Scrub no more...wait, scratch that.

Hello, all!  It's been a while!  I don't really remember when I last checked in, but I feel like I actually have something to report this time!

So, my buddy, Jim Cremins, made a life changing decision a couple of months ago to quit his job as the GM of the Beekman Theatre and do what he moved to NY to do which is work in the film industry.  Since making that decision, he's had work every week in some capacity on a project in that industry!  Most recently he got on as an office PA on the low budget film "Scoutmasters."  Being the good friend that he is, he got me an interview.  I went in, apparently impressed some people and started driving.  I worked my first day in about three and a half months and became an ex-NYC Scrub!

(cheers and applause and pats on the back)

I know, thank you, thank you!  So, whilst driving I apparently impressed a few other people and I figured this gig was on lock!  Then I found out the AD department (that's assistant directors) had a different idea.

See, when I first interviewed, I came in to be a driver.  Then they realized I was an actor and they wanted me to be a set PA working with the nine nine-year-olds in the film.  I was down for that!  Then the director steps in and brings someone else in for the kid wrangler position...but the coordinators that I interviewed with still like me and want me to work, so they tell me I'll likely be a talent driver.  Still awesome!  Driving a van around for the actors (the film stars Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville and Rob Riggle) and then working on set in between is a good way to make some connections.

Then during pre-production, the set decorating department needed a 14' box truck to get their gear to Yonkers.  I got the call and drove for that day.  I have to be honest, not a fan of driving a truck in and around NYC.  There are certain roads you can't drive on in NYC and there are certain bridges you can't take.  You pretty much can't park anywhere and part of this film takes place in Bear Mountain State Park where I would be driving up the side of said mountain with nothing but a six-inch rock wall keeping me from going over the edge and plummeting to my inevitable fate.  Do not want!

The two days after driving the box truck I drove one of two 15-passenger vans on a Tech Scout.  We hit just about every location outside of Manhattan and this is where I learned about the need to drive up the side of a mountain.  There was a lot of back-and-forth between what I was hearing in the van and what I was hearing from the production office.  The coordinators wanted me to be a talent driver while the ADs wanted me to be a truck driver.  The set decorator, Lou, wanted me to drive his truck.  After I told the coordinators that I didn't feel comfortable driving a truck, I was supposedly back on to drive talent vans.  Then I was told by the ADs that I would be driving talent vans and I figured it was a done deal.  Nothing is ever a done deal!  After being told that I was on the crew and would be driving talent, I received a call over the weekend and was told I was needed to drive the wardrobe truck.

I'm not sure if you got the idea yet, but I DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE DRIVING A TRUCK AROUND HERE!!  So I turned it down.  I was supposed to receive a call from the ADs as a follow up this past weekend, but they never rang.  Come to find out today that they will not be using me to drive anything!  Now I've been reduced to day-playing as a set PA.

Now, part of me is pissed!  However, there's a part of me that is happy since I was trying to go back to Charlotte one weekend to see my brother-in-law and some friends play a Nirvana show.

So, basically, I've been a scrub for about three and a half months, then got a job and started making my own money, then lost the job (essentially) and am back to being a part time scrub.  Nothing is ever easy.