9:22 pm - Fri 2.05.2010
A Bit Of A Plot Twist

Well, the "Castle" shoot last night didn't quite go as I'd hoped.

And by "didn't quite go as I'd hoped", I mean my scene got cut.

So contrary to my last entry, where I said there was nothing about the "Castle" gig constituting a "first" for me, last night was definitely a "first" - I've been cut from things before, but not till after I shot them; this was the first time I was on the set, dressed and ready to go, only to have them say "We're not going to do that bit after all...".

What happened was simple - The scene I was supposed to shoot (As the "Clerk" in a taxidermy shop) was the last shot of the day; the "day" was running very long, and my scene wasn't strictly necessary, so they axed it.

My call was 10:00 pm, to be "on set" at 11:00. But I wasn't called to the set till sometime after midnight.

They were still shooting the scene before mine, and it was going towards 2:00 am when the Director said that scene would be the last scene of the day.

(Which had me confused for a second - "Does that mean they want me to come back tomorrow...?" - till the truth of the matter sank in.)

I was disappointed, of course, but once again, the same way my "excitement" over getting the gig was muted, I wasn't as "disappointed" as you might imagine.

In fact, what happened last night may turn out to be a good thing, the proverbial "blessing in disguise" - If things had gone off as planned, I would have earned my money and gotten my little credit, and that would have been that. But now, I made my "session fee" last night, and they will probably have me come back - assurances to that effect were given, and I have no reason to doubt them - and I can make some more money, maybe get a better role, and hopefully, a scene with the two series leads - Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic.

(Because, for one thing, I want to have worked with Nathan Fillion. And for another, I'm guessing your scene in a show is much less likely to get cut if it's with the series leads.)

Speaking of Nathan Fillion, even though I hadn't met him, and wasn't going to be working with him in my scene, he knocked on my trailer as I was getting back into my street clothes, to shake my hand, and tell me he was sorry about what had happened.

We chatted for a couple minutes, and I told him, amongst other things, that they'd told me they would have me back, and if that worked out, I hoped I'd have the opportunity to work with him.

(Apparently, Mr Fillion is the coolest of cool guys - the people I dealt with in production all seemed to love him to death - and I was certainly very impressed with his gesture towards me, a no-name actor he wasn't even going to be working with in the episode.)

Actually, everyone I dealt with last night was cool - from Alexis (The 2nd AD), the production person I dealt with the most, to the makeup and hair people, to Jon Huertas and Seamus Dever (The series regulars I would have been working with - We got as far as rehearsing the scene-that-wasn't-to-be a couple times), and of course, Mr Fillion- It's a very happy, friendly group of folks.

So, not quite the evening I envisioned, but I'm actually hoping that it really and truly is "for the best".

(I will probably have more to add to this account tomorrow, but it's gotten late, and I'm off to bed...)

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