Casting on Community 1/5
So I'm sure you know what this posting is about by now...Yep, that's it...My sister Dawn and I got the call again, we were casted on "Community" for 1/5/09. Technically, we were casted on the 1/4 for a "rush" call at like 5PM, (a rush call is a casting call with no warning, and they quickly scoop up everyone they can), but we found out later that the Rush call was cancelled. It was only 2 hours later that we found out that "Community" took us for the 1/5, in addition they also took our friend Joey!
Our call time was at 7:42 AM (I have no idea why 7:42?), but I have like the cold from hell right now, so I was barely sleeping as it was, so I was up by 3:30, and we ended up leaving about 4:30ish. We agreed to give our friend Joey a ride, since he lived on the way and was without a car for the time being. Now usually I don't care if I'm late or not, but when it's a casting I like to be there early, I mean EARLY! I prefer to be there no later than a half hour early...cause I know what being late can cost you in this industry! We get to Joey's apartment and are waiting, and waiting, and waiting, finally it gets to about 7:20AM and I'm freaking out, in addition Dawn's in the backseat freaking out on top of that. Finally Joey comes out, and apologizes for being late, that he over slept...I honestly didn't care, I just wanted to get to the studio and quick!
So after some quick driving, and moving, we got to the lot about 7:40 and Brock was in the process of checking in all the extras. Luckily, there was a long line of people still getting checked in, so we jumped in the back and were not counted late. THANK GOD!
I had met Brock one of the PA's last time I was on "Community" but Dawn had yet to meet him. I was curious if Brock would remember me or not, so when it was our turn to check in, I walk up there and give my name, he didn't even look up. Once he heard my name, he looked up and smiles wide and goes "I know you!" and I just smiled wide " and I was like yeah, you remember me Brock?" and he's like "Of course I remember you Melissa!" then he looks to Dawn and he's like "I don't know you!" I of course jumped in and was like "This is my sister Dawn!" So I introduced them, and it was off to wardrobe.
After a quick onceover by wardrobe we were given the OK, and were waiting only for a bit, before Spyder, told everyone who had checked in and been approved to follow him to holding. Since we were being led across the lot, that told me we would be filming outside, so we cross the lot to studio 2 and were put in holding. We literally sat in holding for maybe 10 minutes, before they came and grabbed all of us and moved us out to set.
Getting out to set we were informed that it is Valentine's day...now of course we all looked at each other weird, many of us pulling out our cell phones just to make sure we didn't miss like a day, or a month or something. We all figured out that what they meant is that it is Valentine's Day at Greendale Community College. So we were led to Props, where we were all given some sort of student prop and some sort of Valentine's prop. Dawn and I each had a Heart shaped box of candy...Aww...someone gave me their heart...now only if I could find out who?
So we're all placed for the first shot, and they had all these stands and Dawn and I were placed at a Cupcake stand, and the extra that was working the Cupcake stand, was just hillarious! I mean he was saying some of the funniest things...and the best part was he had dredlocks down to his butt! So we're all standing there looking at the very real cupcakes, fighting the urge not to grab one. I'm sorry i'm fat...it's what i do! Spyder comes by and is looking at the cupcakes, and the other extra was like "Would you like a cupcake?" and Spyder just shrugs his shoulders, when the dreadlock guy goes "Come to think of it, maybe you don't want a cupcake from a guy with dreds? It might be a special type of cupcake?" which cracks us up to which Spyder goes "Well maybe I do want it then!" So funny! Then like everytime we would film a scene, the dred lock guy would go "Have a cupcake, the sprinkles are made of love!" It was just funny!
Well we're doing the scene with the Human Being Mascot, (you honestly have no idea how excited I was to be in a scene with the mascot! Even though the dredlock guy kept referring to him as the human condom-looking dude.) So the director tells the Human Mascot to basically bump, shove, push, anyone he could, and if you're one of the people who get pushed to react! So this guy must of just had it out for me or something, because every take we did, the mascot kicked my ass! I mean the first scene he bumped into me, the next take he shoved me forward, the next take he flat out pushes me etc etc etc. And of course I'm reacting each time...Finally they call a small break for the poor guy doing the mascot, and I turn to Dawn and I'm like "The Human Being is kicking my ass!" We were just about to start filming another take, I'm looking at the cupcakes when I hear Dawn go "Don't turn around!" Now come on? What's the first thing you do when someone tells you that? yep...I turn around and I see Joel Mchale walking on set directly across from us, he looked oh so good...(In case any of you missed the previous blogs, or the news flash I tend to have a bit of a crush on Mr. McHale...) Him and Anonymous (I'm referring to this person as Anonymous because this is a new character that will be there for a few episodes and I don't want to ruin or spoil anything by telling how this person plays into the storyline) stop like directly across from us, I of course smile like a dumb ass...so the director calls for the next take, Joel and Anonymous had to run to get off camera. Of course...The one place where Joel runs to...yeah like 15 feet behind the cupcake stand and he's staring right at me and Dawn...I glance up, then look back down at the cupcakes and I whisper to Dawn "he's not gonna stand there and watch us is he?" Dawn glances up right when the director is like "Action!"...(well that answered my question!), so we do the scene and of course The Human Being gets me again, I react and I turn back around to look at the Dredlock guy and I see Joel standing in the back just smiling and laughing, causing me to blush a bit, cause I know he saw the mascot just kick my ass!
