You Have to Be Smarter Than Them

And I wasn't.

I was cast as a news reporter for a trailer of a film that was being created to help generate more money for the actual feature film (you get all that?) and was told last Tuesday that I would be needed on set at 10am on Sunday. Okay! Got my lines, spent time memorizing them, and then Saturday comes around. Still no confirmation email saying "Don't forget! 10am tomorrow!" which I thought was weird.

What I should have done right then was send the director a text saying, "Hey! See you tomorrow at 10am, right? Please confirm!" But I didn't. I thought, maybe I'll get something in the morning, and I went to bed.

I get up all bright and early (as a pm waitress, bright and early is 10am, but I was up at 8, so imagine how tired I was) get camera ready and show up in Baldwin Hills, an area I don't know at all and am therefore uncomfortable in. Where's the equipment truck? Why isn't the building's gate unlocked? Uh oh....

I call the director. "Hi!" I say brightly, "I'm here!"
"You're where?"
"At the location, on Jefferson!"
"Oh no!" he bemoans, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"
"Uh oh," my wattage is slightly dimmer, "what?"
"I moved the calltimes all to noon! I'm still in North Hollywood picking up props!"
Of course you are. And you are because I NEVER CONFIRMED WITH YOU.

Most productions that are a bigger to do than just a bunch of people having fun, usually have a call sheet that are emailed the night before with all your locations, parking info, call times, phone numbers, EVERYTHING. And I figured nothing of the sort would be done for this. And I was right.

I should  have confirmed.

So, I had two hours to kill. Now, normally, on a set, that's no big deal. You just grab a Coke and a granola bar from Craft Services, find the bathrooms so you know, and then head over to holding (or, when you're in a union production, your TRAILER/DRESSING ROOM!) but, the building was locked and there were no cokes to be found.

I drove to the nearest main thoroughfare and tried to find an open cafe nearby. Nothing. I find a McDonald's, and although I'm not hungry, figure I could go buy one of their coffees and chill out for a bit. As soon as I get in, however, I remember that it is Sunday morning after most church services. The place was packed.

You might not know this about me but sometimes I get a little claustrophobic in places with large amounts of people. Times Square? No thanks! This particular McDonalds at 10:15? Not at all. I take my drink and leave.

I see a Rite Aid. Hey! I could go in there and look at makeup and toys and other crap and distract myself for a good 45 minutes! I went up and down the aisles, noting that anything you could imagine was most likely priced at $9.99 and left after I had achieved seeing everything they offered. Time spent: 8 minutes.

Crap! What am I going to do now? I went back to the location and pulled into a side street. It was a neighborhood! A neighborhood with bars on all the houses' windows, but a neighborhood nonetheless! I parked under a tree and waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, noon rolls around. I get the apology, grab a water, do my thing, and 15 minutes later am hugged, paid in cash and on my way.

It's funny how being paid in cash immediately makes any really annoying situation an interesting story instead of a crappy event. May you all have lots of interesting stories!