Actor Growth

Today I did some very quick work for a show called Defying Gravity. My agent asked me if I could work on this pretty late last night and I mentioned that I could do it. There was this guy on the set dressed up as a Easter Bunny handing out chocolate eggs to people. While it was at the Bridge Studios, the group I was with was whizzed off by a shuttle bus to a different location.

Overall it only took about five hours. One interesting thing that happened was that I went dressed in a very business type of setup as requested. The costume people thought it was great. Afterwards they decided that they needed some younger looking astronauts or something like that and so I was chosen to change characters.

However, upon arriving to the costume the second time the staff kept debating with each other as they said they really wanted to keep me as the computer guy/expert. So, in the end I stayed in the suit and tie look. I met some interesting people on set again as usual.

There was an older fellah on set that was telling me about his son who was an actor as well that went to a school called the First Step Actor’s Workshop. I then told him how that school rang a bell as one of my old film acting classmate at Capilano trained at that school too. Wouldn’t you know it, he apparently knew my old classmate very well. Small world I thought. Simple day overall.

So today I was booked to work on Stargate Universe again. It was an interesting “oops” experience too. When I first saw the map location it looked like it was going to be within the downtown area here in Vancouver. It appeared as if it was going to be shot at a night club of some sort.

I knew I was going the right way too as I saw all these paramount trucks lined up on the sidewalks and eventually I saw a bunch of trailers at the location as indicated on the map.

Afterwards, I signed in as usual like you would expect. I actually got a good breakfast meal and all which was great. Now here was the funny thing. One of the production staff then makes a point that they realized I was working on the show just a few days ago and that I was definitely seen in a noticeable fashion. Therefore, seeing me on this particular shoot would mess up the show’s continuity.

Example, imagine a hypothetical scene where you see a performer who missed a flight or something as a regular passenger that got stranded on some airport. Afterwards, you then see the same performer on the plane celebrating as one of the people who made it on. Wouldn’t make sense right?

So we had a laugh at that and I even joked with one of the staff that maybe I was just a person in the story who ran through those Stargates without anyone knowing.

I think this error occurred because originally I was suppose to be on set this day only and all of sudden I got a call at the last minute for the previous shoot day.

Of course, they couldn’t use me for the day as a result and so I was wrapped up early with pay still since they booked me. Is one of the funniest booking experiences that I have had and it shows you how important continuity is in film.

I got to work on the set of the upcoming Stargate Universe show today and it was definitely a fun experience. I can say this is the most pleasant mainstream production that I have worked on thus far. I was actually surprised to get called for it as it seemed like the show normally stayed with the same group of people.

They treat everyone very well and don’t seem to be shy in upgrading performers who are more involved in a scene to get more pay and categorized higher. They have a really good catering company too. I’m back on this production on Wednesday, so hopefully the experience will be just as good.

I got an e-mail notice today from my background agent as apparently casting directors are letting everyone know how slow it has been but that things will definitely be picking up. With that e-mail came with a list of products that are scheduled to start shooting. Here is part of the e-mail:

Beginning in March there will be a large number of new productions starting.

Please take a look at Vancouver’s production slate below.

Here are the 5 major productions currently shooting:

Defying Gravity
Smallville
Smokin’ Aces
Stargate Universe
Supernatural

Plus the 14 new productions and their start dates:

Human Target – Starts shooting March 9
Mordecai – Starts shooting March 9
On the Run – Starts shooting March 9
The Building – Starts shooting March 9
V – Starts shooting March 13
New Moon – Starts shooting March 23
The Vampire Diaries – Starts shooting March 23
American Pie 7 – Starts shooting March 30
Boy Who Cried Werewolf – Starts shooting April 6
Percy Jackson – Starts shooting April 6
Tron 2 – Starts shooting April 6
Hot Tub Time Machine – Starts shooting April 13
Ramona – Starts shooting April 14
Psych – Starts shooting April 27

This list does not include the other productions that are still pending – which means even more demand for Extras.

Should be interesting.

Today I went into this supermarket and to my surprise I bumped into a person who I met on set. This person has no aspirations in being say an actor, but he got into background work as it was something different and from what I remember he wouldn’t mind just doing that as an income source. Apparently, he hasn’t been called out since way back during that Farwell Atlantis movie and so understandably he had to find a regular job in order to make a living.

This made me think too as a lot of people don’t realize how hard it can be to work in this industry in any form. You often hear those phrases such as the “starving artist” and based on what I have seen that’s no exaggeration when it comes to film work. A lot of people that I know when it comes to acting is that they actually don’t work too much, but rather they just got paid a lot for a certain type of work.

When it comes to background work, I only met one person who actually does it full time too and in some ways it surprises me as he must be in his mid 50’s or so and only makes the minimum as he is not a part of the Union. I personally always view background work as a stepping stone or filler for other things that you are aspiring to do as oppose to a career.

But if you intend to work full time in this industry, I think it is wise to always have some kind of backup or support system that will enable you to survive while you are striving to meet that goal. In many ways, you are like an entrepreneur as it is up to you ultimately to find work and opportunities to make things happen for yourself.

I was at the mall shopping for Christmas gifts today and noticed that my agent was phoning. Upon answering, she told me that the show The Reaper needed people for this coming Monday and asked if I was available. I was kind of surprised as I thought all the productions would be on hold for the holiday week.

Sure enough, I mentioned that I would be willing to do it. This is actually one of my favorite shows that I have worked on so far in terms of the overall treatment you get, so hopefully that will be repeated as well. An interesting note is that I learned that my neighbor actually does the special affects editing for the show.

Let’s see if he notices me in the footage while he is editing it this time around.