewwwww.. It was SO gross. At least it was safe. This is why NYC has the "See something , Say something" campaign in effect! Though I don't think it works!

I got home and had to immediately take off my sweaty clothes and jump into the shower. Plus the dirty germs of the late night subway cars. If anything, at least on sets like these where you have to wear winter coats in July, you loose some weight!.

Amazing.
CA ;)