So sorry for the delay with this issue, I've had minor food poisoning and have been under the weather all weekend. Forgive me as I try to remember everthing from last week as I didn't do my usual note taking.
Monday was the first day of shooting and the week got off to a rocky start. The previous week, one of the locations people had mentioned that there are crew vans for anyone who needs a ride to set that leave at designated locations. I told her I'd probably be riding with Sweets but I took the information anyway. The call sheet for monday said that the crew van left at 5am sharp while Sweets wasn't being picked up until 7:10am. I e-mailed her to see if she wanted me to meet her at her apt. to ride to set together or for me to just meet her on set, and was relieved to find out she asked me to drive with her. Especially since because I was living in the Bronx, in order to meet the crew van I would have had to get up at 3am and that's banananas, especially since Sweets is my work and there's no need for me to get there two hours before her.
5:11am Monday morning, the locations girl calls to ask where I am, the van is waiting for me. What? Nobody said I was "booked" on a van, or that it was mandatory I take it. She said to let her know in the future if I'm not going to be riding with the crew. I apologized and hung up. One minute later she calls me again and I can hear someone in the background telling her what to say. The girl asks me if riding with Sweets to set is going to be an everyday thing? I told her I wasn't sure, it depends on what Sweets wants, and she said the Producers wanted to know since crew isn't supposed to ride with cast. Alright, now I'm nervous I've gotten myself into big trouble, all in a matter of two minutes. Plus, I was just becoming friends with the producers and they were telling me how thankful they were that I came on board. Did that all gone down the drain? I have that anxious feeling, like I'm going to get fired, even though I don't think they can fire me since I'm not getting paid, especially not for this, but who knows. Thanks to it still being late night subway service when I leave my apartment, and the incompetancy of the D train, I almost didn't even make it to my ride with Sweets either (it took almost two hours to get downtown), which set the mood for the day: paranoia.
We filmed at this museum up in Yonkers and quickly discovered there was no heat in hair and makeup and it's about 25 degrees if you're standing in the sun, which we are not. Everyone is completely bundled up in as many layers as they can find, and no amount of hot beverages or running back and forth seems to make a difference. Not to mention I'm nervous that people are looking at me with disdain, and I'm doing my very best to smile at everyone I see. At least there's a bit of good news, Sweets mentions that her friends are heading upstate for the weekend and asks if I'd like to join them. How do you say no to that?
Later that day I popped into the loo to use the toilet and when I emerged I decided to take a stroll around the modest museum. I was looking over a balcony when I hear "hey sweetheart, is that supposed to be there?" I turn to see an extremely cute P.A. standing right in front of me and when I look down to see what he's referring to, I spot a huge piece of toilet paper sticking out of my pants. There were no seat liners in the bathroom, so I was forced to put paper down, and I must have whipped my pants up so quickly in an effort to avoid the cold that I snapped up a reminder as well. It was clean, so that was good. He was kind enough to rip it off and throw it away, but it took the rest of the week before I could look him in the eye again.
Tootsie says I should stop going to the bathroom altogether.
One of the Exec Producers asks me to have Sweets sign a contract and I take this opportunity to smooth out any choppy waters. I apologize for that morning and she looks at me confused. When I tell her that I didn't know about the van, and I'm sorry I made them wait, she sweetly goes, "I didn't hear about that." So if it's not the Exec. Prod., then who is upset with me? Then Roe, the 2nd 2nd AD helps me out. The Line Producer, who has a major stick up her ass, is the one who made the comment, and she actually has nothing to do with me, or Sweets, or the production company Tootsie works for which technically found me as an employee.
Tuesday and Wednesday we filmed in Greenwich Village, at a closed diner next to the West Side Highway. I spent most of Tuesday working out of her apartment, so it wasn't the most thrilling of days, but Wednesday brought excitement in the form of Paparazzi. As I was coming back from grabbing her lunch I noticed a guy with a huge camera lens hovering outside her trailer. When I stepped inside, Sweets asked if he was still out there and I said yes. He stuck around for close to the rest of the afternoon, and when Roe and I walked Sweets to and from set he was right there, snapping away. I don't know who he'll sell the photos to, but there's a chance I could be next to Sweets in this week's US magazine, or Life & Style. I got kind of excited at the thought of this, my magazine debut, I'm not going to lie I kind of let it go to my head. Then I caught my relfection in the mirror. Yuck. Naturally, the photog shows up the day I'm too tired to shower, flushed from running errands in 20 degree weather, and I have so much junk in my coat pockets that I look like I'm carrying a tire around my waist. So I look forward to that one, everyone check your newstands.
Thursday we were in Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, also known as the borough devoid of a Starbucks and/or any coffee shop that isn't a bodega, which can be a problem when you work on a film set and people ask for lattes. You'll be glad to know that I now know Clinton Hill like the back of my hand because I drove all over the damn place to fulfill assorted requests throughout the day. It started snowing, and then slushing, which was awesome when you manage to soak your legs up to mid-calf level by 10am, and consistently fail to dry them because this location doesn't have heat either (it's an old loft that's being renovated).
