The word of the day is assimilation

Another weekend has come and gone, and this time it only took me 6 hours. We worked Saturday, on second unit shoot that was supposed to be a half day wasn' t. I hear we are working next Saturday as well so unfortunately it looks like this the week that never ends until at least halfway through the month. Today, I voluntarily took on a roommate for a week
one of Flash's friends that it turns out knows most of the crew from Wilmington anyway. Two weeks flying solo has been nice but now I get to reap the benefits of casual conversations of an old hand at this gig. Brian assures me that one job leads to another after you start to make friends, and that not surprisingly having dual citzenship actually helps your opportunity to work on pictures that have multiple locations across national boundaries. Hopefully i will be able to find some more local (NY based) production companies to get involved with soon, because all of the friends i am making here are largely based out of the South (Wilmington, NC to be specific).

Work days are going by more quickly as I get used to the work, and also more likely, as the crew gets used to me being around. Where i was was once a green "political hire", now as we bring in more local help for PAs I must seem much more integrated. You can really tell that these guys are used to working together, and it strikes me (as i have been told before for various different reasons) that this is a good first picture to work on. I think this is true, becuase I am seeing how the job works outside the majority of the politics that must go along with NY or CA based productions. Most of these guys have worked together, or work in small enough circles that they know the same people and its nice to know that can exist. The public perception of pretty much every movie is that the same people from the two major film centers of the country just ship them off to make movies wherever. I get this impression based on the first question i ususally get from onlookers on set. "Hey, so where are you from, California?" I tell them no, I'm from New York City, and very quickly realize that doesn't allay their misconceptions at all. I make sure to emphasize that many of us are from all over. Chris is From DC, Nicole from Philly/NJ, and the other PAs are 'locals' from Wilmington or at least somewhere in North Carolina.

Assimilation has been the key thought for the past two weeks, and in the upcoming week, it will almost become second nature as we welcome another 10 or 15 into our ranks to help us lock up a parking lot as we shoot a 4 minute continuous chase shot that involves passing the camera from handheld and between two different cranes. That should be crazy to watch, and i'm told nothing like it has ever been attempted.

I should also note that it might just be my imagination, or it might be a sign, but what was once delectable catering food, for the past two days has been sub-par quality dining. I havent been able to finish a meal at our 'lunch' break for a little while now. Now, it might be that I am getting tired of the southern specialties (although how can you get sick of barbeque) and am jaded on the diet of a film crew, but i am hoping the caterers have been slacking off. The true test comes tomorrow when we will be but a stones throw from true throwback school cafeteria food. Only time will tell.

And me, maybe i'll tell.