Volume 3 Number 06
Copyright 2007 Phillip Moon
Show: Ugly Betty
Date: January 20, 2007
Episode: Brothers
Location: L.A. City Hall
A new character on this show is played by Rebecca Romijn, late of Pepper Dennis, who was on set today, along with America Ferrera (Betty Suarez), Eric Mabius (Daniel Meade). I haven't worked with her since the last time I worked her show. One of the scenes called for her to throw a shoe, and had to throw it right handed (she's left handed). There were takes where the shoe was shot flying by its intened target, but was thrown by a crewman standing much closer. Good thing, as some of her tosses were way off target. There was never any worry of someone getting hurt because the shoe was one of two foam creations made just for the job.
I don't know if you will see him, but the boom operator was put into the scene so he could get the sound from the actors without having to perform a feat of levitation above the camera. We were shooting with a wide lens, and he was placed next to me in a scene that was full of “reporters”, “camera men”, and “sound recorders” for a press conference.. Two things gave him away. One was the $180 pair of Bose Headphones he was wearing, and the other was, of all the background actors in the crowd with prop boom mics, he was the only one who bothered to pull his boom in and re-aim the mic to pick up the voice of the speaker. Just a little too authintic.
And for those who watch this show, America wears a wig and fake braces.
Show: Shark
Date: January 22, 2007
Episode: Here comes the Judge
Location: 20th Century Fox
One of the things I've talked about before are the projects that almost everyone in background has going when they are not doing background (and some work on when they are doing background). Daniel is one of the background people who I have worked with many time, and was my impromptu tour guide on my first visit to Warner Brothers over a year and a half ago. Daniel is working on writing a play, and has also directed and/or shot several short subject films, some of which he gave me to view and comment on. It is not uncommon for people to talk about their projects (and I am no different, as I chat about my animation projects) and getting input from others is also common, from watching movies (my animations are on my pocket computer) to reading sample chapters from books.
I have worked on this show a number of times now. It's a good show to work and they treat you well, with plenty of real food at craft services, to treating you with respect. Robert, the First Assistant Director, ended up having less that a good day with some of the background, including a gal I've worked with before. During a take, on the otherwise quiet stage, this gal got up from her chair, walked the fifteen feet to the garbage can, and tossed her soda can into the trash. Now, normally, I would commend her sense of good housekeeping, but during a take, on a dead quiet stage, walking thirty feet round trip in heels, in the same manner as you might walk through a mall is somewhat contra indicated. Add to that the running conversation she was having with the woman next to her, and you have one pissed off First.
Robert came over from video village (home of the Director and others) and ripped her a new one right there before the whole congregation. As he was telling her that her little walk ruined the shot, and that he could hear her thirty feet away in the village, she tried to protest, to which he asked, “Will you shut up.” She came rather close to going home, and judging from her comments later, she never quite got it.
Another background gal did later though, when he told her, on set, to put away her phone. Robert will put up with quite a bit, but he has a real distaste for cell phones on set. If you need to talk that badly, it should be done off set. Period. He told the gal a second time to close her phone up and put it away, and on the third time, he sent her home. Told her to leave the set, get her things and go home. Ten seconds later, he told the 2nd 2nd to call central and ban her from the set.
Show: Bones
Date: January 23 and 24, 2007
Episode: Priest in the Churchyard
Location: 20th Century Fox
This two day shoot took me to the diner set on the back end of the lot, right near where we all enter the studio (at the Pico entrance). I have passed this diner going to House, M.D., Pepper Dennis, Standoff, Shark and many other shows. It sits on a little corner, surrounded by other make believe businesses, and has a counter, tables, and a cooks window for passing food to the wait staff. Looking in, with all the props in place, it looks like a small diner in anywhere, USA.
On day one, I was a diner, and was set at the counter, just behind the principles. Emily (playing Bones) and Michaela (playing Angela Montenegro) were both on set with another actor who has a recurring role for a few episodes this season. During a shoot like this, the actors often chat between takes, and you hear what they have to say about everything from who they went to school with, to Directors with whom they have worked.
On day two I was booked as a pedestrian, but I didn't stay that way all night. I had a relaxed chat with David (one of the PA's) and later, when they needed someone else to drive one of the cabs, he asked me if I would like to drive. I said yes. On an otherwise cold night, I sat in the heated interior of the cab and circled the set, radio going between takes and giving the old dogs a chance to relax.
