Last Week at LAX

I'm finally in the right state of mind to talk about what happened last week. As you know, I had a lot going on: a commercial shoot, a major interview at an ad agency, freelance work, a dickhead agent, etc.

The commercial shoot ended up being scheduled for 3 AM on Wednesday morning and it turns out they needed to vacate the premises, at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), by noon. My interview at the ad agency was scheduled for 1 PM. Fortunately, I wasn't scheduled for work that week until Thursday.

On Wednesday, the shoot ended right at 11:30 AM and I had time to change, sign some papers, and drive up the 405 freeway to my interview near UCLA. I arrived about 20 minutes early and so used their bathroom to clean up and collect my thoughts. After all, I had been wearing a pilot's uniform and was awake all night long doing take after take. The picture above is of the pilot and one of the flight attendants, Tom and Angie, who were in the shoot with me. They really do look like they work for an airline, don't they? Tom and I have similar backgrounds as he was in the TV news industry and now works for E! as a producer.

I also worked with two other very cool actors, Lorenzo and Amaya. Amaya has a radio show on karmaair.com and I'm listening to one of her shows right now called "Stargazing," which is all about Hollywood gossip.

There were also a ton of extras involved in the shoot, and I made the mistake of trying to check in at the extras table when I arrived for the shoot. I was immediately redirected to the principals' trailer so that I may be treated as the star that I am (or think I may be).

Well, I had a grand ol' time on the shoot. It was for a French company called Orange and I must say that the French folks on the shoot were very, very cool. The director was a very nice gentleman who kept correcting my actions. Lorenzo and Amaya later asked someone if I was the only actor whose name the director remembered, because he was always saying my name or giving me direction. Lorenzo then teased me the entire morning by saying my name and telling me not to look in the camera, or to walk faster, or to walk slower, etc. Was I screwing up the entire shoot? It sure seemed like it. But later, when we asked one of the assistant directors about it, he just smiled and said the director just enjoyed picking on me the most.

Later, when we were doing a closeup, I asked the makeup girl, who is also French, why she wasn't putting more makeup on me and she said that I looked "beautiful enough already." Now, I'm not one to look for compliments — okay, I am — but when she heard me protest and then relent and say, "Thank you," she said, "Seriously, you do. I mean that."

Will somebody please let me in on the joke? Tell me I'm on Candid Camera or something. Oh, by the way, I got the job at the ad agency. I start next week. I swear, this all feels like a dream. I just hope in my dreamworld they don't give me an office cubicle next to someone too terribly obnoxious.