I ache. On Sunday night, I still ache.
I must have walked 15 miles Friday (night exterior - lighting up an entire suburban block with only four of us. Between call and wrap, I sat down for a grand total of an hour - and that's including lunch), and when I got up Saturday morning, I could barely walk. Normally I swim for an hour or so and then I feel fine, but no dice this time.
I remember telling my grandmother that the liniment she rubbed on her joints was gross and that I'd never do it. She'd just give me that look and say "you'll be surprised the things you do as you age." Sure enough, I've smeared my knees and ankles with this nasty smelly Chinese shit and am now wearing leg warmers to keep the chill off in the hopes that I'll be able to walk without hobbling in the morning.
I so totally did not expect this to happen while still in my 30's.
One week down, five to go.
I'm not sure I'm gonna make it.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Thursday, November 10, 2005
You seem okay for someone who just got dumped by a cat
The ungrateful little meatball decided to set up housekeeping with the caterer, who can offer him much more tasty things than us. Even after the caterering truck leaves for the night, he stays down there (the lunch area's about half a block away) scrounging for dropped morsels of food - this after we set up a little bed for him in the truck so he'd have a place to sleep.
Cats.
My boss is taking it pretty well.
Thankfully, it didn't rain, but since everything was still soaked from the previous day's showers, I had to wear plastic rain pants (very clammy) most of the day. The grips had to dry out their day blues* which got soaked in the rain. They set up a really long metal rail, sort of like a heavy duty clothesline, and hung them out to dry in the sun. They looked really pretty - sort of like one of those laundry commercials (you know the ones - where the housewife runs happily between the clotheslines full of extra fresh wash), except on a way bigger scale.
Today was also the first day that we've not had any major equipment problems, and everything on our end ran pretty smoothly.
The house we're shooting at has a really gorgeous lawn and beautiful landscaping, and the homeowner (a really nice guy) is being incredibly gracious about the fact that there's a film crew trampling it, parking equipment on it, and generally abusing what has to be a few thousand dollars worth of premium bluegrass. One of his rosebushes is already dead (that's what happens when you shine a 10,000 watt light on a plant), and he's just laughing about the whole thing - although the lawn getting fucked up is really hurting him. I can tell.
Call time: 9:30 am
Wrap time: 10:00 pm
*20' x 20' (6m x 6m) cloth sheets of light blue - they're used to create the illusion of sky, or in this case, a sunny day when it's really raining cats and dogs.
Cats.
My boss is taking it pretty well.
Thankfully, it didn't rain, but since everything was still soaked from the previous day's showers, I had to wear plastic rain pants (very clammy) most of the day. The grips had to dry out their day blues* which got soaked in the rain. They set up a really long metal rail, sort of like a heavy duty clothesline, and hung them out to dry in the sun. They looked really pretty - sort of like one of those laundry commercials (you know the ones - where the housewife runs happily between the clotheslines full of extra fresh wash), except on a way bigger scale.
Today was also the first day that we've not had any major equipment problems, and everything on our end ran pretty smoothly.
The house we're shooting at has a really gorgeous lawn and beautiful landscaping, and the homeowner (a really nice guy) is being incredibly gracious about the fact that there's a film crew trampling it, parking equipment on it, and generally abusing what has to be a few thousand dollars worth of premium bluegrass. One of his rosebushes is already dead (that's what happens when you shine a 10,000 watt light on a plant), and he's just laughing about the whole thing - although the lawn getting fucked up is really hurting him. I can tell.
Call time: 9:30 am
Wrap time: 10:00 pm
*20' x 20' (6m x 6m) cloth sheets of light blue - they're used to create the illusion of sky, or in this case, a sunny day when it's really raining cats and dogs.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
And what do we do when it rains?
We keep working. We cover the lights, we cover the distro, we try to keep connectors out of standing water, we don our raingear, and we soldier on.
It's kind of strange - the lights fool your eyes and make it look like the sun's out, even when it's pouring rain.
