A Day in the Life at FoxTeleColombia

Well, I am sitting here at the office with not much to do. I've already done my prep work for the upcoming episode. I suppose I could start prepping the new script which we won't be shooting for another week and a half...but I figured I would just take some time to update my blog.

They have the production offices for "Mental" set up in one area of the larger FoxTeleColombia office building. We are all sitting at individual computers down a long row of tables. Occasionally I hear my name in the distance, but as they are speaking Spanish, I have no idea what they are saying. Or they could just be saying a verb in some sort of future tense (-ari)?

This morning was the Table Read with the majority of the actors. The show stars Chris Vance ("Prison Break"), Jacqueline McKenzie ("The 4400"), and Annabella Sciorra ("The Sopranos" & "What Dreams May Come"). Chris and Jacqueline have been super-nice so far. Annabella arrives in Colombia tomorrow or the next day, so I haven't met her yet. Everyone has been really commited to making a good product. The show was created by Deborah Joy LeVine and Dan LeVine ("Lois and Clark"). They have been wonderful, and they keep telling me how glad they are that I'm down there. Since they haven't worked with me before, I'm assuming they primarily mean having an american script supervisor, but it's nice to hear the compliments anyway.

So far, the only thing that's been a little more difficult is the transportation. Not having a car, when coming from Los Angeles (such a driving culture!) has been quite a change. I don't know my way around, so I don't really want to walk outside alone at night. I'm hoping this weekend I can explore the area around my building. I'm in a very nice neighborhood where, down the street from me, there are many homes of ambassadors for the Chinese Embassy, French Embassy, etc.

Today, there was a miscommunication about how I was going to get to the table read. They told me it was going to be at a hotel very close to my apartment, so I told them I would walk if I could get directions. The transportation coordinator said she would feel more comfortable if they drove me since I don't yet have a production cell phone to contact me (I'll be getting one tomorrow). I said that was fine. After I was gone for the day, someone else who'd overheard ONLY my half of the conversation told the driver that I was going to walk. Well, this morning I waited for the car for about an hour, and subsequently arrived at the table read late. The directors and producers were stalling until I got there because I was doing a show timing on the read. Not a good feeling. All is well now, and they used that as an example to explain to everyone how little hiccups like this can happen in this kind of production where part of the crew only speaks spanish and part only speaks english. Once we start shooting, this kind of thing needs to be avoided!

Enough for today. I have to get a blood test in about two hours, and that's pretty much my day. Once we start shooting, I'm sure I'll be MUY busy with MUCHO work.