Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

I asked people all day if they had ever seen this show and no one had. 

Last Wednesday I woke up at 4am so I could be an extra in a movie called SAFE.  The day was well worth the lack of sleep.  Once I got dressed and made up, I put an extra outfit in my bag with some heels and a book, and started walking towards Chinatown.  The other times I got up at this time this year were to go to New York City and to help my friends shoot a movie.  I really like the city at this time.  It's really beautiful and still.  It feels like it's waiting patiently for the day to start.

Once I got to Club Shampoo, I made my way to the basement where many other Asians were waiting in two lines.  One line was to check-in.  The other was to be checked by wardrobe.  In line, I chatted with someone who was an extra as a part-time job.  She was nice enough but she liked to talk in a baby voice and I found this unsettling and strange.  After I checked-in, I got in the second line.  When the woman from wardrobe checked my outfit out she seemed displeased.  I wore the shortest dress I had which was a fitting floral print dress that I bought from the store that I now work at.  I bought it because it reminded me of the 60's.  I wore my seamed stockings with it.  I showed the wardrobe woman what else I had.  I refer to this other dress as my "Conan" dress because the first time I wore it, it was to see Conan O'Brien on his tour.  I love him (and his new show starts tonight.  He could be shooting it right now!)  The wardrobe woman didn't like my Conan dress either.  She flipped through some dresses on the rack, holding a few up to decide.  She handed me a silver sequined dress to try on.  I would never wear the dress on my own but I wasn't self-conscience in it either.  She liked it and asked me to take off my stockings.  I resisted the urge to turn around and go, "But they're seamed!  Like Marylin Monroe in Some Like It Hot!"  I always think of her when I put them on.

Before going upstairs, a large man with a booming voice explained what was happening scene we would be shooting.  We were all dancing and having a good time at a club in China when the cops and the main character bust in.  A shootout goes down and chaos ensues.  The guy seemed nice but at the same time intimidating.  He had a Papa Bear-like quality.  I would also compare him to John Goodman.  Soon, I decided I would ask him how to get a job behind the scenes.

 As we go upstairs, I feel a sense of plainness.  Where I grew, there were hardly any other Asians, even within my own family.  Around other Asians I feel left out because of my distance from my culture.  I also feel less special.  To be around 150 other Asians I feel out of place and just a part of the crowd all at once.  As we are split up into sections and as I am asked to take off my glasses, I wonder if our looks have anything to do with our segregation.  I doubt it, but once the thought crossed my mind, I decide that I am average-looking and am mostly unbothered by this.

We start to rehearse our panic scene.  I look around at all the equipment and crew naming things and crew members in my head to reassure myself that my film degree and special feature watching hasn't gone completely to waste.

After an hour or so of arranging and rehearsing, the director decided that we're ready to roll.  Soon, I hear an authoritative accented-voice behind me.  The man asks, "Can I have a really loud action please?"  We do the scene a few times.  There are fake guns and some screams.  Everyone seems to be having a good time.  The crew thanks us and sends us back downstairs for awhile where we fill out some paperwork so we can get paid.  While this is going on, I approach the John Goodman-like guy and ask about getting a job.  His name is David and I wasn't wrong about him seeming nice.  He is helpful and inviting and tells me he will introduce me to Liam later in the day.

Content with this step in the right direction, I sit with the other extras.  The one who talks like a baby, two girls my age, and two older woman who are with their teenage sons are all casually chatting.  The question of age comes up  At this question, "Baby" pouts and looks down, whining, "Won't tell!"  To this, one of the older women says, "It's no big deal.  Guess how old I am!"  We all guess in the 30's and she states, "I'm 50-years-old!  See?  No big deal!"
"How do you look so young?"  One of the girls asks.
"Jesus Christ," she flatly answers. 
I reached for my Gene Wilder book at this point.  As I started reading, this woman starts to ask our table if we know about the savior Jesus Christ.  I am holding my in front face like a shield.  Gene's strawberry blond Jew-fro served me well.

We break for lunch and I choose my food carefully because it's hard for me to tell what may use butter or other non-vegan things.  I got some salad, grilled veggies, and fruit.

Soon, we go back upstairs to run back and forth.  By this time, many people seem disenchanted with being an extra because by this time they've been talking downstairs for a good hour and a half and would prefer to do that.  For me, I am convinced that I am not good at talking to new people but I could be good at doing these jobs around if I created the chance for myself.  For the first time in a long time, I feel reassured that I went to school for the right thing.

Hours go by, we scatter, stand, and wait.  We are sent downstairs and up again a few more times.  I made an effort to pay attention to what the crew was doing and talk to them when possible.  I am introduced to Liam who tells me to talk to him at the end of the day.  Jason Statham makes a few more appearances as he is needed and the girls around me gushed quietly to one another.  I don't see it.  Statham's no David Bowie.

We are sent downstairs a little before 7 pm and soon we are told that we can go home.  Just a 13-hour shoot.

I got dressed out of my slutty dress and into my street clothes.  I didn't care for asking for a job in club-wear.  I walked upstairs and waited to the side until it looked like Liam could be bothered.  As I waited, Jason Statham walked by, stretching his face in a way that I have been imitating to my friends since.  Liam gave me his number and told me to text him the following morning about getting a PA (Production Assistant) job.  Mission Accomplished.      

Conan's back!

When Opportunity Calls and Casting Knocks

I'm a street musician sometimes.  When the going gets tough, I play my viola outside.  I enjoy it and people are generous.  I've been writing about these adventures more in my music blog.

This week, I started to play my viola outside for the first time since February.  It's been going well. I think I've made about $17 over the two days I played.  I played Friday and Saturday.

