(Originally from Tuesday October 7, 2008)
Of all the shows recently, this is one of the shows that I have been wanting to get on for a very long time. When I finally got the call to be on it, I was excited. Mind you that excitement soon turned sour when I heard what I was being booked for.
The show "life on Mars" takes place in the 1970's about a New York City homicide detective who suddenly finds himself inexplicably transported from 2008 to 1973. The attractive part to be on this show is that it takes place in the 70's, a decade of my birth and to dress up in 70's attire play a part in this role would have been fun.
No such luck. The scene that I get booked for is this funeral scene, and it is current year, 2008. I'm like "What a Bummer!" I have been trying for weeks to get on this show. Also the biggest blow to me is that normally they shoot "mars" over at Kaufman Astoria Studios. Not this time. Of course it's over by 2nd street and avenue "A" area in the East village.
The only good thing I suppose is that I didn't have to go to get a fitting and all I had to wear was a black outfit appropriate for a funeral scene. Not too difficult as the majority of my clothes are dark and depressing. Reflects my career, I suppose.
The day itself was extremely long. The easy part was having the "mourners" all 200 of us going down the line to have the "Costume designer"(that's what this midget Kathy Griffin look-alike resembles) calls herself to make her feel important. So she examines us all and gives us the "O.K." seal of approval. I mean how can you screw up black for a funeral. Unless you are a whore and wearing lace panties in mourning for the death of one of your best clients.
The only thing that had to specific was the cops uniforms and how detailed in rank they had to get the patches to match up. That did take a long time. In fact that took about 8 hours of all us mourners in holding while the Police officers were examined to perfection by the "Kathy-Griffin" Midget. Since she was a midget, it took extra long time as she had to take a stool with her or climb up a ladder for the really tall cops.
After all that, Lunch was called. It was a walk-away lunch. This meant spending about 10 dollars of our already hard earned 40 dollars, i think not! My friend Linda and I went on a scavenger hunt to see where Kraft services for the crew and SAG was. What really sucks about "walk-away" lunches is that the only real thrill of going to these sets is the social aspect of it and the FOOD! Yes, Food, Glorious Food! When the Food is not there, the thrill is gone, and you really can't survive on the sustenance of the humor of your pals on set, no matter how satiable laughter can be.
Thanks to my friend Linda's outwardly sexual friendly nature to the male species, she got directed to the "hidden" table where they had nice sandwiches and food at our disposal. We grabbed a few sandwiches and left the table before we would be questioned. Survival skills 101 baby!
Finally after lunch, we were called to set which was all the way on East 3rd street, closer to ave B. One by one we piled into the church and grabbed a seat on one of the pews. All I could think if was "It's been a while since I've been in church", and started thinking about all the times my Mother dragged me to church to repent and become a good catholic. Obviously that failed me too.
The scene itself was long with a flashback feel and a ghost that we were to pretend not to see or acknowledge. The actress made famous in the 90's on the Cosby Show was Lisa Bonet up in front with her pregnant belly and playing the part of a widower.
After hours of being told being everyone to hush and quiet down, and our butts getting really sore from sitting on those hard benches, I looked up to the Lord and said "Haven't I paid my dues already?" "All I ask for is a SAG waiver, Lord!" IS that asking for too much??
Well if anything, my Catholic Mother would be proud of how many hours I spent in church. That truly made up for lost time.
CA ;
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Lipstick Jungle in SOHO
(Originally from Monday October 6, 2008)
Every time I have been on Lipstick Jungle it has been a very long day and there is a "walk-away" lunch. Mind you they did have a decent breakfast for us with the usual buffet trays of sausages, scrambled eggs and fresh toast.
Our holding area was on Wooster street in this really old 18th century building. Wooster is really not such a popular street unless you are really familiar with the Soho area. I've never been a fan of the SOHO area , but they are trying to do a "Sex in the City" type of show here and SOHO IS fashion and art.
We didn't wait too long int the small holding area which was only designed to hole about 20 people and there weer over 80 of us. Also the fact that there was only one bathroom and no changing area, it made the lineups really long.
We got to set and started around the Prince St. area walking up and down the streets. I was in a scene and did a cross over directly in front of Brooke Shields and Lindsay Price who were just coming out of a store in the scene.
