Adventures at Universal: Production Diary, Day 2-9

Um, yeah. So I’ve been working an average of 15 to 16 hours per day and sometimes running errands before and after too, so my posts will be sparse from now on.I got heat stroke the first day of shooting and still worked 16 hours. I got a fever that night and then for a week the most painful, burning sore thrroat of my life. Then I had a cough, but that’s going away. I am woman, hear me roar. I got yelled at a few times for things that weren’t my fault and I seem to have become the unofficial Office P.A. I was also helping the 2nd 2nd AD with cast wrangling for about a day until he realized I keep getting called away to work in the office.

I’ve been driving off campus less and I don’t mind the office work since it keeps me out of the sun, although the production coordinator loves it insanesly cold in here so I wear a sweater when he’s around since he leaves the AC on. So this movie is tough work, but I’m learning so much and getting paid for it so I don’t mind the short turnaround time before returning to set and it’s cool seeing how it gets done on a bigger budget, although it seems like this movie is a half million dollar budget maybe and of course, that’s super low budget by Hollywood standards. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re the lowest budget film on the lot Normally, I guess films with this budget can’t afford to shoot here, but Mr. Rami Rank, production Coordinator extraordinaire, worked out a good deal with Universal since he’s worked on this lot before.

Random thought… Driving the cart is so much fun. It’s like when you were a kid and you went to Disneyland and you wished you could take control of the ride and go wherever you wanted.

Pablo (my friend, and probably the only writer/production assistant ever to exist on a movie set) and I have decided after all this laboring that this definitely inspires us to direct more because it’s a lot more fun being a creative force than picking up trash/cigarette butts on set and being the last to eat at lunch.

Oh, the best moment this week was when we shot at the Chicken Ranch (those of you familiar with the Universal Studios tour know it as the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas house), which we are still at, and some crew people staged a little entertainment for the tourists driving by on the tram rides. The script supervisor stood on the lawn yelling into her cell phone and throwing her coffee cup at one of the camera crew and screaming that she wanted her agent. The tram people seemed pretty shocked as they were driven past the scene. It was hilarious.

Another thing is, when we shot down the street a little ways on Elm Street, it took alot of coordination to pause the Jaws ride so we could shoot (as well as keeping two P.A.s up on Wisteria Lane to hold construction on the Desperate Housewives set). However, yesterday Crossing Jordan was shooting on Elm Street (just below the Chicken Ranch) and they shut down Jaws entirely for them! Wassup wit dat?! It took forever to get in or out of that area in a car(t) because there were three different things shooting at once. Crossing Jordan was shooting something with cops and dogs and gun shots.

Blah blah blah. I need to get back to work and file the release forms for all the extras. Fun!

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