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!

Bonding Time With The Parents

My favorite parents from various auditions:

***The stage mom who likes to look at your headshot.  

I've met plenty of stage moms that want to look at the headshots of every child actor in the audition. They enjoy offering friendly advice on how to improve the look of your kid and point out "tiny flaws" with your current photo.  It's fun to watch them try and psych out the kids waiting for their turn to audition.  

It's also great fun to see the look on their faces when I tell them I'm not going to show them our photo.  I reply with this phrase, "I'd love to show you but according to the beliefs of my religion, I can only show the photo to a certain number of people per week to avoid being guilty of the sin of vanity".

I get such joy out of watching them try and process that phrase for the rest of the audition.

***The parents that tell you everything they're doing for their child.

These wonderful/loyal/selfless parents are sacrificing everything for their kids....And they want to make sure everyone knows how wonderful they are at every moment!  I had one mom tell me she can't wait to be thanked from the stage of the Oscars in the future! 

***The parents that always take a nap.

You never see these parents because they bring their kids to the set and head back to the car to catch up on their sleep.  There are plenty of times that I'm wondering if they're sleeping or dead.

***The parent that checks out the competition.

I was at an audition last week where one parent was emailing the names and agents of the other kids on the audition sheet to himself so he could check out the IMDB credits of the competition later that evening.

Wait...That was me...Forget I said anything about that incident!

FYI...I'd do it again!

A day at "Modern Family"

The Artist was booked for a day of background extra work on "Modern Family".  I'd say that's a gig not to be turned down for any reason!

The casting office called us to book Zach around 6:30pm on Tuesday night.  The call time was 7:30am the next morning.  The casting office asked if I also wanted to be on the show as a background person.  Why not???  I had to be on set with Zach so why not get paid while I was there?

The casting office was looking for "real dads" to be in the scenes for Wednesday.  I was standing on Cahuenga Boulevard when they called so I wasn't near a computer to email a photo for them to decide if they "liked my look".  I told them I'd send one in about 30 minutes but they were hopeful they would book someone before I got home.  I sent them the photo about 45-minutes later and they replied back with an instant "Yes...Please be on set for a 7am call time".

We've been on a ton of shoots but never on the set of a major prime-time comedy.  The email we received from the casting office told us everything to bring on Wednesday morning.  We had to bring Zach's social security card, current school records, homework for the school teacher, a valid work permit, clothing options and a copy of his birth certificate.  I had to bring my driver's license and my social security card.  They also sent us the address of the Fox Lot parking garage, a map of the studio lot and instructions on parking without having to pay.

The Fox Lot parking garage is around the corner from the studio.  You have to park in the garage and then go to the top of the garage to the walkway.  The walkway leads to The Avenue of the Stars.  You take the Avenue to Olympic and then to Galaxy Way.  The walk on Galaxy Way leads to the security guard gate at Fox.  The security guard checks you in and then you have another nice walk through the lot until you reach Stage 5.  Stage 5 is the home of "Modern Family" AND it's also the home of "Dexter".  You can find items from America's #1 family mixed with items used by America's #1 serial killer.

We checked in with the casting person and filled out our paperwork for the day.  I was put in charge of the pay vouchers for the two of us.

We made our way over to wardrobe so they could approve our clothes.  The email from the casting office told us what kind of clothes to bring to the shoot.  The scene was outside on a fall day so long sleeves, jeans, sports clothes and jackets were the order of the day.  None of the clothes can have any visible logos because production companies and networks would have to pay the companies if they don't have a deal already in place to use their products.

I didn't own any t-shirts without logos or superheroes on them so we went shopping on Tuesday night and bought  two (money-wise) cheap solid color t-shirts.  I had to change into a second shirt and The Artist had to wear another pair of shoes but those were minor wardrobe changes.

With a few minutes to kill, we made our way to craft services.  The breakfast selection included cereal, donuts, oatmeal, fruit, bagels, bacon, hash browns and custom made omelets.  I went with oatmeal (because eggs are disgusting) and Zach had some cereal.

Breakfast didn't last long because it was time to hop in a van and head to Beverly Hills for location shooting at a park.

I'll admit I was afraid to be part of the show.  I wasn't afraid of the cameras or the work.  I was afraid the show would be ruined for me for the rest of my life.

I haven't watched Cheers since the late-90s.  We were living in Memphis and Dana was doing an event for the American Diabetes Association.  The "celebrity" at the event was one of the stars of Cheers and when he finally arrived (30-minutes late) at the event he didn't think the crowd was big enough for a person of his fame.  He started yelling at Dana since she was the person standing next to him.

Did I mention Dana was 8 months pregnant at the time?

