Samsung Commercial

This was a last minute unexpected booking for a Samsung commercial. I got a call from casting , late Saturday night. At first I thought it was a mistake, because I don't even remember submitting for a Samsung commercial. Our call time was scheduled for 1pm to be at one State street over by the Staten Island Ferry.


It was a really rainy day with the rains coming down in buckets. I was like "Great this is going to be an exterior shoot in the rain, wonderful!" I took the "R" train from Queens and I didn't have to transfer as it went all the way to Whitehall street/ South Ferry stop. I left the house on time, but I still managed to get there late as the train had so many delays. Though that didn't matter too much as nobody was there yet. At least the crew and the director, who we kind of need to shoot this commercial.



Apparently we were told by a nice Asian PA that they were delayed at the first location. When she got there we signed in and got out contracts to sign. Plus they cmae in with food! Okay so it wasn crap. They came in with a few boxes of cold pizza and junk food was provided. Everything from skittles to Doritos. Guess I should be thanksful we got anything. Still way better than the cheap catering on the Julia Roberts movie, "Duplicity" which bombed!

Moving along...

Our holding area which was a defunct, asbsestos laden area in midst of construction and repair, was dirty and very dusty! The floor was this cement grounding immersed in Polly filla dust. All of us were wearing nice business suits, some really expensive ones. The cement dust was so thick that you could walk all the way to Staten Island and leave a trail of your footprints!

It was so bad that once you left the area, and went into the nice lobby, you would leave imprints all over the place. It was like walking into a room filled with white flour. At least flour is natural, I'm sure the white dust in that area was NOT organic!



On top of it our seating area...well there was no seating area at this time. All there was to sit down on was the siding where there once was a functional heating unit and looked liked it was on the verge of collapsing. Guess what...It did!


My friend Bill was sitting down on this siding to fill out his release form. Mind you there were a few people sittng on it as well. Within seconds of him having a seat.."CRASH!"$%# BOOM!*** THUD!!!&*%$# The entire thing came down with a few people falling down with it and becoming immersed in that white powdery cement dust. What a mess.



After this vision of destruction fell before us, we helped my friend Bill back up. His coat was full of this white dust. Then the maintenance person came by to take a look at it. He didn't do much but look at it and tore the rest of it down.



Soon this fiasco was over and on with the actual shoot of the day. It was still pouring rain and the crew got to this location all soaked and wet. They unloaded their trucks and had plastic over their cameras. Shortly after we were summoned from inside that dusty mess to go outside into the pouring rain.



In the scene we were to walk across the street from sidewalk to sidewalk and give everyone that passes us a "High Five!" It was pouring rain at this point and when the director called "Background Action", we had to drop our umbrellas and walk into the scene. In the pouring rain, through puddles of water and flooding in pot holes, crossing the street, getting soaked and "high fiving" each other as we passed along. I was like are they going to CGI out the rain??

What a miserable mess. Well at least the rains washed off all the cement dust! Of course the rains got even heavier with each passing. To make matters even worse there were some "background newbies" or the "Retards of Background" who thought they would be discovered and would look and jump directly in front of the camera. I was like " what retards"!

Finally after we were nicely dripping soppy wet, they call "Check the Gate!" I thought this meant a wrap. Though it wasn't, they still had another scnen. This one was in the lobby of that building whihc was cleaner and had marble floors. So crew sets up the lights in the lobby and while we are waiting back in holding sneezing and trying to dry off in the dusty room.

I sit down in one of the chairs they put out and the PA comes around selecting people. I did my "Pretend I'm sleeping" routine and she passes by me not selecting me. Works every time! LOL.

Though there was really no "safety zone" sitting in that dusty mess. After coming fresh from the rains, the dust stuck to your clothes like glue. Also I could feel the residue of dirt in my teeth. It was gross. I couldnt wait to go home and take a shower.

Thsi miserable mess lasted for a few hours and finally we were called to "Wrap!" I got in the line and as usual I am one of the first people to do so. I got int line to get paid. The best part of the day of course was getting paid cash! Okay so it was worth it after all. I got my money and went back outside, where the rains finally cleared up. I went back to the subway to catch the "R" train to get back to Queens.

Back to One!