We were then placed at another stand, but this time Dawn and I were running the stand, and the two people that were at the stand with us were identical twin girls, named Jayden and Justine. They were extremely nice, we all got to talking since they found out we were sisters also. The one twin was like "I thought you two were sisters, I just wasn't sure...but you two definitely look alike!" Of course you know not a moment goes by that I can't embarass myself..countdown in 3...2...1.. So the stand we were at had candy hearts on it, and unbeknownst (awesome word!) to me, Joel was standing on his cue , like 5 feet away from Dawn. So I grab the candy heart and I'm like "Dude, i'm fat, I'm gonna eat this thing..." and I was pretending to shove it in my mouth, trying to make Dawn and the twins laugh. It isn't until I glance over at my sister and I see Joel looking back at me. He has this wide smile on his face, and he's just staring at me. I'm standing there with a big candy heart hanging out of my mouth, so I reach up, put the heart out of my mouth and back on the table and just blush so hard. I finally just covered my face with my hand as I go "Thanks for telling me he was there Dawn!" Dawn turns around and just starts laughing and she goes "I didn't know! He's still looking at you!" I didn't remove my hand until I heard the director yell "action!" I was so embarassed!
The next scene we were placed on the other side, and we're told to walk to another stand, which is being run by the same dredlock guy, but this stand was selling candy-grams. Which was funny cause the dredlock guy kept trying to hit me with the balloons tied to the stand, and the best part was we were filming and the dredlock guy pretended that he was gonna throw a starburst at this other extra, and the other guy like flipped out! He like jumped up in the air and ducked, to avoid getting hit by this little starburst...It was so funny! I hope they use that clip, just to see that guy do his wacky move like that!
So the director calls us to go back to one, so we go back to our spot and get this...the make up lady decides she's gonna use the spot like 5 feet from us to touch up everyone's makeup. So Anonymous was getting their make up retouched, and Dawn and I were talking because I had to sneeze really bad. Last time when I sneezed it was so flipping loud! I have a cold I couldn't help it! So I was trying to prevent the sneeze from happening, when I say something like "Yeah it would all be like this..." and I proceed to act out my sneeze in slow motion, dawn's just dying while I'm acting this whole thing out. Then Dawn goes "Yeah and I'd be like this..." as she reacts in slow motion. All of a sudden we hear this loud laugh, we look over our shoulder and Joel is standing there, getting his make up retouched and he is just laughing...he tells the make up lady "one second" as he continues laughing, just staring at Dawn and I. Dawn and I are like staring at the ground, as we hear him laughing, I was blushing so red at this point, but I won't lie...I felt proud...I made him laugh by my stupid impression...
A few moments and takes later, Dawn and I are back in the same position, and Joel is once again getting his make up retouched. Dawn asks me for a piece of gum, so I reach in my back pocket and pull out a pack of gum when Dawn yells loudly "EW!! I don't want to eat that! It's got your butt juices all over it!" to which I loudly reply "My butt doesn't have juices!" only to hear Joel speak and go "Butt Juices?" that shut us up so quick..We quickly turned our heads and looked down to the ground,but we were both laughing so hard. We could hear Joel talking and he was like "Butt Juices...Butt Juices..." he just kept repeating it, laughing in between. Another reason why Dawn and I should not be allowed out in public...and if you hear that term on 'The soup' you know where it came from...
The next scene I decided that I would work the "Roses" stand and Dawn would be the person I was selling a rose too, so we're standing there next to two whole buckets full of roses. "Community" has the big bucks...they were real roses! It was kind of funny cause Spyder comes over and grabs a rose out of the bucket and I turn to Dawn and I'm like "See I'm an awesome sales person!" and Spyder turns around and goes "You are a great sales person!" and of course I end it with "hell yeah!" to which Dawn just rolls her eyes. Well during this scene we were behind Joel and Anonymous, and Gillian was placed literally like a step in front of the stand. So she was directly in front of us at the beginning of the scene so that was cool.
Well they're doing the first scene, and Dawn and I are talking when out of the corner of my eye I can tell there is someone standing at the end of the table. I'm thinking it's probably spyder, so I turn to face him and ...well...it wasn't spyder. Joel McHale is just standing at the end of the table, smiling wide. My eyes grow wide and I'm like "Whoa!...you're definitely not spyder!" Dawn's just standing there watching her sister make an ass out of herself, and Joel's just chuckling and smiling at us. He didn't say a word cause they were filming the end of the scene, so he's standing there with a huge smile on his face, we're standing there looking back at him. It was a bit awkward but kind of funny, finally I get my voice back and I whisper "Do you want a rose?" and he chuckles a bit, but he did lean forward to smell them...I told you I was an awesome sales person!
