1:58 pm - Mon 9/17/07
The Real \"Monk\" Entry

Mon 9/17/07 (11:11 a.m.)

�On Location� at the Monk shoot, at the Westfield Promenade Mall in Woodland Hills.

I�m now �Hot Dog Vendor�, which I�d assume is a lateral career-move from �Coffee Vendor Guy�...unless �Coffee Vendor Guy� is serving really fancy coffee. But anyway...

On the set, sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of �West Bank Trust�, the bank that�s gotten robbed in the episode (I don�t remember the name of the real bank we�re using, but they moved earlier this year, making this the perfect location for a faux-robbery).

Things have been moving too fast for me to write much, and it looks like I might not even get any food (Which makes me feel dumb for skipping breakfast, since I assumed I�d be overindulging at craft services and enjoying a catered meal l to boot).

But either way, it�s �win-win�; either I�m here long enough for the free food, or else they get me in and out so fast I make $900 for just a few hours work, giving me that nice, �I�m getting away with something� feeling.

That $900, by the way, is $140-and-change more than �scale�, which means I now have a �quote� (i.e. an �asking price�) for future co-star roles. Which I think was very kind of the Monk folks; they sure didn�t have to give me anything above scale, so I assume someone just likes me, and thought it would cost them next to nothing to help me out, giving me a little extra cash and a new �quote� in the process (Being me, I�m amused by having a �quote� now, but also slightly nervous�$140 is nothing when you�re talking about a tv-show budget, but I still wonder if some casting people will just say, �$900? Then screw Jim Hoffmaster�We�ll go with our second choice, who�ll do it for scale�. I guess I just to have to believe my �distinctive looks�, charisma, and acting chops are worth the extra dough).
(Well, I see some extras outside the bank eating, so I�m going to go see what that�s about...)

2:45 p.m.

(Two donuts, a banana, and a sparkling water, and I am now officially �good to go�...)

3:45 p.m.

Well, after getting off to a quick start...

(Actually, I was called twice earlier, once so they could get a shot of me putting a big umbrella up over my hot-dog stand, and then to rehearse my scene. But anyway...)

My big scene was with �Lt. Disher� (Jason Gray-Standford): He says, �So you didn�t see anything?�, I say �I told you. I didn�t even get here till 10:30", put my umbrella up, and he moves on to the next potential witness.

Not much to it, but that doesn�t mean I wasn�t nervous.

When we rehearsed the scene, the director told me not to look at �Lt Disher�, but to just say my line as I�m setting up my cart. So I picked a couple things to do as I was saying my line�set out the catsup and mustard�said my line, then grabbed the umbrella

But when it was time to shoot the scene, they�d put a bunch of other things on the cart, and I didn�t have room to do what I�d planned. So I had to figure out something else. Then after the first take, they moved the umbrella from my right side to my left side�better for the shot--and the director said to address my line to Disher.

Very technical stuff.

But all-in-all, I think it went pretty smoothly. We did three takes, it took maybe five minutes (It wasn�t like there was a big �re-set� to do between shots), then they thanked me and moved on.

I sort of wondered off at that point, not quite sure of what to do next (Initially, I was a little unclear about whether I was finished or not). Jason/ �Lt. Disher� actually had to run after me in order to shake my hand; I hope he realized that I wasn�t being rude, just ignorant).

From there, it was back in the van to �base camp�, where I went back to my trailer, got changed, then signed out with the AD.

The AD�who was very nice (Everyone I dealt with that day was very nice. Except the director. But he �had a lot on his plate�, as you might imagine)�told me that if I wanted, I could hang out and have dinner.

So I did. Which meant I got my short, �I got away with something� day, and my free food (I swear, sometimes, it�s really cool to be me).

And that was my day on Monk.

Don�t know when it�s going to air, but the new season doesn�t start till January, so it�s going to be awhile, in any case.

I may have more to add about this experience�I just realized I didn�t say anything about the actor playing the �living statue�, which was one of the more interesting parts of the shoot�but right now, it�s off to get my car from the ramp at ArcLight (Where I then will be going to Discount Tire, to get some more automotive work done).

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