Sorry for the delay, folks. It's hard to get on the internet sometimes. I have to go to the library or ask James to bring his phone and hook us up. But, I'm at the library now, so here we go.
For those of you that haven't heard from me, or my parents, I got another job with Central Casting as an extra in an "ER" episode. I believe the air date is March 26th. So set your recorders ;) and if I'm not mistaken, it's the second-to-last episode of the season. It's pretty cool to say I was involved with the last season of ER.
I don't want to give too much away with what I did for you avid watchers of the show. Not that it would, because nothing of it was ER-esque. I expected hospital-like background, with doctors and nurses and patients and such, and yet, I was a camp kid. And we were in a gymnasium. Totally not what I expected. The day ended up being a 13.5 hour day. I got paid for 12.5 hours of it, because the one hour extra was for lunch. What did I do you ask? I got paid to stand and dance. Yes you heard me, I stood there in an orange Hawaiian shirt, with leis, beads, and a nametag hanging around my neck, dancing to salsa music and then a band. So like I said, not very ER-esque. We did take after take after take. The coolest part of it all was seeing all the actors of the show. The first few I saw were John Stamos aka "Dr. Tony Gates", or as I like to call him: Uncle Jesse, Linda Cardellini who plays "Samantha Taggart", Scott Grimes or "Dr. Archie Morris", Laura Cerón who plays "Nurse Chuny Marquez", and Angela Bassett who plays "Dr. Cate Banfield". I saw even more than that, like the Australian doctor David Lyons, Angela Bassett's husband Courtney B. Vance. The guest star: SPOILER ALERT! haha was Tom Arnold. Seeing him caught me completely offguard. Yet another actor, like John Stamos, who I never thought I'd see in person. I was in reaching distance to these actors throughout the day. Said hello to David Lyons. Scott Grimes was singing a song and pointed at me and sang a line. He was the goof of the group. He seems like a really funny guy, and has quite a resemblance to Simon Pegg.
Like I said, I don't want to give away everything I saw and we did. But I will say that I got to witness John Stamos play drums while Scott Grimes sang. They had to do the take over and over and over again, not because of mistakes, but because of all the camera angles they used. You might catch a glimpse or two of me. So definitely check it out on March 26th. Which I do believe is the air date. If that changes, I'll let you all know.
I met a really cool guy named Scott while we were on-set. He, like me, was cast as an "18 years to look younger camp kid". We ended up hanging out all day. He's been on an estimated 200 sets before with all the extra work he's done, so he was telling me about all the different jobs and shows he's done in the past six months or so. He informed me of an extra casting agency where he was getting jobs 7 days a week! He got many opportunities at SAG vouchers and he actually could join SAG now if he wanted to, but with the $2,400 fee to become SAG, and him not having the drive to be a big actor, he's not REAL interested.
I sent out an e-mail to a different extras casting agency, so hopefully I'll hear back from them soon. They are one who they'll call me for jobs, unlike Central Casting where I have to call them.
I'm kind of shorted on time today, I only have about 10 minutes left on here, but I'll try to get on later this evening. I am headed to Central Casting for an open call for an untitled Nancy Meyer's project, starring people like Steve Martin, Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and John Krasinski. They need upscale-looking people pretty much. It's mostly in what you wear, so I'm going to go in my shirt, tie, dress pants, and slicked-over hair and all they're doing is taking a picture of us from the knee up. Those pictures will be sent to the director, and if I fit the look, they'll contact me and I'll either be working multiple days in April or maybe only one day in April. Depends on the category. So wish me luck! Keep me in your prayers, because I really want this job.
Take care all of you, I'll try updating this again soon.
Until next time...
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Waterless
Hello there my fellow readers. I haven't been able to get on here much recently. Hopefully today will be the last time I have to come to the library to use the internet. Since James brought over another computer, and we placed it on the opposite side of the room, we're hoping to catch a better internet signal there. Kelly says when she had her laptop, she got the best signal on that side of the room. Well she and Amy are going to buy a USB Internet adapter today. We'll plug it into the computer and try to get that up and running. I HOPE! I'm kinda tired of having to drive to the library any day I need to use the internet and only getting it two hours a day. I would rather have it at my fingertips whenever I need it. I just can't afford to buy my own laptop right now, otherwise I could pretty much go anywhere these days and pick up wi-fi.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day weekend. I've never been a fan of the 'holiday'. It's always kind of been a Hallmark holiday to me. But I did celebrate our friend Matty K's birthday that night at the Liquid Zoo. I, oh so lovingly, sang "Love Stinks" by the J. Geils Band. Thought it would be fitting. :)
I forgot to mention something about last week. I was woken up to a knocking at the door. Standing there was a worker saying he had to come in and work on our kitchen and bathroom. But he wouldn't be going into the bedroom or anything like that, just those two places. I was a little confused, because I was never made aware of this. I told him our manager never told us anything about it, or at least never told me about it. I wasn't given any paper a day or two in advance like the last time they kicked us out of our apartment. I then asked him how long he needed in there. He replied with "all day". Are you serious? All day??? We didn't have to leave the apartment, but we were going to be without water all day. This is rediculous. I went ahead and let him in and he went to work moving everything out of his way in the bathroom and kitchen. I guess they were working on the whole apartment complex. This place (for lack of a better word) SUCKS! First asbestos, now water. All within a month of each other. Anyhoo, so I go into the girls' bedroom and ask them if they knew anything about this. "Oh yeah, they have to work on the water, we're going to be without water all day." Nice of them to tell ME! I guess our manager gave Amy a piece of paper about it and he also left a voicemail for Kelly. Niether of which was I told about. So needless to say, I had the brief "we told you...no you didn't" argument. So I couldn't shower, flush the toilet, wash my hands properly, brush my teeth all day. That was such a crappy day. I sat around in the apartment all day, because I couldn't leave with guys coming in and our of the apartment at will. And they did just that. We left the door either unlocked or cracked open all day so they could come in whenever they needed to. I know a couple of the neighbors weren't too happy with it either. I heard them yelling at the guys working.
At about 7pm or so, we got our water finally turned back on, and I immediately jumped in the shower and scrubbed clean along with brushing my teeth thoroughly. In order to wash my hands at all, I had to run bottled water over my hands with the soap. It was difficult.