So we were on break for a bit, and I was like doing this little dance next to the stand. Gillian is standing on her cue, like right in front of us, the people at the other stand were like "Dance!" which of course causes Gillian to turn around and look at me, so I do this stupid little tap dance thing, and I'm like "ta-da!", and Dawn goes "as long as it's not your happy dance we're ok!" (Yes I have a happy dance)...Gillian just giggles a bit before turning around to face the director again. After that I kept whispering like the weirdest things behind her, trying to get her to turn around. It was a little game that kept us entertained a bit, and she was laughing...
During the scene, I'm acting like I'm selling Dawn a rose, so what does Dawn do? She shoves the rose like into my face for me to take a sniff, now I have the cold from hell, plus asthma, plus allergies and she's the one shoving a real flower into my face? I was like "are you trying to kill me?"
We went to lunch, not to much exciting there...went to the cafeteria got a small snack, but on the way back OMG! We saw the cockroach from hell walking on the sidewalk! I don't like bugs as it is, but this thing was huge! It looked like it was some sort of little alien or something! It was reddish too, truely terrifying...seriously had it been in the scene with us I would of screamed like a little girl! It was so gross!
Back on set, they did something unique, basically they lined up all of us extras and they picked some of us to one side and some of us to others. We then found out that they had enough equipment that they were gonna film 2 scenes at the same time! Of course Dawn and I were placed in Joel's scene, which I knew we would of been.
We were placed on the sidewalk right behind Joel, so we're standing there waiting for our cue when all of a sudden I hear a familiar voice. Joel is standing right behind us, so I take a quick peek, he was walking around in a t-shirt until they made him put back on his hoodie...so my eyes and ovaries got their fill...So I turn back around and I'm talking to Dawn when I hear Joel say "Joel likes those..." I thought it was cute that he was talking in 3rd person, so I turned around to see what he was talking about and he's staring directly at me, a wide smile on his face. After I blush a bit, he turns to the PA and goes "Look at her kicks!" and he points to my shoes, then looks at me again and goes "I like those..." I simply smiled as I turned around and whisper to Dawn "Joel likes my shoes!!"...I'm such a spaz...I was so excited that he liked my shoes! We found out earlier that Joel likes his sneakers...he was talking about how he likes Puma's shoes, and his shoe size...yes I heard what joel's shoe size was...
Dawn kept saying how excited she was cause she saw Troy's and Abed's stand-ins and she was hoping they would be in one of our scenes. Well as we're waiting to film Joel's scene, we see a golf cart coming up the sidewalk and who's on the back...Troy! Dawn proceeded to grab on to my arm, and squealed a bit. Donald glover looks over to Dawn and I as the cart drives by and totally gives us this cute smile. Dawn was so excited, and I'm sure her ovaries we're doing a dance of joy! Unfortunately for Dawnie, Troy, Britta, Shirley and Pierce were all in the other scene that was filming, as we were filming the Joel one.
While we were waiting to film, I had some extra energy to burn off, so I all of a sudden turn to Dawn and just do this like weird dance move. I've now named it the Constipated Chicken...(ask for it if you ever meet me...) and Dawn just about died...She was like "What the hell was that?" and I was laughing too hard to even explain it...It was random..
So we were sent back to holding for a bit, Dawn and I ran over to kraft services so Dawn could get another glimpse of Donald before he left. We came back and there were rumors that they were gonna send some of us home. Those rumors are always kind of scary cause you don't know if you're gonna be able to stay or not. We all waited on pins and needles until the one AD came and moved us back to the normal soundstage where they usually film,and we were led into the library and told to relax
.
At this point we have no idea what's going on, when Spyder comes in and picks Dawn and I, plus 3 other women to follow him. We walk into the cafeteria and the assistant director named Bob comes over and explains to us, that one of us is gonna be selected for a feature. Let me explain what a featured extra role is...it's an extra that will be seen on camera, in focus with the main actors, but without in lines. They won't be in the background, they will be a pivotal role in the scene, just no lines.
So we start talking to each other, while the director and Bob are walking around us 5. I'll be honest after hearing the scene they were looking for, I knew I wasn't gonna get it...I kind of had a feeling it was either gonna be Dawn or this other girl. Sure enough, the director cuts in and pulls Dawn out to talk to her! I was so excited for her! My baby sister got chosen for the feature!!! So you'll have to excuse me I'm a proud big sister!
The director explains to Dawn what she'll be doing and Dawn agrees to do it, so then the director turns to spyder and goes "Ok, Dawn's gonna be our feature, so Dawn needs the coffee cart attendant uniform, and put the other girls in Cafeteria worker uniforms!" So we all got sent to wardrobe. The put Dawnie in a hat and apron, while us other 4 were in blue smocks and hair nets. Which was so cool cause we've never done the wardrobe thing before, at least I hadn't.
I wasn't in the scene much, basically because I was checking on Dawn. I knew she was nervous, so I wanted to make sure she was ok. Even the director told me "Dawn's gonna lie to me if I ask her if she's nervous, your her sister...you'll know...so I'd rather have you here so I know what's really going on..." So I spent alot of the time near the director keeping an eye on Dawn throughout the scenes, making sure she was alright, that she wasn't taking any of it personally. Plus Dawn even said herself, that she felt much better just being able to see me, that she wasn't alone, cause she was so nervous.
