Going Hollywood - Day 2 - Showtime!
We reported to the set at 7:30am last Wednesday for the first day of shooting the tv show NUMB3RS on the set of the mythical "AltCon 9 - Los Angeles". I actually own the shirt, suckers. We followed the signs, asked directions and ended up in a room full of roughly 100 other folks. It gets pretty strange from here. As we looked around, we saw people dressed as barbarians, aliens, samurai, and a LOT of people dressed in Star Trek costumes. (Note: NUMB3RS is owned by Paramount. That means at least the Trek costumes were authentic.)
We were asked if we had checked in and reported we had not. We made our way to wardrobe to meet "Fuller". We're not sure if this was his name or his job. The latter possibility made me cringe thinking what costume we might be pried into. Fortunately, he looked at our company polos and decided there was nothing he could do to make us look any geekier. We were sent back to "holding".
Once we got back, we immediately met Natalie, a lovely young woman wearing a Star Trek uniform who was sitting at our table. She is a "theatre person" and is only doing this because she's a Trekker that wanted to wear an original costume. A handful of other people sat down around us and we got to know a lot of these folks. Most seemed to have the same story. They do this 5-7 days a week. The pay sucks but you generally get fed three meals per day (Note: The alarms should have gone off right there.) and you get camera time.
After breakfast, the Assistant Director, Jeff, came to greet us. Jeff was the kind of guy who looked like he would be very mean but instead treated us like he was the coolest camp counselor ever. He gave us some instructions and tried to prepare us for the grind ahead. Most notably, we were not supposed to touch ANY of the props on the table. Meaning, I couldn't even touch my own stuff.
We got the first call to the set around 9am. Henry and I trudged down to "Alt Con 9", the fake comic con. It looked really good, but not really quite like a con. I assumed it would look great on camera so I didn't really say anything. It's very hard to do a con without any of the big licenses showing. They got very lucky that Dan Brereton (creator of Nocturnals) was on board as he supplied them with a shit load of art assets. That stuff looked really cool and was hanging everywhere.
We then spent the next 5 hours staging and rehearsing a shooting. Holy crap is that hard work. Henry and I assumed we'd be in the booth but instead we ended up as extras walking through the convention when the crime (it's a crime show, you know) occurs. My first Hollywood experience required me to hit the deck, look afraid, scream, and cower in fear. Pretty much the same act I do during financial analysis meetings.
Just prior to the beginning of shooting, Wil Wheaton came up to me while I was standing in the booth waiting for shooting to begin. We're not supposed to talk to the actors but Wil heard that WizKids was there and being the game geek he is, had to check it out. He asked me "Are you really from WizKids or are you just an extra? " I told him I was and we began a 20 minute conversation on gaming. He's a big fan of Pirates and HorrorClix. I gave him my card and invited him to send me an email and I'd hook him up with a care package of swag. He grinned and went off.
We finally got a break for lunch. It was well after noon, was getting very hot (it was already over 90) and my knees were starting to complain loudly. We sat down, took 1 bite of a sandwhich and Jeff came in yelling for us all to return to the set.
Yep, Day 2 was a long one. Continued tomorrow.
We were asked if we had checked in and reported we had not. We made our way to wardrobe to meet "Fuller". We're not sure if this was his name or his job. The latter possibility made me cringe thinking what costume we might be pried into. Fortunately, he looked at our company polos and decided there was nothing he could do to make us look any geekier. We were sent back to "holding".
Once we got back, we immediately met Natalie, a lovely young woman wearing a Star Trek uniform who was sitting at our table. She is a "theatre person" and is only doing this because she's a Trekker that wanted to wear an original costume. A handful of other people sat down around us and we got to know a lot of these folks. Most seemed to have the same story. They do this 5-7 days a week. The pay sucks but you generally get fed three meals per day (Note: The alarms should have gone off right there.) and you get camera time.
After breakfast, the Assistant Director, Jeff, came to greet us. Jeff was the kind of guy who looked like he would be very mean but instead treated us like he was the coolest camp counselor ever. He gave us some instructions and tried to prepare us for the grind ahead. Most notably, we were not supposed to touch ANY of the props on the table. Meaning, I couldn't even touch my own stuff.
We got the first call to the set around 9am. Henry and I trudged down to "Alt Con 9", the fake comic con. It looked really good, but not really quite like a con. I assumed it would look great on camera so I didn't really say anything. It's very hard to do a con without any of the big licenses showing. They got very lucky that Dan Brereton (creator of Nocturnals) was on board as he supplied them with a shit load of art assets. That stuff looked really cool and was hanging everywhere.
We then spent the next 5 hours staging and rehearsing a shooting. Holy crap is that hard work. Henry and I assumed we'd be in the booth but instead we ended up as extras walking through the convention when the crime (it's a crime show, you know) occurs. My first Hollywood experience required me to hit the deck, look afraid, scream, and cower in fear. Pretty much the same act I do during financial analysis meetings.
Just prior to the beginning of shooting, Wil Wheaton came up to me while I was standing in the booth waiting for shooting to begin. We're not supposed to talk to the actors but Wil heard that WizKids was there and being the game geek he is, had to check it out. He asked me "Are you really from WizKids or are you just an extra? " I told him I was and we began a 20 minute conversation on gaming. He's a big fan of Pirates and HorrorClix. I gave him my card and invited him to send me an email and I'd hook him up with a care package of swag. He grinned and went off.
We finally got a break for lunch. It was well after noon, was getting very hot (it was already over 90) and my knees were starting to complain loudly. We sat down, took 1 bite of a sandwhich and Jeff came in yelling for us all to return to the set.
Yep, Day 2 was a long one. Continued tomorrow.
posted by Mkae at
8:21 PM
2 Comments:
So....how was the rest of your Hollywood adventure?
I'll bet you knocked their knitted footwear off.
By
Beanie, at 12:58 PM
Come on...Almost a week!!!!
By
Arwen, at 5:59 AM
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