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Standing In - Page 4

© Eric Prescott

I’m called in at 7pm for focus checks on yet another angle for the stunt scene. Everyone is tired and hot, and less prone to make jokes. They just want to get the scene done so they can get enough sleep to make tomorrow’s call time. I stay very quiet and do everything I can to make their job easier. There’s a ton of tape on the floor due to the number of actors in the scene, and I’m called on to stand at four of them while they take focal length measurements and set up the camera.

After that, I’m off the set for an hour while waiting for dinner to get to the set. In the meantime, I talk with Greg Lee (“Dark Angel,” “Xena”), one of the actors sitting out of the scene because they’re shooting coverage from an angle that doesn’t include him. I haven’t had a chance to meet Greg before this, but we have a really great conversation. Turns out he knows Stephon Fuller from acting school, and from when they were both in New York. Stephon’s column on a recent “Ally McBeal” shoot (he was also on “Frasier” last Tuesday night) can be accessed from the “Acting in the Real World” Welcome page. Greg’s at a really interesting place with his career. He’s a working actor who has only recently started gaining the kind of profile (with internet fans and all that) that launches an actor to the next level. “Wheelmen” may not be the big break that gets him there, but it seems to be a matter of time. He is very relaxed and friendly, and offers a lot of encouraging words and some cool stories about how he came to be where he is. It was inspiring (especially after being on-set for 12 hours—definitely not a glamorous experience) to talk to someone who is right in the middle of his own success story. I’m looking forward now to seeing how it plays out.

We set up and bang out one more shot before dinner (some Thai food ordered from a nearby restaurant). We set up another shot or two (I’m really fuzzy on things by this point) and I’m off-set again at 10pm. I was lucky enough to be brought in for the longest day of the shoot so far! The Thai food didn’t hold me over for very long, so I find myself standing at a picked-over craft services table. Hard to stay away from this treasure trove of sweets, but I’m hungry and tired after 15 hours of being here, so my will is broken. I wait around for another half an hour, after which they realize their permit has expired for the day and they have to wrap up. The 2nd AD checks me out at 10:30pm. Total hours worked, 15.5. The AD is grateful and says he hopes to use me again before the shoot wraps in 2 weeks. I thank him, say goodbye to the people with whom I’m friendly, then I head home.

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