New Movies, New Reviews, New Everything!

With the new look up and running I thought I should post something completely new. Yesterday I started a new film that will take me into next week and then right into another smaller independent film for the month of February. The timing worked out perfectly while also allowing me to not be completely bored for another week and a half.

The first day wasn't terribly interesting. We only had to film one scene which was done by lunch and the extras weren't too much of a pain. We did, however, have a lot of cars in the mix which can be tricky. The most cars I had ever dealt with before yesterday was probably 4 and I think we had 15 for only a few shots. Like I said, it wasn't a difficult day, but before the day even started, I realized that a trend has started for me before a job starts.

With an early call time like 5am, and a string of days where you are sleeping in, the probability of getting to sleep at a reasonable hour the night before is not a good one. For example, the night before yesterday I was in bed by midnight and I doubt I fell asleep before 2. Then, because of nerves, I woke up every half hour in fear of oversleeping. Usually most people are nervous about their first day at work and I think that because working in freelance has you getting involved in so many projects, the nervous sensation tends to go higher than normal. Every time I start a new job I have to think about who are the important players. What if I get lost getting to the location? What if I screw up and my opportunities with this particular crew are ruined? Obviously, these aren't the worst things in the world to worry about, but in the realm of freelance, word of mouth and reputation are everything. If you screw those up, you may not work for a few weeks.

Ok, so onto the "blind items"(as some faithful readers like to say). The movie consists of a pretty big star who is usually involved (so it seems) in every comedy on the market. One of my favorite films in the past five years has this actor wearing one color and one brand of sporting goods. In the film he has two kids, with the names of semi-automatic weapons, and they wear the same color and brand as their papa.

The name of this new film has something to do with the location shown. If you are familiar with New York then you probably have seen this place somewhere on the UWS.

I'd also like to thank The Dilettante and "Jaime" for their diligent work. They scoured the internets better than I could and found a varied array of reviews for one of my past films.

Here are a few:
Hopes Rest on Puccini
Variety's Opinion

Let's do this again

I decided to switch my hosting service to Blogger because the folks at MSN.spaces basically aren't very good at having the same "tools" for MAC users as they do for the PC. I have been a MAC user for quite awhile now so I'm somewhat peeved at the people from Microsoft for not making their blog areas equally supported on both platforms. SO this is my new home. Enjoy. Tell me what you think. I know the previous posts don't have any of the comments or anything special but all my new posts will look much cooler.

Just one Review from around the World

So I am currently scouring the internets for a review of the first film I worked on. It recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and I can't find one word about it.

At least this wasn't mine.

Even when you know, you never know

Friday was an easy day. I received a call late Thursday to work an additional day on a film that had been done shooting for over two months. Basically all the production company needed were some "plate shots" (shots of cars driving behind what we are led to believe as the car where the stars are in). Like I said, very easy day. Drove around with a cop as he blocked traffic for us as well as letting us do pretty much anything else with the cameras.

The semi-exciting part of the day didn't come until the end of the night. So I get back to the production office and I realize, since this is the same building that the offices of the last film I worked on where in, that I don't have a security card. When I get out of the elevator, instead of calling someone to come let me in, I just knocked on the door. Two guys had their backs to me and one turned around once he saw I couldn't get in. As soon as he turned around, I'm like "You have go to be kidding me. Be cool. Be cool. Be cool." He opens the door, I say thanks, and I walk by to a cubicle about fifteen feet away where I can sit and do my paperwork (also to stay close and just randomly listen to what these guys were saying). In retrospect they didn't say much of anything, just random chit-chat.

Ok, Ok, so who were the guys? Hmmm, well, let's see. The guy who did not open the door was in a film with a very popular male actor a few years ago. The film was about a life that was bought, then watched by the world. The name of the film had a president's name in the title and it was the second word of the title. If you are still following me, then keep going. If you have the film, the actor was best friends with the main actor. Well, I guess he "played" the guy's best friend in the film.

And now onto the guy who opened the door for me. Like I said earlier, I was just trying to "be cool" for the split second that I was going to walk by the guy, which I did, but it was still nerve wracking. This actor I actually know and I think he has done some really great films. One of which had the name of the country we live in and a roman numeral. Oddly enough, before going out last night, the film was on one of the cable movie channels and I couldn't help but watch for a little bit.

