Thursday, October 26, 2006

Snowball fight!

We spend the first couple of hours each day prepping the strands of lights that we have to use - we have to cut the tags off (because the white tags are visible in the greenery of the bushes and trees) and it's better to do it all at once. That way there aren't little amputated tags all over the lot (which pisses off the groundskeepers).

The room where we do this is right next to where a commercial has been shooting and blanketed part of the lot in snow - some of it fake, but some of it real. They don't normally use real snow, and I have no idea why they did this time, but there it was, right there on the street collecting dirt (like real snow does) and making a terrible mess in the heat.

Although they wrapped several days ago, it's taking them some time to scrape the snow up and throw it into dumpsters (where it's been melting into a funny-smelling lake through which we've been driving our golf cart at full tilt to see how big of a splash we can make) and there's still quite a bit left, so we went out to play in it on our coffee break.

They've cordoned off the area that was covered with snow in order to facilitate clean-up, but people have been driving carts through it anyway - it's the best shortcut on the lot. As we were standing there, trying to see how well the snow would pack (not so much - it's mostly ice), the best boy of another show (he's a great guy and I like him a lot) drove by in a golf cart and guessed what I was thinking - he floored the golf cart, but let's face it, those things aren't that fast. I managed to throw accurately, and nailed him right in the back. I had to run through three inches of slush to get him so I had to work the rest of the night in wet shoes, but it was so totally worth it.

8 comments:

K.Leigh said...

Don't you ever worry when you take those tags off? I'm irrationally terrified of it. It's not like I'd actually take the hairdryer in the shower with me or plug in a strand of lights that a rat had been gnawing...but ever since I was itty bitty I've been absolutely convinced that if I took off the little taggy, someone would die--kind of like "every time a bell rings, another angel gets its wings," only a bit more morbid.

Peggy Archer said...

Not really (and for this, I have to so it's not a matter of choice), but I do have all the tags still on my pillows for that very reason. I remember being 5 or so and reading the tag and thinking that if I tore it off something really horrible would happen to me - like the SWAT team bursting through my window and punching my dog.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Christmas comes to Hollywood!
Well, even if it DID come in October...still sounds like fun.
Whatcha doing the first week of December? I've got about 4 days of stringing lights to do, and I make a MEAN pot roast!

she said: said...

Where did they truck the snow from? Well.. I guess it should be snowing somewhere close, but it seems unseasonably warm in California this year. It is actually kind of annoying. Everyday.. beautiful sun. It sucks.

CHARLI said...

Way to go slugger! Wow, I've missed a lot of blog, I'll have to start from here and try to keep up.

Unknown said...

Its all about how you lead them. Good work.

I got stuck repairing christmas lights one year. We had milk crates just filled with wads of used christmas lights. I would grab a handful, straighten it out, run a voltmeter on it to check continuity, then replace any blown or missing lamps. We managed to save some money repairing strings, but the company ended up spending even more in the overtime it took to do the job. Such is life in the big city!

Miss Kitty said...

Awesome! How often do you get to have a snowball fight out of season? Definitely worth wet shoes.

I worked as a professional actor for four years and did a little film-crew work as well. One project was a week of 17-hour days, all for a ten-minute film-festival short. A thousand thanks to you for blogging the unglamourous part of movies.

Milehimama @ Mama Says said...

First Christmas lights, then a snowball fight - it's not even Halloween! You're worse than Wal-Mart. :)