Ken was so funny because after every take he would say "I love you Dawn!" or he'd get up and hug her, or come over and kiss her hand. He honestly felt bad that he had to say these things to her, but Dawn's a great sport! She never cracked up, and she didn't take any of it personally!
It was kind of hard for me to watch, cause acting or not, the guy is still saying mean things about my little sister. During one take, Alison Brie approached me and goes "Are you two sisters?" and I said "yeah, how'd you know?" and she goes "ya'll look alike!" I just nodded as I continued to watch the scene, Alison puts her arm around me and goes "It's hard huh?" and I just shrugged and said "That's still my little sister out there, if he makes her cry, I'm going out there!" and Alison goes "Honey, if he makes her cry, we're all going out there!" which made me smile a bit. Every take after that, Alison would go "She's not crying! She's not crying!" which made me smile.
Don't get me wrong, Dawn can take care of herself, it's just I know she was nervous. I've also been on many sets throughout college and I know how some people can be, and I wanted to make sure she had someone in her corner the whole time. I even asked her afterwards if she was ok that I was there, and she said she was glad that I stayed nearby, it calmed her a bit knowing I was there. In addition, I didn't know how bad Ken was gonna get, I mean I've seen him adlib around Chevy and stuff, but I didn't know how far of the line he was gonna cross.
I will say though, Ken was great! He stayed far away from the personal line, the worst he said was a couple fat jokes, but honestly Dawn and I say worse to each other on a daily basis, and Dawn didn't take any of it personally.
During one of the breaks I ran out to Kraft service to get Dawn some water, cause I could tell how nervous she was, and I ran into Alison's boyfriend out there. I grabbed some water and he was like "How's she doing?" I smiled and was like "She's doing great!" and he goes "we're serious, if he makes her cry, we're all going out there!" and I said "It's good to know I won't be alone..." which just made him laugh.
In a couple of the last takes, I was in the scene crossing in the background, so I was still near Dawn in case she needed me, but I was also working so that was nice.
After a little break, we were called back in, but they said they didn't need cafeteria workers, but I'll be honest...I wanted to work. So I swallowed my pride and approached one of the female ADs and was like "if i take of my costume, and put my normal stuff back on, can I do crosses in the scene?" her face lit up and she was like "You want to do crosses?" and I was like "yeah" she goes "let's go" and quickly walks me back to holding for me to strip out of wardrobe and put my regular stuff on. I knew Dawn was ok during this time, Spyder was checking on her constantly when I wasn't around, plus Joey was in the room too, so i knew she'd be alright for a bit.
On the way back to the set the female AD goes "I'm so excited you want to be in the scene!" and I was like "yeah! I'll be in every scene if you'd let me..." I think that made a good impression, showing how eager I was to work. So she took me back to set and placed me, directly across from Dawnie.
We finished the scene and they told all the extras to wrap, so I went to Dawn and we were waiting for Spyder so we could ask if Dawn was wrapped too. We were waiting, when Ken comes over and gives Dawn this huge hug, telling her how awesome she was! Dawn seriously was ms. movie star, everyone kept asking if she was SAG or union, others were telling her how great she did!
Ken gives her a hug, then looks at me and goes "I'm sorry, you are?" holding out his hand, i shook his hand and go "I'm Melissa, I'm her big sister..." Ken smiles wide and goes "Melissa!" then he goes "I've seen you before! You've worked here before huh?" (which was kind of shocking, knowing that I only saw him once before), and Dawn goes "yeah she was in the boat episode" and Ken goes "The boat!!!" He gave Dawn a quick kiss on the cheek, before he left. He was a really nice guy, seriously...very very nice.
Spyder tells Dawn she can wrap, so I'm walking Dawn out of the set when we hear a voice go "Excuse me, Dawn?" we stop and turn around and it's Yvette Brown (Shirley), she walks up to Dawn and goes "I just wanted to tell you how great you did tonight! Honey I mean it, you were so good!" Dawn was just floored by this, I mean she remembers Yvette from when she was on Drake and Josh, so this was huge for her! I gave Dawn a huge hug and told her "See I told you, you did good!"
We went and wrapped, and Spyder signs my voucher cause I was the last out of Dawn and I, then he puts the pen down, leans back in his chair and in a serious voice he goes "Ladies!" now I'm thinking we did something wrong or something, then he goes "I hope to see you again real soon" then smiles very, very wide. I won't say it was creepy, it was just a weird occurance...it was almost like a "I know something you don't know" smile...So either he's just saying that, and we're never gonna get hired again, or he knows something that we don't know and they're gonna call our agent and get us back soon...I'm hoping for the 2nd option...
The coolest thing was, after we left set, I told Dawn she should tweet Yvette and tell her thanks for saying what she did. We had Yvette on our following list, (we didn't have Ken on there as of yet), so Dawn wrote
@yvettenbrown: Thank you SO much for what you said tonight, it meant so much. -Dawn (Extra on Community)
and about an hour or so later, we got this reply:
yvettenbrown@DaFatSistas My pleasure, Dawn! You did a great job! It's not easy, there's lots of technical stuff 2 it that has nothing to do with acting!