The "celebrity" was such a jerk yelling at a pregnant woman in front of the entire crowd that it ruined the TV show for me.

(A quick note to my Memphis friends...the jerk in question is not Woody Harrelson from his time in the city shooting the Larry Flynt movie)

I didn't want to see any of the Modern Family cast acting like jerks to the extras or the crew because it would prevent me from watching the show.

I'm happy to say they couldn't have been a nicer group of people.

The cast on set at our shoot included Ed O'Neill, Ty Burrell, Nolan Gould and Rico Rodriguez.  It was interesting watching the actors interact with each other.  It's obvious the "father" actors have a great deal of love and respect for the "son" actors.  The kid actors really enjoyed working with the guys that play their parents.

Zach's background scenes were with the two main child actors and 7-8 background kids.  He was placed in the first shot of the day with 4 of the other kids.

About 5-minutes before the first shot of the day another child extra and his father arrived (late) to the set.  We knew this kid and his dad from various auditions around the city.  The dad is always going on about how much his kid has worked and how his son is beyond "simple background work".  I laughed out loud (for the first time) when they walked up to the set.  I laughed out loud (for the second time) when the father loudly announced to the crew his son had arrived to shoot his background scenes.  I laughed out loud (for the third time) when the PA looked him and said, "So?"  The dad attempted to argue with the crew member that his son should be included in the shot.  The PA told him they should learn to show up on time and to take his kid to the on-set teacher.

It was the first highlight of my day.

The child too good for background work is not in this photo.  The kids are hanging out between takes of the first scene.









The dad extras were good guys and almost all of them were professional actors.  There was only one other "real dad" on the set with me making extra money while we had to be on set with our kids.  The professional extras were union guys and were happy to make the money and complain at the same time. They complained about:

***The working conditions of past jobs
***The way studios try to "cheat them" out of a full lunch hour (we ate for over an hour)
***The small number of shuttle vans back to the studio

One extra complained to me about having to park at the Fox parking garage.  He tried to convince me that Fox has too many employees and a professional (such as himself) who has been an extra on so many shows on the lot should be able to park on the lot like any name actor.

Fake label beer on set to avoid having to pay a name brand.

I was in four scenes during the shoot.  I don't know how much, if any, I'll be in the show.  I was glad to find out these guys were not jerks so I can continue to watch the show.








The day ended with the kids finishing their three hours of school (state law), signed pay vouchers and validated parking.  I'm not sure if I'll do any background work in the future but it wasn't a bad way to spend the day!

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

Wipeout!

I was able to attend an open audition for Wipeout in the middle of September.  Here are some random observations about the experience:

***The line was HUGE for an open casting call.  The doors opened at 11am and there was already a line around the block by 10:30am.

***90% of the people at the audition had a gimmick.  They wanted to be the "nature loving contestant" or the "crazy pumped-up player" or even "the four fingers on both hands contestant".

***Almost every guy (and some of the girls) were disappointed that Jill Wagner wasn't at the casting call.

***The casting folks had an attitude that was a combination of wanting to see how weird people were willing to act to get on the show and tired of the nut jobs willing to embarrass themselves on national television.

***More people seem to like John Anderson over John Henson.

***The "Vanessa Lachey Season" of Wipeout will not be fondly remembered by the crowd of potential contestants.

***My favorite question of the interview?  "If we pick you to be on the show, can you provide us with current proof of health insurance?"

***At least 70% of the crowd seemed convinced they will be the magical person to make it through the whole day without a wipeout.

***The guy in front of me had a hole in his pants showcasing his lack of underwear for the interview.

The show is holding two more open auditions (one in the OC and one in San Diego) before they call anyone back for a second interview.

I'd love to be on the show and Zach would love to watch me slip, slide and get nailed by various objects on national TV!

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

Road Trip Part 2

We planned to leave Denver early in the morning so we could get to Las Vegas in time for Zach to take in the sights of the strip.  Instead, I was standing outside the hotel at 7:30am with the front desk clerk jumping our dead battery so I could drive to a store to get the battery replaced.

We were waiting at 8am as the battery store opened its doors.  The battery had to be shipped across town from another location (of course it did) so were stuck for at least 90 minutes.

I bought some plastic wrap at Home Depot while we were packing in St. Louis.  I didn't use all of it but I also didn't have time to return the rolls before we hit the road.  The car shop was within walking distance of a Home Depot so I set out to get a refund.

I walked up to the return counter and handed the cashier my receipt and the merchandise.  She took one look at the receipt and asked me, "Why did you come all the way to Denver to return your stuff?".  I replied, "I heard the cashiers in Denver sing a song when you return items."  She gave me a VERY odd look as I repeated my answer.

