Jeez Jon

Merry Christmas!

Happy holidays everyone!

Nose, Grindstone, Repeat...

I have been working so much lately at the new job with Long-Running Established Basic Cable Makeover Show that I believe I've hit the punchy stage.  I'm really, really tired.  But I'm also prone to giggling.  And doing shots of Tequila with my co-workers in the kitchen once I've hit the 10 hour mark in a day.  The tequila thing only happened once.  And that was today.  And I needed it. 

Don't get me wrong.  I really like my job.  I'm continuing my stint in the wonderful world of being an Assistant Story Editor, helping shape episodes of television, coming up with ideas for how to tell the stories and do the makeovers, etc.  My co-workers are all great... with the exception of the obnoxious receptionist, but she's due for a whole post dedicated to how annoying she can be.  I like what I do on Long-Running Established Basic Cable Makeover Show.  I really like the pay.  I DON'T like my commute, and I'm not digging the hours. Between the first 2 weeks, I must have pulled down about 115 hours at work.

In all honesty, I have to admit that I am thoroughly enjoying myself.  As my bosses are all cool with my going on auditions and the like, I really can't complain too much.  I mean, I did move 2,000 miles in order to continue my dreams of being Actor Guy, and this job is allowing me to do that.  I've had 6 auditions in the past 3 weeks, which is not bad, considering it's Holiday Season. 

It's just that... Poppa's tired. And my hand is sore from all of the typing and mouse-clicking I've been doing.  But that's all okay.  That could be the lingering effects of the Patron I had about 3 1/2 hours ago, but seriously, I'm okay.

Why do I keep saying that?

What A Week

I've had quite a week.  Here's the breakdown:

THURSDAY 11/29: I booked the commercial last Thursday night, which was such a welcome shot in the arm. 

FRIDAY 11/30: Tom and I had a lot on our plate.  We had to pack to go to Disney for our anniversary, and then I had a costume fitting for the commercial, an audition for another commercial, and then off to Disney.  In the rain.  Did I mention that the fitting, the audition and Disneyland were completely away from each other?  'Cause they were. 

So, Tom and I packed up the car, and drove down to Santa Monica so I can do my costume fitting.  Tom dropped me off and went to deposit a check.  I got to my fitting early due to all the other stuff I I had to do that day. The wardrobe department for the commercial had their racks of clothes out in the production company's lobby, which was also full of people dressed to the full business nines for a job interview.  They gave me the option of either trying stuff on in a room way far away or changing being a small screen right there, partially exposing me to an audience.  Due to the time constraints, I chose the screen.

Me [walking behind the curtain, taking off my shirt]:  If you see anything you don't recognize, just throw cheese at it. 

My cell phone rang as I was trying on outfits but I let it go to voicemail.  After 15 minutes of trying stuff on and putting on a bit of a partial strip-tease for the crowd, I was done.  Walking out the door into the drizzling rain, I checked my phone and there was a voicemail.  I checked it, pacing the street. I had a call about a job I was told about earlier that week at a business mixer.  I played phone tag with the co-executive producer who called me.  Tom then picked me up, and we drove for the next hour all the way across town and over the hill into the Valley for my audition.  I got there just in time, thankfully. Tom waited in the car.  I did the audition, and left.  [ETA:  I had a callback for this spot, but didn't get it]

On the way down to Disneyland, I had a phone interview about this job with Long-Running Established Basic Cable Makeover Show.  This went on for about 25 minutes, as Tom drove our car, slugging through the annoying mix of rush hour traffic and pouring rain.  The interview went well, and she said she'd call me back the next day with the offer.  Tom and I eventually got down to Anaheim where we checked into our hotel, and had a decent dinner at a crappy chain diner down the street. 

SATURDAY 12/1: We got to Disneyland 10 minutes before the park opened, which is later than we liked, but it worked out well.  We hit the big rides in the morning when there's less people in the park.  We went back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure, hitting the rides, watching the 3D shows, and just walking around.  After picking up some gifts for my agents, I waited in line at a Italian place in Downtown Disney where I got the call back from the Co-Executive Producer of Long-Running Established Basic Cable Makeover Show:  I got the job.  A nice long gig at this makeover show through the holidays, with some very good pay for a change.  The combination of the commercial, the job and our anniversary led to us splitting a bottle of wine with dinner.  We ended things at Disney with watching the fireworks display and the fake snow.  A great anniversary, all around. We drove back home that night due to do my early call.

SUNDAY 12/2:  I arrived on set for the big commercial at 7:10 am, getting some breakfast in the (relative) cold that morning.  After settling in, I learned from some of the other actors that, indeed, this commercial is a SUPERBOWL spot.  Holy moley!  Understandably, there is a lot going on with the spot:  a huge cast (of 10), stunts, special effects, and a lot of live animals.  Without going into too many details, I was there for about 11 hours, shooting some, but mostly sitting around.  Being on a set (either a film, TV show, or a commercial) is a lot like being in the army:  hurry up and wait.  Armed with my Sudoku book and some healthy chatter with my fellow actors, the day went by fast.

MONDAY 12/3:  Back on the set at 9am.  I was there for 14 hours that day, with more sitting around and more shooting.  As the spot will breakdown, my screen time will be quite minimal, but they are paying me as if I'm the lead.  The food, of course, was excellent.  Got some quality time with my fellow (and very appreciative) actors.  I got home and into bed almost at midnight.

TUESDAY 12/4 - THURSDAY 12/6: I started up at Long-Running Established Basic Cable Makeover Show.  The only real downside about this gig is my commute: it's at least an hour each way, which is not fun.  My fellow co-workers are pretty cool, and we are getting along well.  The hours have been rather long, but enjoyable. I am definitely feeling the strain of being so busy.   

FRIDAY 12/7:  Before going into work, I had to swing by a California Employment Office for an appointment with an Job Counselor re: Unemployment.  Every now and then, when you are on Unemployment in California, they force you to go to a job training meeting to make sure you are indeed looking for work.  I patiently explained to my counselor that not only was I looking for work, I found it.  I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss this meeting, 'cause they still owe me for a week of unemployment, and I didn't want them to deny payment.  After that, I flew across town as fast as rush hour LA traffic would allow and made it into the office for a screening of our first episode.  This went, on and off, all day.  Until almost 8pm.  Then, I met Tom up at a party at Sarah's house, where we had a sing-along with the musical episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More with Feeling".  Even though I arrived rather late (but before watching the actual episode), I got there in time for a slice of rapidly disappearing pizza and a Buffy trivia quiz.  Which I ROCKED.  I won the graphic novel collection of the Buffy Season 8 comic book.  After singing through the episode with the fun people there, Tom and I grabbed some appetizers at a local Mexican place, and came home. And rested.

What a good week.

31 Down, 70 To Go

6.  Book another national commercial.

Shot this Saturday and Sunday.  I can give more details later, but it's a big commercial and due the huge cast, I won't be having a lot of screentime.  But fortunately, they are paying me as if I do.  Who am I to say that they are wrong? As you can imagine, I'm pretty thrilled.  More later.