Big Time Excitements!

Well, ladies and friends...I did it. I booked a gig!



(for those of you not in the know about this picture...and that'd include 100% of my family...you should watch Arrested Development soon. You'll thank me later)

Now, before you get all tittilated, you must know that it was a gig as a background artist (which is one of those goofy over-inflated terms that extras use to feel important), and my "audition" involved "calling the hotline, then contacting the casting director to let her know I'm available." A pretty brutal audition process...

But this is a film that all four of us have worked on (Lindsay worked on Thursday, Chad, Erika and I worked today). Apparently it's this film, and today we got to feast our eyes on the likes of Robert Downey Jr. (a very nice man, who took some time out to joke around with the extras), Catherine Keener (who walked by our table on the way out to have a smoke at one point), and Golden Globe Nominated director Joe Wright (who gave Erika direction at one point...something that normally only a 2nd assistant director would do).

But, we weren't there for idle star-watching...we were there for work. And work we did. We worked our asses off:

-- We got up at the crack of 3:00 AM this morning, to get to the set

-- We ate a full breakfast in the pre-dawn hours, and loaded on a bus that took us to the L.A. Times building.

-- We got off the bus, and waiting in a "holding room" for two hours.

-- Once we were taken to the set (an actual functional L.A. Times Newsroom), where we were instructed not to touch anything (because we were all operating at somone's actual desk).

-- The shot we were involved in was a steadicam shot was was winding through the newsroom, much like this famous shot:







-- After we'd improvised reporter-ish type dialogue in the background for 3 hours, we were instrcuted to go upstairs for lunch.

-- We ate lunch, then waited for another two hours (most of which I slept).

-- At the end of the two hours, the lovely 2nd AD let us non-union folks know that we were done for the day.

-- We collected our things, and were bussed back to our cars.


People used to tell me that extra work was boring. People were right, and I've now "passed the boring onto you." Enjoy.

But, if you chance to see this movie when it's released, keep an eye out during that sweet steadicam shot where Robert Downey Jr. is entering the newsroom from an elevator. You'll know the shot, because his face will be mashed up on one side.

Anyway, when he first enters the room, on his left will be a knockout sitting down in a blue & white dress (you'll get a good view of the back of her head).

Sitting behind her will be a svelte young man wearing a blue & white striped collar shirt. I believe he is standing, rifling through a pile of papers.

To his left, sitting on a desk, facing a wall, you'll see a brown-haired dude with a prominently displayed bald spot. He'll be trying his damndest not to look directly at the camera.

Anyways, that's the good news for now. Erika and I had new headshots taken yesterday from Hawkey Photography. She was fantastic to work with, and we're looking forward to getting our pictures back...when they will promptly be uploaded here. Until then...