On the set of "Nurse Jackie"

(Jan 30, 2009)

Late night on Thursday I get a call out of nowhere from Todd at Central to see if I wanted to work on "Nurse Jackie" starring Edie Falco. This was actually great because they shoot this show over at the Kaufman Astoria studios which is walking distance for me.

That was fine and all though when I got there the wardrobe people were SO picky about wardrobe. They made me change into over 10 completely different outfits. You would think that I would have a line for "project Runway"!

They had me in Business outfit to Business casual to "Mother Type" to Upper east sider to regular person walking down the street. It was absurd how many changes I had to go through. Normally I bring black pants, a grey jacket and other mute colors which I have never had any problems with and NEVER had to exchange my voucher in for wardrobe.

This time I had no choice and really couldn't debate as the "Gay" wardrobe guys were adamant that I had to wear grey striped pants which barely fit me. In fact when they asked for my size, I nearly cringed and had to whisper my size to him to avoid embarrassment. The only thing I wasn't shy of was my shoe size. Yes they also gave me a pair of shoes to wear which turned out to be a hindrance later on.

So the final outfit I got was such a pain in the ass to walk and breathe in. I barely made it up to the holding are up those flights of stairs with those shoes on and then I sat in those "theater" type seats and had to "lean into it" with fear that I was going to split the seams of those pants for barely fitting into them. My crotch was aching and I had a case of Camel toe. It was gross but I could not get out of it this time.

Of course all that detailed wardrobe for absolutely no point at all. Ended up sitting in the "make-shift" holding area for 5 hours until the PA from Porto Rico, announced it was Lunch. She is actually really cool and she sat beside me and offered me gossip magazines like People, US, and Star. Trashy but entertaining. that managed to kill 2 hours out of the five siting there.

When Lunch was announced, she, the PA, was actually surprised as well that it was a walkaway lunch at Astoria Kaufman studios. For one thing they have a cafe downstairs and plenty of food at all times. Well NOT this time. Since I knew the area well and my watering hole is just around the corner, I went to the Swick and got an order of Mozzarella Sticks and had two light pints of beer. Yes, my pants were barely holding on at this point.

I got back to holding after the hour long walkaway and of course they were still far from shooting the next scene. A couple more hours went by and they took all of us to set. Basically we were led from one holding area to another holding are. This one was in a "make-shift" corridor of the Hospital setting which was around the corner from the main set, so we had to be quiet like mice!


After about twenty minutes of speaking like "Church mice", the third AD named Angie, who is someone I don't like, and acts very sarcastic and condescending, comes around to pick people for the scene. I of course don't really care about being a "walk-through" for this scene. In a way I lucked out b/c the shoes that wardrobe gave me, were "too loud" and I couldn't be used at all! Gee what a shame. I tried to explain to Angie that wardrobe gave me these "noisy" shoes, though she didn't want a part of it, bypassed me and picked other people instead.

Since she couldn't use me because of the "noisy shoes", I was on the sidelines and sitting on a hospital gurney waiting for this dreadful day to end. Finally near the end at the very last scene, the PA called me to go into the waiting room and sit down as if I'm waiting and pretend that I'm helping out a friend who banged up his head. That last for about a minute, and then the Non-union were wrapped.

It is just SO depressing how it's bad enough that I'm not SAG, but to not even be AFTRA, is even more embarrassing considering how easy it is to get into AFTRA.

What's even more humiliating is that Greg was there, this guy who I started out doing this kind of work and now he is in both unions and I got nothing.

I was just happy that the day ended and barely held up my head and left the building and walked home. The was the only good part about the entire day,was the location.

Sigh :(

On the set of "CUPID" as Homeless patron (day 2)

(from Monday, January 19th)

I got my second day out of Cupid playing a homeless person. Either I'm really good at my role, or my picture up on casting networks is really that bad! The only good thing about playing the role of a homeless is that you don't have to get up too early to "pretty " yourself up.

Only a handful of people from Friday were selected to return on Monday. Still the message on Central Casting was even longer than Friday's. It was exactly 17 minutes long explaining how they wanted colors that "popped"!

The message went on and on how "Disney Homeless" are "Classy Homeless" and as should not have any holes in their wardrobe. Also they wanted colors that "POP". I can't stress this enough as it was SO ridiculous how many times she mentioned the word "Pop" on the hot line message line. I counted how many times she said the word "POP" in the 17 minute span. The count was 34 times!

So while we were in holding we had some fun and went through a list of things that POP! We toiled with everything from "Pop tarts to getting your Cherry Popped!" This game went on for a while and as we were amusing ourselves in our little circle of friends at our able, others were also mildly amused at our game.

