To Make A Long Story Short...(too late!)

I am *so* freaking happy right now! Go Izzie! Go Izzie! You're amazing! You're awesome! You ROCK!!

Okay, here's the story: Yesterday morning I get a call from Central Casting. Am I available to work Tuesday and Thursday next week on this show? Um...yes! They need me for a photo shoot on Tuesday, and then on Thursday I'll be filming a short video to be used in an upcoming episode. I won't have any speaking lines, but I've been told it will be somewhat of a featured part. In my book, anything that's different from standard background work is *awesome*, especially since they specifically picked me to do this! They did give me a little bit more specific info about what I'll be doing, but I'm being cautious and assuming I'm not at liberty to discuss it. However, the CD will call me back on Monday with time and location and such.

So then yesterday on the set was interesting, but I had stayed up too late the night before, and then I got up early to go to Sears and buy an upscale winter coat (which I got at 50% off -- Go Izzie! Go Izzie!) so I wouldn't have to borrow my aunt's coat again, especially since the shoulder pads in her coat made me look like a frickin' linebacker. (I borrowed it for Blades of Glory a couple of months ago.) Anyhow, the point of all that is I was very fatigued when I arrived on set. Which is probably why I felt that I hadn't been listening to the PAs as well as I could have. I also met a couple of fun women to hang out with, and we began amusing ourselves first by playing "I Spy", and then the Alphabet Game with categories such as Song Titles, where we had to come up with a song title for each letter of the alphabet. One of my new friends is a dancer, so every time we came up with a party dance song for one of the letters, she’d get up, sing the song, and dance! It was very cool, and so much fun! We were all laughing so hard.

As we played, I noticed one of the principle actors watching us as he sat in his chair. Then a PA came and got a group of us, including my friends and I, and led the group past the actors chairs to place us for the next part of the scene. As my friends and I walked past the chairs, the actor approached the three of us.

"Excuse me," he said (to the best of my recollection), "You all need to be more professional. I was watching you sitting there, laughing loudly and having a good time. Your behavior was very unprofessional. This is not a place to have fun."

As he spoke, I was staring at him, mortified. Here was a professional actor telling me that I had acted extremely unprofessionally on set when my goal was to be completely professional.

He stopped speaking when he saw the look on my face. "Oh, honey," he said, taking my hand warmly. "I was just kidding." He put his arm around my shoulders. "I'm sorry, it was just a joke."

I was so relieved, but I didn't know what to say. A man I didn't know had his arm around my shoulders. After a moment, I said, "And I'm the one who believed that the word 'gullible' isn't in the dictionary!"

My friend joked, "You've been Punk'd!" I laughed, stepped away from the actor, and said, "Hello, my name is Isabelle, and I've just been Punk'd!"

So yesterday's job was supposed to be a 2 day call, a bunch of us had already been booked for two days, but then at wrap they told a bunch of us they didn't need us to come back today. So me being me and being as tired as I was, I began to worry that I had done something unintentionally to put me in the group not invited to come back. Especially after what that actor had said to us, even knowing it was a joke. Especially after I had arrived 30 minutes late to set due to traffic, even though I had called to let them know I was stuck in traffic. Especially because a lot of other little things that could have been blunders were stacking up in my mind. But when I listened to the recorded message with details for today's call, everyone coming back was being switched over to hip, trendy Party Goers, and I am not the hip, trendy type. Which helped put my mind at ease that it wasn't anything I had done.

So this afternoon, I'm listening to the casting notices to get myself booked. They're looking for 18 TLY for Heros. I know I can play 20's but I decide to see if I can play 18 TLY as well, because there is nothing else on the line working Monday. Ironically, everyone is booking for Tuesday. I get through and the CD says, "Oh, I'd love to use you for this, but I've completely booked it already. Let me see if I can use you for this other show..." a moment of silence while she checked, "Nope, you're not an African-American male. I'm sorry I can't use you this time, but always give me a call back, I'd love to use you!"

That made me feel really good, especially since I had still been a little bit worried that I had done something wrong on set yesterday. But between the CD's very nice and encouraging attitude towards me, and getting picture-picked for that TV show next week, it seems I'm getting a good reputation at Central! Yay!

But wait, there's more!! I hear another notice for this movie, and they're looking for people with fun, wild costumes for a gay fundraiser scene. I immediately think of my costume from A Faery Hunt! this past summer. And it will be a seven day booking. BUT, the fitting is on Tuesday.

I think fast. The photo shoot I'm already booked for shouldn't take all day, and fittings only take an hour or so, I wonder if there's a way I can do both. So I call in and explain the situation to the CD for the movie. She puts me on hold while she talks to the CD for the TV show I'm already booked on. In a few minutes she comes back and tells me the other CD thinks the photo shoot should be a morning or early afternoon thing (the CD doesn't have the info yet either, which is why he is going to call me back on Monday), so she can book me for the latest time slot for the fitting! As long as the times for the photo-shoot and the fitting don't conflict, I've got myself booked for seven days at the end of October! Wah-BOOM!

Go Izzie! Go Izzie! You're amazing! You're awesome! You ROCK!! And a *HUGE* Thank You to the Universe!