The Last of the Weekend

Well, it is 9:45 on Sunday night and I have to go to bed soon to wake up for a 7am call (pick-up at 6:15). I didn't have much of a weeekend this week because, even though it was supposed to be a 2-day weekend, we were so behind in filming that production scheduled in Saturday. Of course, Saturday was supposed to be a half-day...but those of us in production know that NEVER happens. It ended up being a 9-hour day, which is not terrible, but considering we were supposed to have it off...

Next weekend, for some, will be a 3-day weekend. Colombia has MANY holidays throughout the year and next Monday is one of them. I don't even know the name or what they are celebrating, but people get off from work. Unfortunately, Saturday will be a full green-screen day for us on set. I tried to get out of being there, but they said I needed to work. Of course the sound crew will have off, and others as well. Not me...

The guest actress in the episode we start tomorrow is Estella Warren. I worked with her about 5 years ago (?) on the Bon Jovi movie in North Carolina. I have no idea if she'll remember me, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow. The guest actor in the episode is David Carradine. He did a couple of days already on the first episode, and he's definitely quite a character. The role he plays is catatonic, so continuity-wise, he's very easy to deal with. All I have to note is which shoulder his head is closer to, right or left.

We've already had our share of drama on the set, so it should make for an interesting five months. I kind of yelled at one of the camera assistants on Friday because he constantly hands me reports that are incorrect. I mean, he just has to look at them and know that they can't be right. On a camera report, how can a setup that he slated start with Take 2? Clearly there has to be a Take 1, right? I felt bad after I spoke to him because many people had gotten involved in the discussion (since the camera assistant doesn't speak english), and one of those people was a higher-up. I didn't want to get him in trouble. I just wanted him to realize that he needs to take a little more care in what he's working on. It would make all of our jobs so much easier. On a previous day, I gave him a slate of 15K for an insert shot they were doing. I went to the bathroom and found that they had decided to roll while I was away. Fine. They zoomed in tighter, and to be nice, he thought he would give it another slate. Fine. What slate does he give it? 15J. When I got back and saw the slate sitting on the table with 15J written, I literally had to question myself and say, "Wait, does J come after K in the alphabet?" and then when I realized, no, I thought, "Wait, does J come after K in the spanish alphabet?" Of course not! When I pointed this out to him, that, in fact, L comes after K in both alphabets, he felt bad and apologized.

I think in most jobs, one must know the alphabet.

It just bothers me that, at the end of the night, instead of just dealing quickly with the camera reports, that I have to check over them as well.

For those of you reading this that have no idea what I'm talking about because you do not work in production, I apologize. It's just me venting before we start again on Monday. Many kinks have been ironed out over the last week, and things are running somewhat more smoothly. There are still quite a few issues, but I look forward to seeing some of the scenes cut together.

Today I walked around in my area and met up with someone from set for lunch. We went to a nice Italian restaurant and then had coffee afterwards. I hope to have a little more time off in the future so I can travel around, rather than staying in my own neck of the woods. Because our altitude in Bogota is so high, it is often cold and rainy here. There have only been maybe two days since I've been here that it hasn't rained. Everybody tells me that this is only the case in Bogota. In most other parts of the country it is quite warm. Bogota was built high above the other cities because it was meant to overlook and oversee the surrounding areas. Great. So I have to wear long pants and long sleeves every day.

Ah, well...off to bed.