Filming "Turn"

This was quite an experience!  "Turn" is an AMC TV show pilot that I worked on as a background extra for five days over the course of a week.  It was 100 miles round trip to get to the filming location, so I spent many hours on the road and put lots of miles on my car!  But I was getting PAID, which was fantastic!  Not a lot, because most of my work days only lasted 6-8 hours, but every little bit helps.  

Click HERE to visit the IMDb page for the show and read more about the story and the actors.

With my friend Nate Sisson, who was working crew.  Notice the "Writers' Block" (now "The Screenwriters") t-shirt!  This is the fifth production that we've both worked on together.

I was so happy to see Jerry and Mark again!  They were two of my bosses on 

"Alone Yet Not Alone" in 2010 when I was a Props PA.

My friend Alex Miller as a redcoat!  We met on the set of "Letting Go."

Such a small world!  We grew up in the same town, and I used to listen to his father every Saturday morning as he hosted "The Swinging Years" on the radio.

Being carted off to base camp for lunch.  With this many extras, it took too long to wait for the vans to drive back and forth.  I rode in the back of the next truck like this.  :-)

The last day I worked was a 17 hour day.  I had to be on set by 5:30 (which meant I was awake by 3:30), and I didn't get home until midnight.  And I was COLD all day long, which was pretty miserable.  But we got to work in more scenes, which was fun!

Here are some pictures that another extra took of me and posted on Facebook...

Rockin' the shades (on a warm sunny day) and feeling like a movie star...  :-D

That's me in the straw hat and white coat...trying to stay warm.  

Now I understand why they called me a turtle.  :-)

Haha!  Yep.  It was very cold.  And windy.

A few concluding thoughts...

1) It's very nice to get paid for doing what you love.
2) Using a porta-john in Colonial garb isn't easy or desirable.
3) Professional film sets have awesome catering!
4) Getting dressed in an unheated tent at 5:30 am when it's 34 degrees outside isn't fun.
5) Craft services is my favorite department (they provide snacks & drinks on set!).
6) You couldn't pay me enough to be a script supervisor or on the AD team.
7) It would be pretty cool to have my own trailer one day.
8) The downside of being on a secular project is the amount of crude language and cursing you have to endure from the cast and crew.  :-(
9) If I'm ever a principal actor on a big project where the extras are told not to talk to the principals, I'm going to be sure I talk to the extras.
10) Regardless of the suffering involved, I'll always go back and do it again because I love it.