NEPTUNE OR BUST
(Updated With Pictures On May 30)
Man... where do I even begin?
My trip to San Diego to shoot my walk-on role for Veronica Mars started out with some drama. I arrived at Hobby airport in Houston about an hour and fifty minutes prior to my plane's departure on Sunday morning. However, it was the beginning of Spring Break for Houston area schools and the airport was packed. There was a line a mile long just to check luggage at the curb, and it was twice as long at the baggage check inside. I had never seen the line that long. Of course, everyone was heading to the mountains of Colorado to go skiing, so people were checking, like, ten bags. Each. Plus their ski equipment. (Why people in Houston buy ski equipment is beyond me, but whatever *rolls eyes*) Anyway, it literally took me an hour and a forty minutes to check my suitcase. My plane was leaving in ten minutes and I hadn't even gone through security yet. I got through security quickly and I managed to get to my gate just minutes before the plane was scheduled to depart. Fortunately, the plane was about 10 minutes late, so I had a little extra time. But it was a real nail biter. I landed in San Diego on Sunday around 2pm. I was told someone would be picking me up and taking me to the hotel. Sure enough, when I got to baggage claim, there was a man there holding a sign with my name on it. While he was driving me to the hotel, I contacted Dan Mulvaney, an AD on the show, and was told my call time was 7am and they'd send a van to come get me at the hotel at 6:45.
The driver, overhearing my conversation, asked me what I was doing in San Diego. So I told him I was going to be on Veronica Mars. He, of course, had never heard of the show and asked what is was about. I told him the basic premise. He mentioned that he was a single father raising his teenage daughter and asked if it was the kind of show she'd like watching. He was pretty surprised to hear that the show revolved around a teenage girl who was being raised by her single father. I think I definitely won the show a new viewer or two. Yay!
As soon as I got settled into my hotel, I called
leucocrystal who came over and met me. She was just as smart and witty in person as she is in her capspams. We sat and talked about the show for a little while then I interviewed her for the VM fan video. Later, my father-in-law and his wife, who live in La Jolla, came to pick me up and took me to dinner at a great little restaurant called "Sammy's." (Great fish tacos!)
I had requested a "wake-up" call for 5:45am but ended up waking up at about 3:45am. You see, my body was still on Central Standard Time and the snooze button on my internal alarm clock wasn't working. So I got up, made some coffee and checked my email (thank you to everyone who sent me emails wishing me luck, btw). One of the emails was from Jeffrey Travis, a filmmaker from Texas who directed Kristen Bell in the upcoming animated film "Flatland." He wished me luck and asked me to tell Kristen "hi" for him. The driver, who was named Garfield, picked me up at the hotel and drove me to the set.
I wasn't really sure what to expect once I got to the set. Everyone I'd spoken to with the show and with the U.S. Vets Association (who are THE COOLEST PEOPLE EVER) assured me I was going to have a great time. But I wasn't sure what I'd be doing beyond my on-camera bit with Kristen. As soon as I stepped foot out of the van, I was greeted by Gene, an "extras coordinator" and James, an AD. Gene gave me my "sides" (a call sheet and a copy of the script for the scenes that were being shot that day) and took me on a little tour of the backlot and showed me to my trailer!
Yes, folks, I had MY VERY OWN TRAILER with my name on the door and everything. In fact, my trailer was exactly like Ryan Hansen's trailer in the little video he made for the VM MySpace site. I squeed like a tweener at a Justin Timberlake concert when I realized it was only one trailer away from Jason Dohring's trailer. That's when I realized they were pulling out all the stops. My excitement level was off the charts at this point.
As soon as I put my things in my trailer, I headed over to wardrobe to get sized for my standard issue "food service employee" shirt (seen in pic above). I asked the wardrobe people what everyone in the fandom is dying to know: exactly how many jackets does Veronica own? The answer is somewhere in the vicinity of 300. She has a couple dozen jackets in army green alone. I also saw Veronica's shoe stash that included boots that I recognized from the final scene of "Not Pictured." Here's another wardrobe piece I recognized:
I don't think this needs a description, do you? The wardrobe ladies were so sweet.
