Did I have a wonderful birthday?
Well...yes and no.
Let's start with the actual day:
A week before my birthday, I booked work on a pilot for a new show on HBO. I was told that I would be playing a policewoman, circa 1972. Cool! The problem was, the shoot was tentatively planned for Friday....which was my birthday.
"You should just do it" said Freddie. I agreed since I know how things go in film now and there's always a 50/50 chance that things will change at the last minute. Well, this time it didn't turn in my favor. We got a call on Thursday afternoon that I was confirmed for a shoot on Friday morning. We cancelled the Friday part of my party (we were doing a two-parter) with hopes that we could still carry on with Part II of my party on Saturday.
The shoot was at a hospital on Roosevelt Island. When I checked in, I saw that I was singled out as "Police Woman Option" -- ??
"What does that mean?" said one of the wardrobe ladies out loud. "I don't know" said one of the others, "Send here down to the wardrobe truck to get a uniform."
So I went down to the wardrobe truck. The lady working the truck asked me what I was supposed to be dressed as. "I was told that I am a cop" I replied.
"Hmm. I thought we only had one female cop in this scene..." she ventured.
"I don't know," I shrugged, "I'm just telling you what I was told."
Then from the peanut gallery inside the truck:
"I AM THE ONLY FEMALE COP IN THE SCENE! I WAS TOLD THAT I'M THE ONLY ONE!"
bellowed a middle-age woman getting dressed inside the truck.
Okaaaaaay, fine.
(There are a lot of...personalities...in show business.)
So this other lady wanted to be The Female Cop. I wasn't going to fight for it -- it's BACKGROUND work, for goodness sake! The wardrobe lady started zipping thru the racks and pulled out a burnt orange shirt dress. "Here -- wear this." It was all sad and wilted on the hanger -- it had obviously been washed but not pressed since the last time it had been used.
I guess my face was worth a thousand words! The wardrobe lady smoothed the front of the dress and tried to sugar coat the situation, "You'll be a visitor at the hospital -- a...sad...visitor. Here, wear this, too."
She handed me a green velour coat and cheerfully added: "You'll be sad and raggedy!"
By the time I got back up into holding, everyone for the shoot had arrived and it was very crowded. It was too early in the morning and people were being loud. I was standing in line for hair and makeup, reading a book, when one of the hair/makeup ladies came up to me.
"What role are you playing?" she asked.
Caught off guard and lacking coffee, I regarded my wrinkled dress and replied:
"I'm a...ragamuffin?"
This made the entire line of people laugh! She ruffled my hair and said, "Well then you are fine. Not that you look like a ragamuffin in real life, but you don't need anything extra from hair and makeup."
I sat in holding -- heretofore known as "The Ragamuffin"...
...as if I had just rolled out of bed (which I did).
NO HAIR OR MAKEUP!!
(Ragamuffin!)
Two good things happened, however:
1) I got flat shoes!
This is a great thing, because there's no telling if you'll be on your feet all day or what. So it you can work in flats, you're pretty golden. These loafers are very comfortable!
2) I also got a big purse. Every time I carry a purse on the set, I am always encouraged to put any personal items that I want into it to make it have realistic weight. I love when they do that, because I am never thrilled about leaving my personal items in holding. They always SAY they have security watching the bags in holding, but they never do.
So what did I pack in my bag?
My identification, my cell phone, my toothbrush/toothpaste, and my book.
Once it was time to shoot, I learned that they were continuing to shoot a 16 page scene from the day before. Obviously, they couldn't just stick new people in an old scene. I sat off to the side of the set for 5 hours before we broke for lunch. They never moved on to the next scene and they never used me.
After lunch, I was allowed to wait in holding, which I did....from 3pm to 9pm. They never finished the first scene AND I NEVER GOT CALLED TO THE SET.
Such a disappointment!
On the one hand, it's like, whatever, I got paid overtime and they asked me to call in again on Monday just in case they shoot the next scene on Tuesday.
Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 4. I mean, the PA dealing with the extras was really stressed out. People were yelling at her over her little walkie-talkie all day. I also heard (unsolicited) from two actors that the director was really difficult to work with. He expected them both to read his mind and then he blew up at both of them when they did the "wrong" thing....even though it was never exactly communicated to them what they "should" do. So, there's THAT. Then again, the food spread was REALLY good on this shoot -- and you can tell alot about a show based on the food they offer.
But really? It was my birthday and I totally had better things to do than sit and read an entire book in 13 hours. Also, most unfortunately, I started feeling another one of my famous sinus infections coming on around 6pm. By the time I got home at 10pm, I was definitely sick.
Freddie was so kind to surprise me with his homemade lasagna. Well, I had a feeling he would do that: he always makes lasagna for me when he wants to pamper me. It goes back to when we were dating -- he tried to make me a lasagna while I was having a particularly rough day at work. Only, he was following a recipe from a hard-core cook book and he didn't reduce it for a party of two. We ate lasagna for half a MONTH after that. So, it's kind of an inside joke between the two of us. But also? His lasagna-making skills have vastly improved through the years and now he makes the right amount and add his own little flourishes to the recipe -- and it is a damn good lasagna!! He also bought a bottle of champagne (I love champagne!), but I wasn't allowed to drink it because I was about to medicate the sinus infection.
Boo.
Ah, but there were cupcakes!
So, my birthday wasn't a complete bust.
However, I've been on all kinds on medicines every four hours since Friday evening. And the champagne remains unopened. Dristan does the best job at accelerating the duration of an infection...but it knocks me off my butt. We ended up cancelling my birthday fun Saturday. I slept all day Saturday, all night, and then all day Sunday. I have spent most of Labor Day weekend sleeping....which is not too far off from what I was doing just after being born 34 years ago!
I am just now starting to feel better (Sunday night -- 9pm) and will probably feel great by tomorrow.
I have a sneaky feeling that the show won't need me to work on Tuesday, but I am keeping it open just in case. Hopefully, I will have better things to report if I do!
Okay -- I'm off to shave my legs or something. I am seriously feeling like a ragamuffin after 2 days of solid sleeping.
