It's Not A Club
I'll do a much shorter update on all the other stuff I was working on recently, but this entry can only focus on one thing: Women's Murder Club....OH MY GOD.
And I feel a novel coming on, so I'm just going to do a cut
It started on April 15th when I was listening to the casting line and heard the casting director booking Women's Murder Club. I've been wanting to work on it FOREVER, but I either never hear it on the line or she's looking for older people to play detectives, etc. She was looking for lawyers, so I got defeated because they were filming episode 113 - which is currently their last episode *ever* unless they get picked up - but then she said she was looking for 3 suspects/witnesses and ONE could be 18 to look younger. I heard that and called like crazy. Elena asked me when the last time I worked the show was (because you can only work a show ever 3-4 weeks so you don't overlap on the episode) and I replied "NEVERRRRRR" and proceeded to tell her it was my favorite show ever and was dying to work on it, so she booked me....and I flipped out. I had been smoking and literally threw my cigarette to the ground and started jumping up and down. I was on the set of The Office, and people were like, "Did you get a line? Did you get a voucher?" And I was like, "Haha no - better! I'm working freaking Women's Murder Club!" Haha. Then my friend pointed out that I was shaking, which I totally was.
Okay, so fastforward to the next day.
I was just supposed to dress downscale to play a suspect/witness and then I had a visitor pass for the police station. The hairstylist did my hair in a french braid (it was pretty) which made me super excited because I've never had one before. Our holding area was fantastic - it was about 5 people to these mini hotel rooms with couches, closets, and personal bathrooms with showers...not like anything I ever come across on sets. I was the only person on set who actually watched the show, so everyone knew within five minutes it was my favorite show because I couldn't stop talking about it. When we were first brought onto set, the AD said, "Our hero actress is played by Angie Harmon...you'll notice her right away -- she's the tall, leggy, loud, funny one." We were in the bullpen (where Lindsay's office is, and where all the famous hallwalking takes place) and when we took breaks, we sat in the actual breakroom on the show with the vending machine. I think I have now walked that hallway well over 300 times - and that's not exaggerating. Laura smiled at me, and Angie walked past us and said, "Hi, gang!" and then when we cut to take a break she yelled, "Everyone to the pit of DOOM!" We were pretty much barefoot the entire time because all those shoes add up, so it was kind of funny to be walking around the station that way.
I'm not going to say what was going on in the scene, but at one point Lindsay answers the phone, and then Angie just decided to goof off and say, "And while you're there, can you feed Martha and clean up a bit?" She was definitely a character. I pretty much never stopped staring at her. And if you think her legs look long on TV...dear god, they go on forever in person. I pretty much took in every detail, even this ginormous plaid shirt/coat she wears when she gets her dinner at night (we all eat the same food). Oh yeah, and her trailer says Angie Denzel Harmon because she's obsessed with Denzel Washington.
Around 3 pm, I got a voicemail, asking me if I could come back to Women's Murder Club, and I just about died. When I returned the call, Elena asked me, "Having fun on your favorite show ever?" Haha, she totally remembered.
Around 7:30, there was like 25 minutes when we were just sitting around in the bullpen waiting for the crew to prep the turn-around, and I stayed where I had ended up in the scene which just happened to be where Angie and Tyrees decided to sit. She was drinking one of those mini bottles of water and told Tyrees she needed to have at least 8 of them before we wrapped. They were sitting in chairs at the desk that I was leaning against. The two of them were busting out laughing the entire time because they were making fun (lovingly) of one of their friends (I think a crew guy), imitating him sitting in his house alone at night, naked except for his socks, hunched over with a glass of red wine (they were both acting it out), and then pretending someone rang the door bell, and Angie said "Who dat be? Who be there?" in this cranky man's voice. Angie was cracking up hysterically and covered the side of her face with her hand and then turned to face me laughing while making eye contact, smiling, and I melted. Oh man, I was dying. Then they started talking about Women's Murder Club: The Golden Years, and Angie said she'd be the "old drunk bitch smoking on set." Then Tyrees was asking this woman all these questions about Panama where she's from, and I mentioned I was born and raised here in L.A., and that always intrigues people for some reason...mostly because actors are from everywhere else but here.