While I was in the wardrobe trailer, I saw this picture hanging on the wall and laughed my ASS OFF!
I'm totally making an icon out of this!
After I got fitted, I grabbed an omlette at craft services then made my way to the hair and make-up trailer. This was when I had my first on-set "star encounter." As I stepped into the make-up trailer, I saw Enrico Colantoni sitting in a chair getting his make-up done. He introduced himself to me as "Rico" and I sat next to him as Amy styled my hair. Rico and I chatted briefly about my winning the competition and he asked me where I was from. Then he got whisked away for rehearsals before I had the chance to get a picture. Oh well... I was busy getting dolled up by Maria, who was my make-up artist.
I actually got air brushed! I asked Maria if she was the one who created the fabulous tattoos for Weevil. She said that Paula, who I met briefly, was the tattoo artist on the show. I made it a point to commend Paula on her artistry then next time I saw her. Maria was fab as well. Making me look good is no small task, I tell you...
Wearing my street garb, I was escorted to the soundstage and taken directly to the Sheriff's Department set. It was so bizarre being in a place I had seen hundreds of times on my tv set. Deja vu doesn't even come close to describing the feeling. It was more like stepping into a place you know you've never been before but feeling like you'd seen it in a dream. As familiar as I was with the set, I realized there were a lot of little details that I never noticed before. First of all, the station is much smaller than it appears to be on the show... at least to me. The camera crew on this show is brilliant at maximizing their limited space. The set design was perfect, right down to the labels on the filing cabinets, the plaques/awards on the wall (including one for Don Lamb) and the "windows" on the computer screens. Speaking of Lamb... for those of you who think he wasn't memorialized on the show, read the white board in the interrogation room. (But please don't send any money. It's just a tv show, peeps.) Now I'm digressing again. Back to why I was there. Basically, I was "background" - or foreground in this case because my job was to walk in front of Kristen Bell as she makes her way into the Sheriff's office. (Here's an interesting "behind the scenes" tidbit for you. Kristen is called "KB" on the set. Hee.) So Iris, the AD featured on the "Day On the VM Set" featurette on the S2 DVD, instructed me to cross in front of KB when I heard the word "background." Then they would call "action" and that was KB's cue. So when I heard the word "background," I walked in front of KB and on "action" she walked into the Sheriff's office behind me. We did this about 8 times. However on the 3rd take, they didn't call "background" and went straight to "action." I stood there like an idiot waiting for someone to say "background" until KB told me to go ahead. So I frakked up that take. I knew I'd probably screw up at some point, so I was kinda glad to get it out of the way early. After that, they said the "background" cue everytime, so I managed to get through my first VM scene. BTW, I didn't "formally" meet KB till later. She was pretty focused on her script and was working with Michael Fields (the Director) when I was working with her in this scene, so it didn't seem the time to chat her up.
Next I went back to my trailer to find my "food service" wardrobe waiting for me. So I changed and went back to the set to find out where I was supposed to go next. I was told to go to "Video Village." What the frak is that, you ask? It's where the remote video assist monitors are set-up. At Video Village, I see a bunch of director's chairs with various people's names on them, including Michael Fields, Joaquin Sedillo (the DP), Dan Etheridge (Producer), KB, some of the other actors (who shall remain nameless for spoiler purposes) and, oh, yeah, MINE! I'm not even kidding you. Okay, so my name was written on white gaffer's tape, but who cares?! I had my own chair so I could sit and watch the monitors as the actors shot their scenes. That. Rocked! As a filmmaker, I would have been just fine sitting there all day.
But on-camera duty called again as I was placed in my real "walk-on role" as the Cashier at the food court. This wasn't the scene where I give KB her change, though. So I was "background" again. And again. And again. And... well, you get the idea. I chatted with several "customers" as we did our "background" stuff, including a guy (whose name escapes me) that is also a "stand in" for Piz sometimes. I guess these extras and stand-ins come to the set a lot. They all know each other. One offered, jokingly, to give me KB's number - which I thought was a bit bizarre personally. Anyway, the extras get free food for hanging out all day, so it's a pretty sweet deal I'd say. Especially since the food on the set is so good (compared to other productions I've worked on).