It was rather boring and time was dragging on. After about 2 hours they went to another location over by West Broadway. It was the same crossovers walking back and forth over a million times in the scene.
I rarely go to the SOHO area and didn't realize how busy the streets are with tourists and paparazzi. There were a bunch of paparazzi, who I thought at first were actors, taking shots of Brooke as she was carrying her daughter to her trailer. Normally on these sets we are not supposed to take pictures of the stars, though since the paparazzi were taking pictures, I jumped right in and got a couple of candid shots myself of Brooke walking across the street carrying her child.
That moment was probably the only exciting thing to account for. We had a walk-away Lunch and my friend and I were invited to grab some food at Krafty to go to this nice Woman's apartment over by Bleeker St. We had to be back in about an hour. When we got back to the tiny holding area, the P.A. asked everyone to get into their second changes which meant another huge lineup for the one and only bathroom available.
We all went outside to the scene by W. Broadway and the only good thing about that spot was that we had those SOHO steps where we could sit down on, as they never ended up using as anyways. What else is new? After the typical 14 hours on set for this show, we were released.
I hope this show makes it, though in my opnion it won't last long simply b/c the concept/ sotry line is just trying to hard to be like "Sex and the City", which it clearly is not.
Every time I have been on Lipstick Jungle it has been a very long day and there is a "walk-away" lunch. Mind you they did have a decent breakfast for us with the usual buffet trays of sausages, scrambled eggs and fresh toast.
Our holding area was on Wooster street in this really old 18th century building. Wooster is really not such a popular street unless you are really familiar with the Soho area. I've never been a fan of the SOHO area , but they are trying to do a "Sex in the City" type of show here and SOHO IS fashion and art.
We didn't wait too long int the small holding area which was only designed to hole about 20 people and there weer over 80 of us. Also the fact that there was only one bathroom and no changing area, it made the lineups really long.
We got to set and started around the Prince St. area walking up and down the streets. I was in a scene and did a cross over directly in front of Brooke Shields and Lindsay Price who were just coming out of a store in the scene.
It was rather boring and time was dragging on. After about 2 hours they went to another location over by West Broadway. It was the same crossovers walking back and forth over a million times in the scene.
I rarely go to the SOHO area and didn't realize how busy the streets are with tourists and paparazzi. There were a bunch of paparazzi, who I thought at first were actors, taking shots of Brooke as she was carrying her daughter to her trailer. Normally on these sets we are not supposed to take pictures of the stars, though since the paparazzi were taking pictures, I jumped right in and got a couple of candid shots myself of Brooke walking across the street carrying her child.
That moment was probably the only exciting thing to account for. We had a walk-away Lunch and my friend and I were invited to grab some food at Krafty to go to this nice Woman's apartment over by Bleeker St. We had to be back in about an hour. When we got back to the tiny holding area, the P.A. asked everyone to get into their second changes which meant another huge lineup for the one and only bathroom available.
We all went outside to the scene by W. Broadway and the only good thing about that spot was that we had those SOHO steps where we could sit down on, as they never ended up using as anyways. What else is new? After the typical 14 hours on set for this show, we were released.
I hope this show makes it, though in my opnion it won't last long simply b/c the concept/ sotry line is just trying to hard to be like "Sex and the City", which it clearly is not.
Damages bar scene by Comix
(Originally from Thursday Sept 25,2008)
Of all the shows I have ever been on, the set of Damages has to be the most boring of all time. I'm amazed this show has even won awards. I have been on "Damages" before and either it's a very boring time, or a very long boring time.
Our holding area was over at Comix Comedy club located all the way down by 14th Street and 9th ave, practically in the meat market district where they have docks and brick roads by the Hudson. I always hated this area and have never performed at this comedy club. I know many who have including Paul Mercurio and on the day we were there, the scheduled act was someone I knew from the line-up I was in for Last Comic Standing.
Also on the bill was Chris March who was one of the 5 finalists on Project Runaway. I guess after doing a reality show and not winning, what else are you going to do. Unless of course in my case I didn't pass the last years audition and really have nothing to laugh about these days. Especially after being in a line0up for that shitty Last Comic Standing auditions for 22 hours only to audition with 10 people at a time in front of a 15 year old production assistant. How degrading just thinking about that is.