All I can hope is we get called back...it's always fun on the set, and this day was no different
So that about brings it to an end...Oh and Dawn did get a little bump on her paycheck for her feature...so you all have to watch the episode and watch Dawn's big scene! Oh and look for me too! LOL
Our call time was at 7:42 AM (I have no idea why 7:42?), but I have like the cold from hell right now, so I was barely sleeping as it was, so I was up by 3:30, and we ended up leaving about 4:30ish. We agreed to give our friend Joey a ride, since he lived on the way and was without a car for the time being. Now usually I don't care if I'm late or not, but when it's a casting I like to be there early, I mean EARLY! I prefer to be there no later than a half hour early...cause I know what being late can cost you in this industry! We get to Joey's apartment and are waiting, and waiting, and waiting, finally it gets to about 7:20AM and I'm freaking out, in addition Dawn's in the backseat freaking out on top of that. Finally Joey comes out, and apologizes for being late, that he over slept...I honestly didn't care, I just wanted to get to the studio and quick!
So after some quick driving, and moving, we got to the lot about 7:40 and Brock was in the process of checking in all the extras. Luckily, there was a long line of people still getting checked in, so we jumped in the back and were not counted late. THANK GOD!
I had met Brock one of the PA's last time I was on "Community" but Dawn had yet to meet him. I was curious if Brock would remember me or not, so when it was our turn to check in, I walk up there and give my name, he didn't even look up. Once he heard my name, he looked up and smiles wide and goes "I know you!" and I just smiled wide " and I was like yeah, you remember me Brock?" and he's like "Of course I remember you Melissa!" then he looks to Dawn and he's like "I don't know you!" I of course jumped in and was like "This is my sister Dawn!" So I introduced them, and it was off to wardrobe.
After a quick onceover by wardrobe we were given the OK, and were waiting only for a bit, before Spyder, told everyone who had checked in and been approved to follow him to holding. Since we were being led across the lot, that told me we would be filming outside, so we cross the lot to studio 2 and were put in holding. We literally sat in holding for maybe 10 minutes, before they came and grabbed all of us and moved us out to set.
Getting out to set we were informed that it is Valentine's day...now of course we all looked at each other weird, many of us pulling out our cell phones just to make sure we didn't miss like a day, or a month or something. We all figured out that what they meant is that it is Valentine's Day at Greendale Community College. So we were led to Props, where we were all given some sort of student prop and some sort of Valentine's prop. Dawn and I each had a Heart shaped box of candy...Aww...someone gave me their heart...now only if I could find out who?
So we're all placed for the first shot, and they had all these stands and Dawn and I were placed at a Cupcake stand, and the extra that was working the Cupcake stand, was just hillarious! I mean he was saying some of the funniest things...and the best part was he had dredlocks down to his butt! So we're all standing there looking at the very real cupcakes, fighting the urge not to grab one. I'm sorry i'm fat...it's what i do! Spyder comes by and is looking at the cupcakes, and the other extra was like "Would you like a cupcake?" and Spyder just shrugs his shoulders, when the dreadlock guy goes "Come to think of it, maybe you don't want a cupcake from a guy with dreds? It might be a special type of cupcake?" which cracks us up to which Spyder goes "Well maybe I do want it then!" So funny! Then like everytime we would film a scene, the dred lock guy would go "Have a cupcake, the sprinkles are made of love!" It was just funny!
Well we're doing the scene with the Human Being Mascot, (you honestly have no idea how excited I was to be in a scene with the mascot! Even though the dredlock guy kept referring to him as the human condom-looking dude.) So the director tells the Human Mascot to basically bump, shove, push, anyone he could, and if you're one of the people who get pushed to react! So this guy must of just had it out for me or something, because every take we did, the mascot kicked my ass! I mean the first scene he bumped into me, the next take he shoved me forward, the next take he flat out pushes me etc etc etc. And of course I'm reacting each time...Finally they call a small break for the poor guy doing the mascot, and I turn to Dawn and I'm like "The Human Being is kicking my ass!" We were just about to start filming another take, I'm looking at the cupcakes when I hear Dawn go "Don't turn around!" Now come on? What's the first thing you do when someone tells you that? yep...I turn around and I see Joel Mchale walking on set directly across from us, he looked oh so good...(In case any of you missed the previous blogs, or the news flash I tend to have a bit of a crush on Mr. McHale...) Him and Anonymous (I'm referring to this person as Anonymous because this is a new character that will be there for a few episodes and I don't want to ruin or spoil anything by telling how this person plays into the storyline) stop like directly across from us, I of course smile like a dumb ass...so the director calls for the next take, Joel and Anonymous had to run to get off camera. Of course...The one place where Joel runs to...yeah like 15 feet behind the cupcake stand and he's staring right at me and Dawn...I glance up, then look back down at the cupcakes and I whisper to Dawn "he's not gonna stand there and watch us is he?" Dawn glances up right when the director is like "Action!"...(well that answered my question!), so we do the scene and of course The Human Being gets me again, I react and I turn back around to look at the Dredlock guy and I see Joel standing in the back just smiling and laughing, causing me to blush a bit, cause I know he saw the mascot just kick my ass!