This is from the show "Extras" that I started to watch in Sunday.  It is funny and everyone should watch it.

Saturday was an adventure.  Friday, my roommate told me that there was an open call for Asian Extras.  The movie in the process of production is "SAFE".  The auditions were held 11:00 am - 3:30 pm at Club Shampoo.  So, I switched my work schedule around so I could go.  The plan was more so to ask the Casting Agency for a job as an assistant or something than to be an extra.  Though being an extra could be fun too.

Friday night, I whipped up a resume, sent the resume to FedEx's Printing Service, and sent some pictures to Rite-Aid to print.  Saturday morning, As I walked to the Chinatown destination where Club Shampoo was, I picked up my pictures and then my resume.  Although, as it turned out, I couldn't print less that $1 worth of material so I also printed a 34-page interview with Donald Watson, the founder of the Veganism Movement.  I have been meaning to read this interview for a long time but I hate to read lots of pages on a computer screen.  Also, I figured if I had to wait around at the audition I would have the interview to read.

...though sometimes they are.

After picking my stuff up at FedEx, I walked to Chinatown and I came to the intersection where I imagined Club Shampoo would be.  At this point, I had walked for about an hour.  I walked around the buildings and alleyways for at least 20 minutes.  I asked people I saw if they knew where Club Shampoo was but many of them spoke very little English and they seemed to be hard workers, like people loading and unloading trucks of food.  Why would they know where a club was?

Finally, I found it.  There was a small line outside.  I was asked to fill out a small form.  The form asked for contact info, education background, and measurements.  I only knew my exact measurements because I once wanted to make myself an outfit that I saw Jane Russel wear in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.  I aspired to make it for myself as a Halloween costume.  It never happened.  Maybe some day.  Anyway, the form even asked for my bra size and I considered writing, "None of your damn business!"  I wish I had actually.  In fact, I wish I had written that and added "Penis Size" to the guy's side of the form.  But alas, I wimped out.  So I filled out the sexist form, stapled my resume and picture on the front, and followed the small line inside.

The club was cool looking inside and there were two people waiting for us.  One woman and one man.  The woman was full of energy and just generally seemed happy.  She told us more about the movie.  It stars Jason Statham and is being directed by Boaz Yakin.  It is an action movie and is being shot in New York City and Philadelphia however, the scenes being shot in Philly take place in Russia and China.  Awesome.

This woman went on to say that shooting in Philly would be from the middle of October - December and we could be called at any point.  She told us that the club we were all in right now would be used for a disco scene.  And that was it.  She asked us to all give her our forms.  I waited till everyone else gave her theirs and then I gave her mine and asked if she needed any help with anything like coffee or paperwork.  She considered the idea with optimism and replied, "Maybe! Talk to him", and she pointed to the man standing behind her.  So I talked to the man.  I told him that I had a film degree from Temple University.  He asked for a resume and luckily I had printed three just in case.  He looked over my resume and told me that he would call if they needed any help.

I hope that they call.

This picture has nothing to do with what I have written...but it is cute.

After that adventure, I was thirsty.  I wandered until I found a little pizza shop.  I bought a drink and sat down.  I got out my freshly printed Donald Watson interview as the owner of the pizza place started a conversation with me.  We had both gone to Temple and found our education to be unhelpful when finding a job.  He left without a degree and went to tech school.  He said that he had just finished paying off his loans recently.  That must be a nice feeling!  I'm happy for him.  I mentioned my casting call adventure and he wished me luck.  I left with mission to find a good place to play my viola.

Jackpot!  There was some festival or fair thing going on in a closed off alley in Chinatown.  I got my instrument out and started to play.  I mostly play show tunes and classic rock.  My favorite thing to play is QUEEN's "Don't Stop Me Now", though I'm pretty sure no one recognizes it.  I recently figured out Build Me Up, Buttercup and I love playing it though I'm not good at it yet.  I realized something interesting when I figured it out.  The song starts with the chorus.  I can't think of any other song that does that.  I'm sure that there are but I don't know of any.  During my set I also attempted to figure out Disney songs on the spot since there were so many kids around.  I did a good job with "Under the Sea" but "A Whole New World" needs more work.  I think I made $8 during my 45 minutes at the Chinatown event.  As I walked on to head home and find another place to play, I stopped at a small Asian market.  I bought some kiwi and Bok Choy.  Yum!

Then, I walked to the Reading Terminal Market.  I played there for 30 minutes.  I made nothing.

So, I moved on to Rittenhouse Square.  I made a pit stop at Borders or Barnes and Nobles.  I always mix those two up.  In the store, I found a funny calendar of goofs written on professionally done cakes.  After looking around the store, I went outside and sat on a large window sill so I could read some of the Donald Watson interview.  I was amazed at how similar his answers were to what mine would have been and at the same time, he offered so much new wisdom.  I felt chills as I read his interview which he gave when he was 92 years-old.  As he said, "I've outlived all of my critics."   

While I played at Rittenhouse Square, aside from soaking up the beautiful weather that will soon disappear, I enjoyed an art fair that was going on.  I enjoyed it because the park was busy and there were more people to drop money in my case.  It was nice.  I don't remember how much I made but I remember being pleased.  By this time it was 4-something.  I left the house for the audition at 10 am.  Crazy.  But it was a good day.

When I got home, my hand felt big and tired from carrying my viola around all day.  I soothed this by eating kiwi and cooking up my bok choy.  So good!

Then, I walked to my old roommates new place.  It was really nice to see her again.  Catching up was wonderful and I got to cuddle with the cats a bit.  All in all, the day was good for the soul.