The first day on set!

Zach was beyond excited this morning because it was his first day on the movie set.

He's been in movies before in St. Louis, and on the set of "Boss" in Chicago, but today marked his first time on the set of a Hollywood movie.

The morning started with a necessary evil for child actors in Hollywood...A two-hour block of school.

The laws governing child actors state they can only be on set for 9.5 hours each day.  They can work/act for five hours, go to school for three hours, take a 30-minute meal break and have one hour of recreation time.  The crew was busy doing some scenes with one of the adult actors so the kids were sent off to spend time with their on-set teacher.

The teacher was great in a "seen it all" way.  If you named a child actor in the last 20 years he would give you an instant answer along the lines of:

***"That boy is a piece of trash."
***"I showed him how to roll his own smokes."
***"Her mom fed her drugs all day!"

I was super amused by this guy.  He seemed to really like the kids on set today.  He even seemed to like being a teacher.  I don't think he liked any kids that went on to become major stars in Hollywood.

The next item on the work schedule was lunch.  The food available all day included bagels, cereal, peanut butter, jelly, bread, fruit by the foot, oranges, granola bars, tea, soda, water, milk, cheese and cookies.

Our lunch was a BBQ feast with pork, turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, slaw and rolls.

After lunch, the boys went to wardrobe and makeup for 30 minutes to get ready for their scenes.  Before they could do their on-camera work, they had to finish another hour of school.

If you've been following the timeline above, they've been on the set for three-and-a-half hours and still haven't shot any scenes. 

They went on set after the final hour of school and shot for about 20 minutes.

While the crew was getting ready for the next shot, the boys were sent away for their hour of recreation time.

The actors went back on set after their hour break and filmed three scenes.  The director wrapped for the day and sent them home!

Here are some photos from day one of the movie shoot:



The artist getting in touch with his character.

Waiting for the cue for "Action!".









I'd say the first day was a fun experience for Zach.  I hope the rest of the shoot is just as great for him...and the rest of the cast!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4115971/