So Friday was an overall boring day with a pretty cool ending. I realize that the "cool ending" wasn't all that significant, but it was unexpected and still pretty damn...well...

...Cool.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Did anyone read my previous post? Did you see what I rambled about for almost the whole entry? Yeah, well forget it. Ok, so forget most of it. The last few days have effectively showed the up and down world of the freelance Production Assistant.

On Friday, within 45 minutes, I received two calls for upcoming work. The first was in reference to a pilot for a major network (they used to make a show about a place "where everyone knows your name). The show is basically like "24" but with a premise that is much more like that of the movie "Ransom" with Mel Gibson. That job was for Saturday, it was good pay, possibility of overtime, and not too much work, so I of course took it. The second job opportunity came from someone I worked with in the summer. This one would be actually for free (!!), but I would be the 1st Assistant Director for a music video this Friday (and I can't even play the name-that-band game with this one because the guy who called mumbled their name and only said that they currently have a video on MTV that plays a lot. Which is to say, it plays on MTV After Hours since MTV never plays full videos during daylight hours anymore).

The Network pilot actually worked out better than I could have expected. The first good thing that happened was, when halfway through the day, I was asked to talk to the 2nd AD. She proceeded to tell me that the PA in charge of all the extras had to leave midway through the day and since I had experience with extras (another PA I just got done working with on the film suggested my name on set to the AD department) could I take over for her. I, of course, said yes. Besides giving me something meaningful to do during a day of freezing rain and eventually snow, it was good to have something to do that I could prove my worth to this new crop of AD's in my world. By the end of the day, the 2nd 2nd AD pulled me aside and asked, if the pilot was picked up by the network, would I want to run background (the extras). The girl who had to leave early already took a better job so the position is open, and this is of course all contingent on the show being picked up. Sooooo that was a positive day in my world.

Today I was called three times. One was for an interview with the AD Department regarding the film I have verbally committed to at the end of the month, the second was to be an additional on the network pilot again tomorrow (nice), and the third was for another film that is being produced at the same time as the first film (with the prospect, after an interview with the AD's, that I could possibly be a Key PA or a 2nd 2nd AD since it is non-union).

I have a lot on my plate, and within a matter of days I was converted from complete boredom to juggling phone calls.

Alright, I'll stop patting myself on the back. But, yes, this is the life that I have chosen to follow.

It's crazy. It's interesting. It's always changing.

This is the life

I know I know, it has been FOREVER since I have posted. Well, with the holidays obviously not being jam-packed with production related duties I haven't exactly had a plethora of stories to tell ya'll. Even as I write this now, I don't really have that much going on.

Basically what I'm going through now is what every freelancer goes through (some obviously more than others) and can happen without warning. What I'm talking about is 'not working.' Getting into this line of work, you have to expect that you won't be working every day of the year and that at many points, the space between one job and the next can be several weeks. For myself, this is the first time I haven't been working since Labor Day. I've been lucky compared to a lot of people in my position. I know a lot of PA's who aren't working and aren't getting many calls either, even for smaller things. Like, last week, I worked for several days on a project for SpikeTV. It was a random call from a guy I worked with on the last film and I was glad to take the work. It was definitely something different because I was working in the Art Department and was able to see a different angle in the industry. For instance, I learned what crews were in this part of production, what was important to know, who was important to know, etc.. The job didn't last long but if you get a chance to watch SpikeTV at some point, and you see a show that looks like it is ENTIRELY about a new Axe Bodywash, then that's what I worked on. The whole thing is a half hour long show called "The Order of the Serpentine" and it promotes a bodywash that washes away bad dates and girlfriends who dump you. Yeah, I know, sounds pretty ridiculous. But I do have to say I am intrigued to see what it looks like when it comes out.

As for future work, I am lined up to work on a film that starts shooting on the 31st of January and goes for the entire month of February. This, is a good thing. Unfortunately, as you can see, that's about three weeks away. So what does one do when they have three weeks "off?" Well, I can tell you, not a whole lot.

I've mostly spent my time trying to finish up little projects, watch way too much television, go to the end of the internet and back, as well as talking about nonsense on instant messenger with old friends from high school. I can say that it isn't the most appealing circumstances to be in, and the lack of incoming money can be scary, but I know there is a definite end to it. I could be like a lot of other people in this business and have 0 options.

Thankfully I do have options, too bad they are three weeks away.