My Name is Earl

August 30, 2005
Episode: Joy's Fancy Figurine
Location - Van Nuys

This is a flash back episode, where the flash back year is 1981. That means it is a period piece and requires that hair styles and apparel match the time. The men didn't have a hard time of it, because most of us had short hair, and styles have not changed that much on "dress up" type clothes. The gals on the other hand needed to have hair set, make-up applied and clothing that said, "I'm an 80's kinda girl". This was the first time I've seen so many background need make-up.

Background actors come in two flavors: Union and Non-Union. On any given show, there is a minimum of BG actors that must be Union. Once that number (usually 20) is met, all others are going to be Non-Union. There are certain rules the producers must follow when dealing with Union BG regarding lunches, dinners, bumps in pay for costume changes and more, and of course, the Union boys and girls make more money. The only way to become Union BG is to work on three Union vouchers, and that is sometimes kinda hard to do. You might be offered one by the person clocking you in, or you might talk your way into one. I am in no hurry because, while your pay goes up, once you get in, the number of jobs you can get, go down. Can you say "Catch 22?"

This show was shot in a sound stage (like the one I was in on 20th's lot yesterday) that was putting up next weeks sets while working in this weeks. That meant that each time the bell rang and "Rolling" was echoed through out the stage, all the craftsmen/craftswomen working on the new sets had to stop what they were doing and wait out the scene being shot. Makes for slow going on the whole building thing.

One thing you notice about the set is that all the crew have headsets, and communicate constantly. When "rolling" is called, you will notice key people clicking the mics and repeating "rolling". No one on set can claim they didn't hear. Air conditioners and fans get shut off and you could hear a pin drop.

Often, crew will be talking one moment and then stop, stare into the distance and commune with that voice in their heads. On completion, they will pick-up whatever conversation they were having as if there were no pause. It takes a while to get used to, but soon you become quite adept at recognizing the sudden distance of the crew member and get right into the rhythm of the thing.

This episode also employed many children, mostly well behaved and occupied by parents. Never-the-less, one BG actor was heard to utter W. C. Fields' line about children. I personally think the kids did fine though. And watching them work was just like watching any other actor (except they have smaller bodies and are only 5 or 6 years old). The director was giving them direction, and they did their best to follow it. Real troopers.

One crew member, a D.A./BG wrangler, managed to keep the little girls, busy at one point by answering questions about and modeling her many tattoos. The kids were so busy pointing out and describing the tattoos to each other, that they didn't notice the wait they were otherwise experiencing.