who the hell needs sleep anyway?

The last few days have served as an eye opener on various different points of life and the desire to make something professional out of this whole "movie job." I made sure to go extremely out of the way to ensure that I had some involvement in a certain project... where as some other individuals that have been kind enough to use me in their projects have had fantastic opportunities dropped in their lap.
I talked to Robert Saba yesterday and he said that he quit a casting search for a BBC show. He mentioned something about having a problem talking to people about their fat kids at the Mid-South Fair. I don't know, I think he should be focusing on editing his film anyway (mainly because as I'm one of the leads and producers... so I'm eager to see how my on screen work comes together and how his first feature comes together as a whole). He also got a gig working with this Will Ferrell NASCAR movie in Birmingham. He'll be gone for two weeks... but shit man, he keeps getting these movie jobs so it's not half bad.
I had to work a few extra days this week. When I wasn't working at the "day job" I was working as an extra on Black Snake Moan. I got moved up to a Featured Extra on Saturday with some "interesting" screen time (but that's about all I can say about that situation-- I had to sign a confidentiality agreement). So I woke up at 7:30am Thursday to work the day job. I had leave work a little early to get to set (way-the-f-out in Fayette Co.) by 4pm. I was a little late. I worked there Thursday from 4pm to 6am. I drove home, picked up some fresh clothes, showered and had to be out at Wolfchase to meet my reporter on Friday morning at 8:45am. We were driving to Nashville (which by the way is a 3 and 1/2 hour drive if you speed). I got to sleep a little on the way there (thank God). I worked in Nashville for the day and got back into town dropping off my reporter at 5:50pm (after a good bit of racing down that flat line interstate 40 on a steady diet of Red Bull, Gobstoppers, and Trident White Gum). I had to bust ass to get back to the Black Snake Moan set by 6pm. I made it about 6:20pm. I worked on the set from that point until 7am on Saturday morning. I was one of the last "extras" on set. I can't go into any further detail about the shoot... but I will say that despite being extremely exhausted, the sunrise was gorgeous. It looked like the entire sky was set ablaze.
So, after all of that brain distress, physical drain, and dead-to-the-world brain activity that usually kicks in as a survival mechanism (or acting, take your pick)... I drove home, caught an hour and a half of sleep, and had to report back to NC3 for work at 9am. I got home somewhere around 6pm and crashed for a bit shortly afterward.
I managed to catch about 4 hours of sleep before I was told to wake up for a "birthday party." My head was still filled with a fine static hum of white noise... but a couple of drinks took the hard lined frontal burn off of my brain. Unfortunately it also took quite a bit out of my depleted energy level. Needless to say, we didn't film on Divine Manipulation of the Threads this weekend.
My biggest laugh came on early, early, early Friday morning when Craig walked over to me at my "extra start position" and jokingly asked, "You want to direct any of this?" I might have taken him up on it if I actually knew anything about the script. On the other hand, I might have been the only extra there that has the Directors cell phone number.
It was cool to see Craig work and how a "paying motion picture" actually operates. It's a much different creature than our little Indie Projects... much different.
I took Christine out for dinner on Sunday (as I'm going to have to treat her like a princess for putting up with my bullshit for a while-- again, I can't really talk about it) and we caught a 9pm show of The Corpse Bride. Now I'm back at the day job and mildly reeling from a very, very busy couple of days.
Oh, I'm also dealing with my dog's open wound from his neuter surgery. He just won't leave it alone, he's been wearing one of those head-cone e-collars for two weeks, he's knocked everything off of every table and inadvertently broken a few key pieces of "nice things that I used to own," but mainly, he's making attempts to lick his balls. Unfortunately he's been tearing the shit out of them with this plastic space helmet. It's kind of a fun time (mainly because I still have no idea what I've been through over the last few days)... I'm sure it will hit me later. But now I've got to figure out what we're going to film for this weekend... and call Colors to find out what exactly is going on with BSM. Aren't Monday's fun? I need a drink.
Oh, happy 10th Anniversary to Anthony and Anita!
-B