So after doing the background bit, I went back to "my chair" and watched the rest of the scene get shot. There, I met a woman named Becky (?) from WB and a man named Eric Kim (?) from CW. Yes, I made it very clear to them both that the fans really, really want a Season 4. Their response was "you're preaching to the choir."
After this scene wrapped, we had lunch (again at craft services). I know you're all dying to find out if I had lunch with KB. The answer is no. According to one of the stand-ins, KB does her voice overs during lunchtime and gets her food delivered to her on the set. (Yes, the girl works during her lunch break.) After lunch I went back to the food court and hung out at the Video Village. I got to hang out with a lot of crew people, who are really cool but SUPER BUSY. I'd ask questions here and there when I could, but for the most part I tried to stay out of their way. Here's a rundown of some of the crew I had the pleasure of meeting:
Joaquin - Director pf Photography (had a nice little discussion about who his artistic influences are.)
Maria - Make-Up
Paula - Make-Up
Amy - Hair
Kim
Lisa - script supervisor (have fun skiing, Lisa!)
Iris - AD
Dan - AD
Tony - AD (I think?)
James - AD
Gene - AD
Neil - Production Manager
Nigel - Props? Set Design?
Monique(?) - Set Dresser
Travis - Sound Recordist who was kind enough to give me the 411 on his DEVA
And many more!
I did not get to meet Rob Thomas (although I did get to talk to him on the phone) or any of the other writers.
So around 3pm a camera crew from the CW affiliate in San Diego shows up to tape me on the set because the CW affiliate in Houston wanted to do a story about me winning the walk-on role for the local news. So for three hours or so, I had a camera crew following me around. I felt so sorry for Scott, CW's cameraman, because he had gotten a sunburn the day before and was having to carry this big ass camera on his shoulder in the heat. (It was 91 degrees in SD, btw.) So I tried to stay indoors.
It was about this time that I was "formally" introduced to KB. She was very sweet. I told her I was a Cloud Watcher and that I was a part of the fandom that was campaigning to keep the show on the air. She said she was very grateful for "all you do" for the show. She said they wouldn't be on the air if it wasn't for us. I told her about our VM fan video campaign, which she thought was a great idea. I told her Jeff Travis said hi. She said she had a lot of fun working on "Flatland" with him. Then she had to get back to the set, so I told her I'd see her later when we shot our scene. That's pretty much it. It was a quick little chat, but she was very nice. I rambled, I'm sure.
I was hanging out at Video Village with Amy, my hairstylist, and she was talking to someone on the phone. Kim said "say hi to Ryan for me" and I asked if it was Ryan Hansen. Kim said "yes, that's her husband." Apparently, he was in New York. I asked Amy if I could talk to him. So I got to chat with Ryan for a little bit. He asked me if I knew about "Invisible Children" and I said I did. He said he'd get Amy to give me a copy of the film. She went out to his car (which she was driving) and brought back a copy of the film. Seriously cool.
After that, me and the CW camera crew headed back to my trailer to hang out during another scene change. Who should I run into along the way? None other than my trailer neighbor Jason Dohring. I introduced myself and he introduced himself (as if he needed to) and then he introduced his wife Lauren. He congratulated me on winning the walk-on role and I gushed over how much I enjoy him on the show. He thanked me. I told him I'd see him on the set. He was super nice, very approachable and genuine. Pretty tall, too. So that was waaaaaaay cool.
Awww....