So what made this day suck was that I am known as a comedian and you would think this my venue. The only good thing about having holding at Comix was that it was a big space for only 50 background and I sat in the back room alone.
We got called to set about an hour and a half after our call time which was 10am. We walked over to set which was this restaurant/bar across the street on the brick paved roads. This bar was cold and dark, and I found my way to sit at the bar in the scene. Of course you don't get real drinks which means you have to mime drinking, clinking glasses, and pretending to be drunk. Wish I was drunk at that point it was SO boring. You have to be quiet like a mouse while the conversation is focused on the two main actors and you are nothing but a blur.
We had Lunch around the 6 hour mark over back at Comix. There was a nice layout of food in a buffet style set up right along the main stage of club. I never performed at this club. After Lunch was done, the caterers began piling food into the garbage into this huge garbage can which was right in the center of the stage. I thought that was so prolific and had to get a picture of the garbage can on stage representing my career! Sad but true!
You really do need a good sense of humor to be able to deal with the long excruciating long hours and literally being treated like garbage many of the times, especially if your non-union. Don't know if I will looking back and laughing at any of this one day, though I am getting tons of material, even if it does come from garbage.
CA;
Of all the shows I have ever been on, the set of Damages has to be the most boring of all time. I'm amazed this show has even won awards. I have been on "Damages" before and either it's a very boring time, or a very long boring time.
Our holding area was over at Comix Comedy club located all the way down by 14th Street and 9th ave, practically in the meat market district where they have docks and brick roads by the Hudson. I always hated this area and have never performed at this comedy club. I know many who have including Paul Mercurio and on the day we were there, the scheduled act was someone I knew from the line-up I was in for Last Comic Standing.
Also on the bill was Chris March who was one of the 5 finalists on Project Runaway. I guess after doing a reality show and not winning, what else are you going to do. Unless of course in my case I didn't pass the last years audition and really have nothing to laugh about these days. Especially after being in a line0up for that shitty Last Comic Standing auditions for 22 hours only to audition with 10 people at a time in front of a 15 year old production assistant. How degrading just thinking about that is.
So what made this day suck was that I am known as a comedian and you would think this my venue. The only good thing about having holding at Comix was that it was a big space for only 50 background and I sat in the back room alone.
We got called to set about an hour and a half after our call time which was 10am. We walked over to set which was this restaurant/bar across the street on the brick paved roads. This bar was cold and dark, and I found my way to sit at the bar in the scene. Of course you don't get real drinks which means you have to mime drinking, clinking glasses, and pretending to be drunk. Wish I was drunk at that point it was SO boring. You have to be quiet like a mouse while the conversation is focused on the two main actors and you are nothing but a blur.
We had Lunch around the 6 hour mark over back at Comix. There was a nice layout of food in a buffet style set up right along the main stage of club. I never performed at this club. After Lunch was done, the caterers began piling food into the garbage into this huge garbage can which was right in the center of the stage. I thought that was so prolific and had to get a picture of the garbage can on stage representing my career! Sad but true!
You really do need a good sense of humor to be able to deal with the long excruciating long hours and literally being treated like garbage many of the times, especially if your non-union. Don't know if I will looking back and laughing at any of this one day, though I am getting tons of material, even if it does come from garbage.
CA;
Unorthodox Jew for a day in Astoria
(originally from September 19, 2008)
The next day I was booked on the movie "Unorthodox" again. This time the location was non other than Astoria, Queens, my neighborhood. Astoria stretches from the border of Woodside all the way to Ditmars blvd. This location was right in between over at 37th st at 30th ave, which was a fifteen minute walk for me! The actual holding area was the Lutheran church which I walk by all the time en route to go to the Mexican place for food.
Our call time was for noon and I left my house at 11:45am! When I got to holding, a couple of my non-union friends were already there. It was still early and the vouchers to fill out were not even there yet, so a friend and I walked over to the food truck which was ALL the way over by 34th and Broadway, which was just about 10 blocks away.
