Monday, November 03, 2008

Extra Extra!

In an effort to blog more often (and the reason behind my lack of blog posts lately being my new job), I am now going to whip up a quick post about my newest venture in employment. I have recently been working as a background actor, aka an extra. Most people do background work to break into acting. However, my main purpose was to have flexibility, a little spending money, and to do something fun. It has been a treat working on TV sets of shows I enjoy and meeting lots of fun and different people.

Today, I hit the mother lode as far as star-watching is concerned. Let me preface this by saying that, when you work a show, it isn't quite as exciting to see the actors from that show because you know they are going to be there. However, guest stars and other surprises like that are always fun for me because they take me by surprise. My friend Amy saw Harrison Ford last weekend and we decided that may be the "best" celeb-spotting either of us has done. I would like to challenge her Harrison Ford and raise her a Clint Eastwood. Yes, Clint Eastwood was driving a golf cart around the Warner Brothers lot today willy-nilly, and he managed to cut through the area where we were shooting Without A Trace. Twice. It was all very exciting. He seemed like a cool, laid-back dude (well, what I saw of him driving by, anyway)

In addition, today provided me with a glimpse of Angela Bassett (on the lot for ER), David Arquette (sitting in his trailer waiting to film Pushing Daisies), and my personal favorite: Lee Pace.

When I discovered we were shooting RIGHT next to Pushing Daisies, I made it my goal to hunt down Lee Pace. I took a very long, out-of-the-way route to the bathroom (making dumb excuses for my path to anyone who noticed). Lo and behold, I was parked in my car waiting to "drive through the streets of New York" when I saw Lee walking to his car in a nearby parking lot, laughing heartily with the person he walked with, and hunched over just a smidge. It was quite adorable. If you need a reminder of my love for all things Lee Pace, look back at my review of Miss Pettigrew...

My extra jobs have provided good discussion topics and it is really enjoyable to see how the "business" works. How long everything takes mainly.

Now, I woke up at 3:30 this morning to get to set at 5 am, so I am headed to bed now. More scoop to come as I get any. ;)

4 comments:

Emily said...

I know which "Streets of New York" you are talking about. I wandered around the WB lot (under supervision, of course) when we did the tour there. But when I was there, there were no celebs to spot.

It seems funny that you can spot people from different shows so close together. It seems "wrong" that the worlds of Pushing Daisies and Without a Trace are so close together. Whimsical fantasy and gritty crime drama don't mix! But then, that's the magic of tv, and how fun that you are getting to peek behind the curtain.

Hollie Nell said...

I was there to today for some meetings. How funny! I hated doing extra work but I think it must be fun if you're just making some extra money. I always wanted to be acting on it but it's pretty easy gig and you do get to see all the actors up close and personal.

Stella Louise said...

Mmmm...Lee Pace!

I am soooo jealous!

Lisa B said...

Sounds like that will be a fun "gig" for you, Lindsay. Let us know when to watch to possibly catch a glimpse of you on a show! :)