FIRST THREE IN THE CAN

Let me say right off the top that I am sorry the formatting of this post is such a mess. It used to look great, when I first posted it, but something has happened to my formatting since and it has screwed up the layout of a lot of my postings. I started to work through them all to fix it but after hours of working and not getting half way through, I gave up. I don't know that many people are reading these older posts and certainly not enough to warrant such a huge amount of my time dedicated to repairing them so - sorry - but it is what it is and I am sure there will be more as you work your way through the blog entirely. They get back on track by fall of 2011 when I worked with the new formatting. (Dec 31,2011)

I am loving working on this new show. Not the least of why is because we are indoors, relatively warm and very dry. Last week, Stargate SG1 was filming outside on the backlot beside us well into the night and it was a cold night. I tried not to feel smug as I got into my car at the reasonable hour of 9:30pm knowing I'd be fast asleep long before those guys wrapped.

I said relatively warm because on Tuesday and Wednesday we are blocking all day and not shooting and the guys leave the big bay doors open so that they can move in and out of the studio freely with supplies. It makes it kind of cold on the stage. So on those days I wear a warm sweater or turtle-neck. On Thursday and Friday we are shooting so the doors are closed and it gets really hot under the lights, then I wear light clothing - basically my summer tops.

We have three shows 'in the can', as it were - although it's more like 'on the disk' as it's recorded to a chip similar to the one in a digital camera. All of the cast are great and so are the writers and producers and most all of the crew. It makes for a very pleasant and even fun environment. Our director for the first four episodes is Adam Weissman and he has been wonderful. He is very patient with all of us as we learn this new format and I haven't seen him lose his temper or yell once. Well, that's not entirely true. He surprised me and yelled for everyone to be quiet one day while he was trying to sort out the blocking of a scene. The set was full of background actors - all kids as it was in the high school cafeteria - and they were having a grand time yakking. But, other than that one time, he's never once yelled or lost it.

Shooting in front of a live audience is great. It brings an energy to the process that you just don't get making a movie. It's very satisfying when they laugh at all the right places without being prompted. Although, last week most of the jokes were falling flat. There was a bit of laughter but nothing like we had experienced from the other two audiences in the preceding weeks. I was a bit worried that maybe the jokes just weren't all that funny. Then we were informed that the whole center section of the audience was comprised of a group of students from an ESL school. That explained a lot. Even if their English was good enough to understand the language, humour often does not translate well from one culture to another. They did laugh at the sight gags, however. So all was not lost. But I don't think the audience coordinator will be making that mistake twice.









1)Dueling Booms.
2)The Audience.
3)Actors on Set.
4)Daria our very talented Editor
































Last week we had visitors to the set. A really gorgeous teen-age girl and a set of teen twin boys. I had no idea who they were, but the producer/head writer seemed to know them well. I had to ask someone who they were and it turns out the guys were Zach and Cody and the girl was Debby Ryan. I had no idea. I'd never even heard of the show until this show came my way... the 1st AD gave me the paperwork from a show so I could see how it was done and it was from Suite Life on Deck, and it meant nothing to me. My daughter who works for Disney was disgusted to hear it. Oh well!


A set of blackboards that I came up with and wrote for a series of scenes set in a detention room that was also an English classroom. And a tease for a GREAT scene.

This week we are on hiatus as the writers get caught up with scripts for our next three episodes. So I have been taking advantage of living close to downtown Vancouver (I am cat/apartment-sitting for a month for my friend who lives at the Athlete's Village) by taking the Aqua Bus from Science World, which is right next to where I am living, over to Granville Island and downtown. It has been miserable weather though and so not as much fun as it could be in the sunshine - until today! We had a gorgeous day today and I had plans to have lunch with my daughter who works at a daycare just across the way. I picked up sandwiches at Quiznos and we sat on a bench overlooking the water and had a lovely visit. I cherish those sorts of moments with my kids as they just don't happen very often anymore. We used to pack a lunch and head to the beach a lot when they lived at home. I really miss those days.

