Into the night

Since my last post, I've worked every day, save one, which I used to catch up on some long overdue sleep. It's that time of the year when everything is crazy, like the following:

Showed up on the set of a pilot last week with explicit instructions from the casting director on the lines, "Our guy cast as the police photographer should be in a suit, definitely in a suit." Trouble is, I can't remember seeing any photographer in a suit, save for an awards show. So I packed some casual stuff. Sure enough, I get to the wardrobe trailer and the first words out of her mouth are, "Don't you have anything less formal than that?"

It's all about going with the flow. The same thing happened yesterday on a location shoot (really close to my apartment, for once). I showed up early, but the BG coordinator was down on his count for a wedding shoot. He signed me in early, prior to my call time, and had me wait for wardrobe to see if any of my options would be acceptable for a role change.

So I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Wardrobe was dealing with a problem on set, several miles away, and finally got back to the dozen of us waiting in the sun by the trailer a full two hours after our call time. By that time, of course, they didn't want us in formal stuff, and switched us out into uniforms - something not mentioned on the tape with our agency.

Again, you just have to go with the flow, otherwise you will burn out gray cells working in this business.

[Note: Those of you who have worked BG will know that CD's often state that "non-union must bring two clothing options, while union brings one." According to the contract, SAG BG must be paid bumps if requested to bring additional changes to set (or luggage, or props), even if those changes are never used. That's why you hear that phrase used all the time. But, given experiences like those detailed above, we still bring some options with us. ]

So, I'm off to a night shoot tonight, with a high probability of being booked on another gig while on set for tomorrow, possibly early. How do you deal with a two, or three-hour turn around? Pack more clothes, keep other stuff in the trunk of your car, and be prepared to leave one set and drive to another, shave and change quickly, and go to work. Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often, but it is one of the experiences full time BG must endure from time to time. Details to come.