Belly up and settle in... This is going to be a long one...

What a week!

Of course, I could hardly sleep the night before, but Wednesday morning came, and I was up at 5:45am to get ready to head to set. Because traffic is so erratic here, I left an hour and a half early just in case anything happened on the roads. I have learned, however, to avoid the highway (especially the 405) at all costs most hours of the day. Trip and Marilynn told me a super secret back way to get to Raleigh Studios where PP films, so I was all set. I got to the studio a half an hour or so early and waited to be checked in by Ben, one of the AD's (I think). There is such a complex hierarchy on set that I don't know if I'll ever have it figured out!

Well, we went to wardrobe and got "wardrobed up" as they call it and then proceeded to sit around for 2 hours. Luckily, I brought a book! I chatted to a bit with a girl named Renee and another girl named LaShaun. Then, they got called to set, so it was just my book and me.

After another hour or so, the rest of the extras were called to set. I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect, but I knew that as long as I could follow instructions, I'd be ok!

The secene was in the ER, and all I was told was "start here and by the time so and so crosses here, be in this spot."

Ok...

So the first couple times around were just rehearsal, so I walked (with purpose) around the set, trying to look important (too bad I was wearing pink capris, a pink polo and a purple smock. Hard to look important...). After the first 2 actual takes, I realised that I wasn't doing the exact same actions... uh oh. The number one key to being background is consistancy! DUH! Luckily, I hadn't changed my path (how and where I walked), I only added a stop at the desk in the middle of the room to pick up a file (very official, I know. I'm that good.) By the 4th take or so, I was zooming around the set, had my timing down pat and everything was going smoothly. Then, the 1st AD called for the shot to be "tighter". Now, in my theater trained brain, tighter means to pick up your cues, get the dead air out of the scene, etc. So what did I do? Walked faster, of course. After 2 takes of that, I realised I was the only one walking faster, and a take later still, I realised that tighter simply means they are zooming the camera in on the scene. Oops.

That lesson learned, we were sent to lunch.

After lunch, it was more of the same in a different scene. Except I knew not to walk faster, add actions or walk too loudly when the camera is rolling. Sheesh.


After the extras were wrapped, I called in and submitted myself for Grey's Anatomy, which filmed Wednesday. Within 10 minutes, I got a call back and was booked on Grey's! The only down part to being booked on these 2 shows is that I can't be back on the show for 30 days. They have to cycle out the faces, you know.

My call for Grey's on Thursday was 2:30 pm, so I was able to get some stuff done around the house and do some work for Marilynn. When I got there and checked in with the 2nd 2nd Asst. Director (I think!) I went to wardrobe and got my scrubs for the day (sooo comfy!) and then we were sent to lunch from 3 - 4! Whaaat?

We all sat around and weren't called to set until 7:30pm. Getting paid for sitting around is cool, but not when you sit around for 5 hours! Luckily, thanks to Marilynn's sage advice, I brought a camp chair with me, so I was at least comfortable while sitting around doing nothing. Renee was on set again, so we chatted more, but she ended up leaving early for another event.

When we finally got on set, Tyne Daly was there at a guest star (she's playing Derek's mother in the episode). I only really knew her as Mama Rose from the first broadway revival of Gypsy, but she's so much more than that, I was informed by one of the "talkers" on set. No, a talker is not a paid position in the filming process. Usually it's a fellow extra who can't, won't, doesn't EVER shut up between takes. If I didn't think I'd get in trouble, I would have run away screaming.

