Roadtrip, CSI:NY and The Coldest Case.

Been a while since my last update, and lots has happened in between so pardon the hefty entry!

First, the roadtrip.

We packed up the Subaru the day after Anne Frank closed and as you can see we were loaded down pretty good. In fact, there was not an inch of space in our car that was not occupied by either our stuff or ourselves. The kicker was our office desk supports that didn't fit inside tied to the roof of the car with precision, as evidenced below...

I have to admit we were a sight to see driving the 1000+ miles down the 5 like a clown car...

But we did make it, safe and sound though a little sweaty and sore from sitting for 300 miles at a time. Thank goodness for iced coffee and good music! We got into LA around 9pm on Monday, unloaded our stuff and gave our kitties a good squeeze. Gob was very happy to see us and slept with us that night, but Tobias remained a little standoffish for a couple of days. He's finally come around though, and everything is back to normal, if not better since all 4 kitties seem to get along now.

And now, CSI: NY.

At 3 am Wednesday I got called in to work background on CSI: NY for 2 to 4 days, so off I went at 6am to a warehouse where I was an airplane passenger for 13 hours. It was actually a pretty sweet gig--just sit there on the plane (well, fuselage of a plane), react to turbulance, read my book (Steve Martin's Born Standing Up, a great read for anyone in show business) and watch Gary Sinise at work! This was my first real "starstruck" experience, especially since I sat just 3 rows back from him and he seriously was standing right next to me for a lot of the shoot. The second day we actually got to react to the SWAT team coming on board. Acting! Brilliant! Thank you!

The coolest part was that I was actually selected for a little featured bit where I reach into my purse and Gary Sinise thinks I'm going for a gun, so as long as it doesn't end up on the cutting room floor you will definitely see me and my lovely red seatbelt purse! It won't air for a while, but when it does I'll announce it here and try to post a clip if I can figure out how to do that.

The nice thing about a small, multi-day call like this is you get to know the cast and crew better, and there is a better chance of being picked out to get a little special spot like I did, and more importantly a SAG voucher. I didn't get one the first two days, but I'll hopefully have two more days on the same set next week and might just score one! I even have a nickname on the set ("Squeaky" cause of the whole gun thing... ironic, no?), so I'm off to a good start.

Finally: The Coldest Case.

If CSI: NY was a lovely TV set experience, Cold Case was possibly the worst of all time, and enough to make one never want to do background work ever again. I'm only glad that Chad and I were able to go together, as on my own I may have just lost it. Some did. I heard one guy actually took all his clothes off and just walked out.

First mistake: it was a large, football fan shoot, about 400 people. I don't think either of us will ever go out for a large shoot like that ever again. It's madness, you will never get a SAG voucher on a call like that, and overall it is not worth it unless you are starving or bored, which we aren't. Yet.

Second mistake: It was outdoors, at the Rose Bowl, at night, and it was 55 degrees and raining.

As if that weren't enough, we were there from 6:30pm to 2:00am, which means we were just shy of getting overtime, they did not feed us (except for some cold pizza that was snatched up by the most desperate and/or pushy extras), and the lines to check in and check out were monstrous, meaning when we were wrapped we still had about an hour until we could leave. We did get a "wet bump" (like $5 if you're non-union) and "meal penalty" (a small pay bump if they don't give you a meal break). All in all it was better than sitting at home not making any money at all, but seriously: never again.

I don't mean to complain too much, because in the end it was very good to have this experience. We learned a lot from it. And really, sometimes as an actor you have to do night shoots in bad weather when everyone is grumpy and just wants to go home. So it was training in that respect! Also, it could have been much worse. Some of the extras, like the football players and cheerleaders, had been there since 9 or 10am, and did not have jackets or sweaters like we did. They did not even have a place to sit.

So that's the update for now. We've got a quiet weekend ahead of us, as I hope you have as well! Next week will hopefully be more BG work, and submitting for auditions and such. We've also got a hankering to clear out the garage, as we are thinking of getting a scooter again. Gas down here is well over $4 a gallon.

Livin' the dream!