So hopefully we won't have anymore days like that. I don't have too many exciting stories.
OH! Tuesday night something kind of funny happened. I sang karaoke, as usual. And my third and final song was two from the end. After they finished the karaoke at 1:30 and it was pushing 2 o'clock, I was talking to Sam, Manny, and Louie when this girl approached us and said, "My friend thinks you're really cute and we were wondering..are you into guys or girls?" ....... I wanted to laugh, because that question completely caught me offguard. I told her, "I'm definitely interested in girls." "Ok," she said, "well I might just send my friend over here to talk to you." "That's fine with me," I replied, "I'm up for meeting new people." So I waited there as the girl left and continued talking to the guys and we all kind of laughed it off. Five or so minutes passed and no one came over. I had my back to them when Manny said, "That girl who came over here is talking to two guys." I think she might have been trying to hook me up with a guy, but when I said I was interested in females, plans changed. I don't know for sure, but I think that's what happened. Well it was time to leave and I went and talked to Kelly and that girl was leaving and she said, "My friend was too shy to come talk to you, but you are a really cute guy and seem really nice. Have a nice night!"
That was that. I shook her hand and I went home. That was a strange way to end the night. haha
I received a couple packages from home yesterday. They are always nice to get. One was a Hickory Farms box full of sausage, cheese, crackers, and a little bit of candy to have some snackage. The other was full of DVDs and snack foods my dad picked up at the grocery. I always get so excited opening those! I never know what's going to be in them. Unless of course I tell my parents what to send.
I was just informed we're going to have a little bit of a gathering at the *cough* small *cough* apartment. But it's BYOB, so hopefully we'll get some people to bring us drinks and snacks and we'll just hang out and have a good time. I would much rather spend my time finding a new apartment with the roommates, but I guess another day.....*bangs head on desk*.
My cousin Adam has booked his flight to come visit in April! I'm so pumped for that! Ben and Shayna are supposed to be here the week of St. Patrick's Day aka Ben's Birthday next month! I'm pumped about that! And Joe told me he might be out here next month as well! I LOVE that people are coming to visit! :)
I miss you all. I love you all. Until next time...
I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day weekend. I've never been a fan of the 'holiday'. It's always kind of been a Hallmark holiday to me. But I did celebrate our friend Matty K's birthday that night at the Liquid Zoo. I, oh so lovingly, sang "Love Stinks" by the J. Geils Band. Thought it would be fitting. :)
I forgot to mention something about last week. I was woken up to a knocking at the door. Standing there was a worker saying he had to come in and work on our kitchen and bathroom. But he wouldn't be going into the bedroom or anything like that, just those two places. I was a little confused, because I was never made aware of this. I told him our manager never told us anything about it, or at least never told me about it. I wasn't given any paper a day or two in advance like the last time they kicked us out of our apartment. I then asked him how long he needed in there. He replied with "all day". Are you serious? All day??? We didn't have to leave the apartment, but we were going to be without water all day. This is rediculous. I went ahead and let him in and he went to work moving everything out of his way in the bathroom and kitchen. I guess they were working on the whole apartment complex. This place (for lack of a better word) SUCKS! First asbestos, now water. All within a month of each other. Anyhoo, so I go into the girls' bedroom and ask them if they knew anything about this. "Oh yeah, they have to work on the water, we're going to be without water all day." Nice of them to tell ME! I guess our manager gave Amy a piece of paper about it and he also left a voicemail for Kelly. Niether of which was I told about. So needless to say, I had the brief "we told you...no you didn't" argument. So I couldn't shower, flush the toilet, wash my hands properly, brush my teeth all day. That was such a crappy day. I sat around in the apartment all day, because I couldn't leave with guys coming in and our of the apartment at will. And they did just that. We left the door either unlocked or cracked open all day so they could come in whenever they needed to. I know a couple of the neighbors weren't too happy with it either. I heard them yelling at the guys working.
At about 7pm or so, we got our water finally turned back on, and I immediately jumped in the shower and scrubbed clean along with brushing my teeth thoroughly. In order to wash my hands at all, I had to run bottled water over my hands with the soap. It was difficult.
So hopefully we won't have anymore days like that. I don't have too many exciting stories.
OH! Tuesday night something kind of funny happened. I sang karaoke, as usual. And my third and final song was two from the end. After they finished the karaoke at 1:30 and it was pushing 2 o'clock, I was talking to Sam, Manny, and Louie when this girl approached us and said, "My friend thinks you're really cute and we were wondering..are you into guys or girls?" ....... I wanted to laugh, because that question completely caught me offguard. I told her, "I'm definitely interested in girls." "Ok," she said, "well I might just send my friend over here to talk to you." "That's fine with me," I replied, "I'm up for meeting new people." So I waited there as the girl left and continued talking to the guys and we all kind of laughed it off. Five or so minutes passed and no one came over. I had my back to them when Manny said, "That girl who came over here is talking to two guys." I think she might have been trying to hook me up with a guy, but when I said I was interested in females, plans changed. I don't know for sure, but I think that's what happened. Well it was time to leave and I went and talked to Kelly and that girl was leaving and she said, "My friend was too shy to come talk to you, but you are a really cute guy and seem really nice. Have a nice night!"
That was that. I shook her hand and I went home. That was a strange way to end the night. haha
I received a couple packages from home yesterday. They are always nice to get. One was a Hickory Farms box full of sausage, cheese, crackers, and a little bit of candy to have some snackage. The other was full of DVDs and snack foods my dad picked up at the grocery. I always get so excited opening those! I never know what's going to be in them. Unless of course I tell my parents what to send.
I was just informed we're going to have a little bit of a gathering at the *cough* small *cough* apartment. But it's BYOB, so hopefully we'll get some people to bring us drinks and snacks and we'll just hang out and have a good time. I would much rather spend my time finding a new apartment with the roommates, but I guess another day.....*bangs head on desk*.
My cousin Adam has booked his flight to come visit in April! I'm so pumped for that! Ben and Shayna are supposed to be here the week of St. Patrick's Day aka Ben's Birthday next month! I'm pumped about that! And Joe told me he might be out here next month as well! I LOVE that people are coming to visit! :)
I miss you all. I love you all. Until next time...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Q&A Time!