The neighborhood's stray cat has adopted us - he's hanging out on our truck, and the best boy's threatening to give him a home. He's got a collar, but the neighbors swear that he lives on the street and mooches food. We figure someone moved away and forgot him.
Our equipment problems continue - we had a head go down just after lunch, and once again the entire production company was waiting on us.
Call time: 8 am
Wrap time: 8 pm
It's kind of strange - the lights fool your eyes and make it look like the sun's out, even when it's pouring rain.
The neighborhood's stray cat has adopted us - he's hanging out on our truck, and the best boy's threatening to give him a home. He's got a collar, but the neighbors swear that he lives on the street and mooches food. We figure someone moved away and forgot him.
Our equipment problems continue - we had a head go down just after lunch, and once again the entire production company was waiting on us.
Call time: 8 am
Wrap time: 8 pm
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Majority rules!
Incoherent it is.
Our equipment problems continued today - it seems like half our cable is fucked up, and our 'blanket light' - which we used for the first time today - had about half the tubes dead.
Of course, we had to change them while the entire production waited on us - the AD didn't make things any better when he announced "We can't roll yet!! There's a lighting problem" - thus causing everyone to stare at us while we frantically tried to get the light working.
We've looked like clowns for two days now - just because of the equipment. None of us are happy about it.
The problem isn't our boss (he understands the equipment problem) - the problem is production. They don't pay attention to us when we do things right.. they only notice us when we fuck up. If we fuck up too much, then they won't hire our boss again.
We all really like our boss and want him to keep working - even if he never hires any of us again.
I'm going to bed.
Call time: 8 am
Wrap time: 9 pm
Our equipment problems continued today - it seems like half our cable is fucked up, and our 'blanket light' - which we used for the first time today - had about half the tubes dead.
Of course, we had to change them while the entire production waited on us - the AD didn't make things any better when he announced "We can't roll yet!! There's a lighting problem" - thus causing everyone to stare at us while we frantically tried to get the light working.
We've looked like clowns for two days now - just because of the equipment. None of us are happy about it.
The problem isn't our boss (he understands the equipment problem) - the problem is production. They don't pay attention to us when we do things right.. they only notice us when we fuck up. If we fuck up too much, then they won't hire our boss again.
We all really like our boss and want him to keep working - even if he never hires any of us again.
I'm going to bed.
Call time: 8 am
Wrap time: 9 pm
Monday, November 07, 2005
Reader Poll
We're going to get killed on this movie. We're seriously undermanned, and I can predict that I'm going to be brain-dead more often than not for the next few weeks..
I usually try to make sure the entries on the blog are at least written decently, but it's not an easy thing to pull off while my brain has given me the finger.
So, here's the question:
Do you want me to post something semi-incoherent (see the previous entry) every day, or do you want me to post once a week (I'll take notes every day and then polish the posts and publish on the weekends - still a post a day but not published until the weekend)?
You tell me.
I usually try to make sure the entries on the blog are at least written decently, but it's not an easy thing to pull off while my brain has given me the finger.
So, here's the question:
Do you want me to post something semi-incoherent (see the previous entry) every day, or do you want me to post once a week (I'll take notes every day and then polish the posts and publish on the weekends - still a post a day but not published until the weekend)?
You tell me.
Day 1
The first day of a feature is always about working out the kinks - how everything's going to go into the truck (this one, when packed, looks like a sardine can), who does what well and who works best with whom - although we're only a five person crew: Gaffer, Best Boy and three electricians.
I ran into an old friend whom I haven't seen in about 10 years - he and I used to go to the same clubs in LA, and we sort of looked at each other for a few moments before we figured it out. He's working art department now. He looks exactly the same as he did back in the day.
Since production got the lighting equipment from the crappiest (and cheapest) rental house in town, we're already having problems with it - mostly minor (lights not working, latches breaking, etc..), but one piece of cable was mislabeled ( the neutral and hot legs were mixed up - I'll explain the whole thing later. I'm wiped out right now), and we ended up blowing up a light.