She took the items and started to sing "would you like the refund on your card or cash back today?"  I kept from laughing as I asked for the cash.  She handed me the money and sang "Have a nice day!" as I walked away from the counter.

We finally hit the road at 9:45am and rolled through Colorado, and a small part of Utah, on our way to Las Vegas.

We arrived a bit after 8pm (about three+ hours behind schedule) and checked in as quickly as possible.  We left Vegas around Noon the next day.  In that 16-hour period, we:

***Watched the Forum Shoppes "Fall Of Atlantis" show
***Rode the roller coaster on top of New York New York
***Watched the "Sirens of TI" show
***Ate pretzels and donuts at 1:30am
***Watched the 3-D M&M movie at the M&M Store (duh!)
***Gambled
***Walked the strip
*** Ate at Chipotle
***Watched the dog process the sights and sounds of the casino

Our Saturday afternoon road trip to Los Angeles was interrupted when we approached Primm, Nevada.  The sight of a roller coaster will always make us pull over and check out the location!

Desperado is a hypercoaster located at Buffalo Bill's Hotel and Casino.  It was WAY too hot for the dog to be outside so Dana and Zach went on the coaster while I stayed in the air conditioned car with Doc.  Dana switched with me after her coaster ride so I could take a turn on Desperado. 

I noticed a couple walking into the casino with their dogs as Zach and I were leaving the building.  I asked the security guard and she told me dogs were welcome at the casino.

THREE HOURS LATER....

***Dana finished shopping at the Outlet Mall next to Buffalo Bill's
***Zach wrapped up in the casino game room
***Doc and I finished talking to a good 20-25 people over the age of 80 who wanted to
     stop and say "hello to the cute puppy"

We hit the road (again) to make our way to Los Angeles.  Finally, after some breaks for...

***Gas
***Food for the road
***A stop at the border to declare if we had any fruits, vegetables or animals with us

...We arrived in Sherman Oaks shortly after 10pm!

We took Dana through the lobby of The Plaza apartment building so she could see 3G and his posse holding court on a Saturday night.  A evening of rest was necessary because Sunday would be filled with improv, showing Dana the route to her new workplace, getting the keys to our new place and laundry.

I'll have more to talk about soon with new Zach audition stories and my audition for Wipeout.

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

Back In Action

It's been a few weeks since my last post but there hasn't been a slow moment since Labor Day.

The Artist and I flew to St. Louis on Labor Day.  Our airport shuttle arrived at 4am so we were up and moving at 3am.  The first thing I felt after I got out of bed was an earthquake centered in Beverly Hills.  I like to think of it as California's way of making sure we wouldn't forget it while we were out of town.

We landed in St. Louis at noon and were packing our belongings by 2pm.  Why did we fly to Missouri to get out stuff?

Dana accepted a job in Los Angeles so we went to St. Louis to help with the move and ride with her to California.  The trip also involved a visit to the dentist to get the rest of Zach's "trays" for his invisible braces, time with his friends, making sure the car was ready for the road trip, packing the moving truck and Dana wrapping up her job at KEZK.

I tried my best to have lunch with some friends but time was not on my side with everything else I had to accomplish before we left town.

We left Thursday morning at 5am and headed for California.  Dana, Zach and the dog were asleep within an hour as I rolled through Missouri.  We hit Kansas around 10am and were stuck driving the entire state for the rest of the afternoon.

It didn't matter if we were in the middle of nowhere or in an urban area....All of Kansas smells like a herd of cows took care of their business in the last hour.

We decided to spend the night in Denver so we found a hotel and unloaded our suitcases.  It was around 8pm and we were starving.  We got back in the car and NOTHING HAPPENED!  The battery was dead.

Yes, it sucked the car battery died.  But, on the plus side:

***It died in the hotel parking lot and not in the middle of Colorado or (shudder) Kansas.
***We have 24-hour car service so they came out to jump the battery.
***I got a good local pizza delivered to the hotel.

The car service company arrived at 10pm.  They jumped the battery and started instantly!  They also charged me ZERO dollars and ZERO cents for the call.

After 20 minutes of running the battery, I turned off the car and attempted to start it one more time.  It turned on with no problem so we went to bed to get ready to hit the road around 5am.

I woke up the next morning at 4am and decided to load the car.  I went out to the vehicle and hit the button to open the car doors.

Nothing happened.

I tried it one more time....AND...Nothing happened.

The battery was dead again.

I've rambled on for awhile so what do you say we make Day 2 of the road trip story (and the saga of the dead battery) a post for another time?

TO BE CONTINUED