Do You Believe in Magic?

Wednesday was a most magical day! I got the call to be an extra in a TV show that's filming here in Albuquerque. When I got up that morning, it was snowing like crazy and I was worried that the call would be cancel.

Well, it wasn't. I got there about 11:30, got checked in and then waited. While I was waiting I talked to a crew member who does effects. He was so cool! Then I met some of the other extras. We had to go through a costume check which I passed and then we were given radios. Part of my job was to drive on Central as part of the 'background'.

OMG it was soo freaking cool! The whole experience was one of the most amazing I have ever had in my life!!!

So, they rounded us up and took us to location one: a hotel. Then we waited some more. I talked to so many people and made a few friends. Alot of the extras that were there have worked on many movies, such as Terminator Salvation, Swing Vote and others. I just listened to their stories, soaking in all in and wishing I could do this everyday. Seriously...it was magical. Of course, there were heaps of people wandering around and we as the lowly extras weren't really allowed to talk to anyone, but that was ok.

SOOO...at one point during the day, we got pulled to walk on the street for background shots. The directors were really nice to us and one of them even gave me a small compliment. He said I was cute. AWWWW.....That made my whole day. When I told one of the other extras about this he said, "well you are!! Have you ever considered trying to go for small parts?"

I was like, "Um, no cause I am not a typical hollywood girl (meaning uber thin), and I don't really have any recent experience."

He said that didn't matter and that I should go for it because I am not typical. What a wonderful thing to hear from a stranger.

Anyway....I walked accross the street a bunch of times, the same way everytime. I couldn't believe how easy it was. Granted, they were taking shots of my backside, but thankfully it was from far away. Hopefully we'll get to see that in the show when it finally airs. Yes, me and my big ass will be famous on the TV. Ha ha ha...

At about 6, they took us back to HQ and we waited some more. I really wasn't expecting to wait so much, but hey, I was getting paid! While we were waiting, I went into the craft tent and couldn't believe who was in there. Donald Faison from Scrubs was sitting there eating his dinner. How freaking cool! Of course, I didn't say anything to him cause we were forbidden and he was preoccupied with his food. He's actually much handsomer in person. The other stars were there too but I unfortunately didn't recognize any of them. They ate and left. Funny thing too was that they were all smoking after dinner right outside of the tent. Ha ha.....

So once the crew people ate, then we got to eat. The food was fantastic. There was baked chicken and vegetables, potato pancakes, pork loin, salad and a whole slew of desserts. I, of course, ate the low carb stuff. I sat with the rest of the extras and we chatted our way through dinner.

About 8 pm, they moved us with the cars to the holding area just down the street from the second location. They thought they were going to use us right away, but it just didn't happen. We waited from about 8 pm until 3 am. Yes, we waited and got paid. It was not so bad. I read a book and listened to my ipod for alot of that time. I also talked to the other extras.

At one point, we got to go on set and see them film a bit. It was the most amazing thing ever. The lights, the cameras, the crew...everything.... I had no idea how much went into making a show or movie. Boy did I learn alot!

So about 3:30 am, they finally got us ready and had us drive down the street, back and forth. This lasted about 20 minutes. Once that was done, we were done and we got to go home. I was exhausted, but exhilerated too.

I was nervous and a bit afraid of this experience, but now that it's happened, it's motivated me to want to do this more. As an extra or not, I want to do this more. It's magic!!

And I love magic!!
I believe in magic!!