Poe

12:13 am: A Long Day
Today was a long shooting day.

If you haven't seen the show "The West Wing," the program often features fairly elaborate "set pieces" involving lots of activity, lots of people, lots of vehicles, and "things going on." Well, to do those set pieces, it takes a lot of setup, rehearsal, planning, choreography, and lots and lots of takes.

The two scenes we did today included dozens of extras, two vans, two SUV's, two motorcycles, actors handling cameras (both still and video) and boom microphones, lots of props, multiple tracking shots, and at least one wardrobe change for everbody. So it took quite awhile to get things setup, moving smoothly, and looking the way the director and producers liked. As a result, we had to do our scenes a couple of dozen times to get everything looking and moving and sounding right. There were quite a few flubs by main actors, extras, equipment people, camera people, etc. before everyone was happy with the scenes.

I played a reporter covering the presidential campaign of the character Senator Vinick in the episode, "Al Smith." So the scenes I was in involved actors Alan Alda (Vinick), Ron Silver, and Patricia Richardson (as Vinick's aides.)

We finished shooting at just after 10 pm this evening.

As a side note, I have to raise my glass to the assistant director for this shoot, Shelly: she was a bundle of energy who was going through everything, jumping over fences (literally), bouncing all over the set working with LOTS of crew and actors, and making sure that everything held together. Even after a 13 hour day, she was still on top of her game. I wouldn't be surprised if she was running the studio in ten years.

And tomorrow they're doing an even more elaborate group of scenes out at LAX. (I'm not involved with those, though I may do a repeat stint as a reporter later in the season.)

For those of you who're fans of the show, I hope that this gives you some insight into the time, effort, and energy that the producers and regular crew invest to bring you the best show that they can.

And me? I'm just an extra, a very minor face in the background (along with a few dozen others) who, if we've done our jobs right, you'll never consciously notice.

Tomorrow's shoot should be somewhat simpler and easier: It's a new sitcom called "Thick and Thin." We'll see how it goes.

11:51 pm: Another Long Day (and a different experience)
Today I was working on this mid-season replacement show, "Thick and Thin" over at Universal. (Three out of the four jobs I've had this week have been there.)

It's a sitcom about a formerly-overweight woman who's adapting to a new lifestyle as a thin person. The show features a fair number of fat jokes, as you might imagine. The cast includes Jessica Capshaw (Kate Capshaw's daughter), Martin Mull, Sharon Gless (of Cagney and Lacy), and Chris Parnell (of Saturday Night Live).

Today's shoot was for the first "regular" episode of the series, after they did the pilot. This episode was entitled, "The Mooing Episode." My role was as a mall patron in a Starbucks-type coffee place.

We spent most of the day doing the setup and taping the scenes. Then, around 7 pm, they brought in a live audience and did it all again. (With every scene done at least three times.)

It was kinda different having the audience there, particularly when scenes were re-shot and they had to keep up the audience interest and excitement after each take and between scenes. So there was an emcee who "worked" the audience, bringing people up, talking to them, singing songs, getting people to rap, etc.

The sound stage was kept freezing cold for much of the day, probably so that the audience would stay awake and excitable throughout the taping. I felt bad for the women, who were generally wearing short skirts and halter tops and such. THEY were suffering!

The shoot started at about noon for us "background actor" types and ran until 10 pm. So we were all pretty anxious to get home when our day was done. There were twenty-five of us extras today and the AD did a great job of keeping people engaged and focused.

And they fed us well: grilled salmon, teriyaki beef, steamed rice, sushi, salad, various fresh fruits, cake, cookies, etc. One thing you seldom have to worry about on these jobs is going hungry. (In fact, will all of the "down time" between scenes, waiting for setups, and such, and the fact that you really can't wander too far from the set, there's a strong temptation for the background folks to chow down a lot to give 'em something to do while they're waiting.)

Monday, I'm back on "The West Wing" and I'm again working as a campaign reporter. I have a 6:30 call time that day. (Oh joy!) But I get the feeling that I could get regular work on the show if I wanted it. Just gotta watch out for those long work days.

BTW: I got my first paycheck as an extra today. It wasn't much. But it's more than I've made in awhile.