What a crazy day off.
After sleeping through most of yesterday today i get up and know that its laundry day. Chris, one of my PA buddies, calls me up to come get me and we decide to go to Wings and Ale with the teamsters to watch the Redskins game. Now, im not a huge sports fan, but i can appreciate the experience of a good loud sports bar like anybody else, especially when hanging out with awesome teamsters. They impart war stories of other films they've worked on and who works with who, and i hear the story of the replacement muscle car that was being driven from set that had a wheel fall off in traffic, and fishtail into oncoming traffic. apparently the driver is fine, and there was no collision, but when the driver tested the other wheel, it had hand-loose lugnuts. Someone is not doing their job.
Anyway after beer and wings, we head off to kmart to get some essentials, and then back to the extended stay to do some laundry. Towards the end of the waiting game with the dryer cycle, we see two young women walk upstairs and be motioned into a room on the upper floors. We look at each other and we immediately and un-spokenly agree what is going on we chuckle, and get on with our afternoon. Later, as we are emptying the dryers the two young women come down to use the vending machine. At the time we are having a conversation with a shirtless man from Texas who is in town for some work (remember, extended stay hotel, so these people are all from out of town) and the two ladies overhear us saying that i am from new york, and Chris is from DC. The blond exclaims "hey, I'm from DC!" and her and chris talk about how hes actually from Maryland, and Shes actually from Maryland, and shes actually from Maryland, and how they are from towns about 15 minutes away. Anyway chris mentions we are working on a film here in town and--- well let me just paraphrase the conversation we had with this lady
--so are you going to school here? working?
-- yeah, i'm sorta going to school, trying to work.
-- oh cool, yeah we're doing production work on that film
-- oh yeah, what does that mean you do?
-- well we keep people away from getting in the shot, and control extras, and escort actors to set
-- oh yeah? you might say i do a little bit of escorting
--really? uh, ok
-- here let me give you my card, in case, you know, you or anybody on the production want to have some fun.
--uh, sure.
-- oh and my friend here is working too, but she's only in town for a week or so, we work out of here
--ok great
so in short, i experienced my first prostitute proposition, while doing laundry in the unassuming back lots of the Columbia Extended Stay hotel.
damn.
So from there, me and chris meet up with director James Wan, and writer/actor Leigh Whannell (of Saw fame) and watch about 5 minutes worth of dailies from the film (which is a pretty cool experience) and just hang out since the two of them are only in their late 20s. We head out to dinner at 5 points and chat up out cute southern belle waitress. She recognises James from being a movie person from an earlier film dinner that they must have had a few weeks ago, and continues to chat us up more than serve other customers. She gives us the rundown of her life (and it turns out she is from the same town as the escort we met a few hours earlier, moved to Columbia with her judge parents at 13, and is going to a Technical college to transfer to a school with a journalism program and grow up to be somebody) anyway, we have some fun with her and tell her that James is the director and Leigh is the writer of saw and we end up offering her a job for PAing on one of our longer more extensive shoots, which means we get her phone number, email, etc. and while she is away from the table wonder if she is really as innocent as she seems. over the course of the night we discover she has a pretty strong alternative musical taste ranging from jam bands (she went to bonnaroo, and follows string cheese around) to stuff like modest mouse, mars volta, etc. she has multiple piercings, a tattoo on her wrist, and was kicked out of catholic school growing up (for something as mundane as wearing blue socks, chewing gum, boring things like that) but damn if she isnt the cutest southern belle i've met in all my time down here. She'll hopefully be working for us in a week or two and said she would love to show us around town. More likely though, she will be preyed upon immediately upon showing up to work by the other actors and PAs. but who knows, maybe by being one of her initial contacts on the job i'll have an in.
Also, i've noticed i've picked up a little of the southern drawl when i speak in sound bites, mostly when telling stories and the like. It seems to naturally help embellish certain things. I try to catch myself because people might think a yankee like me is patronizing the southern drawl. I wonder if I pick it up any more profoundly over the next 7 weeks.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Day One
Today I learned one of my first of many new terms on the set. The Rabbits and the Trees. It is a term that applies to extras who are either standing still on screen (trees) and moving around in the background (rabbits). The personal significance of this new term gained new depth as my first roles as PA on set changed day to day, the depths to which will become clear as i explain my day.