It could have been a lot worse. Someone could have gotten hurt.
Later in the day, I was telling the sound guy what happened, and I finished the story with the phrase "Hey, at least no one got hurt - they just have to pay for a light. It's only money after all."
The production manager was standing right next to me - she shot me a dirty look and said "Yeah, only money".
Well, it is.
Call time: 6 am.
Wrap time: 8 pm (they actually wrapped at 7, but it took us an hour to load our truck).
I ran into an old friend whom I haven't seen in about 10 years - he and I used to go to the same clubs in LA, and we sort of looked at each other for a few moments before we figured it out. He's working art department now. He looks exactly the same as he did back in the day.
Since production got the lighting equipment from the crappiest (and cheapest) rental house in town, we're already having problems with it - mostly minor (lights not working, latches breaking, etc..), but one piece of cable was mislabeled ( the neutral and hot legs were mixed up - I'll explain the whole thing later. I'm wiped out right now), and we ended up blowing up a light.
It could have been a lot worse. Someone could have gotten hurt.
Later in the day, I was telling the sound guy what happened, and I finished the story with the phrase "Hey, at least no one got hurt - they just have to pay for a light. It's only money after all."
The production manager was standing right next to me - she shot me a dirty look and said "Yeah, only money".
Well, it is.
Call time: 6 am.
Wrap time: 8 pm (they actually wrapped at 7, but it took us an hour to load our truck).
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Why do I keep doing this?
I just said 'yes' to another low budget movie - it's the same gaffer as Danika, and a best boy who I've worked with before and think is one of the greatest guys in the world.
I guess that's why I said yes.
Even if the rate's bad (and it is - almost $10 per hour under union scale) and we get worked half to death, I'll have fun and get to hang out with a great bunch of folks.
That, and the movie shoots until the end of December (six weeks of steady work - even at a reduced rate - is a very, very good thing), and they'll let me jump off for a few days here and there if I get a few days on a better-paying show.
Hopefully, my previous statements about low budget shows won't be true this time.
I'll know tomorrow - I've got a 6 am call for our first day of shooting.
I guess that's why I said yes.
Even if the rate's bad (and it is - almost $10 per hour under union scale) and we get worked half to death, I'll have fun and get to hang out with a great bunch of folks.
That, and the movie shoots until the end of December (six weeks of steady work - even at a reduced rate - is a very, very good thing), and they'll let me jump off for a few days here and there if I get a few days on a better-paying show.
Hopefully, my previous statements about low budget shows won't be true this time.
I'll know tomorrow - I've got a 6 am call for our first day of shooting.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Boned by Fox Television!
I thought I'd been booked for three days on Bones second unit (and jumped off of the Fast and Furious 3 rig because I thought I'd make more money this way), only to have production cancel today's shoot late last night.
Damn. I turned down other work because I thought I was booked, and they cancelled so late at night that there was no way for me to pick up any work for today.
I really, really hate it when that happens.
Damn. I turned down other work because I thought I was booked, and they cancelled so late at night that there was no way for me to pick up any work for today.
I really, really hate it when that happens.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
How about The Slow and Slightly Miffed?
Somehow the dirtiest locations always look so innocent.
For the past two days, I've been wrapping a location on Fast and Furious 3.
A parking garage in a mall that's been closed for 10 years. How dirty could it be?
Really dirty. There was a fine film of black dust everywhere. We were pulling cable* through it all day (not to mention the Gators - which we were using to drive stuff back to the staging area - kicking up a dust storm every time they drove by). By lunchtime, the dust had coated us from head to toe, making us look like derelicts.
They were shooting car stunts in this location, so every now and then we'd find something that fell off one of the cars they were driving. A bumper, a headlight, part of a blown tire - all covered in dust, of course. Where the hell was it coming from?
