Diary of a Background Thespian

I have been booked as a GUEST. To be precise a guest at a Quinceañera. For those not in the "know" it is the Latin equivalent of Sweet Sixteen. However, us Latins believe girls become "women" one year earlier, when they turn 15. Anyway, this will be a Mexican Quinceañera so today I get to be Mexican. The wardrobe: party attire but not too dressy, nice Church dresses. I will assume that means nothing revealing, nothing gaudy. No problem. I got that. Pack my bags and head out to Panorama City. This is great, the location is not too far from where I live. The weather is a bit chilly this morning. Panorama City is sort of in the center of the San Fernando Valley so the mornings are chilly, but the days really heat up. Today promises to be a picture perfect "Valley" day. I arrive at Crew parking and am immediately shuttled to Base Camp a few blocks away. It's my understanding that we are cheating the location for a small town in Mexico. We arrive at B...

The sweetest sound a Background Actor (BGA) can hear is the "ping" of the cell phone announcing that you've been BOOKED!!! Yay!!! That means you work tomorrow; money, moola, another shot at getting noticed by nobody!!! That "ping" came to me on Friday night for a Monday booking on one of my favorite shows. I can't begin to tell you how excited I was. Not only is it one of my faves, but the call time was 10:00am (late for most call times) and I would be working at the beach. Yay again!!! Okay, I'm playing a TOURIST. Clothing; shorts, colorful tops (no red, black or white), sandals, sneakers, hats, anything NOT California looking because we are supposed to be...Tourists. I got that. I go through my closet. Hum, I don't have a lot of non California looking clothes mainly because I LIVE IN CALIFORNIA. But that's fine, I can make do with some khaki shorts, a few bright colored tops (no logos please!), sandals and a pair of VERY white sneakers I use wh...