First and foremost: I would like to give a very special shoutout to my mother. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! It is her fi..*cough*...rst birthday today! ;-) So if you know her, you better wish her a Happy Birthday wish today :)
Now, let's get down to the Q&A. Some of you asked, and here I am to answer.
Peggy Sue Frye from Kokomo, IN asks: "If you could act with any actor/actress, who would it be and why?"
--Great question, Peggy! If I had my choice, it would have to be Will Smith. I am a huge fan of this guy and what he's done with his career. He's an actor/musician/father/husband/role model. He keeps his sanity, unlike a lot of actors out there. You don't hear about him feuding with people or all over the media in a negative way. He's been through it all, starting with his music as the "Fresh Prince" with DJ Jazzy Jeff, to acting on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, to all those movies and blockbuster hits he's starred in on the big screen. He's a loving father and husband. I admire what he does. I admire who he is. I believe he's somewhere at the top of the "Smartest People in Hollywood" (I'm agreeing with a past Entertainment Weekly magazine story). If I ever get to work with him, I will have hit a HUGE goal in my life of acting.
If I had to pick another choice, it would be the cast/crew from movies like Superbad, 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, etc. The Seth Rogen, Steve Carrell, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera crowd. They make some pretty funny stuff.
Pamela Hawkins (aka my mom) from Kokomo, IN asks: "If you could ask advice from any famous person, and you HAD to follow their advice, who would you choose?"
--Tough question. I would like to sit down with one of two people. One being from a director's standpoint. That person would be Steven Spielberg. How could you NOT follow this guy's advice? He's brilliant with what he does. He's been around for years and has been quite successful through his career. From filmmaking, screenwriting, producing, and directing. He's done it all and doesn't usually let people down with his work.
From an acting standpoint, for some reason, Tom Hanks is sticking out in my mind. He's made some great choices when it comes to acting and has been quite successful as well in doing so. The Academy Award Winning actor proves time and time again he knows what he's doing and he's a very intelligent person.
Libby Brewer from Kokomo, IN asks: "What inspired you to choose acting as a possible career?"
--Funny you should ask. I guess after many years of Children's Theatre, Kokomo Civic Theatre, and Tipton Civic Theatre, you'd think I'd follow the same route and head out east to New York or somewhere known for their theatre. However, after a couple years post-IU, I got my first lead in a Kokomo Civic Theatre show, "West Side Story". It was then that I realized I wanted to act. But I didn't necessarily want to do acting in a theatre aspect. I wanted to try TV/movies. I have certain goals I'm wanting in my acting career. I would like to star in hit movies, a successful television series, preferably comedy-style, be a voice-over in a Pixar film, or some sort of animated movie, and win an Academy Award, or at least be nominated. Nothing too out of reach right? haha So I guess it was just years of acting and performing and it's what I love. I enjoy it everytime I do it. Who knows! Maybe when I get into this, I'll realize it really wasn't for me, but they always say: you can do anything you put your mind to, right?
Shayla Caddell (aka my sister) from Noblesville, IN asks: "Have you been to In-N-Out Burger and how big of a burger did you get?"
--This is a wonderful question, and yet a silly one. Of COURSE I've been to In-N-Out. :) It's pretty much a must-do when you're in LA. I got their Double Double Burger. It pretty much is an awesome burger. What I love most about that place is how they do their fries. Every person who orders an order of fries gets one whole potato that they send through a slicer right in front of your eyes into 100% vegetable oil. It's cool to know I'm getting a full potato. A very tasty place if you're ever living out here or visiting. I've only eaten it once since I've lived out here. I had it when I visited Joe back in '04 and once the summer of Shannon's wedding out here.
Peggy Sue Frye from Kokomo, IN asks: "Are you going to be taking any acting classes or special tutoring while you're there?"
--I sure do plan to. As a matter of fact, just last night at karaoke, this guy named Randy informed me he and a couple people are starting up an improv crash-course type of class that will be cheaper than most places out here, and yet people could come out of there and be able to skip a level at certain places. He and his co-starters with this have studied from Second City, which is a very respectable and popular place. I'm going to look into that and also other places. I need to get into a commercial workshop. I want to take acting classes to help improve my acting and any chance I may have to get better jobs down the road.
Peggy also asks: "Even though you've only been gone a few weeks, why does it feel like YEARS?"
--Haha at times, that's definitely a mutual feeling. I already want to come home to visit, but I try to hold back a little bit. No offense to any of you back home, it's just I want to give myself more time out here. It'll make me coming home to visit even better when I do. :)
Thank you so much for your questions!! Keep asking them, for I want to do another one of these soon! I hope I get more questions and even more people asking them.
Until next time...
Now, let's get down to the Q&A. Some of you asked, and here I am to answer.
Peggy Sue Frye from Kokomo, IN asks: "If you could act with any actor/actress, who would it be and why?"
--Great question, Peggy! If I had my choice, it would have to be Will Smith. I am a huge fan of this guy and what he's done with his career. He's an actor/musician/father/husband/role model. He keeps his sanity, unlike a lot of actors out there. You don't hear about him feuding with people or all over the media in a negative way. He's been through it all, starting with his music as the "Fresh Prince" with DJ Jazzy Jeff, to acting on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, to all those movies and blockbuster hits he's starred in on the big screen. He's a loving father and husband. I admire what he does. I admire who he is. I believe he's somewhere at the top of the "Smartest People in Hollywood" (I'm agreeing with a past Entertainment Weekly magazine story). If I ever get to work with him, I will have hit a HUGE goal in my life of acting.
If I had to pick another choice, it would be the cast/crew from movies like Superbad, 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, etc. The Seth Rogen, Steve Carrell, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera crowd. They make some pretty funny stuff.
Pamela Hawkins (aka my mom) from Kokomo, IN asks: "If you could ask advice from any famous person, and you HAD to follow their advice, who would you choose?"