1.A Grey Day to Start
2.A Pretty Courtyard Downtown Vancouver
3.The View While I Wait Outside the Daycare for Ashleigh


I walked for HOURS between yesterday and today. All thanks to a tailor who has no concept of time. I bought a dress that I wanted shortening and he was highly recommended to me. It takes 20 minutes to walk from Yale Town, where I get off of the Aqua Bus, to where he is. Yesterday I had an appointment in Yale Town to get my hair cut so I left early enough to walk up to the tailors and drop off the dress. Only, when I got there at 11:00, there was a note on the door saying that he would return at 1:00. I couldn't wait so I walked back down to Yale Town and had my hair done. I walked back up when I was all cut and colored, and dropped off the dress. He said I could pick it up the next day at 1:00. So today, I left early so I could pick it up before my daughter got her lunch break at 2:00. I climbed the two flights of stairs to his little workshop, and the door was closed with the same note on it. Only this time it was 1:05. I waited until 1:20 and he still hadn't showed up so I walked all the way back to Yale Town to the daycare center, stopping to buy lunch on the way. When lunch was over and Ashleigh had to be back at work, I walked the 20 minutes back to the tailor and picked up the dress. By my calculations, that is 2 hours and 40 minutes of walking just to get the dress hemmed. He did a great job, but I won't ever go back there. I need to know that people will be punctual and be where they say they will be.








The ride back on the AquaBus was at twilight and was lovely. It's great to be on the water, even if that's the only way I can do it. At the Yale Town dock, there's a huge boat called After Eight that is almost always at the dock. It has a full-time crew of eight and all they do all day is clean and polish. It looks gorgeous. And it's a crying shame that it never gets to go any further than B.C. If it was mine, we'd be on our way to the Caribbean by now.


1)After Eight-The Boat I Wish I Boarded. 2)The Boat I Boarded. 3)Science World and The Athletes Village on the Right. 4)Science World and The City

FIRST MAKEUP CREDIT?

Here is a trailer for my first show as a make-up assistant.

I was responsible for three of the male jurors and the judge. As well as touching up most everyone else except for the top three cast.

Can't wait to see it. Hope my name made it in the credit roll! Let me know if you see it there.

WORKING ON MR.YOUNG

I spent Wednesday and Thursday at the studio in Burnaby for the production of Mr.Young. Everyone seems really great and I think this is going to be a fun show to work on.

I am breaking new ground for Vancouver Script Supervisors. The AD (assistant director) on the show has worked on sit-coms in LA and handed me two scripts and paperwork from one of the shows she recently did. What a huge help it is to me. I went through it and it answered a lot of my questions, and those it didn't - she did. Also, a script supervisor from LA answered my plea for help on a discussion board I belong to with her phone number and two words - 'call me'. So I did and she was immensely helpful. Thank-you Jane Slater! But what both of them said, which has helped me more than they know is, "This is your deal. You're the first script supervisor up here to work on a sit-com. You set it up however you want and just make sure that the editor can work with it. You're the boss - this is your world - just go for it." So that's exactly what I have done and I am thrilled with the results so far.

This won't mean anything to anyone except another script supervisor but I have to say it anyway because I am so excited... I have halved the paperwork involved. HALVED. There's no facing pages; just the lined script and the shooting log - which I have completely revamped for a multi-camera format; there's no detailed descriptions of what each camera is seeing - the editor doesn't need it as they get a line cut feed (basically that's a feed of what the cut should roughly look like generated by the technician in the control room who is switching the feed between the four cameras as we shoot per the directors instructions at the previous days technical rehearsals); there is only one line on the script page for four cameras and it goes straight through all dialogue and action with no squiggles needed because all four cameras see everything - there's one line for each take, and the line starts over at pick-up spots; there's still a DPR at the end of the day, but only two days out of four (as we only shoot two days). There's lots of notes to take on the other two days for changes in the script as we block and rehearse. I will go over the notes with the writer's assistant and the script will then be rewritten to reflect the changes. Rewrites happen a LOT and so I don't do a one line synopsis - I go off of the AD's. I don't do a pre-timing, I time at the table read-through on Tuesdays and when we reherse; I've created a form that has all timings for each scene so that the writers and director can see how it all compares and make changes accordingly. Basically it all means that the workload is drastically - DRASTICALLY - reduced for me. I heard the director say that sit-coms are the best kept secret in Hollywood and I am starting to believe it!!

