To Catch a Murderer...

Well, I found work!  Okay, sort of.  It isn't paid.  But still, it's getting me onto sets and giving me opportunities to network, etc.  It's a film short called "My Name is Matt" and the premise of it (as well as the twist) is pretty disturbing.  For now, I'll just leave it at the fact that multiple people are brutally murdered and can be found throughout the house the next morning, with various fatal stab wounds.  I wished so badly that I had brought my camera today!  But last time I brought my camera onto a set, it nearly got destroyed (ended up getting used as a prop near water), so I thought I'd give it a break this time around.  I sure wish I hadn't!  I have to remember to bring it tomorrow... and to find my memory cards.  These pictures are from my camera phone:

Anyway, I actually found this gig through mandy.com, so apparently websites like that do actually work.  And, the crew was actually really cool.  I remember a lot of Utah crew people telling me that they don't like L.A. crews because they're not as friendly, more competitive, etc., but this crew was great.  

And I bet you couldn't guess what 'crew role' I had today.  I was grip and electric! haha.  When the guy called me last night (yes, we are always about very last minute in this business) to see if I could work today, he explained to me that they already had sound covered but that they were lacking in grip and electric.  I told him that I would be happy to do it, but warned him that I had never done it before.  That didn't seem to bother him in the least.  They must have been hurting real bad for an extra hand.  I actually didn't mind doing it though.  In fact, it was kind of fun to do something different (though sound is still my #1). 

The funny thing though was that the other grip guy (there were only two: the gaffer/key grip/pretty much everything, and some random guy I'm not sure had ever even worked on a film before) kept asking me questions about what we should do!  I found it rather amusing that I come halfway into the production (they started a few days ago) and the other grip guy is asking me what to do.  But, I suppose this is a good thing, because it means I portray an "I know what I'm doing" attitude no matter what department I happen to be working in! haha.  I did know generally what to do though, because I've been around enough grip and electric stuff in the last two years to know all the lingo and what equipment the gaffer was asking for.

The biggest difference between grip & electric and sound is when you work.  Doing sound is pretty dang easy until we're actually ready to start shooting; that's when sound's job becomes vital to the production.  But grip & electric works in between takes and rests when filming.  It is kind of backwards to what I'm used to, so that part took some readjusting but other than that, it was great!  Tomorrow we shoot from 3pm-3am and Wednesday is 7pm-7am... ouch.  But hey, it will be fun.  The crew is good and therefore will be a decent few days.