I realize the Super Bowl was last month and college football ended in January. I'm talking about the Bulldogs football season.
The Bulldogs as in the team on the Nickelodeon TV show, "Bella and the Bulldogs".
Zach has been a member of the onscreen Bulldogs team for the entire first season of the show. He's logged screen time in the background of the school scenes. He's been on the football field with the team as well as the bench.
It's the best of both worlds for him. He gets to practice football all week and suit up for the game. Their game nights are Friday nights and under the lights. The big difference between Hollywood football and real football? The play stops before any tackles happen on the field.
It's great exercise without the pain of getting hit on the field.
Being on set all year has helped Zach meet the entire staff of the show. The actors, writers, directors, producers, etc have all met Zach and had conversations with him over the season. Two weeks ago was the final game of the season on the show and we figured that was the end of the season for Zach. The production crew had one more episode to film but there were no football scenes in the show.
No football = No Zach.
At least we thought it meant "No Zach".
I got a call on a Monday morning from the people that cast "Bella and the Bulldogs". A lot of the folks that work on the show have my number so it's never a surprise when they call me.
I was surprised by the reason for the call.
They wanted Zach to come in that afternoon to audition for a speaking role in the final episode of the season. The audition was at Paramount and was in the middle of the day.
Simple to get to; Easy traffic; Nice folks at the show. Sounded like a win all the way around.
Hang a left at this sign to find the casting office.
This has nothing to do with the story. I just like the Marx Brothers. I don't "get" The Three Stooges.
Zach entered the audition feeling confident. He knew the rhythm of the show as well as the style of acting embraced by the directors. He was feeling good about his chances to land the role.
His instincts were right on the money because the casting office contacted me that night to say he had the part and to report to set on Wednesday morning.
Zach quickly learned the perks of being a guest star on the show. Even though he'd been part of the production all season there were some "upgrades" that delighted him.
Checking his texts, tweets, FB posts, emails and Snapchats before filming begins for the day.
The assistant director approached Zach and asked if he'd found his dressing room yet.
"Did someone say dressing room???"
The Nick on Sunset building is a lot larger than it appears from the outside. There are more floors. stairways and hallways connecting the various parts of the building than you realize from the front entrance of the building. We made our way upstairs to find his dressing room. It was easy to spot:
Kind of like having his name in lights.
A nice comfy place to do homework (or nap) between scenes.
A good portion of the cast and crew were surprised to see Zach on set. He is always in the football scenes so no one was expecting him to be part of the show this week. They were surprised, and genuinely happy, to hear he landed a speaking role.
It was a great experience for him because he got to view the production from a different perspective. There were rehearsals, camera blocking sessions and read throughs that he never experienced while on the football field.
I can't reveal too much about the plot of the episode. It does involve a scene with Zach and his stylish "dinner look".
Pouty look in character during rehearsal.
Getting ready to film the dinner scene.
After the episode filming wrapped, everyone congratulated Zach and complimented him on his performance. The fact he got the role (and was cheered on by the cast and crew) makes me incredibly proud of him.
Plus, he really enjoyed having a week on set without being a stinky football player!
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