Day
3 -- Friday January 28, 2000
Day
3 -- Friday January 28, 2000
180 degrees. That's how far my perception of this job has come since that first ignominious day. Complete turn-around.
To the casual observer, I'm sure today appeared little to no different than the other days I worked on the show. But there was always a growing sense of appreciation for what I was doing. And as the week progressed, that made my experience go from intolerable to bearable to wonderful. And, true, that can largely be attributed to my own neuroses and issues, and less to anyone's actual treatment of me, but nonetheless, the overwhelming sense today was that I was a vital part of the show.
The two scenes today were the very first ones on the schedule. Very first. There's nothing better than that when it's a block-and-shoot schedule. Once a show starts to get behind, any later scene becomes a crap-shoot as to when they will get to it, when you'll be able to start work, how long it will take them. For my two scenes, though, I could get in, get to work, and get out. That would have been perfect. But after a second glance at the entire 14-scene shooting schedule, I realized that I had to do three scenes today. I had forgotten about the third because I don't really say anything in it. And is my third scene the third scene of the day? Well, no. It is, in fact, the 14th scene of this 14-scene day. Dead last.
We worked on our first two scenes -- rehearsed them, blocked them, shot them. That took up a fair chunk of the morning. One scene had a slow-motion segment in it and after eight different camera angles for ten seconds of footage, I think we got a little behind schedule. Anyway, the two scenes were accomplished without much trouble. The Hawk got a big laugh in both so I felt good. The guys I worked with in the scene were nice. The people on the set were cool. And I was allowed to go home for the middle of the day and return to shoot the last scene. Cool.
And maybe it's time to be a little more honest. I know that it takes me a while to open up and feel comfortable on a set, or anywhere new for that matter. So this job was a return to that process. I was spoiled on Oh Grow Up because I knew everybody every day I went to work. This was a return to the guest-star learning curve that I have some difficulty with in the early stages. Today, at long last, I was really settling in.
And that's what makes the guest-star learning curve so heart-breaking. Once I finally get myself to feel comfortable and let myself enjoy the people I'm working with, my job is over. After my return to the set and the shooting of the last scene, one of the writers invited me back to their bungalow to hang out and drink. I'm always up for celebrating so I tagged along. They are a good group and it was nice that they let me be a part of it. And now it's over again. It's that same old sensation of 'Why can't I do this week in and week out?'
I hung out with the writers for a couple of hours, where I discovered the true value of my performance. The writer of the episode had been living with this Hawk character in his head for the past umpteen years and this was his baby come to life. Imagine his surprise on Monday of this week when the first person they cast was nothing like what he had pictured for the role. His stomach sank, his heart wept, and they talked of getting rid of the character altogether. The Hawk was nearly stillborn. On Tuesday, when the writers came to the run-through, when I thought I was just a goofball in a Hawk suit, little did I know, I was the savior of a dream. The head writer approached me after one of my Hawk scenes that day and said, "You just saved us a whole night of re-writes." I didn't know at the time, but he meant all of the re-writes it would take to get the Hawk out of the script.
So I found out today that I was appreciated, and even though I didn't feel it, it was true from day one. The week ended on such a high note and my experience was so wonderful, I remember now how I kept going back in the day when I would only get a job like this once or twice a year. The rush and the thrill are so amazing, the feeling of creating something unique and interesting is very fulfilling, and the camaraderie of people striving for a common goal is uplifting. Is that laying it on a little thick for a goofy sitcom? It didn't feel like it tonight. Tonight I was... THE HAWK.
Go on to Day 4