4:36 pm - 09.12.2013
Two Broke Girls...And A "Loner Guy"

Sun 9/8/13 (10 pm-ish)

(Just finished watching this week's Breaking Bad - I'm really going to miss that show! But anyway...)

I was thinking a short time ago that today had a number of things I'd like my days to have on a regular basis; I had two nice conversations (With "Madame X" in the morning, and with Howard in the afternoon), I had something to look forward to in the evening (The aforementioned BB), and I will be having a profitable day tomorrow, working on the set of a major TV show.

My first day was Friday, with an 8:00 am call.

We basically went through the show, scene-by-scene (My two-line bit is in the first scene after the "cold open"), then had a network run-through in the early afternoon.

I had my wardrobe fitting shortly before the run-through.

They'd called the day before, asking me to "bring some things in" for them to look at (which is never much fun, since they rarely-if-ever go with anything I've brought, and it plays up the embarrassingly shabby nature of my personal wardrobe).

And, sure enough, they rejected everything I brought (Though they said I had some "cool hats", and my sweater with the three wolves on it was now "kind of hip"). But she liked what I was wearing - my black Rockports, black jeans, and the olive green t-shirt I got from True Blood - so the fitting consisted of trying on a couple of pullovers and jackets, which took maybe 10 minutes, all told.

So I don't remember exactly what time I was done, but I'm pretty sure it was before 2:00 pm, so not a very long day.

But even so, it was still a little tedious, because, as I said, my bit's pretty negligible (And not exactly something they needed to spend much time on), so I spent the lion's-share of my time just "hanging out", with not much to do (I watched rehearsals for a time, chatted a bit with some of my fellow guest-cast members, and hung out in my dressing room (Where the "I'm an idiot" feeling I had when I did my contract paperwork on Weds continued - It was a lovely dressing room (In the actual studio, not just a trailer), with cable tv and wifi, neither of which I could get to work.

Monday will be devoted to camera blocking and pre-shoots, and while I don't know exactly how it'll go - will things proceed in "show order", or will they "skip around", or what? - I'm not terribly worried (did I mention I don't have much to do?), except I'm hoping they won't "pre-shoot" my scene. I don't think they will...but what do I know about anything?

(The taping is Tuesday night, and even though I don't have much to do, I'd still like to have that "live studio audience" experience, my first since my debut on Austin & Ally.)

Mon 9/9/13 (8:12 pm)

Another short day at Warners today, actually shorter than on Friday - I had an 8:00 am call, and was done by mid-morning.

Basically, we ran though the show again, but out-of-order (having to do with someone important on the show having a flat tire). So my bit, which is at the top of the show proper - right after the "cold open" - was actually the last thing rehearsed (After that, there was a "sexual harassment meeting", which the guest cast didn't have to attend, then they were breaking for lunch, and doing pre-shoots for two scenes I'm not in, so I was out-the-door probably before 11:00 am.

My call tomorrow is at 11:30 am, and the shoot starts at 5:00 - I'm told it typically goes to about 10:30, but I don't have to stay for the curtain call if I don't want to (And I'm debating whether I want to or not - It seems a little silly hanging around for a curtain call when my role consists of two nondescript lines the audience will have forgotten about long before the end of the show, but still, it might feel a little weird, leaving before the show's over. And I kind of want to "have the whole experience". But anyway...).

Beyond a brief contact with one of the supporting cast members, I have no interaction with the series regulars in the episode, and thus, have had little interaction with them on the set, so the experience has been disappointing on that front.

But I have enjoyed my fellow guest-cast members, who all seem like good folk.

Thurs 9/14/13 (10:53 am)

Well, since my manager congratulated me on Tuesday on shooting the episode, mentioning the show by name, I can now say - for those of you who might not be on Facebook - that my 2 Broke Girls experience is history.

Getting past the "I-want-to-do-more-than-I'm-doing" thing - you can probably assume that's a given till I tell you otherwise - it was a very positive experience.

At WW, when I mentioned the nice payday for such a small part, the member I was talking to, clearly happy for me, called it "low effort/high yield", or something to that effect, which I thought was a very concise way of describing it.

Tuesday my call was at 11:30, for the shoot at 5:00, but basically after running my scene, I was free for hours - lunch was from 3:00-4:00, after which I went back to my dressing room to finish getting into wardrobe.

Then we had a speed-thru (Which I exited after doing my bit, to get made-up), and then it was pretty close to time to "do the thing".

I'd decided the day before that, unless it ran super-late (Because I did have WW to consider the next day), I was going to stay and have "the whole experience".

My little part of the proceedings went pretty much without incident...if you don't count that I screwed up and started to enter while they were still shooting the scene before mine.

(Ooops...!)

(Not the end of the world, it turned out, since they were clearly retooling pretty much every scene "on the fly" anyway, with re-written lines and such, but still...I was deeply embarrassed, even though nobody said anything, and I don't think any cameras were on the door at that point.)

But when it was actually time to enter and do my bit, it seemed to go fine; I was surprised, actually, since my part is just two straight lines, to get some chuckles from the audience (Nothing big, mind you, but when you're not expecting any response, getting a little response is...heartening).

As I said, pretty much every scene was being "retooled" on the fly, but my two lines stayed pretty consistent, other than MPK telling me to add an "Uh..." to my first line, as a technical thing to give the camera time to "find" me.

But that said, I did have to "adjust" a bit, for a new line that was given to Kat Dennings at one point, and the subsequent laughter.

(I was happy I still had the "muscle memory" of performing comedy onstage, and remembered to "hold for laughs".)

So I was done maybe an hour or so into the 5 1/2 hour taping - The rest of the time, I wondered around backstage, chatted with my fellow guest cast members by the stage door, listened to what was going on onstage, and even walked back to my dressing room and watched Everybody Loves Raymond at one point (Oh yeah - I finally figured out the TV in my dressing room; nothing quite like getting paid to watch TV).

For the curtain call, they actually started gathering us behind the cameras while the last scene to shoot was still happening, so I got to actually watch that part of the taping (As the studio audience watched the scene on monitors).

Then the audience watched the last scene, which had been pre-shot.

Then it was time for the curtain call, which even though I was a teeny-tiny part of the proceedings, was fun.

And that was it, pretty much - Said some goodbyes, wrote on their "guest cast" wall (In the AD's office), then got into my street clothes and exited the premises.

It struck me at one point that it's good I've now had the "multi-cam experience" a couple times, in a pretty non-threatening fashion (Between last night, and Austin & Ally); Federico, who was the big guest-star last night (Who's going to be recurring now in a half-dozen episodes), had never done multi-cam, and hadn't done theater in 20 years, so he was pretty nervous while it was going on (He was great, though).

I expect that when my time comes - to get a major recurring role on a hit network show - I'll be "pretty nervous" as well, but it won't be a completely "alien" experience.

So I'd say I started this experience a little depressed and not as grateful as I should have been; yes, I was getting a nice payday, but I wasn't "doing anything", and I was letting that "bum me out".

Then I read an online article, something that basically re-iterated something I often say to members at WW - To move forward, you have to be able to take pleasure and pride in "the small victories" along the way.

I tell that to WW members regarding their "weight loss journey", but haven't listened to myself like I should regarding my "acting journey".

Like I said before, it's a "given" that I want more/bigger/better things to happen for me as an actor...but that doesn't take away from the fact that what's happened has happened.

I started with nothing, and very little real knowledge of how to get anything - Now I have a "team", an ever-lengthening list of credits, and I make money acting.

And that's not half bad.

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