Hi Everyone,
This blog could also be called, Some People’s Children, I Can’t Make This S%*t Up!, or There’s No Protocol. This is what I mean.
For anyone who doesn’t know, I have been a Background Performer for TV shows and movies on-and-off for just over 10 years. There are some years I am on set more than others. It all depends on what is going on in my life. I am telling you this because I was barely on set for 2016 to 2018. Which in my experience lately has some people thinking I am new to the industry when I am not. I know how to conduct myself because back when I started there were rules and boundaries. Since I have returned to set, I have seen things that never would have happened even 4 years ago. Here are some examples.
People are people and let’s face it, some people show all their true colours in a very short period of time. Like the first time I was on set with this female I couldn’t hear the AD instruct us so she said, Run along, and then shooed me away with her hand. Not only was I not impressed neither was anyone standing by us. Anyway… On the sets after that (for the same production) she would tell me what to do like she was my personal AD. I always simply said, If someone wants me to move they’ll tell me. And then she would look at me as I looked at her.
The above female didn’t stop there. If she thought a scene could use some of her help, she would call an AD over and give him her opinion. The Assistant Director just nodded and basically told her they have it under control. When she kept talking, he politely noddded some more and got a calle on his walkie that he most likely pretended to have because that is what they do in sticky situations. Frustrated she sat back down beside me. Oh but it gets better, or well worse. This female went and stood right in front of an actor and started talking to her like they were best friends. Not only was the actor taken aback she actually stepped back but couldn’t go anywhere due to the way the scene was set-up. The actor was trapped. I stood less than two feet away and watched in horror. This female didn’t get it. Ever since another Background Performer took a selfie with the above actor in the background, everyone who steps onto that production had to have tape covering their camera on their cell phone. And she just starts talking to the actor? Unbelievable!!
Let’s move onto another day of the same production.
It was getting close to the end of the day and the Director and two Assistant Directors were discussing a scene. Instead of the two Background Performers just standing there and listening to learn something, one of them decided to share her ideas with them. Waving her left arm as she spoke the other started talking too. Everyone just stared at them until the Director said, Are you part of this conversation? Rather than shutting up, the first one finished her thought. When the scene didn’t go according to plan, those two Background Performers burst out laughing and said that production didn’t know what they were doing. Again, I was sitting less than 5 feet away and watched in horror.
Let’s move onto another production.
On Thursday July 4th I sat on the shuttle and a female sat in the seat next to me across the aisle. She was all smiles when she saw me. Since I skipped my coffee it took me a few minutes to catch on. I am of the opinion that she was so happy to see me because it meant that I was not with a guy she was, and most likely still is, very interested in. Oh you should have seen her, texting away as she smiled like it was Christmas, singing her favourite carol while opening presents. If that was all she did I wouldn’t be writing about her but it wasn’t. The second the bus stopped she was right behind me as I exited the bus. If she could have been 3 inches behind me she was an eigth layer of skin because she was two-and-a-half inches behind as we walked off the bus all the way to sign in to work. The Background Casting person who hired both of us just stared at her. After I was signed in she continued to follow me through Background Holding, the place we set our belongings and wait to start work, until I found a seat between two people, one I knew. With no where for her to sit she was forced to sit a few tables away. I, unfortunately, was forced to endure her and her friends for the rest of the day and the following days I had commited myself to working on that production.
I could go on about her ridiculous antics and the way she treats me about a guy I never dated in 2015, but I won’t. I told everyone I wanted to the above story and more always clearly stating her full name–several times.
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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