To start-- I arrive in Charlotte, North Carolina and meet up with my driver Brian of Southpark Motor. He picks me up in a black Chevy Suburban. the interior is decked out like a limo, with white leather, and Brian is wearing a black suit and is clearly more used to escorting parties. The cooler is full of sodas and water and I am thinking this could be the start of a couple weeks of life in the lap of luxury.
My illusions are destroyed suddenly when after getting lost on the way to Downtown Columbia, I arrive to discover that i am indeed a very small cog in a very large machine, and the continued prospect of free sodas are a regular and entirely un-exceptional perk of the job.
I fill out the requisite employment paperwork, get handed a pink copy of the script, get the rundown on 'walkie' ettiquette, basic scheduling as well as my general responsibilities and handed a pile of envelopes containing call sheets that i am to deliver on signing in to the hotel. And suddenly i am on my way back to my new home, with a 5:45AM call time. Apparently, one of my long term charges on this film, is to load up the vans with the cast and crew as they are shuttled to the set at their respective call times. This will i realized, allow me to meet and talk with the camera crews almost every morning.
After piling into my 6:36 shuttle this morning with driver Jay, and the A and B camera operators i became privy to discussions of just the kind of lifestyle i have so recently professed to aspire to. The "A" operator seems to have been a regular "A" camera operator for people like James Cameron on T2, and True Lies, and another arnold classic Commando. The younger of the two camera men-- the "B" operator seems to have been working behind the camera for a good 15 years on a variety of film and TV projects, and yet both of them. These guys pretty much work on any job that suits their schedule, seemingly forgetting the names of the films they were working on, and even the main actors they were working with as evidenced by the discussion they had on "A" operator's latest project known as "the swimming picture". I'm pretty sure that was not its title.
I arrive on the set, and begin blindly looking for my place. I grab a bagel, and head for the AD (assistant directors) truck. None of the other PA's are around, and my boss Susan the 2nd 2nd AD despite picking up her phone, is nowhere to be found. I find one PA, and am subsequently passed from one to the other in search of the set, and walkie talkie (a indispensable tool on these sets). I meet the other PA's in the search, and finally procure a head-set. Finally i am connected, and then it all makes sense. I am plugged in.
It is about now I overhear my new term of the day about the trees and rabbits as i quickly acclimatize myself to the trajectory of the day. May I add, that it is still quite a bit before 8am. It, like many others i expect, is a long day ahead. I quite easily fall into the role of crowd control, because of course even in a semi-private closed set, rubber-necking building employees spend their morning trying to steal a peek at Kevin Bacon, despite my insisting that he is quite far out of the eye line of where we are, but the crowd is very much in the eye-line of the camera. I do a lot of running around keeping people in line, and helping the other PA's wrangle extras from holding (a strangely apt term).
This felt largely liberating. A job I have seen performed on many sets throughout new york, and now here I was, picking it up with aplomb. people calling my name on the walkies to come do something filled me with a certain sense of usefulness i have missed since before i was responsible for all my own creative work in school. being proud to be a part felt cool, and then just as they were about to set up the most exciting shot of the day. I was relocated to the basement, to make sure that the crew didn't take the elevator up from the loading dock to the set, while the camera was rolling. apparently this was causing quite a delay, and was important enough for someone to sit down there and do it. I was promised i would be relieved after lunch (damn good ribs btw).
To make a long afternoon short, i was not relieved and was re-assigned to elevator guard duty. i get to sit down there for a good 5 or 6 hours, so luckily in the mean time i at least get to chat with some of the crew members coming and going. I get to meet some of the camera crew who are coming and going the most, and I also strike up a repoire with the medic who threatens to tackle me if he catches me asleep on the job. I didn't fall asleep and he didn't tackle me, but i should keep my eyes open on set from now on.
After a couple hours, I get relieved to go help organize the call sheets and handwrite comments on each of the invitations to the cast and crew welcoming party. I run the call sheets over to set (a task i expect to execute on a regular basis)arriving just as they finish the last shot of the day. i stick around on set to make myself helpful, and get told to help move the video monitoring equipment downstairs to the loading bay. It is here that I have my first introduction to the principle camera crew, including the Director of Photography.
Downstairs, after dropping off the equipment, the first thing that happens is somebody hands the camera operators and DP cold beers. Thats what i call service.
After a quick rundown of my jobs for monday morning, i get sent home in a van to bolster my new friendship with the hair stylists.