We were then placed at another stand, but this time Dawn and I were running the stand, and the two people that were at the stand with us were identical twin girls, named Jayden and Justine. They were extremely nice, we all got to talking since they found out we were sisters also. The one twin was like "I thought you two were sisters, I just wasn't sure...but you two definitely look alike!" Of course you know not a moment goes by that I can't embarass myself..countdown in 3...2...1.. So the stand we were at had candy hearts on it, and unbeknownst (awesome word!) to me, Joel was standing on his cue , like 5 feet away from Dawn. So I grab the candy heart and I'm like "Dude, i'm fat, I'm gonna eat this thing..." and I was pretending to shove it in my mouth, trying to make Dawn and the twins laugh. It isn't until I glance over at my sister and I see Joel looking back at me. He has this wide smile on his face, and he's just staring at me. I'm standing there with a big candy heart hanging out of my mouth, so I reach up, put the heart out of my mouth and back on the table and just blush so hard. I finally just covered my face with my hand as I go "Thanks for telling me he was there Dawn!" Dawn turns around and just starts laughing and she goes "I didn't know! He's still looking at you!" I didn't remove my hand until I heard the director yell "action!" I was so embarassed!
The next scene we were placed on the other side, and we're told to walk to another stand, which is being run by the same dredlock guy, but this stand was selling candy-grams. Which was funny cause the dredlock guy kept trying to hit me with the balloons tied to the stand, and the best part was we were filming and the dredlock guy pretended that he was gonna throw a starburst at this other extra, and the other guy like flipped out! He like jumped up in the air and ducked, to avoid getting hit by this little starburst...It was so funny! I hope they use that clip, just to see that guy do his wacky move like that!
So the director calls us to go back to one, so we go back to our spot and get this...the make up lady decides she's gonna use the spot like 5 feet from us to touch up everyone's makeup. So Anonymous was getting their make up retouched, and Dawn and I were talking because I had to sneeze really bad. Last time when I sneezed it was so flipping loud! I have a cold I couldn't help it! So I was trying to prevent the sneeze from happening, when I say something like "Yeah it would all be like this..." and I proceed to act out my sneeze in slow motion, dawn's just dying while I'm acting this whole thing out. Then Dawn goes "Yeah and I'd be like this..." as she reacts in slow motion. All of a sudden we hear this loud laugh, we look over our shoulder and Joel is standing there, getting his make up retouched and he is just laughing...he tells the make up lady "one second" as he continues laughing, just staring at Dawn and I. Dawn and I are like staring at the ground, as we hear him laughing, I was blushing so red at this point, but I won't lie...I felt proud...I made him laugh by my stupid impression...
A few moments and takes later, Dawn and I are back in the same position, and Joel is once again getting his make up retouched. Dawn asks me for a piece of gum, so I reach in my back pocket and pull out a pack of gum when Dawn yells loudly "EW!! I don't want to eat that! It's got your butt juices all over it!" to which I loudly reply "My butt doesn't have juices!" only to hear Joel speak and go "Butt Juices?" that shut us up so quick..We quickly turned our heads and looked down to the ground,but we were both laughing so hard. We could hear Joel talking and he was like "Butt Juices...Butt Juices..." he just kept repeating it, laughing in between. Another reason why Dawn and I should not be allowed out in public...and if you hear that term on 'The soup' you know where it came from...
The next scene I decided that I would work the "Roses" stand and Dawn would be the person I was selling a rose too, so we're standing there next to two whole buckets full of roses. "Community" has the big bucks...they were real roses! It was kind of funny cause Spyder comes over and grabs a rose out of the bucket and I turn to Dawn and I'm like "See I'm an awesome sales person!" and Spyder turns around and goes "You are a great sales person!" and of course I end it with "hell yeah!" to which Dawn just rolls her eyes. Well during this scene we were behind Joel and Anonymous, and Gillian was placed literally like a step in front of the stand. So she was directly in front of us at the beginning of the scene so that was cool.
Well they're doing the first scene, and Dawn and I are talking when out of the corner of my eye I can tell there is someone standing at the end of the table. I'm thinking it's probably spyder, so I turn to face him and ...well...it wasn't spyder. Joel McHale is just standing at the end of the table, smiling wide. My eyes grow wide and I'm like "Whoa!...you're definitely not spyder!" Dawn's just standing there watching her sister make an ass out of herself, and Joel's just chuckling and smiling at us. He didn't say a word cause they were filming the end of the scene, so he's standing there with a huge smile on his face, we're standing there looking back at him. It was a bit awkward but kind of funny, finally I get my voice back and I whisper "Do you want a rose?" and he chuckles a bit, but he did lean forward to smell them...I told you I was an awesome sales person!
So we were on break for a bit, and I was like doing this little dance next to the stand. Gillian is standing on her cue, like right in front of us, the people at the other stand were like "Dance!" which of course causes Gillian to turn around and look at me, so I do this stupid little tap dance thing, and I'm like "ta-da!", and Dawn goes "as long as it's not your happy dance we're ok!" (Yes I have a happy dance)...Gillian just giggles a bit before turning around to face the director again. After that I kept whispering like the weirdest things behind her, trying to get her to turn around. It was a little game that kept us entertained a bit, and she was laughing...
