Day 1 -- March 7, 1994

Actually, let's go back to Day 0, which was Friday of last week. I was originally scheduled for a 3pm call, but received word at about one that they wouldn't be ready for me at all that day. So they pushed my call to 7am today. (If only I had gotten there before they decided that, I could've gotten an extra day's salary.)

Day 1: As I sat in traffic at a dead stop on the 5 freeway at 6:30 this morning, I was glad that Michelle, the 2nd A.D., had warned me of unexpected delays and specifically advised me not to worry if bad traffic made me a little late. In fact, when I arrived at 7:15, Michelle was amazed at how early I was. Apparently traffic had been bad all morning.

I hopped into my police uniform and got my make-up on for my only live scene of the day. by 9 or 9:30 we shot it: Paperwork, look up, notice the police car, walk outside to investigate. Three takes later we were moving on.

At this point, one might think my job would get easier. I would be dead for the rest of the day. My after-life was to be anything but easy, however. First I had to get into a harness, so that I could be hung on the wall. Somewhere in hell, this is the main form of torture: Every other Thursday you have to hang in a harness for 13 hours. Next, I had to have dark-red corn-syrup mixture all over my nose, neck, and mouth. And believe me, a nose that can't be scratched is a nose that itches every three minutes. Next, I had to have a flagpole taped onto my torso. But once you're body is crammed into a harness, a little tape constricting your chest is like a day at the beach.

The first shot was ready to go at about noon. I took my harnessed, bloodied, taped and flagged body and found my position hanging from a hook on the wall. We then shot two set-ups from that position, both Deputy Barnes discovering me, and then a sweeping close-up of my hanging, bloody carcass. All that went fairly smoothly. I was removed from the wall and allowed to return to my trailer and even break for lunch. Little did I know I wouldn't return to the wall until 9 o'clock that night. In the meantime, I wrote out all of my casting director postcards and sampled most of the items on the craft services table.

Once I returned to my hook, we still had two scenes to shoot. They would not both be shot that night. The first involved some minor explosions and the co-ordination of many people's efforts. It would be the last thing accomplished that day. My whole participation in the scene was most likely half of a hanging leg barely visible in the background. And at 9:45, with that scene accomplished, we broke for the day.

Ten minutes later, I was approached in my trailer with, "Are you free tomorrow? It'll be a short day. You won't have to come in until five." And so I am on for tomorrow.

Go on to Day 2

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