Throughout the day, I'd walk back and forth to my trailer and see him sitting on the steps to his trailer reading his script intently. I could tell he's a very dedicated actor. BTW, I recall reading somewhere that JD insists on being called "Logan" on the set. I heard him called "Jason" many times. I assume it's a rumor. Who knows? Anyway, I got to see JD in his full Logan glory. And I got to see him shirtless twice! (Not that I was looking or anything.)Obviously, I can't tell you the details, but I can tell you it's SERIOUSLY AWESOME! And I'm in the background! So I'm in a shot with JD! Which makes it even more awesome, IMHO. I personally think we have amazing on screen chemistry ;)
Later, I got to meet Chris Lowell when he came in to shoot a scene. I saw him walk onto the set with a large paper bag. He was taking something out of his bag and handing it to everyone on the set. I was thinking it might be an flyer for his band or something. I was curious, but I wasn't going to go all Horshack on him and say "Oh! Oh! Oh! Gimme! Gimme!" So I went outside to do an interview with the camera crew from CW. When I came back in I saw something sitting on my chair. It was a flyer with a picture of Chris Lowell and a handwritten note that read:
To Everyone on Veronica Mars! You guys drive me NUTS! Thanks for a great season! - Chris Lowell
Affixed to the flyer was a gift card for The Coffee Bean (apparently a local coffee place?) I turned to see he was nearby, so I went to introduce myself. I may not be the biggest "Piz" fan, but I love Chris Lowell. Super nice guy. After we chatted a moment, he said he had something to give me. I asked if he meant the flyer and he said yes. I told him I got one already and thanked him. One thing I noticed about Chris was he was a bit goofier than the other actors, which made KB lighter on the set as well. There was a playfulness about them that was fun to watch, much like their little video interview they did a couple of weeks ago. At one point, they had to go back to their mark and they raced eachother to it. Chris apparently couldn't stop himself and ended up hurdling over a table. Jumped completely over it. I'd kill myself and half the crew if I attempted something like that. That white boy CAN jump.
Finally at 11pm that night, we got to the scene where I give Veronica her change. I rehearsed with KB several times. She told me she doesn't like the "slippery" fake change because she's always dropping them. So I reached in my pocket and pulled out the real deal - a handful of change. She didn't drop one. We chatted a little while the director worked with the camera operator. We mused about one of the day players looking just like Anthony Michael Hall. We talked about KB's plans after she finishes shooting the finale (she's going to Hawaii to shoot a movie where she plays - get this - an actress on a tv. Gee, I wonder what life expereinces she'll draw from for that role?). About that time, someone came up with a roll of multi hued tape so they could tape my mark on the floor. The guy asked me what color I wanted and I replied "green." To which Kristen enthusiastically replied "good choice." I said I was a "green girl." She nodded appreciatively. Her enthusiastic approval of my color choice led me to believe that maybe she had inferred that I was referring to the environment. I wasn't, actually. Green is simply my favorite color. Maybe I'm just reading something more into the exchange. She really likes green, though. I was awed at how energetic KB still was after working her ass off all day. She's amazing. There's just no other word for it. But you guys already know that.
I shot my bit. The director said I was "brilliant," but I think he was just being nice because I had told him that "Wrath of A Con" and "Leave It to Beaver" were two of my favorite VM episodes - which he directed. But, hey, that's cool. I'm no actor. I know that. He knows that. So it was nice of him to compliment me.
The Filmmakers: Joaquin Sedillo (DP), Me and Michael Fields (Director)
In addition to meeting Rico, KB, JD and CL, I got to meet Max Greenfield, David Tom and some of the day players - such as Matthew Alan who played "Gory" and the kid who played "The Lout" (the guy Veronica said she was going to run over with her karma). FYI, KB thought the kid looked like a young Anthony Michael Hall.
The last thing I did on the set was take pictures with Kristen and Chris.
Pizonica sandwich.
And another.
Afterwards, Kristen thanked me profusely for being so supportive of the show and repeated that it wouldn't be on the air without us. I told her that I thought most of the credit belonged to her and the people who make Veronica Mars because they work so hard to create such an amazing show that people feel so passionately about that they want to try to keep it on the air. She said she'd take about 10% of the credit, but most of the credit goes to the fans. I thought that was nice of her to say.
So there you have it. My day on the set of Veronica Mars. I was there for a total of 18 hours. I enjoyed every minute. On a parting note, I want to THANK Rob Thomas, Greg McCormack (U.S. Vets) and Stephen Peck (U.S. Vets). And I want to thank the entire crew who made me feel like one of them for the day. Those guys work so hard. So. Damn. Hard. Just to entertain us. I never thought this would be possible - but I'm a bigger Veronica Mars fan today than I was before.