In Case of Emergency
Sept. 12, 2006
Episode: Stuck in Amber
(#106)
Sony Studios
I am playing a visitor on
this new show, and I hope it lasts at least six episodes. Any less,
and I won't get to see if I show up in the stunt scene I was in.
David Arquette (married
to
Courtny Cox) plays a doctor, who in this episode, is being pursued by
a large and loud fellow down a hallway, where, sitting by his
lonesome, is me.
I was put there with the
question, “would you like to really have a chance to act?”, and
told that I was to respond to the outlandish actions taking place
around me, as the star of the show races by with big guy in pursuit.
In prepping for a stunt
shot, they need to step through the scene, knowing what will happen,
and who it will happen too. Gurneys , plasma/IV holders (with bags of
saline), benches with innocent bystanders, and patients being pushed
into the action in wheelchairs, all had to be placed and accounted
for in the upcoming action. Several walk throughs were done to make
sure of timing, and to help everyone involved in the shot see what
was going to happen.
In the first takes, the
cameras were behind the action, taping the actors running away from
them. A stunt double was used for the large actor whose character, at
the end of the scene, slips and falls to the floor. The stunt player
was not as heavy as the actor playing the part, but had padding, both
to help with the fall and make him look as big as the actor he was
doubling for. On action, David comes out of a room, looks down the
hall to his left, sees the “bad guy”, turns and runs to his
right, down the hall away from cameras and pursuing stunt actor.
First, he runs into a
background actor carrying a container of gauze pad, which he launches
into the air, where they rain down on me. Then he grabs an IV stand
next to me, and throws it to the ground. Then he turns, passes me,
and grabs a second IV stand, which because of its extended hight,
when the stand hit the ground, the saline bag on it bursts open,
splashing saline all over (just missing me). With “bad guy”
closing in, David grabs blankets and pads off the gurney and throws
them at the stunt actor, who is now standing smack in front of me.
David turns and grab another IV stand, bringing it down, as he jumps
over the leg of a background actor being wheeled out into the hallway
in a wheelchair. Yet another IV stand hits the floor, and David races
out the door and around the corner. “Bad guy” stunt double hits
the doorway, and launches himself into the air, to land on his back.
David reappears in the doorway, sees the mayhem he's created and the
prone form of the “bad guy”, says “YES”, and leaves again.
End of Scene.
We shot this several
time,
and only twice did the saline bag break during the shot. I had no
trouble acting shocked and dismayed by the action around me, as I
ducked and dodged, waiting for something to hit me, or someone to
fall on me. They shot takes from the other end of the hall way, so
that the actor could be seen as chasing David. The actor, Brad, put
in a fine performance, even doing a jumping spin over one of the
downed IV stands. When it came time to have him fall, the actor hits
his mark and the cameras stop. Next time we see him, he is on the
floor “landing” from the fall.
Keep your fingers
crossed,
and with luck, In Case of Emergency will last the needed six
episodes. It might be cute enough to make it, but as medical shows
go, this is light fare indeed. We'll see.
Grey's Anatomy
Sept. 13, 2006
Episode: Oh, The Guilt
Location: Griffith Park
Grey's Anatomy is not
booked by Central Casting, through whom I get most of my booking, but
by Jeff Olan Casting. I signed up with Jeff Olan during the hiatus,
and haven't worked with him but once before. Like Central though,
they provide information needed to keep wardrobe happy. I was going
to play a doctor, so my wardrobe was:
Non white gym shoes
Business clothes
Winter wardrobe
Everyone must have one casual layered outfit
All hospital staff must have one civilian wardrobe
And naturally, I brought
all this, wearing the casual layered outfit. When I got to location,
and was handed my voucher, wardrobe was my next stop. I climbed the
steps to the back of the wardrobe truck lift gate, and there
presented myself for inspection. The wardrobe fellow, looked at me.
Then he looked at my shoes and said, “Those will do.”, where
upon, he handed me light blue scrubs and a white lab coat, which I
changed into, and stayed in all day, never again needing to worry
about the 20 pounds of clothes I brought with me. Sigh...
When I was placed on set,
I was put in the same row as the principal actors. There I sat,
anytime I was on set, the rest of the day. There is only one actor on
this show I have seen before, and that is Katherine Heigl, who was
one of the principals on the science fiction show Roswell. She was in
this episode, and came to sit next to me during one break in shooting
to chat with her co-stars. Just as cute in person as on film.
The Director of this
episode did something I have not seen a Director do before. We were
shooting three scenes in this meeting hall (located in the park). The
scenes were #8, # 9 and #11, and the background and actors pretty
much didn't change position, so what he did was to position the
cameras for each shot he wanted to get (from the front, side, close,
or wide) and then shot each of the three scenes one after the other.
When he was done with that set up, he would reposition the cameras
and then shoot each of the three scenes again (wash, rinse and
repeat). After 12 hours, we were done and done in, and wrapped.
Next time, I am going to
bring less wardrobe. Maybe just my shoes.
Standoff
Sept. 14-15, 2006
Episode: One Shot Stop
Location: 20th Century Fox
One of the shows I
enjoyed
watching on T.V. was Firefly. The show lasted one season, and then,
when fan reaction was big enough, Josh Whedon was given the go ahead
to film the movie Serenity, based on the show. All of this is my way
of pointing out how this weeks geek fix was met with Gina Torres, who
played Zoe, the second in command of the spaceship Serenity. While on
set, her husband, Laurence Fishburne dropped by. I think that
qualifies as a double geek fix, him being one of the stars of Matrix.
On this episode, I play
an
“Upper level L.A. Sheriff” (The Under Sheriff to be precise), who
gets to stand next to Ms. Torres during a meeting in the conference
room, and during one of three press conferences. This places me in a
really good spot to be seen, Editor willing.
This seems like a good
set, with a good crew, cast, and craft service. On Friday night, the
crafty gal had extra pizza, and was asking Background to please take
some with them so as not to have to trash it. Many were willing. Just
doing their parts.
The nice thing about
doing
something like the Sheriff is, I don't have to bring twenty pounds of
clothes. Show up in my black shoes and a tee shirt and they provide
the rest, (though the shuttle driver won't pick you up and take you
to set unless you also have pants on).
This is my second time on this show, last time being “Circling”, the first episode after the pilot. I am hoping to be on it more often, if for no other reason than that it films at 20th Century Fox, close to home (not to be confused with “Close to Home”, which is at Sony Studios, which is also close to home). Just reaching for clarity.