Today I worked about 12.5 hours from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. I started out by getting lost trying to get to the front entrance of Universal because I got directions from three different people. No big deal though. The place was cool and so spread out. First we carpooled off the lot to rent a cargo van and a huge passenger van, which I was put in charge of. Then I drove the streets of L.A. alone in this white tank over to the costume designer’s house to pick up her kit and tons of boxes. Drove them to the studio and picked up the production manager, his assistant and a production intern over to Elm Street, where we’re shooting. A quaint curving street where the art department was painting the interior and prepping it for shooting.
Dropped off people here and there and then waited to be called to bring all the wardrobe stuff over when the street was clear enough. Took a long time so I bought a cheeseburger at the Backlot Cafe across from our office for $2.75 (didn’t know when lunch was and didn’t wanna wait). Finally, I actually got sent in my own car to go buy two cases of water (70 bottles). Didn’t want to call the PM and tell him I was lost so I called my Divx pal, David who navigated me to the Smart and Final. Thanks, David. Came back and got clearance to enter the lot with the car (instead of just parking it in the structure at the front). Drove down to Elm and delivered the water bottles and I forget what I did next. Got a ride with the production intern on his nifty golf cart back to the office and we picked up Pablo (another p.a. and my friend). Dropped off all the wardrobe stuff in the wardrobe trailer just past Elm Street and then drove down back to James Stewart Road and continued to the Costume Department.
Made several trips there bringing racks of clothes down the 4 story elevator and loading them in the van. Took them to the wardrobe trailer where we hung them. Ate some pizza at some point too. Can’t remember when. Was working off two hours of sleep. They went to do some other stuff and I set up the walkie talkies, charging them and making an inventory of them. 2nd AD instructed me that on the set I should always carry a couple of charged batteries so when someone’s walkie dies I can switch it immediately and go charge the dead one….Then went back to wardrobe, this time by myself. Finally got to talk to the producer on my way back. He was really great, telling me I did a great job on the last film and that is why I was back and being paid. That felt good. Maneuvered the van a few times, drove around some more.
Dropped off a check worth more than my car to Fotokem for processing cost deposit and then drove down to the company’s main office down in Hollywood helping the p.a.’s prepare the updated script, inserting the pink sheets. Hope we didn’t mess up considering how sleepy I was. Gotta eat, shower and sleep now. Getting up at 4:30 a.m. All exterior shoot tomorrow.
Wow. Gonna be a scorcher, but looking forward to our first day of shooting! Universal Studios is fun. It’s so funny to see the kids wave at you from their tour tram and to hear the Jaws part of the ride going on behind our set. Hehe. Oh yeah and I almost drove into the road where the pond parts like the red sea, in the wrong direction. Luckily someone yelled at me I was going the wrong way. Whose idea was it to combine a theme park with a movie studio anyway?