On the way home last night, I stopped at the grocery store, where people tried not to look at me as I walked past in case I did something crazy. I saw one woman start to push her cart down the aisle I was standing in - then she saw me and backed up as quickly as she could.
What I really want to do when this happens is grab them by the lapels, shake them and yell "I'm a responsible tax-paying citizen just like you, motherfucker!"
What I actually do is sigh heavily, purchase whatever it is that I came in for, go home and shower - after which I look (and feel) solidly middle class again.
*heavy cable is wrapped by pulling it towards you into a coil at your feet, hence the term 'pulling cable'.
For the past two days, I've been wrapping a location on Fast and Furious 3.
A parking garage in a mall that's been closed for 10 years. How dirty could it be?
Really dirty. There was a fine film of black dust everywhere. We were pulling cable* through it all day (not to mention the Gators - which we were using to drive stuff back to the staging area - kicking up a dust storm every time they drove by). By lunchtime, the dust had coated us from head to toe, making us look like derelicts.
They were shooting car stunts in this location, so every now and then we'd find something that fell off one of the cars they were driving. A bumper, a headlight, part of a blown tire - all covered in dust, of course. Where the hell was it coming from?
On the way home last night, I stopped at the grocery store, where people tried not to look at me as I walked past in case I did something crazy. I saw one woman start to push her cart down the aisle I was standing in - then she saw me and backed up as quickly as she could.
What I really want to do when this happens is grab them by the lapels, shake them and yell "I'm a responsible tax-paying citizen just like you, motherfucker!"
What I actually do is sigh heavily, purchase whatever it is that I came in for, go home and shower - after which I look (and feel) solidly middle class again.
*heavy cable is wrapped by pulling it towards you into a coil at your feet, hence the term 'pulling cable'.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Oh, Crap!
I forgot it was Halloween tonight, and didn't get any candy on the way home from work.
Of course, I got ambushed as I tried to get from the car to the front door (I almost made it, too).
"Trick or Treeeeet!" yelled a fairy princess (I think she was a fairy princess - she could have also been Prom Night Barbie with a plastic scepter or a slutty party-going socialite with a misshapen golf club). "Give me something good to eat!"
I rummaged through my paper bag of take-out sushi (some nights I'm too tired even to open a can), trying to stall for time.
"Um.. let me see here... what do I have... You can have a salmon roll or... Miso soup! Yum!"
Dammit, why don't they give you fortune cookies in Japanese restaurants? I could have made a run for it while she was distracted.
"MOMMY! She's trying to give me food that's not in plastic! And sounds yucky!"
Aw, fuck.
Mommy said "Leave the nice lady alone, honey", but still glared at me as she hustled the kids past, and kept shooting me dirty looks until I slunk into the house.
So I guess now I'm the weirdo that tried to give a kid sushi on Halloween.
I should have offered her my wire-strippers. Or a cube tap.
Of course, I got ambushed as I tried to get from the car to the front door (I almost made it, too).
"Trick or Treeeeet!" yelled a fairy princess (I think she was a fairy princess - she could have also been Prom Night Barbie with a plastic scepter or a slutty party-going socialite with a misshapen golf club). "Give me something good to eat!"
I rummaged through my paper bag of take-out sushi (some nights I'm too tired even to open a can), trying to stall for time.
"Um.. let me see here... what do I have... You can have a salmon roll or... Miso soup! Yum!"
Dammit, why don't they give you fortune cookies in Japanese restaurants? I could have made a run for it while she was distracted.
"MOMMY! She's trying to give me food that's not in plastic! And sounds yucky!"
Aw, fuck.
Mommy said "Leave the nice lady alone, honey", but still glared at me as she hustled the kids past, and kept shooting me dirty looks until I slunk into the house.
So I guess now I'm the weirdo that tried to give a kid sushi on Halloween.
I should have offered her my wire-strippers. Or a cube tap.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Sort of Friday Photo
N.C.I.S.
