Life On A Movie Set Part One

It's amazing what a difference the choice of activities makes in a kid each morning.

I've been waking Zach up at the same time every morning to head to the movie set as I do for his school work. He knows that he needs to get out of bed and tackle his homework since it's a self-directed program.  The Artist is not happy about waking up BUT he gets up and moving at a super slow pace.

He shoots out of bed when I wake him up to go to the movie set.  Zach is showered and working on his lines long before it's time to hit the road.

The production has been filming at a home in Valley Village.  I love it because it's a 7-minute drive from home with no interstates involved in the journey.

The home has been completely taken over by the crew.  The backyard is full of pop-up tents, cranes, cameras, lights and assorted crew members.  The interior of the house is the nerve center of the production with four crew members at a kitchen table full of computers, schedules, walkie-talkies and scripts.

Each child actor must have a parent on set at all times.  Our holding area depends on the daily production schedule.  We've been in the master bedroom, the entertainment room and in the back yard.  The crew is nice but they don't go out of their way to bond with us.  I get the feeling that we're seen as a necessary evil.

There are four other parents on the set.  One father reads all day and likes to talk about movies.  The other dad loves to talk about food, his job, traffic, motorcycles and every topic under the sun.  We have a mother from North Carolina who always seems kind of annoyed by the entire experience of Los Angeles.  The other mother is quiet but friendly.

The cast instantly bonded after the first day.  They seem to be a real gang of friends.

The highlight of each afternoon is waiting to see what we're having for lunch.  The entire crew, cast and parents have lunch together in the backyard.  It's kind of like a daily family reunion.  You're thrown together with a bunch of people that you don't know very well but are united by a common bond.

The meals are buffet style with everyone waiting in line for their turn to fill a plate.  The free food has included BBQ, Panda Express, meatloaf (at least I think it was meatloaf), pot stickers and chicken.  There is also a daily amount of munchies including fruit snacks, bagels, candy, protein bars, popcorn, chips and rice cakes.  It's hard to stop eating all day because of the amount of food and the fact that the goodies are RIGHT THERE every moment of the day!

I haven't even told you about the on-set teacher or Zach's latest audition.  I guess the story of life on a movie set is...To Be Continued...