Various And Sundry Stories From Hollywood

The holidays are here but auditions and jobs don’t take a break in Hollywood.  The Artist has booked a gig or two and been on plenty of auditions, and adventures, since my last post.

1.  Zach did a day job on the set of a movie for The Hallmark Channel.  The stars of the movie are Eric Mabius (“Ugly Betty”) and Stefanie Powers (“Hart To Hart”).  Zach’s scene was shot on a high school campus.  I didn’t see much of Eric Mabius but I did see one great moment with Stefanie Powers.  She was making her way to the set in the afternoon while walking with a production assistant.  The PA’s main job was shielding her from the sun with an umbrella.  Whenever she was outside and not filming a scene, this guy was next to her like he was Diddy’s umbrella man. 

The call time was 10am.  Zach finally went on set to film his scene at 7pm. 

The shot took three takes to get the scene from different angles. 

We were on our way home by 7:30pm.  Zach got a full day of pay for (maybe) 30 minutes of work.

I couldn't get a decent shot of The Artist on my camera phone.  Instead, enjoy this random shot of the crew at the high school parking lot.

 

 

 

2.  Zach had one audition that required him to wear his football uniform (jersey, pads, football pants, helmet, etc.).  The producers of the spot made him demonstrate how he would fire off the line.  He also had to tell them about his greatest game of football. 

After he got home from the audition, we packed up all of his gear and put it away in his football bag.

Two hours later, we received an audition notice for the next afternoon.  What was the main requirement for the spot?

The Artist had to show up dressed in full football gear.

I might have cursed a time or two as I took all of the equipment out of the bag.

3.  I was sitting on the tailgate of my truck bed (Hello Redneck!) eating lunch when I was approached by two film guys.  They asked me if they could shoot a quick shot for their student film with the main character leaning against my truck.  I agreed with two stipulations:

*They had to be done in 20 minutes so I could get to my next appointment.

*They had to give me $10 to cover my lunch and my wait time.  I really just wanted them to cover the money I spent on lunch but $10 sounded like a good number.

I left 15 minutes later with $10 in my pocket!

 4.  Dana and I attended the Christmas Tree Lighting at The Grove in early November.  The event was hosted by Mario Lopez and featured music from Michael Bolton, Colbie Caillat, Far East Movement, The Backstreet Boys, Scotty McCreery and Philip Phillips.

It was kind of funny to watch how happy the crowd was to hear Phillip Phillips and how indifferent (at best) they were to hear Michael Bolton.

The show was filled with fake snow, 60-degree temps and a giant Christmas tree.  The musical numbers were taped for broadcast over Thanksgiving Weekend.

 

The 8-story Christmas Tree at The Grove.

Cut to…Thanksgiving Weekend!

Dana and I are having lunch in a neighborhood sports bar.  It’s close to 80-degrees and we’re both wearing shorts.

One television is showing the Saints game.  The other TV is showing the beginning of a Christmas special.  It’s The Grove Xmas Special!

The bar owner turned off the special after 5 minutes.  It’s hard to be in the mood to listen to holiday songs when it’s 80-degrees and sunny!

5.  The Artist attended a red carpet event at Infusion Lounge at Universal’s City Walk.  The event was also a benefit to help feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day. 

The Artist dressed to red carpet impress.















I’m sure Zach had a good time.  I even saw some of the folks from “Community” at the Lounge.  I can’t really tell you anything about the event because of the new friend I made that night.

I’m not really sure how it happened but I got trapped in a conversation with a medium-to-full-on-drunk actress.  I guess I should say I got trapped listening to her for a LONG TIME.  Here are a few of the topics we covered:

*She asked me how many credits I have on IMDb.

*She wanted a copy of my head shot.

*She was thrilled to learn I'm helping my child with his acting dream.

*I learned her parents didn’t support her acting dream.

*I discovered her parents still don’t support her acting dream.

*She asked if I had any projects looking for “her type”.

*She asked if she could play Zach’s mom in any upcoming projects.

*She wanted me to buy her a drink.

*She told me that kids make her nervous.

*She consider herself a “Superman 3 Annette O’Toole” and not a “Smallville Annette O’Toole”.

*She asked me to buy her a drink (again) since she didn’t remember asking me the first time.

Zach came over to rescue me and she fawned all over The Artist.  We finally escaped her and found Dana calmly enjoying a glass of wine.  We grabbed Dana and got out of there!

6.  I have more to share but no more time to type (tonight).  I'll share more from Hollywood ASAP!

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

Odds And Sods From Hollywood...

***The Artist has been a busy boy the past few weeks with a combination of auditions, school and his social life.

His auditions have included:

1. TV commercials.

2. A film about an abused altar boy.

3. Having to dance Gangnam Style for a video game spot. The Gangnam Style audition was funny because there were no lines to learn, no character motivation and no back story to learn before the audition. The only thing Zach had to do was prove he knew how to perform the worldwide dance craze.

***School has been moving at a normal pace. He’s working on his math units at the moment. He has five units to finish and each unit is 70 pages! I have the feeling he’ll been working on math for the rest of the month (and maybe part of December).

***Halloween night was the most memorable trick-or-treat night I've experienced as an adult. We went to Toluca Lake because all of the families we're friends with told us it's "the place to be on Halloween". We decided to trust them and took Zach to the neighborhood. The place was crawling with kids and adults dressed in costume and enjoying the amazing Halloween displays. The houses I can remember at the moment featured:

1. A yellow brick road (driveway) leading to the garage of a home with an image of The Great & Powerful Oz projected on the garage door. "The Wizard" was out of sight but he was on a loud speaker asking the children to grab some candy and then go home and get some rest. "The Wicked Witch" was in a tree by the driveway telling everyone to ignore "The Wizard" and keep gathering candy.

2. One family turned their home into a 3-D Maze.

3. A police car crashed into one yard and medics were working on helping the victims. A zombie would leap out of the trash can to scare kids. The windows of the home featured scenes of ghoulish families.

4. A monster dance party in one front yard with not-so-scary music and dancing zombies.

5. A creepy home featured a hillbilly theme and two guys playing the banjos. (Yes. it was "Dueling Banjos")

Toluca Lake is the home of many current Hollywood stars and some old Hollywood money. They're not afraid to spend their money on making sure Halloween is fun for families of all ages.

***He also took part in a Red Carpet Event on Hollywood Blvd. to benefit "The Shoe Crew". They donate new shoes to needy kids and their families. It was a Halloween Red Carpet Event so he teamed with a buddy to go as The Blues Brothers. Zach was Jake while his partner was Elwood. They got to walk the Red Carpet on a Saturday night in Hollywood. It was great fun to watch the faces of every kid at the event because for that moment they were Hollywood superstars at an event near the Hollywood Stars Walk Of Fame.

***The Artist spent a recent Saturday morning playing kickball for a new film. It's funny to think of the various jobs everyone has to do in order to make a living. I'm not sure if anyone would even think of getting paid to play kickball as a real career option.

He spent three hours kicking the ball, trying to throw out opposing players and running the bases. I'm always happy when his bookings also involve a good amount of exercise.

We went to lunch with one of his fellow actors after the shoot. Dana and I had to move to another table when their conversation turned to cheat codes and Halo 4 game strategies. I'm okay with video games but I don't want to discuss ways to find hidden power and weapons. I just want to play the game!

***For the moment, that's the latest from Hollywood. Have a great week!