Call time: 10:00pm Location: Old Pasadena, CA.
I've been booked as BANK STAFF on a TV pilot being directed by a HUGE!!!! Hollywood V.I.P. He’s created several enormously popular TV shows and written and directed a mega blockbuster movie. This guy is the real deal so I’m very excited.
Our call time was for 10:00pm which means it’s going to be an all-nighter. I arrive at base camp to find several BGAs standing around looking lost. All the trucks and honey wagons are there but we can’t seem to find anyone. The catering truck hasn’t even set up yet. This is very strange. Finally, an out of breathe and frazzled PA comes running over to us to say that the crew call was changed to 11:15pm. Hello?? Why didn’t anyone call the BGAs??????
Let me tell you how a booking works. When you are booked by Central Casting you are sent an email with the name of the show/movie, the name of the casting director that booked you and the call time. You are then given a four digit code. You are supposed to call a specific telephone number, enter the code and a recording will come on. This recording gives you all the information you will need, such as wardrobe and location. It also will reiterate the call time. However, you are also told to check back before you go to sleep and before you leave for work to make sure there were no call time changes. We all did that. There were no call time changes posted on the recording.
In other words, someone messed. It’s gonna cost them money. They have to start our clock from 10:00pm even if the call is not until 11:15pm. Good for us, bad for them.
Finally at around 11:00pm the rest of the crew starts rolling in. We are sent over to wardrobe around 11:45pm. I will be wearing my very stylish grey suit with white blouse. This is a high end bank in Madrid, Spain. We are all supposed to be Spaniards, European, stylish, hip and we all look the part if I don’t say so myself.
At about 12:00 midnight we are shuttled to the set which is a bank in Old Pasadena that looks very authentically Spanish. Location scouts have done an excellent job. The bank is beautiful, very old world.
Our holding area is in an empty building adjacent to the bank. We have our chairs set up and craft service has even been nice enough to set up inside. This will be very convenient at about 4:00am in the morning when we are starting to crash and need the caffeine fix.
At about 1:00am some of us are called to the set to work the first scene. I’m playing bank staff so I’m given a desk which is great because I get to sit during the entire shoot (other BGAs were hired as tellers, they get to stand). Sitting makes me happy because wardrobe has me wearing stiletto heals. Remember, we are not Americans; we are stylish Europeans, we are not supposed to care about comfort.
The Director and the two Stars of the show are going over the lines and rehearsing their actions. The first scene is going to be relatively simple. The two Stars enter the bank and walk over to the Bank’s Director.
Meanwhile, I’ll be at the desk pretending to be on my computer, then on the phone, and then I’ll be writing down some notes. We rehearse a few times. They’re ready to shoot.
BACKGROUND…ACTION!
I’m on my computer, then I decide I need to call a customer, I pick up the phone, I mime talking to her, I’m writing down notes, etc. These same actions continue for about 1 hour, simple, straightforward.
We finish, back to holding. It’s getting late in the evening and most of the BGAs that were not working on the scene have fallen asleep in holding. This is not an easy feat to accomplish on a fold out chair but BGAs are very creative creatures and you have to see the “beds” that some of them make out of fold out chairs, coats, bags, etc. Some BGAs come prepared, though. They bring camping chairs, but not just any camping chair, they get fancy, they bring the kind that has a kick stand for your feet and arm rests with cup holders. I mean the really fancy, comfortable chairs, like these:
I don’t have that kind. I have the normal, standard camping chair, which is not really very comfortable. This is my chair:
Not ideal for a restful sleep. But that’s fine for me because I’d rather NOT fall asleep for the following reasons:
1) Vanity – I don’t want to get all wrinkled and messy.
2) Vanity – I don’t want to wake up and find out that I’ve been drooling all over myself.
3) Vanity – I don’t want to wake up to find out I had been snoring.
There are plenty of BGAs that have no problem sleeping on the job. Can’t blame them, when it’s 3:00am in the morning and you’ve been sitting around in a room for 2 or 3 hours doing nothing, sleep is perhaps inevitable. I’d rather not, that’s just me.
After lunch…yes lunch…we are having lunch at 4:15am, we are back to the set to finish the earlier scene. This time the Director wants more action in the background so we will be doing some crosses. I was told by a PA to cross from one desk to another desk and mimic asking that bank staff a question, then go back to my desk. We rehearse.
BACKGROUND…ACTION!
I’m at my desk, I get up, go to the other desk, mime asking a question, the other BGA gives me a file, I mime “thank you” then go back to my desk…CUT!
I hear the Director tell the 1st AD that he wants someone to walk directly into the camera then veer off the side. I guess he wants to try something fancy. The PA, who I think likes me J picks me to be this person. WOW! Great! I’ll have a full on camera shot. I’m excited.
I start preparing for the Director to call me over when all of a sudden a “friend” of the Director’s (a young girl) enters the room. He sees her and calls her over. They hug and laugh. It seems like other people on the production staff also know her. They’re all talking, laughing and we’re just standing around, waiting.
Finally, I hear the Director say to her, “Hey, you want to be on TV? Why don’t you pick up a file and do the walk straight into the camera. It’ll be fun.”
My heart just sank, that was supposed to be me. The PA looks over at me and gives me an “I’m sorry” look. My fellow BGAs also look at me with pitiful eyes. They feel my pain.
The worst part of this story is that the girl didn’t even want to do it. She kept saying no. They had to convince her! Can you believe that???? The Director and Producer are going back and forth with her saying, “Come on, it’ll be fun.” And she’s saying, “No, I don’t want to do it. I’ll be embarrassed.” They’re trying to persuade her and all the while I’m standing there thinking, “Hey, leave her alone. She doesn’t want to do it. Pick someone that does!!!!! Like ME!!!!” Anyway, she finally gave in and did the scene. I, on the other hand, did the walk from my desk to the other desk and back again, in the background, a faceless, grey suit in stiletto heels. C’est la vie.
We worked all night until sunrise, shooting the very last scene just as the sun came over the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains. The view was spectacular. I can’t lie and say that I wasn’t exhausted by that point. It had been a very long night.
I’ll end this entry with one thought. Disappointments are a common thing in Hollywood. You win some and you lose some. In all honesty, you lose more than you win. Oh, but when you DO win, its magical and those are the moments you keep in the back of your brain when it’s 4:00am in the morning and your feet hurt, you’re tired and the thought of a nice warm bed keeps circling in your head. During those moments you say to yourself, “One day, it will be me, my turn, I’ll be the Star, I’ll be the Director, I’ll be the Writer, I’ll be the Producer.” So folks, whatever the dream, just keep dreaming it.
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