Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Blip on the Screen: My "Extra" Ordinary TV "Debut"

My TV cop-show "debut" as an extra was anticlimactic, to say the least. I just found out that the Blue Bloods episode for which I worked this past summer as an extra had aired in recent weeks; although I dug it up online (the "Family Business" episode, the opening scene on the soccer field), there's a quick blip of me in the distance (see the accompanying photo) holding my hand to my head after my "team" lost. I may know it's me, but no one else could identify that skull in the crowd tell if they tried!

Likewise, the next scene in which I was parked in my blue Hyundai Elantra at the curb during filming had me on either side of both cameras -- a scene in which I (and my car) are completely unseen. Camera #1 filmed beyond my front bumper, whereas Camera #2 pointed at the car parked behind me.

And to think that this short segment took from morning until evening to produce. The scene in which the stars exit the park took about eighteen takes. Even Tom Selleck shouted (after just a dozen takes) "Come one! You can't get more perfect than that!" So, as the director sought perfection, the angles kept changing and even my Hyundai neglected to get its fifteen minutes of fame.

Oh well. Wednesday night is the episode in which I may (or may not) appear in the courthouse steps scene on Law & Order: SVU ("Twenty-five Acts"). Maybe I'll have better luck in that episode!