I Got a Job!

Hard to believe, two posts in one day. But such a groundbreaking step in this blog's plot warrants the day's second entry. The day started off innocent enough. I woke up later than I expected, finally rolled out of bed even later. I knew it wasn't going to be quite as active as yesterday (though the weather today couldn't have been better). But everything started to pick up when I finally decided to venture out of the apartment to run some errands at around 4pm.

First I discovered on the kitchen counter a paycheck (yesterday's mail) for the day I worked on Premium Rush two weeks ago. Then I checked today's mail and in it was my paycheck for the commercial I did two weeks ago. Then to top it all off, as I headed to the bank to deposit the aforementioned checks, I got a call from the DGA program administrator.

"Get out a pen and paper," she started. "Cause I've got a job for you!"

It was music to my ears.

But wait, what could it be? She had been saying for awhile that it might be Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

"And it's not Criminal Intent," she continued.

Phew, I was kind of hoping for something more fresh, more new.

"It's a movie."

Woah! A movie! But the first three trainees got assigned to TV shows. Can I really handle the big leagues?

"It's called The Sitter."

Hmm, ok?

"And it stars everyone's favorite, Jonah Hill."

YES!

"Oh great," I calmly replied.

She proceeded to give me all the details about who I'd be working with, when I'd be working, and what I should expect. Apparently the 1st AD on The Sitter is good friends with the 2nd AD on Premium Rush, and the 2nd AD was the one who asked if I could continue working as a PA after my week of shadowing. So hopefully I can get a good recommendation from her. Needless to say, I am psyched to start my new job. I won't be starting until late September, but in the meantime, I've been given the ok to continue moonlighting on Premium Rush.

All told, though the day started out slow, it was a banner day in the life of me. I got paid, I got a job, and I barely had to get off the couch (which is finally losing its new couch smell and starting to feel like home).

Rain, Rain, Go Away

So I was released from work yet again yesterday because of the change of the schedule. And because of the change of schedule yesterday, I didn't even have to go in today. I made the most of the opportunity yesterday. Having taken a lot of flack for not having rain gear, I was dead set on getting some. But, as it was still raining, I didn't want to be searching for a place in the middle of the rain. Thankfully, for New Yorkers on a rainy day, there's a place to go: Museum Mile.

I had heard about this exhibit going on at the Guggenheim that was supposed to be pretty cool. "Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance." So I trekked up to 5th Avenue between 88th and 90th and was immediately aware of the swarms of people flooding in and out of the Guggenheim. I walked in and there was a long queue line for admissions snaking through across the ground floor. I looked at the admission price (General Admission $18, Students $15). Wait, I thought every New York museum was $15 general admission and $10 students. Oh right, this is the Guggenheim Museum. I panned the expansive ground floor and followed the spiraling ramp up with my eyes. Then it hit me, this place is way too crowded, I'm not THAT excited about this exhibit, entry is a little too expensive for my tight budget, and besides the main reason to go to the Guggenheim is to see the building. So I took in my surrounding for a little longer, visited the museum shop (which had customized Lego sets of the Guggenheim and Frank Lloyd Wright's other famous work, Falling Water), and then headed a few blocks north.

Poised pretty much smack dab in the middle of Museum Mile, the Smithsonian Institute's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is, in my very biased opinion, the greatest museum I've ever been to. First of all, there was no line. Secondly, they accepted my expired student ID, so it was only $10 to enter. Plus they had a free iPod touch tour guide thing. The museum's currently featuring an exhibition called "Why Design Now?" which highlights new aesthetic technologies that are sustainable and eco-friendly. It was amazing to see the wide range of ideas—from a wooden radio made of local materials to the car-free, carbon neutral, zero waste city on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

When I finally emerged after three hours in the museum, the rain had finally stopped. The rain had cooled things down, so I decided I'd walk along Central Park until I got tired, then hop on the subway to get to the sporting goods store in Union Square where I'd find some quality rain gear. I kept walking and walking and walking, passing by all the 5th Avenue landmarks—Saks 5th Avenue, the Rockefeller Center, eventually making it down to the Empire State Building and the Flatiron District. Next thing I knew, I was in Union Square. That's right, I walked almost 80 New York City blocks (apparently the rule of thumb is that 20 north-south blocks equals a mile, so 4 miles!). I got my rain gear and headed home to rest my feet. It was nice to finally make something of a day off, rather than lie sluggishly at home.

Only in New York

Work today was "cancelled" due to rain. I feel like I'm in an esteemed group, reserved for professional athletes and film crews, that I can say that. I still showed up at 6am, and I still moved some traffic cones to close off three lanes of Columbus Ave., but as the rain picked up, a large group of PAs were told we could leave as the crew would be shooting interior scenes in a studio in Brooklyn. So with all this newfound time, I figured I might as well update my blog.

The past couple of days have been fairly uneventful. It's frustrating that I have my entire week free (when all of my friends, with their 9-to-5 jobs are busy) and then I'm busy on the weekends when my friends want to go out. Hopefully my first DGA trainee job will have a more conventional production week (especially with the football season fast approaching!). Yesterday was more of the same: locking up one of a number of New York City blocks while Joseph Gordon-Levitt rode his bike through stunt traffic with the PursuitCar close behind. The high point of the day was when this guy...

...rolled through set, blasting Snoop Dogg. Apparently, David Koepp, the writer-director of the film, was thoroughly impressed with the guy so hopefully we'll see him in the movie. Other than that, not a lot's happened. The apartment's pretty much broken in and I'm acclimating myself to waking up at ungodly hours of the morning. Now I just need to slowly introduce sightseeing into my daily schedule. If the weather's cooperative tomorrow, I may try to go to a beach or Coney Island tomorrow while everyone else I know wastes away at their desks.

