"Rolling...Background...Action!"-My life as an extra for a day, pt. 1

I woke up at 5:30am this morning for my first brush with stardom! Hehe...if only I were not kidding. I am not a morning person, but my adrenaline gushed like water from a geyser as I brushed my teeth and packed my final possessions for a day of filming. Last night I had trouble falling asleep as I pondered the unknowable: 'What would the movie set be like?' and 'What would they make me do?!'

I reported to "catering" before daybreak with a bag full of clothing. If Blogger were to have the capability to attach a file, I would attach the .pdf with the instructions sent to the extras by the production team (I can send it to any curious people). Being on the streets in the early morning darkness with a surplus of energy and with a momentous task before me recalled the morning of the Cooper River Bridge Run when people waited excitedly on historic Calhoun and King Streets for buses to take them to the starting line 2 1/2 hours before the race started!

At catering, which was in a blocked off section of the new cafeteria (it's not as makeshift as it sounds), each extra checked in and filled out a voucher with his basic information. The people facilitating this process were just as one would imagine: young, funny, college-educated, and hip, with some indescribable characteristic that made their personalities perfectly suited for film making.

They told us to go into another area and get something to eat from the lovely spread that was catered by a well-known company: bagels and lox, made-to-order omelettes (no one wanted to wait for them though, I inferred from the chef's lack of clientele), premium yogurts, squeeze-your-own juices, fresh berries, etc, etc, etc. I enjoyed a a little of this and a little of that and my friend Michael did the same...

(pt.2 in production)