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9:35 am - Saturday, Jul. 22, 2006
The Gilmore Girls Shoot

The "Gilmore Girls" Shoot


Had my Gilmore Girls shoot yesterday.

It was an early call (7:30 a.m.), but could have been worse--the first call time I got was an hour earlier.

But anyway...

I did write a little bit while I was there, and I'll give you what I've got.

Friday 7/21/06 (7:50 a.m.)

As I begin, I'm in my trailer on the WB lot (In the same kind of "honey wagon" I had when I did House. Though by comparison, this one is pretty "tricked-out", with a tv, vcr, dvd player, cd player, microwave, and mini-fridge).

The first call time I got was for 6:30 in the a.m., which I found ever-so-slightly depressing. But when I got home from a workshop on Thursday night, I had a voice message from the production changing the call to 7:30.

(What a difference an hour makes...)

My scene is the second one of the day, and they've got four more to shoot afterwards, so I don't expect to be here that long (Editor's note: When I wrote that, I was guessing I'd be done by noon).

If I'd known it was going to be such an early call, and I'd likely have all kinds of time to go home and nap afterwards, I might not have taken the day off from ArcLight. But the ArcLight schedule was out by Tuesday night, and I didn't get my first call time till early yesterday evening.

And though I feel somewhat guilty about it, I didn't want to go to the theater after this--This is an all-too-rare day where I get to be an actor, and I didn't want it mucked-up, worrying about getting to the theater on time, how tired I'd be, etc.

Today, I get to just do what I came out here to do--Act.

I got here a little early, without incident, and once I parked and met with Pamela (The second A.D.), I was immediately shuttled to wardrobe--where the wardrobe person liked what I was wearing (I think I get a little extra dough for that)--then to hair and makeup.

In the meantime, Pamela had gotten me a plate of food from craft services--Bacon, eggs, hash browns, etc--which I just finished, and washed down with a glass of Emer'gen-C (A powdered drink mix of vitamin C, minerals, and assorted B vitamins).

I was none-too-pleased when I felt myself getting sick on Wednesday--It just felt grossly inappropriate--but it's nothing serious (throat's a little scratchy, nose is a little juicy, that's about it), and I don't see it having much impact on my day; I'm just annoyed that my mind would let my body pull this kind of shit...

(At this point, I was called to the "Stars Hollow" set to shoot my scene. I wrote the last little bit of this entry after we initially rehearsed the scene, and while the crew was setting up cameras and lights for the shot.)

(9:15)

On the set.

We just blocked and rehearsed the scene in Luke's Diner.

Now I'm waiting, in the "Soda Shoppe" next door, while the crew sets up the shot (I have a "stand-in", which I think is kinda fun).

I was a little bit nervous coming in, but my bit is quick and pretty simple (Though when the director directed me to "banana out" at one point, and said the shot was a "50-50", I got "a little bit nervous" all over again, since I wasn't 100% sure what she meant. But everything's fine).

At that point, we were ready to go again.

We went over the scene another time or two, then started shooting (The scene is basically a handful of customers leaving Luke's Diner, to watch the unveiling of the town's first traffic camera).

The sequence went from extras leaving the diner, to the little confrontation between "Luke" and "Customer #2" (Yours Truly), to "Cesar" (The cook) being told he could leave too, since there wasn't anyone left in the diner anyway.

I don't know how many takes we did--I know at least a half-dozen were messed up for one reason or another (An overhead plane, a door not opening wide enough, the director not cueing me soon enough, etc.)--but by 10:00 a.m., the scene had wrapped.

The director (Lee Challet Chemel) shook my hand and thanked me, and "Luke" (Scott Patterson) shook my hand and said I was "very good" (Or "really good", or something like that), which I thought was nice.

Then I was shuttled back to my trailer, filled out my paperwork, and was driving off the lot by 10:15.

As an actor, getting done so early was very disappointing; It's been a long wait to do something that lasted less than three hours from start to finish. My "one day where I get to be an actor" turned out to not even be a full morning(It left me eager to get a role, on tv or in a movie, that would at least require I be on the set for a couple days, or maybe a week).

On the flip side, as a lazy guy who's never made much money, I found myself thinking "Sweet! I just made $850 for a couple hours work".

While I was waiting for things to get set up, I walked around the Stars Hollow lot a little bit, wishing I had more time to "check things out" (But I didn't want to hold everyone up while they tracked me down. It was also hot as hell, and I didn't want to sweat off my makeup, or come back in with big pit-stains on my shirt).

All-in-all, quite a positive experience, though I was disappointed in how I almost immediately crashed when I got home (I guess I was more disappointed in how quickly it was over than I was excited about making a quick buck).

And as I told Cary a couple days ago, I get excited when I book something, but it also just makes me want more.

Well, I could go on, but I've got a few other things I need to attend to, so I'll save it for the next entry...

 

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