day three: Lather, Rinse, Repeat

I know all of you guys are waiting with bated breath for each update. Sorry this one took so long-- I've been busy, you know, working.

Here are the links to my first day and second day as a real live PA.

Sadly, day three's report isn't going to be a barnburner. Actually, I could probably write it in one good sentence. But lucky for you I'm going to spend twelve paragraphs on it.

My call time was 8am and I showed up at 7:45, keeping my streak of "not being late" alive. For those of you who know me well, it's already impressive enough that I've gotten the streak to three days. Within half an hour, everyone was on their way to a small restaurant in Koreatown's most stereotypical district, for a massive dinner scene with most of the main cast. One PA was sent to base camp at the local mall to keep a firewatch on the expensive shit.

I will give you one guess which PA they picked for that job.

It wasn't all bad. I did busywork for a couple of hours, set up the lunch area with a bunch of tables and chairs. I helped the 2nd AD with a fun little task: went through the entire script and marked down all the instances of product placement. Any car was a Hyundai, any drink was Hite beer, and any beauty salon was the Face Shop.

Then I sat around for a couple more hours. Finally they finished the big, epic, probably hilarious and memorable restaurant scene, and the crew headed over to my location for lunch.

Lunch ran until about 3. Finally it was time to shoot in the city market. Art department had decked out the lobby to look like an airport security checkpoint-- they had a metal detector and Korean Air memorabilia set up in the very center of the mall. I went around with the AD and DP while they took a quick walk around to each shot location, and took notes for the other PAs.

Then they were all set up and ready to film. The actor was in place. Lights were up. Mr. Key PA was getting that "shoot is about to start" anxiety in his eyes, and the director was calling out for last looks.

And it was 3:45, so I had to leave to go to a class.

That's how the day ended. Pretty much a sequel to day two: hours of waiting for no action. I managed to sneak in a couple important things, but for the most part I felt like a retarded albino howler monkey could have done my job, and also had enough spare time to bang out Act I of King Lear on a typewriter using only his forehead.

Don't worry, readers. Day four was far better and more fun than this-- and that report is coming up next. Keep it real and keep it here.