You need something to pass time, and when it involves a good laugh, it's even better. In fact we did have a great time in holding that we couldn't stop laughing and took many silly pictures.

The few kids that were on set took it upon themselves to entertain and these three 10 year old girls spent over and hour doing charades with TV and movies as the topic. Those kids were really talented! As usual with all this stuff going on, I barely got through one page of my book and didn't even really listen to my ipod.

When things finally settled down, I talked to one of my favorite Pa's, Ellen. She is training to become first AD. She said HI to me immediately when I arrived that day. She knows me by name which is impressive b/c Anne is not a really unique name to remember.

She asked me how many waivers I still needed? I replied that I was embarrassed that I only have one. I really was and still am embarrassed. Truly. Some people do way less and get the SAG waivers for just breathing. I have done everything possible to get one to no avail. It's really depressing at this point. I am ready to give it all up.

So the way she asked me about the waiver felt as if she may help me out and give me a waiver. I have never asked her for one and I know how she hates people asking her for one. I was humble and didn't anticipate a thing, though I really thought I would have a breakthrough.

After already being in holding for over 8 hours, finally we were called up to set. It was the same soup kitchen we were in on Friday. This time we sat at different tables. I was directed by the AD to walk into the scene behind the main actress, who by the way kept flubbing up her lines. All I was thinking to myself was "And this is who gets the BIG bucks, amazing!"

Finally after she got her lines right, we got wrapped. I went downstairs and took my time returning wardrobe to make sure I was the last non-SAG person on line to sign out. I really thought I was going to get a waiver......I watched her write down the time and the lunch period, and then she signed it off for No -Union.. I WAS SO F'kin devastated, I have to tell you.

The way she asked me earlier about how many waivers I needed, I thought for sure that was leading to something. Obviously I was wrong. Even up on set my SAG friend Andi said I may get a waiver for where they placed me close to the principals.

Apparently not! If I was 20 years old and a size 2 barbie doll, I would have got that waiver NO questions asked. It really can be a cruel business, especially when you don't get ANY rewards for your efforts. It really blows. Times like this I wonder if I will EVER get into SAG.

Sigh ;(

On set of Ridgewood Bank Commercial

(from Sunday, January 18th 2009)

After a very slow week, I figured I would just chill at home and catch up on some of my administrative work on the weekend. I have tons of papers to sort through. It is true when they say that things come into your experience when you least expect it. This reigns true as I was not planning on anything and then all of a sudden I get a call from my friend, Steph, who I have not heard from since last year or seen on any background sets.

She was going down her list and gave me a call to see if I wanted to do this Bank commercial. At first I was hesitant because I really hate working on Sundays. It sounded on the message that they (production) really needed people, and since it was a paid gig, and being financially crippled right now,I sure won't /can't turn down money!


So she gave me the details really quickly as she was on set when she called me. She gave me the info and the call time which was for 7:30 am to be over by the film center on 9th ave. Now that is not a terrible call time, though since I have not got up before 9am for the past month, it was really hard to do so. Also I kept tossing and turning all night long as I was worried that I would miss the alarm.


I got up at 6am and tossed some business casual clothes and headed for the subway. Sunday subways are the worst subways. I waited over 25 minutes before some light appeared through the dark tunnel with the train approaching. Finally I got on the "E" for "Evil" train and surprisingly the regular homeless guy was not on board. Guess I missed his shift!

I got out at Times Square 42nd street and exited out to a very snowy Sunday morning, and vacant streets of Broadway. I felt like I was walking in my own musical as the big fluffy chunk of snow were falling and Times Square was sparse of people. Maybe only one or two people tinkled past, but for the most part it was not the usual chaotic mess it can be in that area. It was peaceful and euphoric. Definitely a rare moment indeed.


I arrived at the "pick up area" on 9th ave right on time. I went into the lobby of the building where my friend Steph was and to my delightful surprise, my very good friend Bill Rapp was there as well. I knew it would be a good day from that point on, and it was.


After about twenty minutes, some of us got into the first van that was to take us to the actual Ridgewood bank in Queens. Through the inclement weather our driver was very cautious and drove extra slow for safety purposes. We arrived to location in about half an hour. We got out of the van, went inside through security to get our badges for the day and then downstairs to a nice array of big fluffy croissants, muffins, danishes, and much needed coffee!