When we finally got to the truck, it was well worth it as they had hot dogs, hamburgers on the grill and sandwiches and wraps all around. We loaded up and got some aluminum foil to wrap our plates for the walk back. Luckily the weather was nice, though it was humid too.
Once we got back to holding more people arrived and the same procedure with getting wigs "stapled" to our heads was in full gear. Since I was on the set the previous day, I knew the system and totally avoided getting a wig and headed straight to wardrobe to get a headscarf.
Unlike the previous day, soon after we got our makeup done and approved the PA called for anyone that was ready to come immediately to set. I though this will be great. You know that the sooner they start, means they want to get this done so you will be wrapped earlier!
The first shoot was over by Parisi Bakery under the N/W elevated train lines. It's an extremely noisy and populated area with all the people and trains going past practically every 5 minutes. They had the Parisi bakery "dressed up" in Hebrew signs, though that did not deter regular patrons who kept walking into the store not aware that it was closed for the day.
The scene that they were creating was a busy intersection of Jews doing their daily business getting bagels and breads for their families etc. So in order to "create" this family feel, they Incorporated Women to portray Mothers and some had "fake" plastic babies with carriages to stroll down the block. Some had real live kids. Now the difference is that the "plastic babies" don't cry or scream and do what they are told. The "real" kids, well do I really need to explain.
As luck would have it, namely my bad luck, the PA calls me over and sees me to be fit with not one child but two screaming children!!!! What do I look like a Mother?? Apparently I do and what hurts me more is that I have NO children of my own to speak of at my age. So not only was it embarrassing when these two kids were crying and screaming, though it felt humiliating and I felt like an even bigger failure then ever before.
To make things even worse, it was humid and I was only a few blocks from my local establishment where I go to imbibe occasionally..okay frequently! The point is these were NOT even my kids and I was SO embarrassed as people passed by and looked upon me as a bad Mother as if I could not control my own kids. They didn't even have to utter a word, I could feel their dismay and disgust with their passive gestures as they scraped by me and giving me "the look". These people didn't know what was really going on.
The worst part was that I tried and tried. I brought out the best kid weapons that the "real" Mother gave to me to calm down the kids. I gave them the animal crackers, the bottle, the stuffed duckie, and the Belly Button book! Nothing. Every time I had to roll around the carriage with those two kids and turn around to go to "Back to one", they felt like I was Kidnapping them and wailed out to their Mommy who was only two feet away!
I got to the point that I couldn't take anymore and I gave the kids back. I told the PA that unless I get a SAG waiver for this, I will not do it anymore. Seconds after I muffled up the courage to stick up for myself, the scene was over and they were moving on to the next location.
The next scene was over by the discount store "Dee and Dee" over by 36th street and Broadway, beside the Croatian bar, Scorpio and the European meat place across the now defunct "America's 99 cent store. The production had the entire two block stretch done up to look like a Jewish neighborhood which included a Pickle store in big barrels for sale.
This involved a "chase scene" where the main actress is carrying her groceries and is running away from a predator and drops her groceries. After stating my discontent about having those two kids, I was placed by a clothing store to pretend I was checking out dresses.
Sounds easy enough though after standing out there for hours under the sweltering sun, I was getting sweaty and tired. Luckily this is a low budget film and they wrapped us the non-union at the 6 hour mark. That was a relief in a way, though when we went back to holding the caterers had a nice food buffet set up, and we were not invited to this feast. I always try to get the food anyways, though it was difficult this time as they had the "Food Nazi" sit by the buffet with a pen and paper marking down anybody heading to the table to eat.
In a way I was glad we were done and since I had no wig on, I quickly gave wardrobe back their stuff, signed out and headed to my local establishment which was only 4 blocks away. I really needed a drink after that ordeal.
I tell ya, it's tough being a Jew, even if it is for a day. Oy Vey!
CA ;(
The next day I was booked on the movie "Unorthodox" again. This time the location was non other than Astoria, Queens, my neighborhood. Astoria stretches from the border of Woodside all the way to Ditmars blvd. This location was right in between over at 37th st at 30th ave, which was a fifteen minute walk for me! The actual holding area was the Lutheran church which I walk by all the time en route to go to the Mexican place for food.