Settling In

So a lot has happened at home since the last time I updated. I mistakenly referred to my apartment as "my room" today when I was talking to my girlfriend. She rightfully called me out on it, "You're not in college anymore, that place is a home. You've got a kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining space, and laundry." The real lynchpin of the whole process was the sofa, which finally arrived two weekends ago. Funny story behind that actually. It was Saturday. "Premium Rush" has a shooting week from Wednesday to Sunday, so I was on my penultimate day of my shadowing. It was the only catered lunch of the week, staged in a school gymnasium near our set in Harlem. My phone rang and I stepped outside to take the call. It was the furniture store arranging for a delivery later in the day. While I was in a heated conversation about how I was at work and they needed to contact my non-brother roommate, Joseph Gordon-Levitt exited the gymnasium right in front of me. Realizing I had to do something in acknowledgement, I gave him a casual head up-nod without missing a step on the phone call. Joe quickly returned the nod then went on his way. My confidence restored, I negotiated the terms of our sofa's delivery.

So with the sofa in place, our living room certainly feels more homey. We've added bar stools and a rug—courtesy of my parents, a handmade Greek rug they got like 30 years ago. Plus, the Zelda Fitzgerald paintings have finally been matted, framed, and hung.

There are a couple more prints on the other side of the room. They all help to give the room some much needed dimension. We went with some "natural" pairings. We figured that the Washington Square one could pass off as Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, so we paired it with the Brooklyn Bridge. Times Square and Grand Central comprise the 42nd St. duo. Central Park and 5th Avenue seemed to make sense together. And then Grant's tomb is in a league of its own by the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, I feel like I'm starting to settle in with the routine of feeding myself everyday. Tonight was the first time that I felt I had done an adequate job of replicating my usual evening routine when home in Alabama. Earlier in the day, I had turned some frozen ripe bananas into banana bread. So that, combined with some crackers and cheese and a glass of wine gave me the comfort foods I had desperately been craving. Plus when it came to dinner, I managed to time everything so it was all freshly warm when I set my plate on the table. Yes, it's easy when I'm free all day, and yes, it'll all change once I'm working regularly, but it's nice to realize my capabilities of living independently.

Martini, Shaken Not Stirred

No, I didn't get assigned to the next installment of the Bond franchise. And no, I haven't been shaken by my work so far as to put my entire life (starting with this blog) on hold. At least not yet. Martini is the designated name in film speak for the last shot for the day. Seeing as I have finished my first week (or two), I figured it was appropriate to update those still reading my blog on my latest.

Upon returning from my trip home, I began my shadowing on the film "Premium Rush"—starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Day 1, I felt like I went from 0-60. I figured I had learned all I needed to learn, and that I would be able to put it in cruise control for the rest of the week. How wrong I was! First of all, I was initially signed onto this shadowing gig as a shadow of a second-year trainee, who's running 1st team stunts. If you were paying attention to my earlier blog posts, you'll know that 1st team involves handling all the needs of the principal talent. So 1st team stunts handles the needs of all the principal stunt talent. You know when you're watching a movie and a character's running through a crowd of people? Stunt people. Or through a busy intersection? Stunt drivers.

So for the most part, I was helping out with that—the bulk of my day came at the beginning and end of the day when I had to assure that the stunt people's walkie-talkies were checked out and checked back in (because all the stunt people need to be kept in the loop for obvious reasons). But when I wasn't doing that, I tried my best to avail myself to the rest of the crew. I perfected the art of being actively-passive. I didn't want to get in the way, but I wanted to be there when someone needed something. As such, Day 2 took me from 60-120, Day 3 to 180, and so on. Needless to say, I'm moving pretty quickly right now and just hoping I'm hanging onto everything I've learned.

At the conclusion of my shadowing week, I found out that I had been hired by a two-day Converse commercial shoot. The assignment didn't compromise my #4 spot for a big project, which is good, but it gave me my first opportunity to be out on my own. The commercial was shot by Antoine Fuqua—who directed, among other things, "Training Day"—and starred Dr. J and Jim Jones. Day 1, I was asked to stock the talent's campers with sodas and such. While in Jim Jones's camper, one of the fridge door shelves somehow came loose under the weight of some seltzer waters and one exploded upon contact with the ground. Stifling the urge to say something loud and obscene at the catastrophic flood I had inadvertently unleashed upon the camper floor, I sprung for the roll of paper towels I had also brought for stocking. On my first pass at mopping up the mess, I leapt up quickly to discard the waterlogged ball of Bounty and smashed the back of my head into the underside of the camper table. This time the urge was too great. "S***!" I was convinced Jones was going to materialize at that point to see me simultaneously mopping seltzer water from his floor and blood from my head. But fortunately my head wasn't bleeding, the seltzer water got cleaned up, the fridge got stocked, and I got the hell out of there just as Jones and his entourage rolled onto set.

Once we were set up, the 2nd AD called for a safety meeting and then called me on the walkie talkie. "Ok, Dixon," he said. "For the PR, safety meeting was called at 6:25. Make a note." Hunh? PR? I know I've been trained for this, but I was under the impression they already had someone to do paperwork. I thought I was just hired as an extra hand. "...Noted," I replied and tucked it in the new expansion of my throbbing head. I finally tracked down a copy of the PR (production report, b-t-dub), made a note of 6:25 safety meeting, and went about confirming all the personnel on the shoot. The PR ended up being way more straightforward than I had been led to believe from the training seminar. I was assured that that's because it was a commercial and not a TV show or a movie, but still, I think I may actually be able to do this.

After the commercial wrapped on Day 2, I found out that the 2nd AD on "Premium Rush" wanted me to come back. So while I'm still awaiting my fate for my first project, I'm able to get some invaluable set experience on a well-run machine of a film. As of yet, things couldn't be better.