Friday we shot at a cemetery in Queens, way, way, way, way out in Queens. I treated myself to a bacon and egg on a toasted bagel from the catering truck and plotted my return to manhattan because Sweets bought cupcakes from Billy's Bakery for the cast and crew as a thank you. There were 100 cupcakes (there are only 50 crew members, but she's very generous) split into two shopping bags and I made it all the way from 9th avenue and 21st street to the very last M train stop, yeah there's an M train. I cross the street, enter the cemetery gates, and one of the bags rips in half. Not the handles, not the seam on the bottom, it rips halfway around the middle of the bag. Forturnately, the cupcakes are troopers because they were all entact when I checked them out, but I was nowhere near where I needed to be. I looked around in a state of panic because without a bag, it's impossible to carry these boxes, and I can't just leave them in the middle of the street. Then a man comes over to me and says he runs the cemetery, asks if I'm part of the film crew and says he'll drive me to the trailer. Thank You Jesus. Oh, but it was an all faiths cemetery so Thank You ______.
Catering always has a little truck that they park near the set so you can grab a cup of crappy coffee, or a muffin, etc. The plan was to just put the cupcakes there, so you could get one whenever, so I ask Roe if someone can help me walk them over because the cast trailer was far enough from the rest of the set that one person would find it a struggle. She says she'll pick me up and shortly arrives with cute P.A. who pulled the toilet paper out of my butt, and some other kid. I notice we're actually leaving the cemetery and after driving for close to ten minutes we pull up to a church which I soon learned was the holding location (where crew can "hang out" and where meals are served). But holding is rarely ever so far away from set that you can't walk to it. I enter the dining room and it's like I was the new kid walking into a high school cafeteria, everyone just stared at me and shot me nasty looks. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it's because I spend most of my time either in Sweets' trailer or off set running errands, but these people don't seem to like me. Magoo, the director's assistant said the same thing, and Tootsie thinks it's because we have the "cooler" jobs.
I put the cupcakes out and ask Roe if she's heading back to set. No. Cute P.A.? No. Anyone? No. What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm stuck in holding with people who don't care to get to know me, answer my friendly questions with conversation ending one syllable responses and I can't even walk back to set. After fifteen minutes or so the crew vans arrive to take everyone back. I get in an empty one, we wait a few minutes and soon it's packed and ready to leave. Then the director comes running out and someone asks if I mind getting out for him. Totally fine, he's the director, I completely understand, plus there's a van right behind me. I jump in that one. Then I see that the producers have bought Starbucks for everyone and I decide to grab one for Sweets just in case. I ask the driver if he'll be here for a minute and he says he isn't leaving until he's full, and I tell him I'm running to get coffee. He asks if I'll grab one for Slick too and I say sure. I'm gone maybe two minutes, and when I emerge he's pulling away. I look at him and he says, "I was just about to leave." But when I scuttle around to climb in he says "oh, I don't have any room." Butthead.
I see this kid Tad getting into a car...can I grab a ride with you? No, he's already driving people. I'm really shocked at how people could care less about me. I don't expect anything, but why bring me all the way out to holding if there's no way for me to get back? I finally managed to squeeze into some guy's car with Patty the eccentric Irish snack guy and Shamus, the cocky Irish P.A. who's claim to fame was assisting Colin Farrell on a film once. At least this weekend will be awesome.
Sweets wrapped shooting early and we were on our way back to the city by 6pm. Just before we leave I ask Roe if she can take a cupcake back to Tootsie in the production offices when she leaves. They're chummy and she always has to go back to the office after shooting, plus she was just sitting around chatting when I approached her. She doesn't even look at me before saying "that is so the least of my concerns right now." What is wrong with people today? I vented to Sweets that I didn't think people on the set gave a crap about me and she says "I don't like to hear that, you're so nice C, how can anyone not like you?" That's all I needed.
Once we got back into Manhattan, Sweets' friend H picked us up in a family size SUV and we collected R and D. They were all hungry and wanted to go someplace corny so we hit up the Cheesecake Factory in Hackensack, NJ. Let me tell you, Sweets was the belle of the ball in that establishment. Bus boys were creating detours to pass by our table, teenage girls were stopping by to ask for autographs, and Sweets obliged to everyone. I didn't order anything because I was flat broke and had been eating the free crap on set all day. Plus, I wasn't hungry.
We got back on the road and all of the sudden I'm starting to feel nautious. But I didn't even eat dinner, what's going on? It took us a total of about two and a half hours to get to R's house (it was her and her ex-husband's, but they just sold it and it was her last weekend up there), and we got there around midnight. I'm feeling worse and tell them I'm just going to go to bed. Sweets asks if I'm okay and I tell her I just need to get some sleep, but I feel guilty for being useless since we all went up there to help R pack up the rest of her belongings. The next morning I'm really achey and my head is killing me and my stomach still feels awful. Sweets checks on me and asks if she can get me anything, but I just want to sleep. Around 5pm R offers to have a car take me back to the Bronx because at least I'll be in my own bed, which was so unbelievably nice.
All day Sunday I barely change positions, but managed to move long enough to watch the Oscars (of course), and found out from Tootsie that about 7 crew members had the same stomach thing I did on Friday and it's linked to catering. So I guess I won't be eating that anymore.
This week was a trial in self confidence. The entertainment industry is the most fickle industry in the world, and while I have experience in situations where people are trying to cut you down to size, it always throws me off guard when someone you think is on your side turns on you without hesitation. Good thing there's the NY Post Horoscope to cheer me up:
Cancer-"Sometimes you can be a bit too worried about what other people might think of you, and it can hold you back from doing things you know you would enjoy. Yes, there is such a thing as morality but you must decide what is right and wrong for you-you must not let others decide for you. Be who you really are and have fun."
tune in next week.
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