Who Knew?

I found myself on a soundstage today assisting a photographer/brilliant nerd shooting props for a pitch to do the main titles for a top TV show.  He is the husband of a friend and she was too tired to go, so I tagged along.  I couldn't keep my mouth shut.  "What about this angle?' and "How about this lighting?"  I wondered if he regretted the decision to take me along.  All he did was ask me about my novel, whether or not I was on my first draft or what have you.  He gave me the low down on the latest writing software and usually I tune out when it comes to that techie software but he explained it from the vantage point of an artist and I was sold.  On the drive home he explained the four minute car/death scene of Julianne Moore in Children of Men and again I was riveted, hanging on to his every word.  I don't surround myself with people that pay that much attention to detail, probably because I can barely pick up the clothes from my bedroom floor.   But  that's probably why he is one of the most in demand photographer/director's in town. He has won an Emmy, and that is what you need to do to win awards, pay attention to detail.  I have a lot to learn, yet he listened to me, welcomed my creativity.  It was pretty fabulous, I felt like I was bringing my vision to the table and it was  appreciated.

We arrived at Manhattan Beach studios around 5 o'clock.  These studios were built for David E. Kelley so he could work close to his home at the beach.  He's from Boston.  I'm from Boston.  I did a pilot for him once, but never met him.  Maybe someday we will meet.    My boss and I wanted to shoot outside, so we were racing against the sun.  I was my usually worrisome self, pushing him along to move at a faster pace, snapping at the security guard when it took 15 minutes to let us onto the lot.  The whole time, the man I was working for, kept his cool and didn't stress out once.  Is that the key to success?   Not stressing?  Anyway  I constantly looked at the sun going behind the clouds and I got anxiety.  His response as he set up two cameras, switched lenses and set up a monitor, "So are you obsessed with writing your novel?"  Why is he asking me this, the sun is going down!!  "I'm frustrated, I have writers block and I don't know how to end it."  "Ah, I see."  he responded.  "Visuals always help in that situation, have photos near the writing, or go to Gettyimages.com for inspiration/"  Oh my God, I rush too much, that's probably why I never get anywhere or get to where I want to go to at a rapid pace.

We were shooting the props for a TV show that I auditioned for last week.  I obviously didn't get the part.  They cast an African American Senator and his wife was African American as well.  Phew.  It had nothing to do with my acting ability.  I ran into my friends boyfriend,  he was cast as a series regular and was freaking out that I was there on set.  He looked different when I saw him.  He was wearing a suit and looked very handsome, I can see why my friend fell for him.  He was feverishly texting me to come visit him on set, I couldn't, I was loading camera equipment, I wish I could be that glamorous.

I learned so much today and I will continue it for days and days to come.  I love when I have to stop, look at the ground and wrap my head around the four thousand dollar lens that was just thrown on to my desk, that some genius has told me to put on his camera.  My hands shook, I was nervous, but I did it.  I will wake up again tomorrow and do it all again and probably learn about some other crazy film sequence in some film I've never seen.

Knowledge is power and it keeps the lights from getting shut off.