Originally uploaded by Peggy Archer.
Well, it was taken on Friday.
This is the lit night exterior shot in an alley downtown.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Hey, that's mine!
One of the things about working downtown LA is rats. Big, fat, sassy rats who aren't afraid of you, chump.
Tonight, I left my light* for a few minutes to pee and make a sandwich (not simultaneously). When I came back, I saw a really big rat.
A really big rat perched on the arm of my camp chair (with nifty built-in cupholder), daintily sipping my coffee (I still can't figure out how he got the plastic lid off the cup).
In case you were wondering, flapping your hands and yelling "Shoo!" does not frighten rats in downtown Los Angeles - in fact, it barely makes them look up from their coffee.
I had to lure him off my chair with part of my sandwich.
We're in the same set-up tomorrow night. I'm going to load up a cup with sugar and milk, hunker down and wait - hopefully I can get a picture of the Really Big Coffee Sipping Rat.
Hey, it beats reading a hand-me-down issue of InStyle over and over. Once I learn which color is the new black, I kind of lose interest.
*When a gaffer places lights on top of buildings or in other hard to reach places, he (or she) usually wants to keep a guy next to the lamp all night - just in case. While this may seem excessive, it's better than telling him (or her) that it will take 20 minutes to get someone across the street and up onto the roof to move said light 12 inches to the left.
Tonight, I left my light* for a few minutes to pee and make a sandwich (not simultaneously). When I came back, I saw a really big rat.
A really big rat perched on the arm of my camp chair (with nifty built-in cupholder), daintily sipping my coffee (I still can't figure out how he got the plastic lid off the cup).
In case you were wondering, flapping your hands and yelling "Shoo!" does not frighten rats in downtown Los Angeles - in fact, it barely makes them look up from their coffee.
I had to lure him off my chair with part of my sandwich.
We're in the same set-up tomorrow night. I'm going to load up a cup with sugar and milk, hunker down and wait - hopefully I can get a picture of the Really Big Coffee Sipping Rat.
Hey, it beats reading a hand-me-down issue of InStyle over and over. Once I learn which color is the new black, I kind of lose interest.
*When a gaffer places lights on top of buildings or in other hard to reach places, he (or she) usually wants to keep a guy next to the lamp all night - just in case. While this may seem excessive, it's better than telling him (or her) that it will take 20 minutes to get someone across the street and up onto the roof to move said light 12 inches to the left.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Damn that Murphy guy.
The drive to Santa Clarita ended up being not so bad - but that's probably because I was going the wrong way. Even at 10 am, the traffic heading towards downtown was bumper-to-bumper.
I don't go to Santa Clarita very often, and N.C.I.S. shoots in a converted warehouse that's jammed into a huge industrial park where all the buildings look exactly the same from the street, so by the time I found the right place, I'd missed breakfast, but they'd locked everyone out to do a 'private rehearsal', so it all worked out and I ended up being able to grab something from the caterer after all.
For the most part, the day was uneventful - we were insanely overmanned for what we needed to do, and this show uses flat lighting, so there wasn't a lot of hustling for us. Most of my day was me trying to get my bearings in a new set and figure out the dynamics of a crew I've not worked with before.
At lunch, they screened this week's episode - I'm glad they did, because I'd never otherwise see this show - I will guarantee that it's on at a time when I'm normally at work; which is why I don't see that much television.
About an hour after lunch, while we were standing there waiting for camera to reload, I turned to the on-set dresser* and asked, "Why, if this is Naval Crime Investigation, is the lead guy a Marine?" He responded "Oh, the Marines fall under the jurisdiction of the Navy." According to him, the first Marines were the guys that sat in the rigging of sailing ships with rifles, and they became their own branch of the armed forces sometime before WW1.
I had no idea.
About 10 pm the power went out. I don't mean just the power to the stage, I mean the power to a large portion of Santa Clarita (all that darkness is odd for city dwellers - it's so freaky looking up to the night sky in LA and seeing stars).
