Dramatic Drama – Part 3 of 7: Independent feelings

I was still working with my delivery job when I got a chance to actually work with a television crew for a few days, in another city in fact. It was the biggest opportunity I had ever had before and in my mind I was break dancing. My sister was also pretty excited for me and would have wanted to go if it wasn’t for the fact that she had MCATs to study for.
The series of events unfolded first with my covering my backside. I had to get at least three days off work which was actually was easier than I thought. Then I also had to confront my parents who would be curious about me being gone for three days. I broke it down in simple terms that this would be a great business trip to learn new technical skills and that I would drive up there by myself and spend a few nights there. My Dad was again skeptical of course wanting me to cancel, but I said “No way! You can’t do this, besides I’ve already scheduled three days off. I’m ready to do this and have all my clothes in here.” I think he was worried actually that I was leaving for good and thought I had found a career, but I assured him I’d be back in three. I think what really motivated me at the time was also the fact that my coworkers had told me that they drove two hours to work everyday and then two hours back home. Everyday regardless of whether we had overtime!

Day One: Got up to work at six a.m. in the morning, yes. And I wonder how my coworker manages to do a dayshift, go home, and sleep and repeat. Another coworker had given me a pep talk about talking to my boss. I had made a miscalculation and needed to leave earlier than I thought (overtime till 4:30 but had to be at the TV site by 7:00pm about 130 miles away. Thank goodness I took his advice and got courage to talk with my boss about leaving at 2:30pm, enough time to change and drive straight up to the state capital. I arrived about 15 minutes late, not great, but people were still coming. Met a load of beautiful people. Talked, introductions, & waiver forms. There’s a lot of waiting around between shots, more time to talk. One good thing about a big name shoot is tons of good food. Later I would find out that some lower budget independent films tend to also skimp in the comfort food department, which means more time for nerves and uneasiness. So don’t skimp on this if you’re making a movie. When we had dinner, it was in conjunction with a cafeteria scene. Finally we had a night outdoor scene where we got paint all over our clothes, other people, and in our eyes (ouch). It was messy, cold, and fun. By the end of the night there was great bonding among us college-aged-kids-portraying-high-schoolers. We were all delirious and getting tired from being up so late. I was running on adrenaline with the floodlights and cop chase scenes. We finally left at 3:00am due to the onset of rain. I left and drove around asking gas stations for hotels, getting weird looks from being all paint covered. Had a bagel and juice before retiring at 5:00am after a shower and a bit of TV. What a day!
Day Two: Woke up cold around 8:00am. AC too low. Feel like vomiting. Showered & typed a journal in bed till 12:00pm. Asked my friendly hotel clerk about phone cards. Went across the street to buy supplies & breakfast. Hung around some more before heading off to shoot. Got lost and arrived fifteen minutes late again. Today’s shoot was not as messy, we just did some coordinated high school hallway & locker walk through scenes. We had a power outage halfway through and took five. Did an outside shot in drizzling rain. Power came back on and we shot until around 9:00 doing a stage choir and detention hall scene. Came back and got time to watch late night television.
Day Three: Called up my boss and talked with her hoping she could change my misjudged third off day to today. I had planned three nonconsecutive off days initially. I got it. Checked out of hotel. I was going to go to a closer hotel per advice of my TV crewmates. Basically much of the same except it was mostly teacher reprimand scenes and speeches and classrooms. I had left my hotel on time and got a chance to get some matching clothes. I met someone I had gone to college with. Exchanged contact info and talked with her. Finally we had a night driving scene, but I stayed out of it because I was embarrassed about a large dent on my front driver door. I stuck around hoping to learn more. Good thing I did, my college acquaintance said her car battery died and so I got to play hero and jumpstart it. Finally left since my services weren’t needed.
Day Four: Got up to finish up the shoot, and get my car fixed. But I had got lost so many times and traffic was so bad, nearly got in an accident and so I cut my losses and decided to leave back to my town. Arrived by around 4pm to relax and ponder my “vacation getaway” for about a hundred dollars.
In retrospect I’d do it all over again, but be more careful around on time. I learned more about filming and television crew and got to talk to someone really inspiration at the end of Day Three who told me, “Keep doing what you’re doing if you love it. Not everyone loves this like you do.”