--Tough question. I would like to sit down with one of two people. One being from a director's standpoint. That person would be Steven Spielberg. How could you NOT follow this guy's advice? He's brilliant with what he does. He's been around for years and has been quite successful through his career. From filmmaking, screenwriting, producing, and directing. He's done it all and doesn't usually let people down with his work.
From an acting standpoint, for some reason, Tom Hanks is sticking out in my mind. He's made some great choices when it comes to acting and has been quite successful as well in doing so. The Academy Award Winning actor proves time and time again he knows what he's doing and he's a very intelligent person.
Libby Brewer from Kokomo, IN asks: "What inspired you to choose acting as a possible career?"
--Funny you should ask. I guess after many years of Children's Theatre, Kokomo Civic Theatre, and Tipton Civic Theatre, you'd think I'd follow the same route and head out east to New York or somewhere known for their theatre. However, after a couple years post-IU, I got my first lead in a Kokomo Civic Theatre show, "West Side Story". It was then that I realized I wanted to act. But I didn't necessarily want to do acting in a theatre aspect. I wanted to try TV/movies. I have certain goals I'm wanting in my acting career. I would like to star in hit movies, a successful television series, preferably comedy-style, be a voice-over in a Pixar film, or some sort of animated movie, and win an Academy Award, or at least be nominated. Nothing too out of reach right? haha So I guess it was just years of acting and performing and it's what I love. I enjoy it everytime I do it. Who knows! Maybe when I get into this, I'll realize it really wasn't for me, but they always say: you can do anything you put your mind to, right?
Shayla Caddell (aka my sister) from Noblesville, IN asks: "Have you been to In-N-Out Burger and how big of a burger did you get?"
--This is a wonderful question, and yet a silly one. Of COURSE I've been to In-N-Out. :) It's pretty much a must-do when you're in LA. I got their Double Double Burger. It pretty much is an awesome burger. What I love most about that place is how they do their fries. Every person who orders an order of fries gets one whole potato that they send through a slicer right in front of your eyes into 100% vegetable oil. It's cool to know I'm getting a full potato. A very tasty place if you're ever living out here or visiting. I've only eaten it once since I've lived out here. I had it when I visited Joe back in '04 and once the summer of Shannon's wedding out here.
Peggy Sue Frye from Kokomo, IN asks: "Are you going to be taking any acting classes or special tutoring while you're there?"
--I sure do plan to. As a matter of fact, just last night at karaoke, this guy named Randy informed me he and a couple people are starting up an improv crash-course type of class that will be cheaper than most places out here, and yet people could come out of there and be able to skip a level at certain places. He and his co-starters with this have studied from Second City, which is a very respectable and popular place. I'm going to look into that and also other places. I need to get into a commercial workshop. I want to take acting classes to help improve my acting and any chance I may have to get better jobs down the road.
Peggy also asks: "Even though you've only been gone a few weeks, why does it feel like YEARS?"
--Haha at times, that's definitely a mutual feeling. I already want to come home to visit, but I try to hold back a little bit. No offense to any of you back home, it's just I want to give myself more time out here. It'll make me coming home to visit even better when I do. :)
Thank you so much for your questions!! Keep asking them, for I want to do another one of these soon! I hope I get more questions and even more people asking them.
Until next time...
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Middle
Hello my faithful blog readers! I know some of you want to hear the story of my time on-set for my first 'extra' job yesterday, so here ya go:
I was told to arrive by 8am, and the location was Taft High School in Woodland Hills, CA. It was about a 15-minute drive away. I drove for the first time by myself on the 101 and did just fine. I arrived at Taft High School with 15 minutes to spare, but I saw no marked lot that I was to park in. No signs, no nothing. I found a nearby security guard and he told me I was to go down Ventura, take a right on one street, then another right, and I would see signs pointing me in the direction of "The Middle". So I drove about 5 minutes away to Pierce College where there was a huge parking lot for us all to park our vehicles. I then noticed a couple white shuttle buses which were there to take us extras over to the High School. We arrived a few minutes after 8am and got in line to get our voucher we needed to fill out and give to them at the end of the day so we could get paid. Getting paid is definitely a nice thing, as you all know. In line, I met a guy named Kurt and another guy named Cody. This was their first time at the extra thing too, so we were all confused and unsure about what exactly to do. But we were given our vouchers and told to head to wardrobe to see if what we were wearing or what we brought was best to wear on set. I was told to put on my brown, long-sleeved polo over my t-shirt. So I was good to go. We then sat in the holding area, otherwise known as "holding" for a couple hours before we were brought in for the first time. In the down time, I got to know and talk to Kurt and Cody and we swapped stories and talked about California, and acting, and moving there, etc. When they finally called us in, they started seating us in different spots of the camera/lighting/people-infested auditorium. They first placed all three of us guys in the front row, middle aisle before moving Kurt to the second row. I was the second seat in from the middle aisle on the left section of folding chair seats. On stage was a high school show choir, but I never actually found out where they were from. In the background I noticed Neil Flynn, also known as the Janitor from Scrubs. He is playing the dad of the Indiana/Midwestern family in this show. He's really tall in person. Anyway, we were all given programs and were told to enjoy the performance on stage. The show choir was performing to "Get the Party Started" by Pink. Needless to say, after as many takes as we had to go through, the song was in my head all day/night. The workers were moving a lot of people around to match up and mesh colors and looks. Luckily I got to stay in the front row. So they went through the first take and we were moving our heads around and bouncing to the beat a little bit. When they cut, one guy came to me and the lady next to me and told us to react and interact more, including 'fake-whispering' to eachother about what was going on up on stage. Everyone in the audience were supposed to be family members/friends/classmates of the kids on stage, just like going to any high school choir performance. After they told me that, I'm thinking that the back of my head and possibly my profile might be seen if they show the angle they had the camera set to. So I won't get anyone's hopes up, but it's possible. We were in there for awhile when they brought in the "first team", aka Neil Flynn, Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond), and the two sons of the family. They were literally 2 rows back from me, so that was a fun site to see.