Of course, this happened just as we were getting ready to roll on our last scene of the night - a scene which had all five of our main actors sitting around a table in a set which immediately went pitch fucking black. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Most of the crew carry flashlights, so everyone got out okay and there were no injuries (that I heard about, at least). Craft service had just put out dinner, so everyone (except us, of course) got to hang out in the parking lot, munching on gourmet hot dogs (only in California) and chatting in the car-headlight ambiance (in this case, it was a good thing. If they're thinking about food, they're not thinking about the delay - no department ever wants to be the one who's holding up the show).
That extra manpower really came in handy, as we had to scramble to get our big tractor-mounted** generator (normally used only on location), a spare "tow plant" (we had two units running on two separate stages - lucky they had the smaller generator on hand or one of the units would have had to go home) and run cable to the stages so we could get the lights back on and finish the day's work.
We got it done in about half an hour (very fast). I have to give an 'attaboy' to the actors and production team. They didn't comment on the delay or ask any of us any questions (while it happened or afterwards). They just walked back in and got right back to work like nothing had happened.
About two hours later, one of the guys (who was outside for a smoke) announced over the walkie that the area was swarming with Edison trucks trying to get the power back on.
Although the power came back on about half an hour before we wrapped, we never switched back to stage power - we finished the night on the generators, and they're going to leave the cable runs down today in case it happens again.
Call time: 10 am
Wrap time: 1 am
* The on-set dresser has nothing to do with wardrobe. Set Dressers are responsible for that stuff that makes a set look like, well, not a set. Paper, coffee cups, unopened mail, empty Chinese take-out containers - the general flotsam of life that accumulates in the corners of every room; even the really tidy ones. It may not seem like much, but it makes a HUGE difference on screen.
Sets are 'dressed' well before the shooting crew shows up, but the guy who stays on set and moves things around while we shoot is the on-set dresser. He (or she) also vacuums carpets, polishes grubby fingerprints off glass tabletops and wood furniture, replaces books that crew members have been reading, and generally keeps everything camera ready.
**No, not Grandpa Clampett's rusty John Deere. 'Tractor' refers to the cab section of a tractor-trailer, or semi, or "goddammit, get those damn things off the road before they smash someone flat". Film trucks will have generators mounted right behind the cab - usually two - called 'the twins' (as in "Shit, the power's down to the whole area - start running cable and we'll pull the twins around).
I don't go to Santa Clarita very often, and N.C.I.S. shoots in a converted warehouse that's jammed into a huge industrial park where all the buildings look exactly the same from the street, so by the time I found the right place, I'd missed breakfast, but they'd locked everyone out to do a 'private rehearsal', so it all worked out and I ended up being able to grab something from the caterer after all.
For the most part, the day was uneventful - we were insanely overmanned for what we needed to do, and this show uses flat lighting, so there wasn't a lot of hustling for us. Most of my day was me trying to get my bearings in a new set and figure out the dynamics of a crew I've not worked with before.
At lunch, they screened this week's episode - I'm glad they did, because I'd never otherwise see this show - I will guarantee that it's on at a time when I'm normally at work; which is why I don't see that much television.
About an hour after lunch, while we were standing there waiting for camera to reload, I turned to the on-set dresser* and asked, "Why, if this is Naval Crime Investigation, is the lead guy a Marine?" He responded "Oh, the Marines fall under the jurisdiction of the Navy." According to him, the first Marines were the guys that sat in the rigging of sailing ships with rifles, and they became their own branch of the armed forces sometime before WW1.
I had no idea.
About 10 pm the power went out. I don't mean just the power to the stage, I mean the power to a large portion of Santa Clarita (all that darkness is odd for city dwellers - it's so freaky looking up to the night sky in LA and seeing stars).
