In this new season, many of the AD's have been placed on new shows (as part of their training), which means that I am seeing them out of context. The up side to that is, when I go to a new show, there is a good chance that I already know someone on set. That works out just fine.

And this was a period of Celebrity spotting. During my shoot on ER, George Cloony wandered over from his office on the WB Lot (near the ER stage) and mingled with background and others just outside the stage doors. George Lopez (who shoots nearby) also joined the mix, and soon, Joe Regalbuto (Murphy Browns Frank Fontana, and now also a Director) came out to make it quite a gathering. Laurence Fishburne visited the set of Standoff, and Jim Belushi (of According to Jim) showed up on The Suit Life of Zach and Cody set with his kids. How cool is it, that your dad can get you on the set of The Suit Life during an actual filming of the show. His daughter was delighted.

And you might have noticed the new title of my newsletter, "In the Background". It's only taken me a year to come up with a name for the newsletter, and as it deals largely with my background work, this seemed like a good name. So welcome to "In the Background".

Enjoy,

Phil...

Vanished
August 28, 2006
Episode: ?
Location: Paramount

Short day on Vanished for me. The scene involved a few of the principals and a lot of Senators and their support staffs. For some reason, the Senators are rushed out of the offices (possibly of the Congress) and into the parking structure. For this purpose, the crew is set up in a parking structure connected to the Paramount lot, and rather than go to holding, they put us through wardrobe, and sent us right to set.

It is all about one short scene. A couple of us are standing around, and others are sitting down, being looked at by EMT's, though none of us know for sure why. The reason was rather vague, but we are background. We love a challenge. “Act shook up.” Can do. “Look worried.” You got it. “Pretend you don't have a clue what's going on.” Who's pretending?

We were in and out of there in a couple of hours. Still got paid for eight. We're living the Dream!

ER
Aug. 30, 2006
Episode: ?
20^th Century Fox

Travis, one of the casting directors at Central Casting decided to book me on ER as a Doctor. An Anesthesiologist. I even get to be in the operating room during one scene with several of the stars. Alas, just as the scene gets fun, I had to leave. More on that in a moment.

When doing a medical show, one must have medical looking machines, and ER has all those. You also need the little stuff that makes the set look “real”, and for that you get boxes on racks. Racks with things like Emergency Lifesaver Kits, Foley Catheter Trays, Sexual Assault Evidence Kits, and Disposable Obstetrical Kits. On shelfs, you need needles, blood collection tubes, slides, and gauze pads of all descriptions. However, as you almost never use the stuff on the racks and shelfs (because they are set dressing and not props) the boxes are old and dusty. Some of the items I've listed look like they have been on that set since day one. Even in an emergency, I would think twice before using some of them.

You will also want to make sure that what you do, and how you do it are medically correct, and for that you need a Dr. Fred. Or more precisely, Dr. Fred Einesman, the technical consultant on ER. This is the real Doctor, who tells the “reel” doctors what to do, how to say that technical line, and how to make the viewer believe that they really know what phlebotomy is. Dr. Fred was on set today, and I was aware of his presence because I was involved in the scene in the operating room. And if Dr. Fred said something had to be done a certain way, then that was what was done. A lot of medical people watch this show, and the producers don't want letters/emails pointing out how they goofed up a procedure.

Now the set up in the operating room included myself, the doctor, a couple of nurses and two ER doctors. The two ER doctors come in and try to get the Op. Room Dr. to wait until they do one more procedure before operating. The doctor tells them no, goes over to the patient, is handed the instrument for the operation, and promptly ignites the patient, creating a fire in the OR.

Alas, I didn't get to be present for the fire, because they put the camera right where I was standing. But I am looking forward to seeing the scene. I warn you that, while you will possibly see me in a few other scenes, in the operating room, I was wearing a surgical mask. Look to the head of the operating table, and there I will be, fiddling with dials. Don't all anesthesiologist fiddle with dials? I was just doing what Dr. Fred told me too.

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody
September 1, 2006
Episode: A Nugget of History
Hollywood Center Studios

I got to learn something new today that I haven't done before. Some of you are old enough to remember The Patty Duke Show and if that is going too far back, how about Disney's The Parent Trap with Hayley Mills?

Both shows were about twins, yet the actors playing the parts were not. Patty played both her cousin and herself, and Hayley portrayed herself and her newly discovered twin sister.

On this episode of The Suite Life, the hotel's manager, Mr. Moseby, played by Phill (not a typo) Lewis, is visited by his grandmother, also played by Phill Lewis in drag. So, what are the mechanics of what we common folk know as split screen camera work?

First, they needed some photo doubles for Phill. They have one to play “Mr. Moseby” and one to play, “Grandma”, and Phil, of course, played both; and for this to work they have four cameras, two of which were locked off.

The far right and left cameras were able to move, but the center cameras were locked off so they could not move and no one, including the camera operators touched them. The set was locked off also, and once that happened, no one but actors were allowed on the set. Not anyone! And nothing that isn't carried on set by an actor during the scene is touched. Pillows, chairs, papers, flowers, palm trees, pens or anything else visible to the two locked off cameras. More than one background actor got yelled at for causing the palm leafs to sway.

When the two characters of Mr. Moseby and Grandma came into contact, the doubles were used with the actor, and shot so the back of the double is seen, but never his face. This meant that each scene had to be taped twice just to get the interaction between the doubles and Phill, while each scene was taped twice more with Phill playing each part and acting against an empty space, where later, thanks to all the physical objects being always in the exact location in each shot, and the magic of post-production, we will see him in the final results standing next to himself, playing two people.

Background had to make sure that they were able to duplicate each take, being in the right place at the same moment in each take, while actors were having to toe the mark, most seriously. Phill had to hit each mark with as much perfection as possible, and then he had to remember things like, “Did I make that cross down stage, or up stage?” Wouldn't do to have him run into himself when they put the takes of the two locked off cameras together in post.

When all is said and done, the resulting illusion will present us with one big happy family. Or at least, Grandmother Moseby and Mr. Moseby being able to entertain us in one scene. But remember, “Don't Touch Anything!”