12:44 pm - Friday, Dec. 09, 2005
Surviving The Grove

Tues 12/6/05 (4:40 p.m.)

I have to start getting ready for work soon (I�m back at The Grove for one more night, from 6:30 to midnight)...

Wanted to get this in, because it was so unusual (On two fronts): I had a commercial casting this past Saturday�very rare�and perhaps even more rare ( or would that be, �even rarer�?) is that the casting director actually helped me do a better job.

It was for Sprint, and without getting into the boring stuff�cause I don�t have time right now�it was a surreal thing with me and a talking cat, on a fishing boat.

Well, the CD really didn�t like the spot as written�I didn�t either, to be honest�and when I got in the room with the guy who was auditioning to be the voice of the cat, the CD basically re-wrote the spot on the fly, making it something it was actually possible to act (The spot, as written, was �surreal for the sake of being surreal�; the casting director changed it to something where there was an actual �relationship� there, so it was actually more �real�, and funnier)

I don�t know if he�s going to get in trouble for that�at one point he said �Fuck it! I don�t care who wrote it...�-- and I don�t know if I�m even going to get a callback (Callbacks are tomorrow, I think, so at this point it looks �iffy�), but I really appreciated that a casting director looked at something, saw it just didn�t work, and did what he could to make it easier for the actors to play.

From the brief description I read, it�s going to help us explore our options�whether under-insured or uninsured altogether�and right now, I very much want to know I have �options� (Let�s just say, without hitting the �panic button�, that lately I�ve become afraid this might be a really bad time for me to not have health insurance).

Weds 12/7/05 (10:27 a.m.)

Just got off the phone with Brett from the Actors Co-op (Signed up for a workshop tomorrow night, and am on a �wait list� for tonite, for the casting director of Veronica Mars).

My one-week sentence at The Grove ended last night.

With the exception of Monday night, when I �ushered� (i.e. cleaned theaters), which was a pretty mellow experience (It was slow, there wasn�t that much mess, and except for the last hour or so, there were quite a few of us), I worked the �EZ Pickup� counter for the concession kiosks all week long.

(And a correction, by the way�The ordering kiosks aren�t �EMTs�, they�re �EMN8s�. And apparently, the letters don�t stand for anything except the name of the company. And since there are 8 machines, that part�s pretty self-explanatory.)

Fri 12/9/05 (12:02 p.m.)

Well, in an effort to �accentuate the positive�, here are the good things I got from my week at The Grove.

1. I got to see Syriana on Monday night, and the last half of Jarhead on Tuesday (I liked Syriana, but found it hard to follow; on the other hand, even though I only saw half of Jarhead, I�d just finished reading the book, so pretty much knew the �story� with that one, such as it was).

2. I kind of like the shirts they wear (Unless you�re working box office or taking tickets�then you have to wear this old-timey �usher uniform�, complete with a little organ-grinder monkey�s hat, that, fashion-wise, does no one any favors)�It�s a short sleeved, black-and-gray polo shirt, with �Pacific Theaters� stitched fairly subtly on the bottom of the left sleeve, that I could totally wear out-and-about (Unfortunately, they only gave me one).

3. The theater is doing a �secret shopper� thing over the holidays, and if the concession person at the register hits the three �points� they�re supposed to hit�greeting, upselling, and a friendly closing�everyone working concessions at the time gets a Blockbuster �Night At The Movies� card. And we got �shopped� one of the nights I was working, and passed, so that was nice (Haven�t used the card yet�Saving it for �a rainy day�).

4. The very last day I was there, during a break, the breakroom conversation turned to movies, and I had a little ten-minute conversation with people that was the first time I�ve really felt like �me� in the past three weeks.

(And we now interrupt our regularly schedule journal entry with breaking news�I just got off the phone with Janet, one of the Ads on House, and the episode I shot will be airing on Valentines Day, also known as February 14th.)

So anyway, this week I�m back at ArcLight, again mostly doing snack-bar duty (Looks like I�m closing on two nights. But I did a lot of closing stuff at the The Grove this past week, so I�m a little less bunched-up about that than I was. I guess another �good thing� to add to my list).

Got my check from UGNotary. It was only $75, and not the $125 they initially quoted me. But I wasn�t able to make a copy of the document for the client, and there was also the issue of a couple missing signatures, so I�m going to take the money and �call it good�.

Haven�t heard from Mia, the SAG rep, regarding the issue of House �improper cancellation� money (Where they screwed up on scheduling). On Monday, it�ll be a week since I called, so at that point, I�ll probably call her to see what�s up with that.

(Still feels strange, to have to fight to get money I didn�t do anything to earn. But I need the money, and they did break the rules, so there you are.)

Well, there�s more to report, but I�ve gotta get some pre-work shut-eye.

Nitey-nite.

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