PLAYERS

I was going to play golf today, but my service called me and told me I was booked on this show.  At first I thought it was a program about players, you know, those guys who play women and have a ton of game.  Instead, it's the name of a sports bar similar to something like National Sports Grill & Bar.

I got to Santa Clarita very early and had time to take a one hour nap before my call time.  It looked like the stage was once some kind of manufacturing facility because there were still big cranes that were never torn down inside the place.  Still, it was pretty impressive that they were able to design and build a working stage.  At the same time, it seemed pretty ghetto compared to the WB and other big name studios.

I had to sign my AFTRA papers because it was another AFTRA production.  What was cool about working the show was seeing Matt Walsh who I knew from Dog Bites Man.  I didn't realize he was part of the Upright Citizens Brigade until the 2nd AD had told us who was in the show.  I loved Dog Bites Man, but I didn't know who Matt Walsh was until I sat down to write this blog.  I wanted to shake his hand and tell him I really enjoyed his work on that show and how sad I was to see that it would not return.  I'm sure he would have appreciated that since I was probably the only fan of the show.

All the extras were bar patrons and we were asked to exhibit as much energy as we possibly could.  It still embarasses me to pretend like I'm having so much fun because it's kind of like being a mime since you don't have any lines to work with as an extra.  All your emotions have to be displayed through your actions and because no one really takes extra work all that seriously, it's hard to feel stupid when you're acting the fool.

The 2nd AD was pretty green and you could see the 1st AD really working him hard.  However, the 2nd AD still had a great attitude and thanked many of us for our work.  That's something only newbies will do because a few years of that kind of work will wear anyone down.  It's too bad that's the case as it wouldn't do anyone any harm if they just remembered to do simple things like that.

The drive home was pretty tough because of all the traffic.  I was so sleepy from getting just four hours of sleep, I took a three hour nap as soon as I got home.