Our call time was for noon and I left my house at 11:45am! When I got to holding, a couple of my non-union friends were already there. It was still early and the vouchers to fill out were not even there yet, so a friend and I walked over to the food truck which was ALL the way over by 34th and Broadway, which was just about 10 blocks away.
When we finally got to the truck, it was well worth it as they had hot dogs, hamburgers on the grill and sandwiches and wraps all around. We loaded up and got some aluminum foil to wrap our plates for the walk back. Luckily the weather was nice, though it was humid too.
Once we got back to holding more people arrived and the same procedure with getting wigs "stapled" to our heads was in full gear. Since I was on the set the previous day, I knew the system and totally avoided getting a wig and headed straight to wardrobe to get a headscarf.
Unlike the previous day, soon after we got our makeup done and approved the PA called for anyone that was ready to come immediately to set. I though this will be great. You know that the sooner they start, means they want to get this done so you will be wrapped earlier!
The first shoot was over by Parisi Bakery under the N/W elevated train lines. It's an extremely noisy and populated area with all the people and trains going past practically every 5 minutes. They had the Parisi bakery "dressed up" in Hebrew signs, though that did not deter regular patrons who kept walking into the store not aware that it was closed for the day.
The scene that they were creating was a busy intersection of Jews doing their daily business getting bagels and breads for their families etc. So in order to "create" this family feel, they Incorporated Women to portray Mothers and some had "fake" plastic babies with carriages to stroll down the block. Some had real live kids. Now the difference is that the "plastic babies" don't cry or scream and do what they are told. The "real" kids, well do I really need to explain.
As luck would have it, namely my bad luck, the PA calls me over and sees me to be fit with not one child but two screaming children!!!! What do I look like a Mother?? Apparently I do and what hurts me more is that I have NO children of my own to speak of at my age. So not only was it embarrassing when these two kids were crying and screaming, though it felt humiliating and I felt like an even bigger failure then ever before.
To make things even worse, it was humid and I was only a few blocks from my local establishment where I go to imbibe occasionally..okay frequently! The point is these were NOT even my kids and I was SO embarrassed as people passed by and looked upon me as a bad Mother as if I could not control my own kids. They didn't even have to utter a word, I could feel their dismay and disgust with their passive gestures as they scraped by me and giving me "the look". These people didn't know what was really going on.
The worst part was that I tried and tried. I brought out the best kid weapons that the "real" Mother gave to me to calm down the kids. I gave them the animal crackers, the bottle, the stuffed duckie, and the Belly Button book! Nothing. Every time I had to roll around the carriage with those two kids and turn around to go to "Back to one", they felt like I was Kidnapping them and wailed out to their Mommy who was only two feet away!
I got to the point that I couldn't take anymore and I gave the kids back. I told the PA that unless I get a SAG waiver for this, I will not do it anymore. Seconds after I muffled up the courage to stick up for myself, the scene was over and they were moving on to the next location.
The next scene was over by the discount store "Dee and Dee" over by 36th street and Broadway, beside the Croatian bar, Scorpio and the European meat place across the now defunct "America's 99 cent store. The production had the entire two block stretch done up to look like a Jewish neighborhood which included a Pickle store in big barrels for sale.
This involved a "chase scene" where the main actress is carrying her groceries and is running away from a predator and drops her groceries. After stating my discontent about having those two kids, I was placed by a clothing store to pretend I was checking out dresses.
Sounds easy enough though after standing out there for hours under the sweltering sun, I was getting sweaty and tired. Luckily this is a low budget film and they wrapped us the non-union at the 6 hour mark. That was a relief in a way, though when we went back to holding the caterers had a nice food buffet set up, and we were not invited to this feast. I always try to get the food anyways, though it was difficult this time as they had the "Food Nazi" sit by the buffet with a pen and paper marking down anybody heading to the table to eat.
In a way I was glad we were done and since I had no wig on, I quickly gave wardrobe back their stuff, signed out and headed to my local establishment which was only 4 blocks away. I really needed a drink after that ordeal.
I tell ya, it's tough being a Jew, even if it is for a day. Oy Vey!