During the scene, I'm acting like I'm selling Dawn a rose, so what does Dawn do? She shoves the rose like into my face for me to take a sniff, now I have the cold from hell, plus asthma, plus allergies and she's the one shoving a real flower into my face? I was like "are you trying to kill me?"
We went to lunch, not to much exciting there...went to the cafeteria got a small snack, but on the way back OMG! We saw the cockroach from hell walking on the sidewalk! I don't like bugs as it is, but this thing was huge! It looked like it was some sort of little alien or something! It was reddish too, truely terrifying...seriously had it been in the scene with us I would of screamed like a little girl! It was so gross!
Back on set, they did something unique, basically they lined up all of us extras and they picked some of us to one side and some of us to others. We then found out that they had enough equipment that they were gonna film 2 scenes at the same time! Of course Dawn and I were placed in Joel's scene, which I knew we would of been.
We were placed on the sidewalk right behind Joel, so we're standing there waiting for our cue when all of a sudden I hear a familiar voice. Joel is standing right behind us, so I take a quick peek, he was walking around in a t-shirt until they made him put back on his hoodie...so my eyes and ovaries got their fill...So I turn back around and I'm talking to Dawn when I hear Joel say "Joel likes those..." I thought it was cute that he was talking in 3rd person, so I turned around to see what he was talking about and he's staring directly at me, a wide smile on his face. After I blush a bit, he turns to the PA and goes "Look at her kicks!" and he points to my shoes, then looks at me again and goes "I like those..." I simply smiled as I turned around and whisper to Dawn "Joel likes my shoes!!"...I'm such a spaz...I was so excited that he liked my shoes! We found out earlier that Joel likes his sneakers...he was talking about how he likes Puma's shoes, and his shoe size...yes I heard what joel's shoe size was...
Dawn kept saying how excited she was cause she saw Troy's and Abed's stand-ins and she was hoping they would be in one of our scenes. Well as we're waiting to film Joel's scene, we see a golf cart coming up the sidewalk and who's on the back...Troy! Dawn proceeded to grab on to my arm, and squealed a bit. Donald glover looks over to Dawn and I as the cart drives by and totally gives us this cute smile. Dawn was so excited, and I'm sure her ovaries we're doing a dance of joy! Unfortunately for Dawnie, Troy, Britta, Shirley and Pierce were all in the other scene that was filming, as we were filming the Joel one.
While we were waiting to film, I had some extra energy to burn off, so I all of a sudden turn to Dawn and just do this like weird dance move. I've now named it the Constipated Chicken...(ask for it if you ever meet me...) and Dawn just about died...She was like "What the hell was that?" and I was laughing too hard to even explain it...It was random..
So we were sent back to holding for a bit, Dawn and I ran over to kraft services so Dawn could get another glimpse of Donald before he left. We came back and there were rumors that they were gonna send some of us home. Those rumors are always kind of scary cause you don't know if you're gonna be able to stay or not. We all waited on pins and needles until the one AD came and moved us back to the normal soundstage where they usually film,and we were led into the library and told to relax
.
At this point we have no idea what's going on, when Spyder comes in and picks Dawn and I, plus 3 other women to follow him. We walk into the cafeteria and the assistant director named Bob comes over and explains to us, that one of us is gonna be selected for a feature. Let me explain what a featured extra role is...it's an extra that will be seen on camera, in focus with the main actors, but without in lines. They won't be in the background, they will be a pivotal role in the scene, just no lines.
So we start talking to each other, while the director and Bob are walking around us 5. I'll be honest after hearing the scene they were looking for, I knew I wasn't gonna get it...I kind of had a feeling it was either gonna be Dawn or this other girl. Sure enough, the director cuts in and pulls Dawn out to talk to her! I was so excited for her! My baby sister got chosen for the feature!!! So you'll have to excuse me I'm a proud big sister!
The director explains to Dawn what she'll be doing and Dawn agrees to do it, so then the director turns to spyder and goes "Ok, Dawn's gonna be our feature, so Dawn needs the coffee cart attendant uniform, and put the other girls in Cafeteria worker uniforms!" So we all got sent to wardrobe. The put Dawnie in a hat and apron, while us other 4 were in blue smocks and hair nets. Which was so cool cause we've never done the wardrobe thing before, at least I hadn't.
I wasn't in the scene much, basically because I was checking on Dawn. I knew she was nervous, so I wanted to make sure she was ok. Even the director told me "Dawn's gonna lie to me if I ask her if she's nervous, your her sister...you'll know...so I'd rather have you here so I know what's really going on..." So I spent alot of the time near the director keeping an eye on Dawn throughout the scenes, making sure she was alright, that she wasn't taking any of it personally. Plus Dawn even said herself, that she felt much better just being able to see me, that she wasn't alone, cause she was so nervous.
Ken was so funny because after every take he would say "I love you Dawn!" or he'd get up and hug her, or come over and kiss her hand. He honestly felt bad that he had to say these things to her, but Dawn's a great sport! She never cracked up, and she didn't take any of it personally!
