Volume 3 Number 15
Copyright 2007 Phillip Moon
Hello everyone.
I just did a commercial for Alltel this Wednesday, and what a long day. We many background were in the stands of a football stadium, and were shuffled and scooted about as needed to make up busy stands. I managed to keep from burning this time out by applying sun screen lotion about once an hour. It was an atypical shoot in some ways, because while they allowed umbrellas up in between shots, they also allowed the background to wear sunglasses. That just never happens on most sets. If I see this thing on the air, I'll try to get a good shot of the stands, because they are using tiling, which takes the same 40 or 50 background, puts them in a section, and films them, then moves them to another section so they can combine all these section shots and make the stadium look like it has a lot of people. If you look closely, you will see how they really only have a fraction of the number.
Also got to work with Drew, my son-in-law, and Jessica on Thursday night. Drew was doing a reshoot for a movie (Stilleto) and managed to get Jessica and I on the set as "political" hires. The casting agent, in this case Carol Grant, received a phone call from the production office telling her to hire Phillip Moon and Jessica Giannetta for background and stand-in (in that order) as a favor to the production. Carol calls me, and my calling service, and gets me booked. It can't hurt for a casting agent to know that I am being requested by a production. We had a good night, and Jessica and I were introduced to the Director, and Lead/producer. Jess was the stand-in for the reporter character, and was also bumped to an on screen presence in the shot with her. I was a detective and started out working next to Warren, the lead and one of the producers of the film. We wrapped at 2:30 AM.
At 9:00 AM the same morning (and after only 3 hours of sleep) I was at the 20th Century Fox Chatsworth studios of "24" getting fitted for my second season on the show. This season, I am a Presidential adviser and Cabinet member, and will be wearing civilian clothes. I might even get to work with Kiefer Sutherland this time around, because he will be doing scenes in the White house. Again, I was requested by the production, and was happy to see the wardrobe gals and Jason, who is the background handler. Jason gave me a funny look when he noticed that I was book as non-union, being that it was he who managed to get me my third, fourth and fifth SAG vouchers. He expected me to be Union by now.
And as regards that subject, I am now ready to join SAG, and will do so as soon as possible. I have to get the ball rolling on this, because I have to submit papers as proof of my eligibility, and then go in when they are ready to finish the process. I will put my name request in as "Phillip Moon", with a second choice as Phil Moon, or perhaps, even Phillip J. Moon. There is a Philip Moon (note the single "L") who is an Asian actor and been in the biz for a number of years, and he got to my name before I did. If the difference in spelling is enough, I will get Phillip Moon, but if it is not enough for SAG (whose rules only allow one actor per name) I will end up with my second or third choice. I'll let you know what happens there.
Going SAG is a big step, and I have my fingers crossed, because I have several friends that after going SAG, have suffered from a marked decrease in work. We'll see what happens.
