Zach just wrapped a week as a "football specialist" on a new Nickelodeon show. The phrase "football specialist" means he gets paid a higher rate than other players on the team since he has a background playing the sport.
I spent four days with him on set and met a variety of parents. I'm always amazed at some of the behavior I see from other parents. Let's take a look at the Top 5 Bad Behaviors I witnessed this week:
*There was one family obsessed with free food. The mom would bring her kid in the morning for his call time. The rest of the family would show up later in the day to "watch filming". They would always make it before lunchtime. The whole family (5 in all) would enjoy a free lunch and then leave for the day. The mom would spend the rest of the day placing snacks and sodas in her purse to take home that night.
The production crew had two food trucks on site one day. The mom was told to let the production crew eat first but she still cut in line to get free food. The whole family was there for lunch and ordered nine items to split between themselves.
Finally, there were so many people on set on Friday that lunch was a "walkaway". We had an hour to go find food and make it back for the next scene. "The Food Family" was not happy about this! They decided to camp out in the green room and helped themselves to a lunch of snacks, fruit, string cheese and soda.
*There was a dinner break for a group of about 50 extras on Friday night. The production crew needed them for another scene so they had to leave the dining area before they had a chance to eat. I saw two parents grab a dining tray filled with pasta and carry it to their table in the lobby and proceed to dig in with two forks and no plates.
*There's always "that mom" who drops her kid off and doesn't bother to stay on set. It's not always because the parent needs to go to work and can't stay with the child. It's normally a case of the parent seeing a chance for a free day away from the kid! There was one kid on set who didn't even have a parent drop him off. This 14-year-old had to take a combination of the red line and a cab to get to set each day. I helped him with his paperwork every morning and made sure he kept up with his football gear.
*There was one mom determined to get her son a bigger part on the show. She planted herself in front of the production office trailer on set and made it a point to talk to every person coming in and out of the trailer. She offered to get them coffee, laughed at their jokes and invited them over for dinner on the weekend. (I'm not kidding) I don't know if any of this behavior helped her but they certainly knew her by the end of the week.
*I can't forget to mention the mother who made cookie plates for the director and his crew. What a lovely way to say thanks for including my son in this project. I'm sure they would have enjoyed the cookies and complimentary headshot and demo reel of her kid but she was caught by one of the production assistants before she completed the deed.
Here are the lessons I learned this week:
1. I need to step up my game and stop trying the old fashioned method of having Zach study his craft and work hard.
2. I need to just kick him out of the car and enjoy some "me time" away from the set.
3. Food is for parents and not for the hard working crew.
4. Most parents of child/teen actors suck.
Zach should be back on set in the next week or two. I'm sure I'll have plenty of new parent stories to share in the coming weeks!
This Kid Has A Good Mom. The Dad Is Odd.
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