Anyhoo, we were sent outside to holding and waited a long while before we got to go back inside. Lunch came around at 12pm and we were fed a feast to say the least. (Doo dah, doo dah) It was delicious! Set up buffett style, they had steak tips, chicken, fish, salad, fruits, veggies, spinach dip, and many other things. It's kind of nice getting paid to sit around all day and then get fed a free huge meal like that. When we finally got back inside, they had re-positioned the cameras/lighting/etc. to shoot from another angle. Before we got started, I noticed they brought in another recognizable actor, and sat him on the right section about two rows back. Chris Kattan ("SNL", "Night at the Roxbury"). He's pretty much as funny in person as he is on TV. I didn't expect to see him so it was pretty cool when I did. The family got to work the dialogue more, while we still bobbed and bounced to the music. We were in there a bit longer hearing all the ACTION! and CUT! and ROLLING! and all the other lingo that comes with filming and working on set, so it was a great experience and really fun to listen to.
We were sent outside and brought in again later in the afternoon/evening. By this time, we 8 o'clockers had already hit the 8-hour mark, so we knew we would go into OVERTIME! Overtime = more $$ :)
That third time going in, I got a little excited because I almost had some serious, yet short, on-camera time. I was told I was going to walk in down the middle aisle to the back row of the auditorium and sit in my seat, all while they were taping. So you'd get to see my backside the whole way down the aisle, because of the position of the camera up on stage. Unfortunately, after one take of that, with many others walking to their seats and sitting down, they scratched it because they decided they didn't like the idea as much as they thought. So instead of that, I got bumped back to the back row, maybe not to be seen on camera, but I guess we'll have to wait.
The day was long, but enjoyable. Turned out to be a 12-hr day of work. So I got paid 4 hours of overtime. I would've stayed 16+ hours had they not been done shooting at 8:30pm. I had a blast, met some new people, saw some more celebrities, and gained some experience of what it's like on set. I hope to get more of these jobs in the near future. I just have to keep calling Central Casting and checking to see if they have any open spots for shows that I fit the part for. Oh yeah, another recognizable actor in the show is Atticus Shaffer ("Hancock", "The Unborn"). I think he's playing one of the sons of the family. I didn't recognize the other son or the daughter, but hopefully I can find that out if they ever post more info about the show online.
So I hope you enjoyed this entry about my first day in extra work. It was a long story, and there are a few details here and there I left out, but nothing too important. The only downside of the show, is that it may not air till this fall. So it could be awhile before we get to see it. It's worth the wait :)
Until next time...
I was told to arrive by 8am, and the location was Taft High School in Woodland Hills, CA. It was about a 15-minute drive away. I drove for the first time by myself on the 101 and did just fine. I arrived at Taft High School with 15 minutes to spare, but I saw no marked lot that I was to park in. No signs, no nothing. I found a nearby security guard and he told me I was to go down Ventura, take a right on one street, then another right, and I would see signs pointing me in the direction of "The Middle". So I drove about 5 minutes away to Pierce College where there was a huge parking lot for us all to park our vehicles. I then noticed a couple white shuttle buses which were there to take us extras over to the High School. We arrived a few minutes after 8am and got in line to get our voucher we needed to fill out and give to them at the end of the day so we could get paid. Getting paid is definitely a nice thing, as you all know. In line, I met a guy named Kurt and another guy named Cody. This was their first time at the extra thing too, so we were all confused and unsure about what exactly to do. But we were given our vouchers and told to head to wardrobe to see if what we were wearing or what we brought was best to wear on set. I was told to put on my brown, long-sleeved polo over my t-shirt. So I was good to go. We then sat in the holding area, otherwise known as "holding" for a couple hours before we were brought in for the first time. In the down time, I got to know and talk to Kurt and Cody and we swapped stories and talked about California, and acting, and moving there, etc. When they finally called us in, they started seating us in different spots of the camera/lighting/people-infested auditorium. They first placed all three of us guys in the front row, middle aisle before moving Kurt to the second row. I was the second seat in from the middle aisle on the left section of folding chair seats. On stage was a high school show choir, but I never actually found out where they were from. In the background I noticed Neil Flynn, also known as the Janitor from Scrubs. He is playing the dad of the Indiana/Midwestern family in this show. He's really tall in person. Anyway, we were all given programs and were told to enjoy the performance on stage. The show choir was performing to "Get the Party Started" by Pink. Needless to say, after as many takes as we had to go through, the song was in my head all day/night. The workers were moving a lot of people around to match up and mesh colors and looks. Luckily I got to stay in the front row. So they went through the first take and we were moving our heads around and bouncing to the beat a little bit. When they cut, one guy came to me and the lady next to me and told us to react and interact more, including 'fake-whispering' to eachother about what was going on up on stage. Everyone in the audience were supposed to be family members/friends/classmates of the kids on stage, just like going to any high school choir performance. After they told me that, I'm thinking that the back of my head and possibly my profile might be seen if they show the angle they had the camera set to. So I won't get anyone's hopes up, but it's possible. We were in there for awhile when they brought in the "first team", aka Neil Flynn, Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond), and the two sons of the family. They were literally 2 rows back from me, so that was a fun site to see.
Anyhoo, we were sent outside to holding and waited a long while before we got to go back inside. Lunch came around at 12pm and we were fed a feast to say the least. (Doo dah, doo dah) It was delicious! Set up buffett style, they had steak tips, chicken, fish, salad, fruits, veggies, spinach dip, and many other things. It's kind of nice getting paid to sit around all day and then get fed a free huge meal like that. When we finally got back inside, they had re-positioned the cameras/lighting/etc. to shoot from another angle. Before we got started, I noticed they brought in another recognizable actor, and sat him on the right section about two rows back. Chris Kattan ("SNL", "Night at the Roxbury"). He's pretty much as funny in person as he is on TV. I didn't expect to see him so it was pretty cool when I did. The family got to work the dialogue more, while we still bobbed and bounced to the music. We were in there a bit longer hearing all the ACTION! and CUT! and ROLLING! and all the other lingo that comes with filming and working on set, so it was a great experience and really fun to listen to.