Here's a look at our sound stage, still under construction. We did a test taping of one scene last night. It went great. We film before a live studio audience on Friday afternoons at 5. The audience arrives at 4. If you want to be part of our audience you can get the information here. We welcome large groups such as school drama classes, etc. Bus pick-up will be arranged.

1)My rolling podium where I will do all of my work from.
2)School Courtyard
3) Down the Soundstage

IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS

It's been raining for a few days on Tortola. Here's one of the the results.

(Filmed by Tortola resident, Bradley Burke)



It's suddenly pouring in my life as well.

I got a text from Kim, my DP (Director of Photography) friend who just took two shows with Reunion Films. He's really excited about doing these movies and his text was to tell me that they still don't have a script supervisor. He gives me the name of the PM (Production Manager), someone I worked for a few years ago, and so I send off an email to him with my resume. About an hour later Kim forwards an email to me that he sent to the PM recommending hiring me.

I get a call the next day from the PM and he sets up a meeting with the Director for this morning. I make a mistake when setting my alarm clock. I had unplugged it and so when I reset the time, I set it for an hour later than it actually was. So I got up at 5:30am thinking it was 6:30 to leave by 7:30 for a meeting in North Vancouver for 9:30. The traffic wasn't as bad as I anticipated so it only took an hour to get there. On the way I discovered my error (when the radio DJ announced the time as 'twenty to seven') and so I was two hours early. I went to McDonalds and had some breakfast and read the newspaper for an hour and a half and then showed up to the meeting early. I sat in the board room and read the script while I waited for the Director, who had not been informed of the meeting so was half an hour late.

We had a great chat and at the end he said 'Well, that's great." I was expecting a, "We'll let you know." but instead got a "Welcome to the crew." I was elated.

After a lovely afternoon with my daughter and her charges at the daycare, having lunch at a park after a 'field trip' on the SeaBus, I headed home.

I doze off in my chair while reading the book I forgot to take with me this morning, and the phone wakes me up. It is a producer from a show called Rise of the Apes and he wants to know my availability. In a bit of a sleep fog, I dimly recall seeing the name of this production somewhere recently. I reply that I just took a show today. He asks me what the dates are. I tell him. He says that they conflict and thanks me and that's that.

I mull over the name of the show. Rise of the Apes. Hmmmm. So I get on the computer and check the latest production list from IATSE, the union that does the big shows. Sure enough, there it is. It's a HUGE show. HUGE. As in, I-have-never-been-on-such-a HUGE show. I agonize as to what to do. This is a fabulous opportunity for me. I see on the list that there's a script supervisor already so this means second unit. I comment on it on my FaceBook page and instantly get comments back from friends in the industry. Basically they all tell me I am crazy if I don't call back right away and beg to be on the show.

So, after much agonizing, I call. I ask for a few more details and then agree to send in my resume. I will leave it up to God. If they call me back offer me the job, then I will take it. Maybe. I just don't know what to do! I really don't want to back out on a show I have said I will do, that's just not cool - and I really like this PM so don't want to burn a bridge with him. AND I have a wedding to not only go to on August 13th, but I am doing the bride's hair and makeup as well as my daughter's, one of the bridesmaids. If I get this, I won't even be able to go to the wedding. I can't stand the thoughts of that. So I will wait to see if they even call.

They just called. I'm going in for an interview tomorrow afternoon.

