My first overnight shoot

I actually didn't mean to sign up for an overnight shoot.  The job notice mentioned nothing about the timing as job notices usually do--at least they give you a general sense of timing.  The project is the upcoming film, Oppenheimer Strategies, starring Richard Gere, Steve Buscemi, Josh Charles, and Michael Sheen among others. I was conference attendee at a happy hour event and then an audience member at a conference presentation. I had great views of all four of the principle actors during the filming. The production is using the the Brooklyn Museum as the location for several parts of the film.  They can only use that location when the museum is closed thus the overnight shoot.  You never know any of this info til the night before or the morning of.  You have to be prepared for anything if you want to do this work.  So I didn't find out it was an overnight shot til 10am the morning of.  I had a call in time (arrival time) at 4:45pm and wasn't released til 5:30am the next morning. Once we wrapped, they did bus those of us who live in Manhattan to Grand Central Station which was really nice of them.

It's a good thing I've done lots of Amma programs because it's not unusual for Her programs to go through the night and well into the morning. I held up better than a lot of people.  I'm so glad I did not have another job today.  Some people were saying they had 6am call times for jobs today.  Essentially they will go 24 hours or longer with no sleep. I know I can not do that schedule but it is a real risk you take in lining up jobs. If you want to work as much as possible you just submit for any job notice you are compatible with and try to work as often as you can.  You submit for jobs totally on face value of what is contained in the job description which is just a very short blurb with little detail of the where and when of the final work.  Even the filming crew don't know what the next day start time is for some of the jobs until they wrap at the end of the day/night.  How long a shoot goes and how much can be accomplished in a day is dependent on so many factors.  You never know how long you will be working on any given day.  I have traditionally had a lot of control over my schedule so this is pretty much the opposite of how I have managed my time.  It's been a good exercise for me to let go of control, go with the flow, and just see how things play out.  I think the only reason I'm able to be so much more flexible is because this is a totally voluntary situation.  There really is no way to fail at this because the gains are all intrinsic.  It's all just for fun. That makes it all so easy. I'm just going to go with this til it's not fun anymore or the hours kill me.

It's also a very reinforcing experience each time.  So far something special has happened with each job that has made the adventure worthwhile, despite the long and unpredictable hours, early call times, challenging commutes, tedious downtime, etc--for example, last night I was put in a position where I had to stand next to, then sit directly behind, Richard Gere. I've had a bit of crush on him for a very long time, so what a great opportunity. Even though we are instructed as Extras to not approach the principle actors, he and I were in such close proximity (like two feet from each other) it just would have seemed weird to not say anything. So I smiled and said hello and he smiled and said hello and that was very nice indeed.  He is a devout Buddhist and his lack of ego showed beautifully last night. He is very unpretentious, was openly appreciative of the extras, thanked us for our work and long hours, and said good night to all of us.  We all gave him a round of applause as he exited the scene.  I also met a fellow extra who is a professional tango dancer. And I loved being in the museum at night after closing hours. On another job, for a scene, I sat next one of the lessor known actors but who works very steadily on various TV shows and was a regular on Third Watch for 7 seasons.  We chatted a bit and during a longish break she asked me if I would run (read) lines with her as she was filming an episode of Law and Order SVU the next day and had not yet memorized her lines. That was very fun and she spoke about the character's motivation and her discussions with the writer and director about her differing opinion of what mental illness this character has.  I totally agreed with her understanding nuances that the writers and directors were missing.  Anyway, it was very cool to do that with an experienced actor. She was very friendly and personable. It's those kinds of random events that make it all worthwhile to me.

I don't know that I will intentionally submit for overnight shoots but at least now that I have one under my belt and I know what more to expect, I can go into it a bit more knowledgeably. My next adventure happens next Monday with a repeat visit to the set of Blue Bloods where I will play a lawyer, court administrator, and a bar patron.  Curious to see how much they try to change my look beyond wardrobe.