About an hour later, we were led back up stairs to get to set, which was the bank. Our job was to be customers at a bank. Bill Rapp and I were assigned to each other to portray a couple at the bank. We had our deposit slips ready and went from the line to the teller a thousand times over and over. We made SO many deposits and got the same lollipop in return that was given to us by the teller as a thank-you for our patronage.

As we were standing in our second positions waiting for the director to call "Background Action", we stood by our teller friend who turned out to be a really sweet girl. We started talking and I found out that she lives in Astoria too. Not only that she also lives on 49th Street! I live on 49th street! Talk about coincidence. This bit of information really came in handy later on when it was time to leave.

The commercial itself moved relatively slow as many of these productions do. You would think that because they are using the bank itself that it would be easy to shoot this commercial. Not so much. They designed the commercial around a full sized bed that was placed in the middle of the bank.

On the bed they had this black man laying in the bed and pretending to be sleeping. Talk about the best role! All he had to do was lay in that bed while the other bank activity was going on. In the scene his wife gets up form the bed , puts on her housecoat and slippers and interacts with one of the bank managers, while her "husband" is still sleeping and totally oblivious to what is going on because he actually fell asleep for real!

During break, Bill and I thought the concept was great about wanting to take a nap while waiting in line to get banking done. So Bill and I tried out the bed for ourselves and came to the conclusion that the bed was indeed comfy.

The rest of the day was dragging by after that. We had lunch which were platters of sandwiches and cold pasta salad from a local restaurant in the area. Our eating are was in the basement of the bank where the real employees eat during their shift. There was a TV down there and all the guys were swarming around the TV watching their precious football. After Lunch we went back up to set and they were doing close-up shots of the bed and the actors.

Finally as the evening was setting in, they moved on to the next commercial which involved a motorcycle in the middle of the bank. This Woman who looked liked she rode bikes on a regular basis, rolled the Harley to the middle of the bank where they were to shoot the scene. I think she owned the bike b/c after she brought the bike in, the commercial evolved around 2 guys on the bike in the bank.

Bill Rapp and I did a quick walk through and that was about it. Since they used us so much in the first scene, they really didn't need us. That was a relief because it was getting late. The young teller that I was talking to earlier already told the director that she had to leave, so I followed suit and we caught a car service back to Astoria.

Got home around 9pm. I was lucky to meet up with Heather to take the car service home together. The other option would have been going all the way to the "L" train through Manhattan and all the way around back to Queens which would have taken over 2 hours.

This wasn't a terrible expereince, though I must admit that it sure was not worth only getting paid 75 dollars for a commercial like this should have been at least $150.00. Oh well the way things have been as of late, you have to take ANY money that comes in, no matter how bad the wage is.

On set of Cupid as Homeless Patron (day 1)

(from Friday January 16th)

I got called by Central Casting to work on the Disney/ABC show
"Cupid". I haven't worked on this show since December 1st of last year. This is the first job for me this year. I have submitted to SO many bookings to be in a fashion show, upper east siders, elite roles, etc..I can't get booked on any of these. What do I get booked as?? I got booked as a homeless person! Yes that's right when you think of a homeless look, give Canada Anne a call. What an insult! Since I really need the money, and am going crazy from not working consistently,I took the job, reluctantly.

Since this was Disney, they didn't want us homeless to look "Homeless". The production hot line insisted that we don't look like raggedy homeless and no obscenities as this is Disney. Also they kept insisting that they wanted bright colors that "popped" like pinks, greens and yellows.

So we had to be clean respectable looking homeless. This message from Central casting went on for 14minutes repeating over and over again the wardrobe criteria. You would think you were dressing for the Oscars how specific and how many changes they wanted for a homeless look. ..and the Oscars goes to.. the best dressed Homeless person!

It actually turned out to be a better day than expected. The best part was that we were indoors. Though I was prepared for the worst and was going to make friends with a SAG player because they always get the heated cardboard boxes!

Though even being indoors didn't protect us from the frigid icy cold of a day where it went down to 5F. Every time the crew and grips were rolling equipment through the church doors, you felt the frigid blast of frosty air zip through your bones and numb you instantly.Our scene was taking place in a soup kitchen.We were all really thrilled to be indoors and to be served the best "Food Kitchen Slop" ever. The trays they gave us with food got increasingly more putrid with each passing hour of food sitting out in room temperature and growing bacteria every moment.

Though we all stayed in character and held our trays and nose up high knowing that this was all for a paycheck. It sure is fun portraying a homeless when you know you have home to go back to. Some background really got a good "Whiff" of the rotting food:

Though with the little amount of work I have been getting lately, I have to wonder where I'm going to be a month from now. Where will any of us be?

NO SAG WAIVER on Duplicity Movie Trailer!!!