We were sent outside and brought in again later in the afternoon/evening. By this time, we 8 o'clockers had already hit the 8-hour mark, so we knew we would go into OVERTIME! Overtime = more $$ :)
That third time going in, I got a little excited because I almost had some serious, yet short, on-camera time. I was told I was going to walk in down the middle aisle to the back row of the auditorium and sit in my seat, all while they were taping. So you'd get to see my backside the whole way down the aisle, because of the position of the camera up on stage. Unfortunately, after one take of that, with many others walking to their seats and sitting down, they scratched it because they decided they didn't like the idea as much as they thought. So instead of that, I got bumped back to the back row, maybe not to be seen on camera, but I guess we'll have to wait.
The day was long, but enjoyable. Turned out to be a 12-hr day of work. So I got paid 4 hours of overtime. I would've stayed 16+ hours had they not been done shooting at 8:30pm. I had a blast, met some new people, saw some more celebrities, and gained some experience of what it's like on set. I hope to get more of these jobs in the near future. I just have to keep calling Central Casting and checking to see if they have any open spots for shows that I fit the part for. Oh yeah, another recognizable actor in the show is Atticus Shaffer ("Hancock", "The Unborn"). I think he's playing one of the sons of the family. I didn't recognize the other son or the daughter, but hopefully I can find that out if they ever post more info about the show online.
So I hope you enjoyed this entry about my first day in extra work. It was a long story, and there are a few details here and there I left out, but nothing too important. The only downside of the show, is that it may not air till this fall. So it could be awhile before we get to see it. It's worth the wait :)
Until next time...
Friday, January 30, 2009
First Central Casting Job!
This will be a quick post, but just to inform everyone, I called Central Casting today and listened to their automated system that reads off possible jobs. There was one listing for a job Wednesday, February 4th. It is for a pilot called "The Middle" on ABC. They were looking for males, who were or looked 18 years or younger, not too tan, not big and muscular, high school-looking, for a show based in Indiana. Tell me how that could not be more perfect!
So I'm booked for that on Wednesday, as an "audience member" for the show. I don't know what I'll be doing, what I'll be wearing, or where I have to be specifically. I'll know all of that Tuesday night.
YAY! Until next time...
So I'm booked for that on Wednesday, as an "audience member" for the show. I don't know what I'll be doing, what I'll be wearing, or where I have to be specifically. I'll know all of that Tuesday night.
YAY! Until next time...
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Central Casting Member
So I really should get a journal. (yeah I know mom)... But if I had a journal, I could first write it in while things are happening or immediately after they happen and I wouldn't forget so much that has happened inbetween days that I get to get online and update this thing. I could directly read the journal and type in the blog. Oh well...it's on my to-do list.
So as I've said before, Sundays and Tuesdays are karaoke nights at Ireland's. Tuesday came around and I asked the girls if they were planning on going, but they weren't too sure. I got a text from James asking me if we were going because he was going. So he agreed to come get me since the girls didn't want to go. We got there fairly early, about 9:50pm-ish. There were a lot of people at the bar watching and cheering on the Lakers. I was hoping they would lose. But obviously I wouldn't say that too loud around a bunch of Los Angeles-ans...Angelesians...Angeles-ites... I dunno. Anyhoo, so I took forever, as usual, to look at the book and figure out what I was going to sing as my first song. Some people had gotten up there a couple times before James, Joe (his friend I met that night), or me had gotten up there once. So I chose "The Remedy" by Jason Mraz. It's a song I enjoy, but at the same time, I figured people knew it well enough that they would enjoy it. As the night started to progress, the bar started to pack. A BIG group of people came in because one of their friends was moving to Brazil to teach English. A bunch of people signed up for karaoke, so I was hoping that after my first song, I'd get a chance to do my second one I had picked out.
I got up to do "The Remedy", and as I had hoped, a lot of people were dancing, enjoying themselves, singing along, etc. So I thought it was a successful choice. Then while we (me, Joe, James) were sitting at our table, this kind of short, very familiar-looking guy walks up to the book o' songs. I immediately turn to Joe and ask him who this guy is. He recognized him too, and I looked at James, and James was trying to figure it out as well. It hit him. James told me he is in the Big Bang Theory. Simon Helberg is his name. This cast really likes this bar obviously. So I looked around and sure enough, there were Kaylee Cuoco and Johnny Galecki. They brought in a small group as well.
So I had signed up for my second song, "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind. When I, luckily, got up there to sing it, I felt I was doing really well, and I noticed a lot of the crowd was into it. I also noticed Kaylee and a guy were dancing to it, so I thought that was pretty cool. So after I got off the stage, I took a drink of my beer, and after the next person sang, I went up to Kaylee and gave her a high five and told her that she did a great job dancing. She replied with, "Well thanks!" So yeah, that was that. Haha...it was corny but cool.
The final song of the night was "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. This big group of people got up there to sing. The group included all the people from the Big Bang Theory and their friends. The whole time they were swaying back and forth and back and forth. I stood right up front next to the stage where there's this wooden railing, singing and swaying along. Next thing I know, halfway through the song, Johnny Galecki comes out of the middle of the pack, and reaches his hand out to me and pulls me up on stage! It was quite unexpected to be honest. I sang along with them putting my arms around a guy I met out here named Sam, and Simon from the show, swaying back and forth to some Billy Joel. I noticed Kaylee would step out of the group to turn and take pics of all of us, so I'm sure if I found her MySpace, I might be able to find pics of all of us. So that was a pretty cool thing to happen.
During that night, a girl came up to me and asked me if my name was Brendan. Yes... "You know Joe Cameron, right?" .....Yes... Then I KNEW she looked familiar. Her name is Laura Nargi. I met her through people going to Joe's shows back home! It was crazy to run into her in LA of all places. Anyhoo, we talked a bit. I checked my Facebook today and noticed she tagged me in a pic of me with that big group singing. Kaylee's actually in that pic. She's the blurry blonde up front on the left of the picture.
Anyways, yesterday (Wednesday) James came to pick me up and take me to Central Casting so I could register for that and become an "extra" or "background actor". We stood in a HUGE group of people, listening to all the forms we needed, what we should know about Central Casting, so on and so forth. I had the forms already, thanks to James, and filled them out before I got there. They finally split us into two lines and we turned in our forms and they checked them over, showed them our IDs, then they handed back the forms and we went to the "photo line". I stood in line for about 15-20 minutes and when it was my turn, I paid my $25 photo fee, got my picture taken, and got my papers telling me I am officially registered with Central Casting. I can call everyday looking for jobs. They'll tell me the list available, and if any of them are suited to me, I can immediately then call another number to register for a part. They will tell me the day/time/location of where I need to be and when. I arrive, work for about 8-12 hours that day, and get paid by check the following week. Pretty cool agency.
