Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Trash can insides and a contact high.

Today, we were rigging on New York Street - there's a little nightclub set that's being dressed to look like a cross between CBGB and The Limelight.

Whatever the painters were using to make the fake stained glass windows made me see purple puppies and rainbows - I ended up having to run home at our coffee break and get my respirator (that I got on the last show where they were spraying something toxic). I took it home with me tonight as I'm afraid that if I leave it in our gold room (where we store small things like lightbulbs, color-correction gels, etc.), by morning one of our pranksters will have removed the filters and soaked them in something disgusting before replacing them.

Right after they did the stained glass effect, they started spray painting the graffiti on the walls, so it was a paint fume smorgasbord - it was so bad even the painters were commenting on it.

After lunch, when I finished my coffee, and went to throw the cup away - only to stop when the trashcan I was about to use seemed suspiciously clean.

Turns out, it was a prop trash can (which, of course must be returned to the rental house free of garbage) - another show was shooting a few yards away and had put out trash cans in order to make New York Street look, well, urban.

So I wandered along the 'street', peering into the trash cans, looking for the one that was actually full of garbage - one of the other show's PAs came up to me and wanted to know what the hell I was doing.

"I'm looking for a real trash can", I answered, wagging my empty cup at her for emphasis.

"Just throw it in the one that's actually got trash in it".

If only it were that easy- they look alike from the outside, and if I throw trash into a prop trash can and let it sit in the 90 degree heat all day, I'm going to have the other show's set dressers coming after me with thumb screws.

We're back in the club rigging again tomorrow - hopefully all the painting will have been done so I don't have to spend another day with that creepy rubber fetish thing on my face.

Couch of the Day:

Couch

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Today's couch looks to be in pretty decent shape. A pity it's being tossed out.

Peter
Iron Rails & Iron Weights

Anonymous said...

Ah yes, the bane of set dressers jobs everywhere, the fake trashcan. As a background actor, I've been told by 2nd ADs many times not to throw trash in them, only to see them get "trashed" by the end of the shoot by the "above the line" folks. It only takes one guy to get it started, then others follow suit.

What was the designer of the fabric on that couch thinking about? I can see why it's on the curb...

odocoileus said...

A PA?! You got all those muscles from pulling cable. You could take her.

Anonymous said...

Prop trash cans not as dangerous as prop toilets.

Anonymous said...

I like to stretch cling-wrap over trash cans to discourage retards who can't tell props from reality. Thanks for trying to find a real trash can. Here's a tip: look for the baby blue Smart&Final bags surrounding a can. That's your guide to real trash disposal. Prop cans never have liners. Decorators find them "icky".

Remember: when you're on a backlot or a stage, cinematic immunity does not apply. It may LOOK like the couch at your house, but it's not. It's a prop, rented to us by anal-retentive people who go over it with a fine-tooth comb, looking for any excuse to levy exorbitant L&D (loss and damage) charges on top of their already exorbitant rental fees. In the same way that your boss would look askance at our crew bringing in bb guns to try and shoot out par 16s, our boss looks askance at people from other departments parking their butts on our dressing. We already know better. That's why we sit on the floor.