CA ;(
Unorthodox, Jew for a day in Brooklyn
(originally from Thursday, September 18, 2008)
I got a call from Extra mile to work on a movie called "Unorthodox" . The title says it all, it's movie about "Unorthodox Jews". When we got the instructions about the shoot we were told to wear plain clothes and no make-up or very minimal as we were cast to portray Orthodox Jews.
I thought this could be cool dressing up as a Jew. I always wanted to be Jew for a day!
I got to the holding area which was in Prospect Park area of Brooklyn, which is not a popular Jewish area as Williamsburg is where you see Hasidic Jews all over. The subway stop was at Grand Army Plaza which is a really nice area. As you walk to the holding area, you pass by blocks of gorgeous brownstones and tree lined streets. I walked a while until I got to the actual holding which was the Catholic church of the Virgin Mary.
When we got to the basement of the church, there was already a buffet of food lined up on tables that was already devoured into and practically gone. That was probably for crew and extras that were there since the morning hours. Since our call time was for 4pm, we were denied the food, even though the food was nearly done and only scraps of food remained.
The main event had to be the makeup department which was set up with all sorts of beards, wigs, hairpieces to put on us and create the authentic Jewish look. They dressed the Women in the wigs and scarves and all the men got the beards! It was actually fun. Not fun getting the wig put on.
When it was my turn to sit in the chair to get made over, the makeup artist tried several different wigs on me. She began getting my hair prepared by sticking and shoving pins into my head. She poked and jammed so many pins into my head, I could have been called "Pinhead!"
I started complaining and it really did hurt, and she took all the pins out and decided to just give me the head scarf. What a relief that was. Some were not so lucky and got the full wig put in and the men got beards glued on to their faces. It was very uncomfortable for many of the guys as they were complaining it was itching them.
All this took up about 3 hours until the "designers" were satisfied that we represented the Jews well enough. After we were done with the makeup and wardrobe, we sat in holding, and then we sat some more. Four hours later and the Assistant Director finally comes in and asks the union and non-union Jews to stand in a line.
He walks around, examines all of us and out of 20 of us standing there, he only picks two and says the rest of us are wrapped! I thought great, not a bad day after all. Unless of course they give a SAG waiver for the two Jews that were asked to stay behind. That never happened of course.
Oy vey , Jew for a Day. Though I don't think that I would want to become a orthodox Jew. It's too much work!
CA :(
I got a call from Extra mile to work on a movie called "Unorthodox" . The title says it all, it's movie about "Unorthodox Jews". When we got the instructions about the shoot we were told to wear plain clothes and no make-up or very minimal as we were cast to portray Orthodox Jews.
I thought this could be cool dressing up as a Jew. I always wanted to be Jew for a day!
I got to the holding area which was in Prospect Park area of Brooklyn, which is not a popular Jewish area as Williamsburg is where you see Hasidic Jews all over. The subway stop was at Grand Army Plaza which is a really nice area. As you walk to the holding area, you pass by blocks of gorgeous brownstones and tree lined streets. I walked a while until I got to the actual holding which was the Catholic church of the Virgin Mary.
When we got to the basement of the church, there was already a buffet of food lined up on tables that was already devoured into and practically gone. That was probably for crew and extras that were there since the morning hours. Since our call time was for 4pm, we were denied the food, even though the food was nearly done and only scraps of food remained.
The main event had to be the makeup department which was set up with all sorts of beards, wigs, hairpieces to put on us and create the authentic Jewish look. They dressed the Women in the wigs and scarves and all the men got the beards! It was actually fun. Not fun getting the wig put on.
When it was my turn to sit in the chair to get made over, the makeup artist tried several different wigs on me. She began getting my hair prepared by sticking and shoving pins into my head. She poked and jammed so many pins into my head, I could have been called "Pinhead!"
I started complaining and it really did hurt, and she took all the pins out and decided to just give me the head scarf. What a relief that was. Some were not so lucky and got the full wig put in and the men got beards glued on to their faces. It was very uncomfortable for many of the guys as they were complaining it was itching them.