As I was talking to Tyrees, I looked at Angie and she gave me a HUGE smile and WINKED. I already can't handle when she winks on TV (it even kills me in my music video)...she seeing it in person, let alone at ME, I may have momentarily died. My heart was pounding, and I could feel my entire face go red. I turned back to Tyrees and mentioned that it was my favorite show," and as he was thanking me, I turned to Angie and said, "it really is...it's my favorite show." And she smiled again and said, "Thank you....thank you soo much" in her damn sexy voice. Then we left to go back to holding, and I have never felt more adrenaline pumping through me EVER...especially knowing I was coming back the next day.
When I showed up the second day, the PA let us know that the hairdresser wouldn't be there so we'd have to do our best, but she knew I obviously couldn't recreate mine, so she took me by the hand and dragged me to the center of everyone else and told me to stop on into the hair and makeup trailer. I thought it was just going to be hairstylists in there...UM....it was Angie, Laura, and Rob....and I had a heart attack. Angie was sitting in the corner in a ponytail without makeup on (still looking flawless), and Laura was sitting in a black bra, white wifebeater with TATTOOS ALL OVER HER UPPER BACK <-- I seriously died. I sat down in the chair all the way down on the left, and Rob came and plopped down next to me for a second. When he stood up again, I said, "I used to make you your drinks at Starbucks every day at Cross Creek" - I used to remember his drink every morning (this was before WMC), and he said "Cross Creek - no way!" and then he walked around my chair and leaned up against the counter, and crossed his arms so he could face me while talking, and I mentioned how I had quit in October because it was just my college job, so he asked me what I had been studying at Pepperdine, etc. and then he asked, "So who are you playing?" Haha. He figured I was someone special since I was the only one in there but them...HA. No. Then came the best part. Laura walked up behind me and reached out in front of me for some hairspray, and I told her it was my favorite show and she said, "Aw, you don't have to tell me that." And I said, "No, seriously, it really is. Ask anyone here. I've been telling everyone." And she put out her hand and said, "I'm Laura," and we shook hands, and I mentioned "I'm just an extra" in case she thought I was someone too, and she said "Just an extra...whatever....that's the hardest job" and I replied, "Hahah, riiiight." I loved that she was just chilling there in her wifebeater chatting with me. I walked out of that trailer sooo giddy and floating on air.
Before we started shooting, Angie was walking around in a tank top, shorts, and high heels...totally teasing every single person there...not to mention she was walking down stairs in front of me in this outfit.
Aubrey is just the tiniest thing ever...so adorable (I didn't talk to her though). Angie, Laura, and Aubrey all have these little quirks -- in between takes or right before the director yells Action, Aubrey does these little ballerina moves, Laura starts punching the air like a punching bag and then shakes it off, and then Angie does squats. Yeah, that's right, squats. She must be about 6 ft tall with her heels on, and every time she did that damn squat I was standing directly behind her for my starting position, and every time, she was absolutely killing me. Actually, no, I lie. Killing me was when she lifted her shirt to fix her mic pack, and I saw her 10-pack. That was the best place to be in that scene - I had to start directly behind Laura and Angie, brush past Laura and then Aubrey hurries past me as she joins up with the other two. I did not care how many takes that scene took haha. At one point the PA told us to put love in the hallway (more movement, crosses, etc.), and I wanted to yell out, "OMG Hallways ARE Love!!" - you know - because of hallwaysarelove.
I was reading my Women's Murder Club book as I was waiting in the hall for the next scene, and Laura walked past me and giggled, and I asked, "Are you lauging at my book" in a joking way, and she replied "Yep!" - it was really cute. And then later I was sitting on the staircase, and Tyrees came up to me and asked, "How are you today, my darling?" and then later in the day, he also noticed my book, and asked me how it was and I pointed to where his character was in the page. He is *so* nice.
Angie was eating boiled egg whites covered in tabasco sauce...so that's the secret diet haha. That night for dinner, we were waiting in line, and she walked past all the food and ended up at the dessert tray, picked up a chocolate chip cookie and walked back to her trailer, holding it up, laughing, and promising she was getting other food later (which she did). She was so hilarious, and does little dance moves and makes up songs and yells things a lot (like the Pit of Doom more times)...she screamed when she got a monologue right which scared the shit out of me, but it was quite hilarious.
