Official business

Grueling, grueling freakin' shoot. Seriously.

Good people and a good project, but a really long day. Partly because I spontaneously woke up at 4:45 (after getting to sleep somewhere around 12:30 ish), but mostly because there was a LOT of script.

It was another host/narrator role, for use on a web app. So I'm greeting visitors, providing a product overview, and walking them through all the steps and tabs and functions and stuff.

And I'm in a referee outfit, as pictured above. (The point being that I, along with the web app I represent, am an objective source of trustworthy information between the seller and the customer.) A very ill-fitting referee outfit. I have to remember that my waist size for jeans is very different (smaller) than my waist size for regular pants. And for whatever reason, the shoes felt like they were a couple of sizes too small. I felt like a pig in a blanket. Only less cozy.

Anyway, the script. It was one of those with lots and lots of variations. A couple of the lines had to be read 20 different ways, substituting a single word or phrase. And I have to tell you, I'm pretty good at this shit. I may not be able to cry on command, and I'm not the guy who's gonna give you a wash of 10 different emotions across my face, but man I can freakin' lock in, focus, and grind, grind, grind through technical copy. It's almost like being on auto-pilot. Except with energy, warmth, rhythm and articulation.

Then after four hours of that, with my feet throbbing like I'm doing that Chinese foot-binding thing, I had to pose for 200+ still photos. I was just about to lose it by then, but I think I was able to give them a lot of good stuff. I know I did, actually. They were really pleased. And I could easily see how with a different type of actor it could have turned into an 8, 9 or 10-hour day.

The best part? It was really well-paying. SO, SO glad I did this through my agent. The figure I had in my head was about a third of what this ended up paying, thanks to their knowledge and expertise. So there's several months' rent I don't have to worry about.