All this took up about 3 hours until the "designers" were satisfied that we represented the Jews well enough. After we were done with the makeup and wardrobe, we sat in holding, and then we sat some more. Four hours later and the Assistant Director finally comes in and asks the union and non-union Jews to stand in a line.
He walks around, examines all of us and out of 20 of us standing there, he only picks two and says the rest of us are wrapped! I thought great, not a bad day after all. Unless of course they give a SAG waiver for the two Jews that were asked to stay behind. That never happened of course.
Oy vey , Jew for a Day. Though I don't think that I would want to become a orthodox Jew. It's too much work!
CA :(
Wallmart/Coca Cola Commercial in a Loft
(Originally from September 16 and 17, 2008)
The first day they barely used us and we spent most of the day hanging out in a park for over 5 hours. I guess it wasn’t bad hanging out in the park and watching “Thomas Adonis” here posing
with "Libido Linda" strut his stuff. The guy many be a complete moron, though he is a stud!
I was booked on a WallMart
/Coca Cola 
commercial for two days. The holding area was downtown area by Chambers Street.
We got to the holding area for our call time at noon and shortly after we had this terrific spread of food being laid out for lunch.
/Coca Cola 
commercial for two days. The holding area was downtown area by Chambers Street.
We got to the holding area for our call time at noon and shortly after we had this terrific spread of food being laid out for lunch. I love it when they, the casting people tell us to eat Lunch before we get to set.
I of course never listen to the casting directions and came to set famished. Once you have dealt with the casting information, you know it’s all about “trickery” and lies and you have to do what is best for you to make your own judgment call. Most of the time they have NO clue what is really going. Luckily I did as shortly after we signed in and got our paper work, we sat around for about an hour then lunch got served.
The first day they barely used us and we spent most of the day hanging out in a park for over 5 hours. I guess it wasn’t bad hanging out in the park and watching “Thomas Adonis” here posing
with "Libido Linda" strut his stuff. The guy many be a complete moron, though he is a stud! When you are bored, you definitely need something to amuse you. It was boring though much better than to be held hostage on set which was indoors in this loft with no working AC units. We escaped the "sweat fest" of the loft on day one, though we sure made up for it the next day.
Our call time was much earlier the next day and we had lunch several hours later. After a very satisfying lunch, they hauled us up to this loft where we had to climb 5 long sets of stairs to get to the top floor.
Guess that was good planning on their part to feed us then get us to burn all those calories by making us walk up all those flights of stairs. The loft was decorated with white Christmas lights
and ornaments. Yes, you guessed it, this commercial is to be released for the Christmas season. It's actually a commercial which will be viewed across the nation at movie theaters everywhere during the preview ads and trailers we get bombarded with prior to the feature presentation.
and ornaments. Yes, you guessed it, this commercial is to be released for the Christmas season. It's actually a commercial which will be viewed across the nation at movie theaters everywhere during the preview ads and trailers we get bombarded with prior to the feature presentation. 
I'm sure you won't be seeing me in this commercial. Being on this commercial gave the term "back to one" an entire new meaning. Normally they shoot the same scene, a hundred times over and then "check the gate, then move on. Not in this case at all. It was the exact same scene for 14 hours! I'm not kidding.
The scene as I mentioned is taking place in this loft where this young kid about 19 years old starts singing about how happy he is it's Christmas time, grabs a Wall mart bag filled with Coca 
cola, and starts passing around coke bottles to his "Step family" and his "Cool" Step Mother, singing and spreading Christmas cheer as he skips along the entire loft to the end until he abruptly comes to a halt when he sees his ex-girlfriend is at the party with a new guy! How clever.
cola, and starts passing around coke bottles to his "Step family" and his "Cool" Step Mother, singing and spreading Christmas cheer as he skips along the entire loft to the end until he abruptly comes to a halt when he sees his ex-girlfriend is at the party with a new guy! How clever. That stupid song he sang over and over again. Well actually he "lip-synced" it as he skipped along. Though as the sweaty night prevailed and we were about to collapse, the director turned up the volume of the song so that everyone would get into the mood whether they liked it or not.
It was getting so bad in that loft that the icing on the cupcakes as props on the table was melting. 
Even the cheese couldn't take it anymore as it was seriously melting and becoming slimy. I think this was the cheese they brought up from Krafty when it was still edible.