At around 10 pm, the PA came up to me, and told me that I was one of the three people who were staying to switch over into scrubs for the morgue scene, and that made me ecstatic. I looked like this...at 1 am. It ended up being nothing - I got to go in the morgue and see Lindsay's attic, so that was cool, but it ended up being the martini shot (the last one of the night) so it was really quick. The waiting around period was actually really fun though because one of the guys and I went outside to smoke and started singing teeny-bopperish songs so that the other could guess the song, and then like 6 members of the crew joined in...it was like 1:30 am at that point so we were all pretty delirious. At first they were just going to wrap us (there ended up being 5 of us) but the director said he could use two of us, so of course I asked to be one, but we only stood outside the morgue door while it was closed (so that we were seen through the blinds)...so that was lame, but I just wanted to be there. At that point, Angie was gone and her stand-in was just there, but Laura and Paual were in the scene. Laura said, "it's almost breakfast time" because it was 2 am at that point, and then after that we were wrapped.
I was seriously on Cloud 9 the entire time I was there...I probably seemed like I was on drugs because I would just break out into a smile at random points of the day. For every one else it was lame because we were walking back and forth in the hallway and in the bullpen, but for me, I was like "I'm freaking walking THE hallway" haha. At one point when I was walking, Rob (Tom) turned around and pointed at me through the glass and smiled...aaah, he was so cute.
When I went to return my scrubs at the end of the night/morning, I was telling the wardrobe guy how WMC couldn't get cancelled because it was my favorite show, and I mentioned how fans were trying to save the show and had been sending Hershey's Kisses, and he said that they knew about that - he even said, "from Mariska Hargitay's site, right?" So I squeed inside. :)
I laughed when I got my check in the mail. They paid me $210...and I would have done it for free in a heartbeat.
Some pictures from set:
The staircase leading up to Tom's office
The breakroom
The breakroom...again
A really blurry picture of Laura and Aubrey through the glass
Me stealing an inspector's badge and gun
And I feel a novel coming on, so I'm just going to do a cut
It started on April 15th when I was listening to the casting line and heard the casting director booking Women's Murder Club. I've been wanting to work on it FOREVER, but I either never hear it on the line or she's looking for older people to play detectives, etc. She was looking for lawyers, so I got defeated because they were filming episode 113 - which is currently their last episode *ever* unless they get picked up - but then she said she was looking for 3 suspects/witnesses and ONE could be 18 to look younger. I heard that and called like crazy. Elena asked me when the last time I worked the show was (because you can only work a show ever 3-4 weeks so you don't overlap on the episode) and I replied "NEVERRRRRR" and proceeded to tell her it was my favorite show ever and was dying to work on it, so she booked me....and I flipped out. I had been smoking and literally threw my cigarette to the ground and started jumping up and down. I was on the set of The Office, and people were like, "Did you get a line? Did you get a voucher?" And I was like, "Haha no - better! I'm working freaking Women's Murder Club!" Haha. Then my friend pointed out that I was shaking, which I totally was.
Okay, so fastforward to the next day.
I was just supposed to dress downscale to play a suspect/witness and then I had a visitor pass for the police station. The hairstylist did my hair in a french braid (it was pretty) which made me super excited because I've never had one before. Our holding area was fantastic - it was about 5 people to these mini hotel rooms with couches, closets, and personal bathrooms with showers...not like anything I ever come across on sets. I was the only person on set who actually watched the show, so everyone knew within five minutes it was my favorite show because I couldn't stop talking about it. When we were first brought onto set, the AD said, "Our hero actress is played by Angie Harmon...you'll notice her right away -- she's the tall, leggy, loud, funny one." We were in the bullpen (where Lindsay's office is, and where all the famous hallwalking takes place) and when we took breaks, we sat in the actual breakroom on the show with the vending machine. I think I have now walked that hallway well over 300 times - and that's not exaggerating. Laura smiled at me, and Angie walked past us and said, "Hi, gang!" and then when we cut to take a break she yelled, "Everyone to the pit of DOOM!" We were pretty much barefoot the entire time because all those shoes add up, so it was kind of funny to be walking around the station that way.