A NEW CAREER

As I mentioned on an earlier blog, a friend in the industry who is a Makeup Key offered to bring me onto one of her shows if I wanted to and if I got kitted up. So I spend the next few months getting a kit together, as I have nothing from my early days doing hair and makeup other than I buy a new pair of scissors every 5 years or so. It cost a bloody fortune! Fortunately, Tana knew of a makeup wholesaler in Burnaby so I purchased most of my actual makeup, and the train case, there. And she gave me a lot of MAC foundations she no longer uses as well as a big Rubbermaid bin full of hair tools and products. I still manage to drop several hundred more dollars in various drug and department stores and the final bill comes out somewhere around $1,400. YIKES!

Then I wait for the chance to use all of my new goodies. I use some on myself, to experiment with different and more up-to-date products and colors than I normally use. I also do the makeup of two friends, one my age and one half my age, just to refresh my memory of how to work on someone else. Then I wait some more.

I finally get a call from Tana. She is working on a show called One Angry Juror and there is a lot of cast as well as a big group of extras. She needs help and, because most of the cast is black, wants to know - am I up for it? I tell her 'I sure am' and then head back to the stores to drop another $600 on makeup for black skin.

When I show up on my first day, there's no room for me in the makeup trailer so I have a station set up in 'extras holding'. The 3rd AD brings me my first cast member and it's a white man playing 'Judge #1'. I need to give his hair a bit of a trim and shave his neck as he's far too scraggly to be a judge. Then I get onto his makeup and - 20 minutes later - he's all done. I'm not nervous at all, in fact, I just fall right back into it and love it.

The second cast they bring me is another white man. This time one of the jurors with a speaking part. As I get started in, I began to wonder if I needed to buy all that makeup for black skin. I have worked with this actor before, several times, one being on a series so we have a great chat. I had recently sent him a script I wrote as one of the main characters was written for him. He loves the script and hopes it gets made. So do I! And, if it does, I hope he gets the part.

Juror 'Eric' done, I wait for my third cast and take the time to get acquainted with the other makeup assistant, Jenna, who is fresh out of school and volunteering on this show. She is making sure all the background are looking camera ready. They are supposed to show up that way, but often they need a bit of touching up or a lipstick change. Jenna is a really sweet girl and I will really enjoy her company in the week to come.

My third cast member arrives, another juror, and he's black! Finally I get to use my makeup. Then he hands me his own foundation. Oh well! I get to use my concealers and powder on him.

The fourth is also a black juror but he only needs a swipe of anti-shine all over his face. That takes all of 2 minutes.

I head upstairs with my chair and a touch-up bag for my four guys and then proceed to spend the most relaxed day I have ever experienced on set. When I am script supervising, there's not a moment I am not 'on'. It's just non-stop attention, pressure, and stress all day. And many a time I have looked behind me at the makeup and hair department, flipping through magazines as they chat about whatever, and envied their position. Today, I get to know what that feels like and it feels fabulous. And, sure, I am getting paid less to do this than to be a Key, but not much less and certainly not enough to account for the difference in responsibility and pressure. I assume that, on a union show, the makeup assistants rate is not as close to the script supervisors as they are on these independent MOW's as I make a whack more money script supervising union than non union. But then maybe they do as well.

All I know is this; walking from my car to the house at the end of a long day doing makeup, I am nowhere near as exhausted as I am when I've script supervised all day. And all I have to do when I get in is wash a few brushes instead of another hour of paperwork. So I am thinking a change in careers is in the wind for me. I will take as much of either jobs I get offered, but if a makeup offer coincides with a scripting offer, guess which one I will take?

OH... and I got a wrap gift on the last day (I worked 4 days) from Tana. THAT never happens when I am a script supervisor!! (I must say that I HAVE gotten a Tiffany's Blue Box, twice, from a very dear Director friend (the one I went to see in Palm Springs for Christmas) while working on shows with him so I can't complain.)

AND... I got to work the second two days in the makeup trailer. SO GREAT!!

I think I might have re-discovered my working passion.