Well I think I've said plenty for this entry. If any of you have been on Facebook since yesterday, you might have noticed I posted about 11 pictures. I will try posting more very soon.
KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS for my future Q&A entry!!!!
Oh, and the Lakers lost to the Charlotte Bobcats in double OT 117-110 :)
Until next time...
So as I've said before, Sundays and Tuesdays are karaoke nights at Ireland's. Tuesday came around and I asked the girls if they were planning on going, but they weren't too sure. I got a text from James asking me if we were going because he was going. So he agreed to come get me since the girls didn't want to go. We got there fairly early, about 9:50pm-ish. There were a lot of people at the bar watching and cheering on the Lakers. I was hoping they would lose. But obviously I wouldn't say that too loud around a bunch of Los Angeles-ans...Angelesians...Angeles-ites... I dunno. Anyhoo, so I took forever, as usual, to look at the book and figure out what I was going to sing as my first song. Some people had gotten up there a couple times before James, Joe (his friend I met that night), or me had gotten up there once. So I chose "The Remedy" by Jason Mraz. It's a song I enjoy, but at the same time, I figured people knew it well enough that they would enjoy it. As the night started to progress, the bar started to pack. A BIG group of people came in because one of their friends was moving to Brazil to teach English. A bunch of people signed up for karaoke, so I was hoping that after my first song, I'd get a chance to do my second one I had picked out.
I got up to do "The Remedy", and as I had hoped, a lot of people were dancing, enjoying themselves, singing along, etc. So I thought it was a successful choice. Then while we (me, Joe, James) were sitting at our table, this kind of short, very familiar-looking guy walks up to the book o' songs. I immediately turn to Joe and ask him who this guy is. He recognized him too, and I looked at James, and James was trying to figure it out as well. It hit him. James told me he is in the Big Bang Theory. Simon Helberg is his name. This cast really likes this bar obviously. So I looked around and sure enough, there were Kaylee Cuoco and Johnny Galecki. They brought in a small group as well.
So I had signed up for my second song, "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind. When I, luckily, got up there to sing it, I felt I was doing really well, and I noticed a lot of the crowd was into it. I also noticed Kaylee and a guy were dancing to it, so I thought that was pretty cool. So after I got off the stage, I took a drink of my beer, and after the next person sang, I went up to Kaylee and gave her a high five and told her that she did a great job dancing. She replied with, "Well thanks!" So yeah, that was that. Haha...it was corny but cool.
The final song of the night was "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. This big group of people got up there to sing. The group included all the people from the Big Bang Theory and their friends. The whole time they were swaying back and forth and back and forth. I stood right up front next to the stage where there's this wooden railing, singing and swaying along. Next thing I know, halfway through the song, Johnny Galecki comes out of the middle of the pack, and reaches his hand out to me and pulls me up on stage! It was quite unexpected to be honest. I sang along with them putting my arms around a guy I met out here named Sam, and Simon from the show, swaying back and forth to some Billy Joel. I noticed Kaylee would step out of the group to turn and take pics of all of us, so I'm sure if I found her MySpace, I might be able to find pics of all of us. So that was a pretty cool thing to happen.
During that night, a girl came up to me and asked me if my name was Brendan. Yes... "You know Joe Cameron, right?" .....Yes... Then I KNEW she looked familiar. Her name is Laura Nargi. I met her through people going to Joe's shows back home! It was crazy to run into her in LA of all places. Anyhoo, we talked a bit. I checked my Facebook today and noticed she tagged me in a pic of me with that big group singing. Kaylee's actually in that pic. She's the blurry blonde up front on the left of the picture.
Anyways, yesterday (Wednesday) James came to pick me up and take me to Central Casting so I could register for that and become an "extra" or "background actor". We stood in a HUGE group of people, listening to all the forms we needed, what we should know about Central Casting, so on and so forth. I had the forms already, thanks to James, and filled them out before I got there. They finally split us into two lines and we turned in our forms and they checked them over, showed them our IDs, then they handed back the forms and we went to the "photo line". I stood in line for about 15-20 minutes and when it was my turn, I paid my $25 photo fee, got my picture taken, and got my papers telling me I am officially registered with Central Casting. I can call everyday looking for jobs. They'll tell me the list available, and if any of them are suited to me, I can immediately then call another number to register for a part. They will tell me the day/time/location of where I need to be and when. I arrive, work for about 8-12 hours that day, and get paid by check the following week. Pretty cool agency.
Well I think I've said plenty for this entry. If any of you have been on Facebook since yesterday, you might have noticed I posted about 11 pictures. I will try posting more very soon.
KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS for my future Q&A entry!!!!
Oh, and the Lakers lost to the Charlotte Bobcats in double OT 117-110 :)
Until next time...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Price is Wrong
Well hello again. It's been a couple days since I've been able to post, so I apologize for the delay. But here ya go:
So Sunday was pretty fun. Well, Sunday night. We went to Ireland's for the karaoke night. Of course! Unfortunately this time, all my drinks didn't get paid for...haha But I definitely enjoyed myself. I got to sing 3 songs: "Time of Your Life" by Green Day, "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, and "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies. I met a few new people, which is always fun. At the end of the night, which was at 2am, Kelly, Amy, Christian, Renae, Scotty and I all went back to the apartment to chill and hang out. We ended up watching two movies and was up till past 5am. Stupid...stupid move. That caused Monday to be a day of laziness, except for Kelly who had to get up at 9am and go to work. Amy was up and out briefly, but came home and slept most of the day/afternoon and I laid around and watched TV and napped briefly. So it wasn't much of a productive day.