I'm not going to say what was going on in the scene, but at one point Lindsay answers the phone, and then Angie just decided to goof off and say, "And while you're there, can you feed Martha and clean up a bit?" She was definitely a character. I pretty much never stopped staring at her. And if you think her legs look long on TV...dear god, they go on forever in person. I pretty much took in every detail, even this ginormous plaid shirt/coat she wears when she gets her dinner at night (we all eat the same food). Oh yeah, and her trailer says Angie Denzel Harmon because she's obsessed with Denzel Washington.
Around 3 pm, I got a voicemail, asking me if I could come back to Women's Murder Club, and I just about died. When I returned the call, Elena asked me, "Having fun on your favorite show ever?" Haha, she totally remembered.
Around 7:30, there was like 25 minutes when we were just sitting around in the bullpen waiting for the crew to prep the turn-around, and I stayed where I had ended up in the scene which just happened to be where Angie and Tyrees decided to sit. She was drinking one of those mini bottles of water and told Tyrees she needed to have at least 8 of them before we wrapped. They were sitting in chairs at the desk that I was leaning against. The two of them were busting out laughing the entire time because they were making fun (lovingly) of one of their friends (I think a crew guy), imitating him sitting in his house alone at night, naked except for his socks, hunched over with a glass of red wine (they were both acting it out), and then pretending someone rang the door bell, and Angie said "Who dat be? Who be there?" in this cranky man's voice. Angie was cracking up hysterically and covered the side of her face with her hand and then turned to face me laughing while making eye contact, smiling, and I melted. Oh man, I was dying. Then they started talking about Women's Murder Club: The Golden Years, and Angie said she'd be the "old drunk bitch smoking on set." Then Tyrees was asking this woman all these questions about Panama where she's from, and I mentioned I was born and raised here in L.A., and that always intrigues people for some reason...mostly because actors are from everywhere else but here.
As I was talking to Tyrees, I looked at Angie and she gave me a HUGE smile and WINKED. I already can't handle when she winks on TV (it even kills me in my music video)...she seeing it in person, let alone at ME, I may have momentarily died. My heart was pounding, and I could feel my entire face go red. I turned back to Tyrees and mentioned that it was my favorite show," and as he was thanking me, I turned to Angie and said, "it really is...it's my favorite show." And she smiled again and said, "Thank you....thank you soo much" in her damn sexy voice. Then we left to go back to holding, and I have never felt more adrenaline pumping through me EVER...especially knowing I was coming back the next day.
When I showed up the second day, the PA let us know that the hairdresser wouldn't be there so we'd have to do our best, but she knew I obviously couldn't recreate mine, so she took me by the hand and dragged me to the center of everyone else and told me to stop on into the hair and makeup trailer. I thought it was just going to be hairstylists in there...UM....it was Angie, Laura, and Rob....and I had a heart attack. Angie was sitting in the corner in a ponytail without makeup on (still looking flawless), and Laura was sitting in a black bra, white wifebeater with TATTOOS ALL OVER HER UPPER BACK <-- I seriously died. I sat down in the chair all the way down on the left, and Rob came and plopped down next to me for a second. When he stood up again, I said, "I used to make you your drinks at Starbucks every day at Cross Creek" - I used to remember his drink every morning (this was before WMC), and he said "Cross Creek - no way!" and then he walked around my chair and leaned up against the counter, and crossed his arms so he could face me while talking, and I mentioned how I had quit in October because it was just my college job, so he asked me what I had been studying at Pepperdine, etc. and then he asked, "So who are you playing?" Haha. He figured I was someone special since I was the only one in there but them...HA. No. Then came the best part. Laura walked up behind me and reached out in front of me for some hairspray, and I told her it was my favorite show and she said, "Aw, you don't have to tell me that." And I said, "No, seriously, it really is. Ask anyone here. I've been telling everyone." And she put out her hand and said, "I'm Laura," and we shook hands, and I mentioned "I'm just an extra" in case she thought I was someone too, and she said "Just an extra...whatever....that's the hardest job" and I replied, "Hahah, riiiight." I loved that she was just chilling there in her wifebeater chatting with me. I walked out of that trailer sooo giddy and floating on air.