It was kind of hard for me to watch, cause acting or not, the guy is still saying mean things about my little sister. During one take, Alison Brie approached me and goes "Are you two sisters?" and I said "yeah, how'd you know?" and she goes "ya'll look alike!" I just nodded as I continued to watch the scene, Alison puts her arm around me and goes "It's hard huh?" and I just shrugged and said "That's still my little sister out there, if he makes her cry, I'm going out there!" and Alison goes "Honey, if he makes her cry, we're all going out there!" which made me smile a bit. Every take after that, Alison would go "She's not crying! She's not crying!" which made me smile.
Don't get me wrong, Dawn can take care of herself, it's just I know she was nervous. I've also been on many sets throughout college and I know how some people can be, and I wanted to make sure she had someone in her corner the whole time. I even asked her afterwards if she was ok that I was there, and she said she was glad that I stayed nearby, it calmed her a bit knowing I was there. In addition, I didn't know how bad Ken was gonna get, I mean I've seen him adlib around Chevy and stuff, but I didn't know how far of the line he was gonna cross.
I will say though, Ken was great! He stayed far away from the personal line, the worst he said was a couple fat jokes, but honestly Dawn and I say worse to each other on a daily basis, and Dawn didn't take any of it personally.
During one of the breaks I ran out to Kraft service to get Dawn some water, cause I could tell how nervous she was, and I ran into Alison's boyfriend out there. I grabbed some water and he was like "How's she doing?" I smiled and was like "She's doing great!" and he goes "we're serious, if he makes her cry, we're all going out there!" and I said "It's good to know I won't be alone..." which just made him laugh.
In a couple of the last takes, I was in the scene crossing in the background, so I was still near Dawn in case she needed me, but I was also working so that was nice.
After a little break, we were called back in, but they said they didn't need cafeteria workers, but I'll be honest...I wanted to work. So I swallowed my pride and approached one of the female ADs and was like "if i take of my costume, and put my normal stuff back on, can I do crosses in the scene?" her face lit up and she was like "You want to do crosses?" and I was like "yeah" she goes "let's go" and quickly walks me back to holding for me to strip out of wardrobe and put my regular stuff on. I knew Dawn was ok during this time, Spyder was checking on her constantly when I wasn't around, plus Joey was in the room too, so i knew she'd be alright for a bit.
On the way back to the set the female AD goes "I'm so excited you want to be in the scene!" and I was like "yeah! I'll be in every scene if you'd let me..." I think that made a good impression, showing how eager I was to work. So she took me back to set and placed me, directly across from Dawnie.
We finished the scene and they told all the extras to wrap, so I went to Dawn and we were waiting for Spyder so we could ask if Dawn was wrapped too. We were waiting, when Ken comes over and gives Dawn this huge hug, telling her how awesome she was! Dawn seriously was ms. movie star, everyone kept asking if she was SAG or union, others were telling her how great she did!
Ken gives her a hug, then looks at me and goes "I'm sorry, you are?" holding out his hand, i shook his hand and go "I'm Melissa, I'm her big sister..." Ken smiles wide and goes "Melissa!" then he goes "I've seen you before! You've worked here before huh?" (which was kind of shocking, knowing that I only saw him once before), and Dawn goes "yeah she was in the boat episode" and Ken goes "The boat!!!" He gave Dawn a quick kiss on the cheek, before he left. He was a really nice guy, seriously...very very nice.
Spyder tells Dawn she can wrap, so I'm walking Dawn out of the set when we hear a voice go "Excuse me, Dawn?" we stop and turn around and it's Yvette Brown (Shirley), she walks up to Dawn and goes "I just wanted to tell you how great you did tonight! Honey I mean it, you were so good!" Dawn was just floored by this, I mean she remembers Yvette from when she was on Drake and Josh, so this was huge for her! I gave Dawn a huge hug and told her "See I told you, you did good!"
We went and wrapped, and Spyder signs my voucher cause I was the last out of Dawn and I, then he puts the pen down, leans back in his chair and in a serious voice he goes "Ladies!" now I'm thinking we did something wrong or something, then he goes "I hope to see you again real soon" then smiles very, very wide. I won't say it was creepy, it was just a weird occurance...it was almost like a "I know something you don't know" smile...So either he's just saying that, and we're never gonna get hired again, or he knows something that we don't know and they're gonna call our agent and get us back soon...I'm hoping for the 2nd option...
The coolest thing was, after we left set, I told Dawn she should tweet Yvette and tell her thanks for saying what she did. We had Yvette on our following list, (we didn't have Ken on there as of yet), so Dawn wrote
@yvettenbrown: Thank you SO much for what you said tonight, it meant so much. -Dawn (Extra on Community)
and about an hour or so later, we got this reply:
yvettenbrown@DaFatSistas My pleasure, Dawn! You did a great job! It's not easy, there's lots of technical stuff 2 it that has nothing to do with acting!
All I can hope is we get called back...it's always fun on the set, and this day was no different
So that about brings it to an end...Oh and Dawn did get a little bump on her paycheck for her feature...so you all have to watch the episode and watch Dawn's big scene! Oh and look for me too! LOL