Even the cheese couldn't take it anymore as it was seriously melting and becoming slimy. I think this was the cheese they brought up from Krafty when it was still edible. As for everyone else it was getting so hot that when we made an attempt to take off our jackets in between takes, it was impossible as our jackets and sweaters became glued to our skin, literally. Finally after a million takes of this "party scene", we ready to collapse and barely filtered down the flights of stairs back to holding to sign out.
I was never SO happy in all my life to get on the subway knowing that it would be freezing cold with the AC pumping! So I survived that though I couldn't sleep all night as I was having nightmares of that stupid song. Though the downside, I suppose is that I won't be seeing any Christmas movies at the theater. or at least come extra late to avoid seeing this and the sweaty memories of it!
CA :( Sigh!
Sprint Commercial at Grand Central Station
(originally from August 18, 2008)
Well it’s about time I got booked on something from the fabulous "British Booker", Jane Blodwell since I signed on to her agency over a month ago. I got my information for this Sprint
commercial and I was told that this would be a short shoot and would wrap no later than noon. Well surprise surprise that we ended after 3pm!
Our holding area was a camper parked outside a block away from Grand Central, so you suspect it not to be a long shoot. There were only a handful of extras on this shoot including my friend Kathy from Seacliff, Long Island, and Stewart.
The location to shoot was at Grand Central Station which you know is and always will be a mess to work there in terms of high traffic commuters. Shooting anything at Grand Central attracts spectators and curious people that snoop around to see what is shooting and what celebrity is involved.
Well when people found out that Julia Roberts wasn’t there and the only star was the CEO of
Sprint, people slowly moved along. The fact being that the CEO of Sprint, who is not only the spokesperson, but also the star of this commercial, was a joke. It was also not in our favor of getting released by noon. This commercial experience was a lesson learned why actors are hired to do commercials. The CEO kept messing up his lines and many of us believed that he got the script in a late e-mail the night before.
It got so bad to the point that both of the PA’s had to write down the script in BIG letters with magic marker on big cards for him to read as he walked and tried to pitch key words and phrases on his own company.
During all this all we had to do was walk back and forth as commuters around him. This may sound easy enough though we had one crazy old man with a horn in a powered wheel chair
attempting to mow some of us down and making vile attempts at slapping young girls butts. Pervert in a wheelchair basically.
We were eventually done by 3pm where at that point we were making $5 dollars an hour for the rate we were promised and the commission Jane. Though isn’t it worth it?? I ask you?
Well it’s about time I got booked on something from the fabulous "British Booker", Jane Blodwell since I signed on to her agency over a month ago. I got my information for this Sprint
commercial and I was told that this would be a short shoot and would wrap no later than noon. Well surprise surprise that we ended after 3pm!Our holding area was a camper parked outside a block away from Grand Central, so you suspect it not to be a long shoot. There were only a handful of extras on this shoot including my friend Kathy from Seacliff, Long Island, and Stewart.
The location to shoot was at Grand Central Station which you know is and always will be a mess to work there in terms of high traffic commuters. Shooting anything at Grand Central attracts spectators and curious people that snoop around to see what is shooting and what celebrity is involved.
Well when people found out that Julia Roberts wasn’t there and the only star was the CEO of
Sprint, people slowly moved along. The fact being that the CEO of Sprint, who is not only the spokesperson, but also the star of this commercial, was a joke. It was also not in our favor of getting released by noon. This commercial experience was a lesson learned why actors are hired to do commercials. The CEO kept messing up his lines and many of us believed that he got the script in a late e-mail the night before.It got so bad to the point that both of the PA’s had to write down the script in BIG letters with magic marker on big cards for him to read as he walked and tried to pitch key words and phrases on his own company.
During all this all we had to do was walk back and forth as commuters around him. This may sound easy enough though we had one crazy old man with a horn in a powered wheel chair
attempting to mow some of us down and making vile attempts at slapping young girls butts. Pervert in a wheelchair basically.We were eventually done by 3pm where at that point we were making $5 dollars an hour for the rate we were promised and the commission Jane. Though isn’t it worth it?? I ask you?
CA ;(
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