The Spot

Day 3 -- Tuesday April 21

"The Return of Rick"

The tone of the script has completed a full revolution. After the initial table-read, it was decided that the tension and drama had to be played up to intensify the antagonistic father-son relationship. Since Rick is so easy-going, that was a death sentence for me. After the run-through last night, it was apparently decided that we had a bit too much drama on our hands. That meant lightening up on the heavyhanded deliveries, but it also meant bringing Rick back into the mix. Yummy.

Same deal as yesterday. 9am call time. Table read first thing. Block and rehearse the scenes throughout the day. The major difference? I didn't have time to sit in my trailer and nap today like I did yesterday. And as much as I might appreciate a good nap, being on the set to rehearse my new scenes had it beat by a mile. Today was very fun, not just because I had a real job on a sitcom pilot (which was still cool), but today creatively it was so much more interesting. I actually had things to accomplish, people to get through to. The whole idea for my brother to move back home turned out to be mine in today's version of the script. Fabulous.

The show seemed to be going quite well today. The new lines were funny. I was having a great time doing the new scenes. We were all getting into a flow. Then disaster struck. We ran it for the producers and network executives. What once seemed funny, now seemed sad. What once seemed interesting now seemed flat. What once seemed like the big breakthrough for Rick now seemed the words that would appear on his tombstone. The 4pm run-through today was missing the magic. I would like to attribute it to all of us trying to be off-book for the run-through. I could even possibly blame the producers and executives, who all must have had rough days today and just weren't in laughing moods. Something was up. But what? For the next twelve hours, it's anybody's guess. But we'll all find out in the morning how they go about trying to fix it. Let's hope Rick survives the cleansing.

After the run-through, I did get that nap I so heartily sought. We had to wait while the executives discussed our fate before we could return to the set for cast photos. They shot a family photo, some smaller group stuff and then singles of all of us. TV Guide look out.

Go on to Day 4

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