IS THAT A MONKEY ON YOUR HEAD?

Yes. I have a monkey on my head.

I am walking through the parking lot to get my chair out of my van when I pass by the trainer's vans and one is eating breakfast with Crystal, who is eating a plate of fruit, sitting on the tailgate. I walk over and start talking with the trainer and, before you knew it, am posing for a photo with the monkey. She jumps readily onto my shoulder and wraps her arms around my head and her tail around my neck and then 'smiles' for the camera when told to by Tom, her owner. He then tells her to give me a kiss so she leans around and licks my face near my mouth. She stays up on my shoulders for about ten minutes while we continue to chat and I can feel her picking through my hair. "She's grooming you," Tom says "It's a sign that she likes you and wants to bond with you." That's fine, as long as she doesn't find anything.

I ask a lot of questions about training animals and the big thing I get from it is that it takes a TON of patience. One of the dog trainers tells me that he can even train fish to play basketball!!! He said that you can buy a little basketball kit for the fishtank (who knew?!) and then when the fish goes to the ball and touches it with it's nose, you tap the side of the tank and then give it some food. After four or five times it realizes that it will get fed for touching the ball. If it goes to the other side of the ball and touches it so that it moves the wrong way, no treat. It doesn't take long for the fish to realize which way it needs to push the ball. Then it's just a matter of teaching it to push the ball up and into the net. Right. Not something I will be doing any time soon.


















We are at a different sound stage today, in a warehouse about 10 minutes down the road from the one we were at yesterday. This one has a lot of builds that replicate the pyramids and Cleopatra's boudoir. There's not as much sand on this set. Just bits in the corners of some rooms and down corridors. Today not only will we be working with puppies and a monkey, but 6 dozen large cockroaches. UGH! This is the second time I have worked with these bugs on set and I hate it. This time they will pour through a chink between two stones in a chamber wall and crawl all over. There are two guys stationed to watch for runaways and yet, when the scene is over there are bugs everywhere. I see one running on the outside of the set way up at the top of the wall close to where I am and yell for someone to come and get it. They are all gathered up and then we go again. So out they pour from the chink and, this time, they have more people watching. They are scooped up as soon as they are off camera, and put back into their containers. As we are setting up for the next scene, I keep a watchful eye on the bug wranglers as they count them. I see the big guy put the last bug from the big pail into the small container and then say something to the other wrangler. The second guy gets up and starts looking at the floor and then at the wall overhead. I jump out of my chair. At least one is missing. I tell the crew on the floor and everyone starts looking around. It's found right away, down deep in a crack between two stones on a wall. Because the stones aren't real, they're just an inch or so deep on plywood, it shouldn't be hard to get but it is because the crack is where two pieces of plywood are joined with screws in the back so that the walls can be removed for camera. It seems the bug is under the overlap a bit. The wrangler has a long, thin metal rod with a hook on the end that he sticks in the crack and it takes him about 5 minutes to work the cockroach out. Once he has it safely in the container, I breathe a bit easier but it takes about two hours for me to stop checking the floor at my feet.

This movie has the biggest budget of any film I have worked on and it shows. The sets are gorgeous. I wish I could put pictures up here for you but I didn't get permission for it and so can't. Once the movie is released, I will put up some photos as I have some where you can see off-set so have some perspective and, for those who don't work in film, you may find it interesting.

No day working was less than 15 hours and one was 17, so not bad. And lots of the sand was trucked in overnight before the last day of shooting so that we can get the shots we missed on our last day at that other location. So now there's dust in the air again.

Our last night, the guys at catering make filet mignon and lobster tails but we started at 4:30 so it's 10:30 by the time we break and there's no way I can eat that so late at night. I just don't have the appetite for it. So while everyone around me eats like kings, I have a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a thick slice of buttered french bread. It hits the spot. And a slice of caramel toffee bread pudding just tops it off perfectly.