To start-- I arrive in Charlotte, North Carolina and meet up with my driver Brian of Southpark Motor. He picks me up in a black Chevy Suburban. the interior is decked out like a limo, with white leather, and Brian is wearing a black suit and is clearly more used to escorting parties. The cooler is full of sodas and water and I am thinking this could be the start of a couple weeks of life in the lap of luxury.
My illusions are destroyed suddenly when after getting lost on the way to Downtown Columbia, I arrive to discover that i am indeed a very small cog in a very large machine, and the continued prospect of free sodas are a regular and entirely un-exceptional perk of the job.
I fill out the requisite employment paperwork, get handed a pink copy of the script, get the rundown on 'walkie' ettiquette, basic scheduling as well as my general responsibilities and handed a pile of envelopes containing call sheets that i am to deliver on signing in to the hotel. And suddenly i am on my way back to my new home, with a 5:45AM call time. Apparently, one of my long term charges on this film, is to load up the vans with the cast and crew as they are shuttled to the set at their respective call times. This will i realized, allow me to meet and talk with the camera crews almost every morning.
After piling into my 6:36 shuttle this morning with driver Jay, and the A and B camera operators i became privy to discussions of just the kind of lifestyle i have so recently professed to aspire to. The "A" operator seems to have been a regular "A" camera operator for people like James Cameron on T2, and True Lies, and another arnold classic Commando. The younger of the two camera men-- the "B" operator seems to have been working behind the camera for a good 15 years on a variety of film and TV projects, and yet both of them. These guys pretty much work on any job that suits their schedule, seemingly forgetting the names of the films they were working on, and even the main actors they were working with as evidenced by the discussion they had on "A" operator's latest project known as "the swimming picture". I'm pretty sure that was not its title.
I arrive on the set, and begin blindly looking for my place. I grab a bagel, and head for the AD (assistant directors) truck. None of the other PA's are around, and my boss Susan the 2nd 2nd AD despite picking up her phone, is nowhere to be found. I find one PA, and am subsequently passed from one to the other in search of the set, and walkie talkie (a indispensable tool on these sets). I meet the other PA's in the search, and finally procure a head-set. Finally i am connected, and then it all makes sense. I am plugged in.
It is about now I overhear my new term of the day about the trees and rabbits as i quickly acclimatize myself to the trajectory of the day. May I add, that it is still quite a bit before 8am. It, like many others i expect, is a long day ahead. I quite easily fall into the role of crowd control, because of course even in a semi-private closed set, rubber-necking building employees spend their morning trying to steal a peek at Kevin Bacon, despite my insisting that he is quite far out of the eye line of where we are, but the crowd is very much in the eye-line of the camera. I do a lot of running around keeping people in line, and helping the other PA's wrangle extras from holding (a strangely apt term).
This felt largely liberating. A job I have seen performed on many sets throughout new york, and now here I was, picking it up with aplomb. people calling my name on the walkies to come do something filled me with a certain sense of usefulness i have missed since before i was responsible for all my own creative work in school. being proud to be a part felt cool, and then just as they were about to set up the most exciting shot of the day. I was relocated to the basement, to make sure that the crew didn't take the elevator up from the loading dock to the set, while the camera was rolling. apparently this was causing quite a delay, and was important enough for someone to sit down there and do it. I was promised i would be relieved after lunch (damn good ribs btw).
To make a long afternoon short, i was not relieved and was re-assigned to elevator guard duty. i get to sit down there for a good 5 or 6 hours, so luckily in the mean time i at least get to chat with some of the crew members coming and going. I get to meet some of the camera crew who are coming and going the most, and I also strike up a repoire with the medic who threatens to tackle me if he catches me asleep on the job. I didn't fall asleep and he didn't tackle me, but i should keep my eyes open on set from now on.
After a couple hours, I get relieved to go help organize the call sheets and handwrite comments on each of the invitations to the cast and crew welcoming party. I run the call sheets over to set (a task i expect to execute on a regular basis)arriving just as they finish the last shot of the day. i stick around on set to make myself helpful, and get told to help move the video monitoring equipment downstairs to the loading bay. It is here that I have my first introduction to the principle camera crew, including the Director of Photography.
Downstairs, after dropping off the equipment, the first thing that happens is somebody hands the camera operators and DP cold beers. Thats what i call service.
After a quick rundown of my jobs for monday morning, i get sent home in a van to bolster my new friendship with the hair stylists.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Party Time
Today I slept in, and killed time in the hotel before heading in to downtown for the Cast and Crew welcoming party. I realized by being the only PA in my hotel, I am going to have to make some new friends in the other crews pretty quickly. If not just for the companionship, but also to cut down costs of taking a cab downtown.
