Never A Quick Exit....

Rats...

I had a good day on set, a lengthy drive to and from a location shot, went to the gym for a hard two hour workout, then set down to write my previous post and watch some of the premieres, including "Smith," where I worked the wedding reception scene last spring.

Then, the phone rings...

"Hi Stephen, this is xxxx Casting, your call time has been pulled by one half hour tomorrow morning - early."

Yeah, it's 10:00 PM, and that's a relatively early call, thank goodness. Typically, they'll call in the early AM, just in time to disturb you quality-time sleep.

Pushes (meaning later call times), they don't care about, but earlier times, yes. The worst are features (i.e., films) where a call time might be pushed by three to four hours. When you get that call, start driving to set, because they will inevitably ring one to two hours before the new call time with an, "Get to set ASAP!" call.

This means you rush through check-in, wardrobe, then pour yourself a nice cup of coffee because you're going to wait for three to four hours before they actually shoot. But, hey, you're still getting pay.

So, much as in the previous post, learn to be flexible in this biz, otherwise you will be a deflated tennis ball, wacked to and fro across the net.

Welcome to the movie and TV business.