Before we started shooting, Angie was walking around in a tank top, shorts, and high heels...totally teasing every single person there...not to mention she was walking down stairs in front of me in this outfit.
Aubrey is just the tiniest thing ever...so adorable (I didn't talk to her though). Angie, Laura, and Aubrey all have these little quirks -- in between takes or right before the director yells Action, Aubrey does these little ballerina moves, Laura starts punching the air like a punching bag and then shakes it off, and then Angie does squats. Yeah, that's right, squats. She must be about 6 ft tall with her heels on, and every time she did that damn squat I was standing directly behind her for my starting position, and every time, she was absolutely killing me. Actually, no, I lie. Killing me was when she lifted her shirt to fix her mic pack, and I saw her 10-pack. That was the best place to be in that scene - I had to start directly behind Laura and Angie, brush past Laura and then Aubrey hurries past me as she joins up with the other two. I did not care how many takes that scene took haha. At one point the PA told us to put love in the hallway (more movement, crosses, etc.), and I wanted to yell out, "OMG Hallways ARE Love!!" - you know - because of hallwaysarelove.
I was reading my Women's Murder Club book as I was waiting in the hall for the next scene, and Laura walked past me and giggled, and I asked, "Are you lauging at my book" in a joking way, and she replied "Yep!" - it was really cute. And then later I was sitting on the staircase, and Tyrees came up to me and asked, "How are you today, my darling?" and then later in the day, he also noticed my book, and asked me how it was and I pointed to where his character was in the page. He is *so* nice.
Angie was eating boiled egg whites covered in tabasco sauce...so that's the secret diet haha. That night for dinner, we were waiting in line, and she walked past all the food and ended up at the dessert tray, picked up a chocolate chip cookie and walked back to her trailer, holding it up, laughing, and promising she was getting other food later (which she did). She was so hilarious, and does little dance moves and makes up songs and yells things a lot (like the Pit of Doom more times)...she screamed when she got a monologue right which scared the shit out of me, but it was quite hilarious.
At around 10 pm, the PA came up to me, and told me that I was one of the three people who were staying to switch over into scrubs for the morgue scene, and that made me ecstatic. I looked like this...at 1 am. It ended up being nothing - I got to go in the morgue and see Lindsay's attic, so that was cool, but it ended up being the martini shot (the last one of the night) so it was really quick. The waiting around period was actually really fun though because one of the guys and I went outside to smoke and started singing teeny-bopperish songs so that the other could guess the song, and then like 6 members of the crew joined in...it was like 1:30 am at that point so we were all pretty delirious. At first they were just going to wrap us (there ended up being 5 of us) but the director said he could use two of us, so of course I asked to be one, but we only stood outside the morgue door while it was closed (so that we were seen through the blinds)...so that was lame, but I just wanted to be there. At that point, Angie was gone and her stand-in was just there, but Laura and Paual were in the scene. Laura said, "it's almost breakfast time" because it was 2 am at that point, and then after that we were wrapped.
I was seriously on Cloud 9 the entire time I was there...I probably seemed like I was on drugs because I would just break out into a smile at random points of the day. For every one else it was lame because we were walking back and forth in the hallway and in the bullpen, but for me, I was like "I'm freaking walking THE hallway" haha. At one point when I was walking, Rob (Tom) turned around and pointed at me through the glass and smiled...aaah, he was so cute.
When I went to return my scrubs at the end of the night/morning, I was telling the wardrobe guy how WMC couldn't get cancelled because it was my favorite show, and I mentioned how fans were trying to save the show and had been sending Hershey's Kisses, and he said that they knew about that - he even said, "from Mariska Hargitay's site, right?" So I squeed inside. :)
I laughed when I got my check in the mail. They paid me $210...and I would have done it for free in a heartbeat.
Some pictures from set:
The staircase leading up to Tom's office
The breakroom
The breakroom...again
A really blurry picture of Laura and Aubrey through the glass
Me stealing an inspector's badge and gun
