In both an effort to keep posting and an influx of new things to write about, I have stuff to tell you.

My extra experience on this set has been almost completely the opposite of my last one. It's a big movie, with big names, and apparently well run. There are things to do, food to eat, and chairs to sit on. Most importantly, there are people whom I enjoy being around. (Is that the right use of whom?)

Unfortunately for me, Boston is a two hour ride each way. Unless it's between 630 and 900 in the morning. Then it's a three hour drive. I got there late the first day, freaking out. No need, there were still twenty people in line waiting to sign in. Originally I thought this was a smaller scene but there were close to three hundred extras there. My first thought was, fine. It'll be a good experience to learn what these big sets are about. I ran into one acquaintance from a movie I did in November, he's since become SAG. Something of a raise of the eyebrow there. I haven't actually been pursuing the unions yet, but this guy, well, let's say I realized that it wasn't WHAT you know. Turns out there were a sh$tload of SAGers there. (Duh) All of them local. I felt like I'd just pulled my head out of the sand.

I settled in for a long day of sitting around. I had my book and was looking for a place to sit when I walked by a PA who tapped me and said to go out to another spot to learn the next scene. Cooool. Not an upgrade or anything. Just a brief bit that would be an integral part of a scene where they needed a bunch of extras. (Background Artists, as some people put it, all I can do is shake my head) After that a big scene was about to go up and they started pairingus off as couples. That's when I met my first snarky companion. E, as we'll call her, was tons of fun. As completely sarcastic, fun, and funny to be around as the best I've met. She already knew everyone on the crew and some of the producers, and had a bunch of experience in doing these things, so it was great to pick her brain and realize most of my preconceptions were pretty much on the mark. We bonded in our annoyance at the pretentious SAG extras and the camera-whoring, upgrade-seeking non-unioners like myself. Hm, let me explain.

I'm very pro-union, don't get me wrong. My entire professional life I've been a union member. I've been a shop steward. The protections that SAG get are hard earned and well deserved. It's the 'I'm SAG so everything's my way' attitude that kills me. I don't care about the union vs non-union lunch service line, I hate the woman who sits down at the table declaring it was an atrocity she had to wait for an extra half-hour in the SAG line for her salmon. Then there was the guy who demanded that the non-unioners get to the back of the line at the end of the day to turn in wardrobe. The PA's were kind of forced to do it at that point, I guess. Those are the people that make unions look bad. At least they were fun to scorn.

As a non-union actor, I know exactly what it's like to feel like the bottom of the barrel on the shoot. Last called, last taken care of. Everyone wants to join but no one's opening the doors. The fabled 'voucher' as the carrot on the stick we all chase. I know. I want it too. The pay difference alone is astonishing. But haranguing the crew, producers, and casting director aren't the way to get there. I overheard the casting director telling an assistant about a person form the day before who came to him and said, "I was here all day and didn't get used. I sat around until midnight, can I get a voucher?" Puh-leeze. I know I'll eventually get it. Of course it might take some time. I'd rather show myself as a good sport, easy to work with, and understanding when things go wrong. If you want me, come and get me. If you come in the room and you ask if people want to be in the scene, my hand will be raised. I will not harass the AD's to see if I'm (snort) needed.

Which brings me to Meatballs. These are the people you find on every set. The ones who are completely unaware that they are being asses, loud, pretentious or just plain idiots. The ones who shamelessly hit on every one who crosses their path. The ones who don't know how to *shut the fuck up* when you're supposed to be pantomiming clapping, then bark at another extar for dioing something wrong next to him. (I am totally not specifically referring to someone. Not at all. Really. Wouldn't dream of it.) The ones who see you reading your book but will never stop telling you another story. The ones who 'really shouldn't be here, it's beneathe me.'

By the end of day 2 E and I had assembled a group of snarky compadres. We had our corner, or table. If you weren't on of the Snarkalicious Crew and tried to sit at the table, or joing the discussion, you were given something of a brief trial period. Upon the slightest whiff of Meatball the whole crew became silent. No conversation. Not rude, just..nothing. Once we were oviously uninteresting or, more importantly to said Meatball, uninterested in them, they would move on, and we could continue our merry conversation. Our favorite was the difficulty of clear, concise directions. The AD comes in, "I need x people who were in the last scene in this area to get to set." All around the room:

"What did he say?"
"Was that where I was?"
"Was that the scene from today or yesterday?"
"You think I should just go?"
"I'm calling casting."

It reinforces my opinion that while a person might be intelligent, people as a group are pretty f%cking stupid. Despite all this (or because of it, I had lots of fodder to hone my sarcasm on) I really enjoyed the past three days.

Next...I'll talk about the actual shooting.