Of course, this happened just as we were getting ready to roll on our last scene of the night - a scene which had all five of our main actors sitting around a table in a set which immediately went pitch fucking black. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Most of the crew carry flashlights, so everyone got out okay and there were no injuries (that I heard about, at least). Craft service had just put out dinner, so everyone (except us, of course) got to hang out in the parking lot, munching on gourmet hot dogs (only in California) and chatting in the car-headlight ambiance (in this case, it was a good thing. If they're thinking about food, they're not thinking about the delay - no department ever wants to be the one who's holding up the show).
That extra manpower really came in handy, as we had to scramble to get our big tractor-mounted** generator (normally used only on location), a spare "tow plant" (we had two units running on two separate stages - lucky they had the smaller generator on hand or one of the units would have had to go home) and run cable to the stages so we could get the lights back on and finish the day's work.
We got it done in about half an hour (very fast). I have to give an 'attaboy' to the actors and production team. They didn't comment on the delay or ask any of us any questions (while it happened or afterwards). They just walked back in and got right back to work like nothing had happened.
About two hours later, one of the guys (who was outside for a smoke) announced over the walkie that the area was swarming with Edison trucks trying to get the power back on.
Although the power came back on about half an hour before we wrapped, we never switched back to stage power - we finished the night on the generators, and they're going to leave the cable runs down today in case it happens again.
Call time: 10 am
Wrap time: 1 am
* The on-set dresser has nothing to do with wardrobe. Set Dressers are responsible for that stuff that makes a set look like, well, not a set. Paper, coffee cups, unopened mail, empty Chinese take-out containers - the general flotsam of life that accumulates in the corners of every room; even the really tidy ones. It may not seem like much, but it makes a HUGE difference on screen.
Sets are 'dressed' well before the shooting crew shows up, but the guy who stays on set and moves things around while we shoot is the on-set dresser. He (or she) also vacuums carpets, polishes grubby fingerprints off glass tabletops and wood furniture, replaces books that crew members have been reading, and generally keeps everything camera ready.
**No, not Grandpa Clampett's rusty John Deere. 'Tractor' refers to the cab section of a tractor-trailer, or semi, or "goddammit, get those damn things off the road before they smash someone flat". Film trucks will have generators mounted right behind the cab - usually two - called 'the twins' (as in "Shit, the power's down to the whole area - start running cable and we'll pull the twins around).
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
This is the best I can do before I've had coffee.
Normally, when I need work, I have to get on the phone - calling everyone I know and asking if they're working and need guys.
When it's busy (like now), I don't have to work that hard; all I have to do is call our union, register as out of work and I'll be sent out on a call within a few hours.
This won't last, so I'm taking advantage of it while I still can.
Today, I'm off to NCIS (I have zero idea what that is) which shoots in Santa Clarita. Santa Clarita is a suburb about 30 miles north of L.A, and there's only one way in and out - Interstate 5.
I have a 10 am call, and I'm going to have to leave in about 10 minutes in order to make it by 9:30.
(generally, one wants to be there at least 15 minutes early - 30 if there's a caterer who's serving breakfast. Arriving right at call time is considered 'late').
Plus, I have to stop along the way and get coffee so my brain will be working by the time I get there.
I promise I'll be more coherent when I get home.
When it's busy (like now), I don't have to work that hard; all I have to do is call our union, register as out of work and I'll be sent out on a call within a few hours.
This won't last, so I'm taking advantage of it while I still can.
Today, I'm off to NCIS (I have zero idea what that is) which shoots in Santa Clarita. Santa Clarita is a suburb about 30 miles north of L.A, and there's only one way in and out - Interstate 5.
I have a 10 am call, and I'm going to have to leave in about 10 minutes in order to make it by 9:30.
(generally, one wants to be there at least 15 minutes early - 30 if there's a caterer who's serving breakfast. Arriving right at call time is considered 'late').
Plus, I have to stop along the way and get coffee so my brain will be working by the time I get there.
I promise I'll be more coherent when I get home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)