Nelson V-Blog: Men on Film

I reported to my first day on the set of an upcoming film this week. The casting director gave me some rough instructions as to when to get there, what we'd be doing, and under what circumstances we'd be shooting the scenes I was in. I was told to bring a few items like black/brown pants, black/brown shoes, and black/brown attitudes with a hint of white undershirt to top it off. I showed up with my items on a coat hanger into a room of actors each of wish had bloody suitcases of clothing to peruse through. Mental note:go to Walmart buy them out of every good looking article of clothing they've got there...I may be there a while ! I was immediately wisked away to the wardrobe trailer for fitting into my role. I met up with a few actors that seemed pretty nice outside and shot the shizzle with them as we all waited to be turned into movie stars.

When I walked into the trailer, the entire Marshall Fields' mens' department must've been purchased! I saw every conceivable size of black and brown pants hanging with all the stickers still attached. I was handed one to try on and did. It didn't feel/fit quite right to me but I was assured that it was okay when I was told, "you're probably not used to wearing clothing that actually fits you". Apparently 10 years of dressing myself has culminated in a misunderstanding of my own proportions and clothing styling.

After being fitted, we waited outside for them to release us. And we waited. And we waited. An hour and a half later, we were then herded back to the holding area inside the crux of the set. We waited for another 6 hours to be released. They were shooting various scenes outside while we were inside, thus, they had no real use for us other than to ask us to drive vehicles around or to walk around in the parking lot while the shooting was going down. I wasn't one of the chosen few that got to go out and do some of that but I did have a good time talking to my fellow actors and getting to know them. I also learned a whole lot about the industry, unions, talent agencies, eating catered box lunches while the rest of the cast ate like regular human beings out of the buffet, and the best way to get people to remember you by giving them a funny catch-phrase (pick a subject/activity everyone is involved in and say "Man, this is some boolsheet!". It always invokes a reaction. For example, "Man, this comedy movie filmin' is some boolsheet!") I did get a really nice compliment from one of the staff as we were leaving our torturous day of sitting around. He said, "Did you audition for this?" I told him, "Yeah." He's like, "Good. You're a really funny guy. They're lucky to have you on this." Awwwwwwwwwww

I got paid roughly $12.50/hr to sit around and enjoy myself. Apparently acting like a bagger earns me more than being an actual bagger