Maybe it was because it was saturday, or maybe just because its a lazy town, but as far as i could tell, there wasn't much to do around downtown. I hear there is more action going on down by the USC campus, i decided to stick to the area surrounding the bar i would be at later. After fruitlessly searching for the riverside park ( couldn't even find the river on foot) I head over to the party about 10 minutes early. I avoid the self described "low southern cuisine" and stick to the free drinks. Its a little while before the other PAs show up (i.e. the other people I know) and after that the night goes far more smoothly. Before the night is over, one of the female leads heads to the mic to sing along with the live jazz band. After that, the band starts teasing the melody to 'Footloose' and with some encouragement, Kevin Bacon steps up to the mic to sing the song. not the let the opportunity pass him by, he finishes the song and then goes over to the guitarist and starts a inspired cover of Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night" changing the lyrics to suit his particulars.
After the official party, we join an entourage to head over to the "Art Bar" where there is live music, and a much more crowded bar than we had been expecting which draws some undue attention to some of our more notorious friends. I admit it was kinda fun running interference for all the autograph seekers and people with cameras running around, but like Chris said to me, we're not getting paid for this so we shouldnt sweat it too hard. anyway we leave that bar, because one of the actors is being denied access to the bar from his totally legit (i think california) ID. Apparently there was a problem here a few nights before with the Director's Australian ID so a little scene is made and every body gets up and heads to the empty sports bar down the street. We PA's stick around outside and overhear a good deal of trash talking about our group. Its funny because up until tonight i thought everybody in the south was in general much more friendly and easy going, but i guess punk kids live everywhere.
The other bar was a much better fit, and we all just hung around. I end up getting into a few brief conversations with the director who is around the same age as most of the PAs and is looking for things to keep him interested. He seems like a great guy who has been thrust into a world where his peers are all a good 10 years ahead in life. Even some of the PA's are married with kids, and the director is talking about going out to bars looking for a good time. He confided with us that we may all want to go to a Gamecocks game on one of our days off, so we'll see how that shapes out.
Tomorrow's call time is 4:50 for me, so today is all about laying around the hotel, watching movies and waiting for a call from the other PAs in case something interesting is going on.
Maybe it was because it was saturday, or maybe just because its a lazy town, but as far as i could tell, there wasn't much to do around downtown. I hear there is more action going on down by the USC campus, i decided to stick to the area surrounding the bar i would be at later. After fruitlessly searching for the riverside park ( couldn't even find the river on foot) I head over to the party about 10 minutes early. I avoid the self described "low southern cuisine" and stick to the free drinks. Its a little while before the other PAs show up (i.e. the other people I know) and after that the night goes far more smoothly. Before the night is over, one of the female leads heads to the mic to sing along with the live jazz band. After that, the band starts teasing the melody to 'Footloose' and with some encouragement, Kevin Bacon steps up to the mic to sing the song. not the let the opportunity pass him by, he finishes the song and then goes over to the guitarist and starts a inspired cover of Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night" changing the lyrics to suit his particulars.
After the official party, we join an entourage to head over to the "Art Bar" where there is live music, and a much more crowded bar than we had been expecting which draws some undue attention to some of our more notorious friends. I admit it was kinda fun running interference for all the autograph seekers and people with cameras running around, but like Chris said to me, we're not getting paid for this so we shouldnt sweat it too hard. anyway we leave that bar, because one of the actors is being denied access to the bar from his totally legit (i think california) ID. Apparently there was a problem here a few nights before with the Director's Australian ID so a little scene is made and every body gets up and heads to the empty sports bar down the street. We PA's stick around outside and overhear a good deal of trash talking about our group. Its funny because up until tonight i thought everybody in the south was in general much more friendly and easy going, but i guess punk kids live everywhere.
The other bar was a much better fit, and we all just hung around. I end up getting into a few brief conversations with the director who is around the same age as most of the PAs and is looking for things to keep him interested. He seems like a great guy who has been thrust into a world where his peers are all a good 10 years ahead in life. Even some of the PA's are married with kids, and the director is talking about going out to bars looking for a good time. He confided with us that we may all want to go to a Gamecocks game on one of our days off, so we'll see how that shapes out.
Tomorrow's call time is 4:50 for me, so today is all about laying around the hotel, watching movies and waiting for a call from the other PAs in case something interesting is going on.
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