And not in the bad way! Not like in Moscow when they dragged me to the police station and…

Well, that’s another story.

Last week, I said my name and the line “Thanks for a nice time. I love it here*” in a German accent and sent it to my agent. Thursday, they emailed me back and said, “They want you on check avail!**” And I was very happy. I’ve only been check availed three times. And the other ones fell through.

But the other ones had told me when the production released me.*** This time, not so much. It became Friday. Then Saturday. And since the shoot they checked avail for was that day, I was kinda sad. Melancholy on the morning walk. Trying for acceptance during meditation.

But there apparently was no acceptance, because when the phone rang halfway through it, I flung open my eyes and leaped for it. It’s Saturday morning! I probably thought subconsciously. Nobody would call me Saturday morning unless I was supposed to be somewhere that I was not! I probably thought subconsciously. Let’s pretend that I Just Knew, because it’s easier and that’s how it is in books and trashy news stories.****

“Hello?” I asked.

“Amy? This is Sylvia. Did you know you’re booked?”

“No! I did not know that! I never heard!”

“You are! You are! Get over there as fast as you can!”

I jumped in the shower, checked email sporadically while Sylvia worked on finding the correct emails, and found something generic to wear. Jacob (AD? I don’t know; this is one of my first real shoots, STOP HOUNDING ME!) called and told me not to rush–they were still setting up. So I stopped rushing and left the house. Most of the way there, he called again, telling me they were ready for me. So I started rushing again.

At stoplights, I saw that the paperwork had come through. I emailed Sylvia back: “Got ’em! Almost there!”

Sylvia: “Great. HAVE FUN!”

So I did.

I arrived, met Brad, an extremely kind and welcoming man who led me inside to Robin, a beautiful but stressed costumer who asked me, “Did you bring anything?”

“No–I didn’t know what to bring,” I confessed. This stressed him out more, and I was led to the green room. I sat down, started to get out my phone with the lines, but Robin took a photo of me and whisked me off to makeup and hair. Kendall made me [more] gorgeous, Robin emerged with a shirt and jacket, I met Kate, who supplied said shirt, I tried on previously stated shirt, and returned for Kendall to put my hair into a messy bun. Note for next time you don’t know your lines: maybe talk less to the delightful makeup artist and study your script more.*****

Robin took more pictures and adjusted the collar with clips and tape and staples while Kate took a deep breath and kept repeating, “We’ll make it work. We’ll make it work.”

Jacob ushered me up the stairs, giving me a tour on the way. Despite everything happening so fast, the vibes of everyone were so chill. And I was like a kid at Disney, taking in all the sights and having just the SWELLEST time.

Then we filmed. It took about half an hour, and I did all right! Nobody stopped rolling because I messed up. (We stopped rolling because of many sounds coming from outside and downstairs.) They first filmed my scene partner who was really talented and really professional and really nice and really supportive and I couldn’t have asked for more. By the time they flipped the camera and the boom around and focused on me, I…mostly had the lines down. I was reading from files (that looked a lot like my script) for a lot of it, so that was a blessing. And I got used to being in front of the camera.

And now, when we watch tv, I’m insufferable in my head, thinking things like, “Yeah, I totally understand why it was edited this way, would I like me to extrapolate?” and “That camera angle is interesting because now I’ve seen a camera in real life, you know.” But I’m working through it with myself.

When I was packing up to go home, Ari (the director) popped his head into the green room and introduced himself to me, saying, “Normally, I’d talk to you more, but…” and I told him of course and shooed him back to the set. He didn’t have to come down and do that! But he did!

THE POINT IS that from my agent to the crew, I had the best of all times on Saturday, and I learned a hell of a lot and discovered the lair of so many amazing artists. And I learned that I CAN still learn lines like I could in the good ol’ days. I just need lots of pressure. 😜

 

 

*line changed to protect everybody and everything. Especially me.

**from what I understand of check avail, having only been there thrice (see above) they’re at the point where they’re like, “Say we did want you….Could you come?” It’s the step below being booked.

***Yes. They “release” you. It’s a much kinder way of dashing your hopes, like now you’re free from your check avail cage to spiral into the sunny sky for That Other Job. Which mostly for me involves children and being coughed on.

****And now I can put “Trashy News Stories” on my writing resume!

*****But it was HARD! I was closing my eyes much of the time as she fixed my face, and she had to stand in front of me so it was hard to look. But yes, point taken.