When the last shot is in the can, 'that's a show wrap' is called and I say goodbye to Crystal and her trainer. I am sad that I won't see her again unless, of course, I get to work on another show where she is brought on. She lives in California so I can't drop by for a visit. The director was so taken with her and her skills that he is going to write a script just for her. I would LOVE to work on that.



Crystal posing. Stand-in dogs piled on one chair - I found that quite amusing. Overview of 1/2 of the sound stage. Kissed by a monkey.

IN A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY

Michael just got back from a week down in Washington to visit his sister who has a holiday place there. We went out for dinner because I told him I needed a stopwatch and he said he had one I could borrow. So we turned the handing it over into a date! We went to Cactus Club and had a lovely time. And why do I need a stopwatch, you ask? Because....

I HAVE A MOVIE!!

Yep. After an entire year of not working, I got a call to do a movie over on Vancouver Island and I got the position. So now I am deep in prep, breaking down the script; timing it, giving each scene a page count in eighths (so one scene may be 2/8 of a page, another 1 4/8), and looking for continuity errors, general mistakes, and putting together my one-line synopsis. And hoping like crazy I haven't forgotten how to do my job once I get into the hectic pace and atmosphere of being on set.

The tenants downstairs have agreed to take care of the cat and plants and get the mail. I need to find the resident son a ride to the airport, and myself a ride to the coast. I asked my daughter if she is up to it, if she will take me and she said she would. But she gets her wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow under general anesthetic so not sure if she will be good to go by Sunday. I need to find a place to stay in Langley for two nights while I go through my suitcases of clothes I have stored there, and pull together what I need for three weeks of shooting in probably every weather but snow. There will be a few night shoots as well and it will be cold by the water so big puffy down coat will be required!

Last night, while out on previously mentioned dinner date, there was a huge electrical storm and it knocked out power just as we were seated. It came back on in short order and we had one or two brown-outs during dinner. When I got back to my place, the internet was down and still was this morning. I tried for several hours to get online. What a time to lose it when I have so many emails to send and receive to the production office about the show! Michael had offered to let me print the script and anything else I needed on his printer. I planned to download the drivers off of the internet for the printer here but now I couldn't get to them. So I called Michael to take him up on his offer. He had me go down to the modem and wireless router and try a bunch of stuff to get it working. He was mystified because the modem lights were indicating that the internet was coming into the house just fine. He offered to come over and fix it... he is an IT guy. I wasn't eager to put him out like that but he insisted. He came over and it turned out that the router had lost the IP address, or something like that, and he had me back on line in half an hour. I offered to take him out to lunch as payment and he took me to a little Malaysian restaurant on the main street of Kelowna. I would have just walked past the place, in fact I am sure I have, many times. It was delicious. What a hidden gem of a place. My friend Donna hired me to paint her bathroom this week so I have a wallet full of cash and this meal came to $16. Not bad at all.

I am on the Island until September 28th. Where I will be after that, I have no idea. I am kinda getting attached to Michael and he isn't into long distance relationships at all, and neither am I, so I am thinking about coming back up here. But I think I will do that only if Disney calls. I wrote to Lance Priebe, the guy who was in the first interview with me, and is the founder of Club Penguin. Basically I said that I was on the island until the end of the month and after that, unless I heard from them, I would be staying on the coast to find work there, that I can't wait indefinitely for them. But that I would be willing to work as a Customer Service Rep until a position more suited to my skill set presented itself. I don't know if it will do any good but I am hoping so. He said he wanted me working for the company so maybe this will get something going in time for when I am done the film.

OR... if I win the lottery... I just found out that Agape Cottages is for sale on Tortola. This is a small B&B type of place that is run by a Christian couple and they give drastically reduced rates to missionaries, pastors and burnt out lay people. Now I could for sure get into that. I have always wanted to own a B&B; my husband and I used to talk about running a place for that exact group of people; and I - as you well know - want to live in the BVI at least part of the year. If I won the lottery, I would get my kids to come with me and help me run the place. Then I'd never leave.