Today, however, was much more fun. Except for the getting up at 5:30am part. Monday night Kelly talked to Scotty and he was inviting us to go to the Price is Right today and try to get on the show. It's free, you just have to stand in line for a long time. Well I was the only one willing to get up that early. So I got up at 5:30am so I could meet Scott at the bus-stop at 6:30 so we could head to North Hollywood and there take the subway to where we were meeting his friend Jenna. When we met up with Jenna, she drove us to the lot and we met up with their friend Chaz. Both people I just met today on this endeavour. Both very cool people! Chaz is in a band. Jenna's a clothing designer. Both around my age so that's cool. Anyhoo, we walked towards the crowd of people waiting. We each got our ticket with a number on it. Our numbers being 413-416. When they FINALLY called our numbers to get in numerical order and sit on Bench #3 of 5 benches or so, we realized we were pretty much the back of the pack. We had been there for about an hour and a half or so. If you take a big group there, like 15-20 people, you're pretty much guaranteed to get on, but since we were a measly group of 4, we had to wait in line like everyone else. They barely got into the 300's when they came over the intercom telling us they apologize, but we won't be able to get you in for the 1 o'clock show. We could all stay for the 4 o'clock show but we weren't guaranteed we'd get in, we'd just have a better chance. So no Price is Right for us today. Scott was mostly looking forward to having one of the nametags. I'll try again some other time. Oh, and we didn't stay for the 4 o'clock showing because Scott had to get back for work by 2 or 3. So being only 9:30, we decided to head towards the Farmer's Market, which I recommend to anyone that has never been whoever may visit or take a trip to LA. It's made up of a bunch of little shops and min-restaurants, all outdoors. We sat down and had some breakfast and coffee, the four of us. And from there we just hung out at the table we were sitting at and chatted. I met a couple new people and we had a good time. We plan to all hang out again someday soon. Probably by this weekend if we go to Scott's for a Super Bowl party.
Being invited to a couple Super Bowl parties greatly excites me. I've been without TV for 3 weeks now and I missed all football playoffs except for the Colts game before I left for here. And for my Indiana friends, you better believe I'll be rocking the Bob Sanders Colts jersey Sunday I brought with me.
Well I'm going to register, for sure this time, with Central Casting tomorrow. I'm in the process of getting my measurements they need- neck, waist, inseam, etc. And hopefully once I get that setup I'll be getting called for extra work. Tomorrow's also going to be a job searching day. So hopefully sooner rather than later I'll actually have a job.
As always, I love and miss all of you. Thank you for the questions so far! Keep them coming!! Also a lot of you have been wanting me to post pictures. Well, I got all the pics I want to post so far on my flash drive, but the Library won't let you upload them onto their computers, so I'm going to bum internet off of my friend James and get that going and uploaded within the next day or so. Probably tomorrow since I'm going with him to Central Casting.
Until next time...
So Sunday was pretty fun. Well, Sunday night. We went to Ireland's for the karaoke night. Of course! Unfortunately this time, all my drinks didn't get paid for...haha But I definitely enjoyed myself. I got to sing 3 songs: "Time of Your Life" by Green Day, "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King, and "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies. I met a few new people, which is always fun. At the end of the night, which was at 2am, Kelly, Amy, Christian, Renae, Scotty and I all went back to the apartment to chill and hang out. We ended up watching two movies and was up till past 5am. Stupid...stupid move. That caused Monday to be a day of laziness, except for Kelly who had to get up at 9am and go to work. Amy was up and out briefly, but came home and slept most of the day/afternoon and I laid around and watched TV and napped briefly. So it wasn't much of a productive day.
Today, however, was much more fun. Except for the getting up at 5:30am part. Monday night Kelly talked to Scotty and he was inviting us to go to the Price is Right today and try to get on the show. It's free, you just have to stand in line for a long time. Well I was the only one willing to get up that early. So I got up at 5:30am so I could meet Scott at the bus-stop at 6:30 so we could head to North Hollywood and there take the subway to where we were meeting his friend Jenna. When we met up with Jenna, she drove us to the lot and we met up with their friend Chaz. Both people I just met today on this endeavour. Both very cool people! Chaz is in a band. Jenna's a clothing designer. Both around my age so that's cool. Anyhoo, we walked towards the crowd of people waiting. We each got our ticket with a number on it. Our numbers being 413-416. When they FINALLY called our numbers to get in numerical order and sit on Bench #3 of 5 benches or so, we realized we were pretty much the back of the pack. We had been there for about an hour and a half or so. If you take a big group there, like 15-20 people, you're pretty much guaranteed to get on, but since we were a measly group of 4, we had to wait in line like everyone else. They barely got into the 300's when they came over the intercom telling us they apologize, but we won't be able to get you in for the 1 o'clock show. We could all stay for the 4 o'clock show but we weren't guaranteed we'd get in, we'd just have a better chance. So no Price is Right for us today. Scott was mostly looking forward to having one of the nametags. I'll try again some other time. Oh, and we didn't stay for the 4 o'clock showing because Scott had to get back for work by 2 or 3. So being only 9:30, we decided to head towards the Farmer's Market, which I recommend to anyone that has never been whoever may visit or take a trip to LA. It's made up of a bunch of little shops and min-restaurants, all outdoors. We sat down and had some breakfast and coffee, the four of us. And from there we just hung out at the table we were sitting at and chatted. I met a couple new people and we had a good time. We plan to all hang out again someday soon. Probably by this weekend if we go to Scott's for a Super Bowl party.
Being invited to a couple Super Bowl parties greatly excites me. I've been without TV for 3 weeks now and I missed all football playoffs except for the Colts game before I left for here. And for my Indiana friends, you better believe I'll be rocking the Bob Sanders Colts jersey Sunday I brought with me.
Well I'm going to register, for sure this time, with Central Casting tomorrow. I'm in the process of getting my measurements they need- neck, waist, inseam, etc. And hopefully once I get that setup I'll be getting called for extra work. Tomorrow's also going to be a job searching day. So hopefully sooner rather than later I'll actually have a job.
As always, I love and miss all of you. Thank you for the questions so far! Keep them coming!! Also a lot of you have been wanting me to post pictures. Well, I got all the pics I want to post so far on my flash drive, but the Library won't let you upload them onto their computers, so I'm going to bum internet off of my friend James and get that going and uploaded within the next day or so. Probably tomorrow since I'm going with him to Central Casting.
Until next time...
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