So, aside from the fact that it took 3 hours to film 4 minues of the particular scene we were working on,(I was in a couple different parts of the scene, so hopefully I won't be edited out entirely!) it was very similar to working on PP. Except, I actually watch Grey's... every week. It was a tiny bit surreal to be working in such close proximity to the actors I've been watching on TV for a year, but cool. The only time on set I thought my heart would fall out of my butt was when Denny Ducette (played by Jeffrey Dean Thomas) walked on set. If you don't watch Grey's, Denny was a patient in season 3. He and Izzy were engaged, but he died. It was completely heartbreaking, and she still loves him, and his ghost has been showing up the last couple episodes... weird. Other than that, pretty much the entire cast was on set and I never felt a twinge of "fan-itis". Of course, I've never been an autograph hound (who cares?) or a crazed fan of anyone. Of course, had it been Bernadette Peters on set, I probably would not have been able to breathe for the 3 hours we filmed.

We were supposed to be done filming by 9pm, so I booked myself on a show called "Lie to Me", which was filming its pilot on Friday. The call was for 5am, but I figured I'd be home and in bed by 10:30, right? Wrong. We weren't wrapped until 11:30 from Grey's, which meant I wasn't home and in bed until 1am. Not to mention, I'd agreed to bring a bike to set (I borrowed Marilynn's, and had to borrow Trip's Land Rover to put it in.). Luckily, by the time I got home, the call time had changed from 5am to 6:30am, which meant I didn't have to get up at 3:30 anymore!

In the morning, I hauled the bike out of the garage, pumped up the tires, wrestled it into the Land Rover, played musical cars to get out of the driveway, and headed down to Cal State Long Beach for filming. Let me tell you, 6am in CA is COLD. Luckily, the show takes place in DC in Autumn, so we had to wear pants, sweaters, scarves and coats. That was all fun and games until about 10:30am when it was 80 degrees. Even that wouldn't have been so bad if I was just cruising around the set on my bike (the breeze was heaven) but they 2nd AD had me at the top of a grassy hill, racing down it at the top of the scene. Again, not so bad (nice breeze going down) except for the part where production would call for the scene to be reset, and I had to take the bike back up the hill, but walking it up wasn't fast enough so I had to rocket propel myself back up the hill on the bike in a suede coat and wool scarf in southern California in 80 degree weather no less than 11 times.

...or maybe I just complain too much.

Either way, after that scene most of the extras (myself included) sat around for 4 hours before being wrapped right after lunch. Good times.

I spent the rest of the day doing a whole lot of nothing before peeling my contacts off of my eyes and going to bed about the same time as many toddlers.

Saturday morning I woke up, called the casting agencies and submitted myself for a rush call (a last minute replacement if someone goes home or doesn't show up to set) for the show "Medium". 15 or so minutes later, I got a call asking if I could go to set ASAP. So, I finished my Cheerios, gathered my business attire and headed to West Hollywood.

That was a nice easy day because all I had to do was ride a escalator in one shot, stand on a landing and talk to another extra for another shot, and cross a courtyard to sit at a table in the last shot. I ran into (not literally) a guy that I worked with on Grey's named Jerome, so we chatted and exchanged tips on casting agencies, headshots and biz stuff.

All in all, I got to set at 11, was wrapped at 3:30 and got paid for 8 hours of work. Wicked.

Monday, I had a fitting for a extra role in a feature film called "A Single Man". If they like me, I'll be hired for a 3 day call next week. Sweet! The hair girl loved my hair and the costumer seemed to have fun dressing me up to look like a 1960's preppy collegiate. Hopefully I'll get a call in the next few days if they want to hire me! Cross your fingers!

Yesterday, I finally had my headshots with Steven. They came out really well, and we are planning another shoot in a different location with different looks and hair. We also want to do a shoot on a trampoline, but the trouble is finding someone with a huge trampoline...

Some people have wondered, but so far my tattoo's have not been an issue. My turtle has been covered by shoes and if I don't have long sleeves on, I just put a flesh covered band-aid on my wrist. Only a fellow extra noticed the band-aid and asked about it. Tattoos are such a norm that it's really no big deal to have one or 7 of them. I did notice when I was on the Grey's set, that a couple of the actors have large, noticeable tattoos on their arms, which I'm guessing they CG out of the shot (if they're not wearing a lab coat). So, I'm not worried about Harvey holding me back from being an A-lister!