I actually just got back from being away 2 weeks up in Canada. I am getting e-mails and a plethora of phone calls that I am indeed seen, CLEARLY, in this upcoming Julia Roberts and Clive Owen movie "Duplicity"! I didn't even know how clear it was until I saw the trailer for myself. The bummer about that is all I got was a measly 75 dollars and a walkaway lunch.

The funny part has got be that in that scene I was angry b/c Julia Roberts is SO cheap and such a snob that I was dissing her, and this is what got on film. I was pissed that we had to be on set for Saturday , 4am call time. I was the last one to get to set and screamed at by some shitty 20-something PA to get to set.

So when I got to Grand Central where set was, the PA's were placing people and I disappeared for a while to avoid getting a prop. I basically placed myself by the balcony b/c I was too tired to go down to the main floor. Without even realizing it, Julia Roberts was right beside me.

No one told me to move, just to turn around. Julia was a real snob and told the first AD to tell me to keep the talking down saying I was too loud talking to my friend who got cut out of the scene. I was glad when that day was over. Sometimes you have to make your own opportunities.

Sometimes you have to break the rules to get ahead. Too bad I got NO waiver for that. I really didn't even think of it at the time. Now that I have settled in I am going to call up SAG and see if I can get a waiver or something out of this.

What is amazing here is that I only got 75 dollars to be in a movie trailer. Julia meanwhile gets 75 GA-zillion dollars for being a cheap, snobby movie whore! Go Figure!

Here is the clip to view. You will see me in the Grand Central scene at approx 1:48 in the clip:
http://duplicitymovie.net/?__source=gglduplicity+trailerMovieTitleDuplicity_Brand&sky=gglduplicity+trailerMovieTitleDuplicity_Brand

Sigh ;)

Wilkomen 2009! Bienvenue!

Finally made it to my callback for the Sorcerer's Apprentice, a Disney film. Spent the last two weeks up in Canada Land for the Christmas Holidays. Being around with family and Friends was great, though I could not stop thinking about this audition.

I entered this new year with "Great Expectations" knowing that I had a booked audition to come back to. This wasn't for some lousy "cattle call", this was for a real role/part and a chance to really get ahead after all the crappy lousy non-rewarding background work I have done in the past.

Perhaps I focused on it too much and this is why chaos ensued. It wasn't horrible, though not my all time best. I hope I get another call back to re-audition. The fact is when in this lifetime will I EVER get a golden opportunity like this one again?? The following describes that days events:



The call back was as expected where they wanted me to partner up with a Russian man and to see how that would look on camera. So from the very start in the waiting room, I come in with my Russian hat and start with "I'm Herer for ze callback, Yes!" Seconds later, Julie the Woman who initially auditioned me came out and said Hi and introduced my partner to me.



This man was probably union and very snobby. I tried to talk to him, but he was like dead wood. Normally you want to talk to your partner to get a feel for what they are like and it helps to connect in the audition process as we may end up working together.

I asked him who sent him here and he goes "St. Clair" agency. That was the extent of our communication outside in the waiting room. So I got ZERO vibes from him, and was called in shortly after to come into the room.

The Woman Julie who initially auditioned me was there plus 5 other casting directors this time in the room. I didn't get intimidated and went right into character with this dead wood of a man. We both get into the scene which is basically where the Russian man has this huge urn that he found at some flea market.

So he is opening up this urn with a crowbar and the lid is really heavy so he is grunting and moaning. My part was to basically get angry and be the wife and nudge him on to what he is doing and what an idiot he is. All of a sudden he gets the lid open and POOF a big black smoke and some evil spirit like a genie appears. The Russian Woman is taken aback in utter shock and races out and screams. This is what I did, only too assertively.

There was this huge backdrop they put in behind us as a green screen. So when I did the SHOCK thing, I ran out to the the corner wall, grabbed the backdrop curtain and down it came! It was SO embarrassing. Luckily they had a step ladder handy and immediately fixed it. I got one more shot at it as the director was explaining what he wanted from the character.That was it. Said Thank you and Good bye. No hints if I will hear a word from my agent, nothing.

This is worse than American Idol, b/c at least with Idol, the judges tell you right then and there if you suck and didn't get the part. Now it's this huge waiting stressful game of did I get it or not. If I don't get called soon, then I guess it's gone, and then I will wonder what I did wrong for weeks.

The only good thing is that by "breaking the curtain" at least they will remember me. Don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing. I have no idea. I wish I knew. So that's the latest.

Now I'm even more stressed out with the unknown. Sigh ;(