Cold Days on a Movie Set

Another chilly day causes me to want to bundle up and wear gloves rather than crank up the heat again.

I am sitting here wearing my (most attractive) red sweatshirt that I have worn on many a movie set over the past few years. I am reminded of the time that I was out in Havasau, Arizona filming a movie called "Razor." On this particular film I was casting extras, but since I had a connection to the Producers I also came on board as Producers Assistant and was on set the entire 3 weeks and it was a blast! COLD but oh so fun!

The first week was normal, during the day shoots, but then the second week bumped to all night shoots (dusk to dawn). Let me tell you , it gets COLD at night in Arizona in the early Spring. We had a day off in between the shift so that we could adjust our days/nights... however, it took me a bit longer than one day to actually get to where I would not be wanting to fall asleep by 2am.

I remember the first evening standing outside my hotel room and the DP walked by and said "Good Morning" and I reminded him that it was indeed EVENING not morning... and then after him, several other crew guys said the same thing "Good Morning." I thought it was very humorous that they were confusing evening for Morning! But sure enough the next evening I wake up at 5pm and step out onto the patio of the hotel and the first thing that pops out of my mouth when a crew guy walks by is "Good Morning!" Wow... did I just say that? LOL

I don't remember the temperatures back then, but it just reminds me that when you are working on a film you never know what to expect. I've worked on films outside in freezing temps that we are suppose to be shooting as "summer" so coats have to be removed for the scenes. I've worked in the rain, under tents and tarps, and I've also worked in the heat of summer out in the blasting sun..... I think I probably prefer the cold temps to the Texas heat... haha... but regardless, it's just another exciting facet to the world of movie-making! If ya can't handle it .... it's probably best you not sign up to be an extra :) But if you go with the flow, you will add many pages of memories to your book of life.