Wednesday, February 16, 2005

I used to have a life.... I think

Still on "Enterprise". There's been "trekkies" protesting at the gates of the studio because the show's been cancelled (one of whom, to my great amusement, wears a "Stormtrooper" outfit - from "Star Wars"). The only problem is that there have only been about four of them. They're having a rally next week, and if it's held near lunchtime, most of the crew will probably go.

Part of the reason that I want to get my swipe card working again is that I really, really need to see this! Oh, I know, I could just go and hang out on Melrose, but it's not the same at all.

85% of the crew have the flu, and are coughing. I'm freaked out - I can't afford to get sick, so I'm washing my hands 25 times a day in the hopes that it'll help. They have a bottle of hand sanitizer on the monitor cart, but I'm not sure I trust it - how many folks are touching that pump every day?

Producer shut us down tonight. He sat there, through the last scene, looking at his watch every 10 seconds.. It's called 'pulling the plug'.

It's fun, but damn are they reaming us.

Monday - 6am - 10pm
Tuesday 9am - 11pm
Wednesday - 9 am - 11 pm

It's only Wednesday. I feel like I've worked a whole week already.

Oh, wait. I have (hours wise at least).

Welcome to the film industry.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Beam Me Up, Scotty.. It's hour 14 and we're still shooting.

This is my fourth day on "Enterprise".

Day one, Thursday - I came in just for a night shot and had fun. Worked 8 hours, got home at a decent hour.

Day two, Friday - 12 hours.

Day three, Monday - I lost count.

Call time: 6am.

Wrap time: 10:30 pm (approximately - my cell phone died and I don't wear a watch anymore). We're shooting in the lobby of the Paramount Theater, which has magically been transformed to the conference room of Star Fleet.

We're still there today (Tuesday), and it's a new show with a new director. Same set, same props, same lighting, same actors, but the guy calling the shots has changed. TV is kind of freaky that way. I work more movies, and it's just wierd as hell to me to have the director and AD's change all the time.

Anyhow, there's a TON of really cool alien makeup, and it's fun to watch the 'aliens' walking around the lot, smoking cigarettes, drinking coke, and eating potato chips.

I've never watched the show, so I have no idea what's going on.

The director for the last few days was LeVar Burton (who was on one of the old Star Treks), and he's amazing.. He knows what he wants and shoots it fast.
This guy (I have no idea what his name is), is really disorganized, wastes a lot of time and does a TON of takes. Ouch.
I was supposed to have a Valentines Day date tonight, but had to bail at the last minute. I thought we'd be out by 8 pm. Silly me.

I keep having trouble getting onto the lot. Production keeps forgetting to call in a pass for me, so I have to stand there for 20 minutes while the guard tries to call folks (this SUCKS at 5:45 am - no one's in yet). I have an old I.D. from when I used to work on Entertainment Tonight (or some unholy spinoff thereof), but it doesn't work anymore. I've been to the office twice to try to get the swipe card to work - it would, after all, be in Production's best interest to not have to deal with this every morning - but they don't seem to care.

If they're as tired as I am, I can understand why.