3 Days on a Disney Set

When I was driving home from my Long Beach from shooting the Nickelodeon Pilot - I hit horrible traffic. Being a Friday and 3pm...not good. Instead of the without traffic time of 45mins to get home it took me 2 hours. Welcome to LA baby! haha

Since tragic was so bad I called the Central Casting line to give me something to do. They had something on there casting for girls, looking 18 and younger, with modest swimsuits, for a movie of the week. It would be working Monday and possibly Tuesday and Wednesday. I was so excited and wrote the number down to call. As soon as I got home I called and was surprised when they answered right away. I gave them my info, they asked about my car, which I wasn't sure why. Then asked about my swimsuit - they told me its a Disney movie which is why they need modest swimsuits. Then she booked me for the job. I was completely freaking out in my head when she told me it was a Disney movie. For those of you who don't know I LOVE Disney! Disney everything - no lie! My biggest dream is working with Disney. So you can imagine how ecstatic I was for it being a Disney movie.

After finding out all the info I needed to work, I googled the movie to see what I could find out. The only info I could find about it was that it's called "Starstruck" and is going to be a Disney Channel Original Movie. I found out that Cody Linley (Jake Ryan on "Hannah Montana") was going to be the main guy and couldn't believe it. I called home right away to tell my sister who is a BIG Cody Linley fan. My role is a Beach-goer. I had to take some outfits for wardrobe to look through as well. My call time was 6:00am - which would mean getting up insanely early to get there, but I didn't care. I was just happy to be working on a Disney movie.

When signing in on location, I found out I was also booked with my car. Which was totally ok with me. I got paid extra for it. They used my car to park at the beach parking lot - to make it look like its full. I actually got to have my hair done on this set which was cool - they didn't do much. Just touched it up with a straightener. When reporting to wardrobe, they told me what I had on was perfect. So I am the very pink girl in the movie :). There were many more extras on this set than the pilot. It was still just as fun, if not more. We shot in Palos Verdes at a private beach.

I noticed differences between TV (the Nick pilot) and movie (this one) filming. The Nick pilot I did was a lot faster paced. We only did a few takes and them moved on, most times. On this set however there was a lot more that went into getting each scene ready and actually filming it. One scene they must have shot at least 20 takes. There was a lot of the same scene over and over, but shooting from different angles. On Monday I was there for 12 hours and they shot 4 scenes. I also noticed that the main guy was NOT Cody Linley. When I got a good look at him I realized it was Sterling Knight (Chad Dylan Cooper on "Sonny With a Chance"). I didn't mind though. I was totally psyched that I knew who this person was! The fact that I had seen him on TV and now he was standing in front of me was so weird, but cool at the same time. When they wrapped us for the day they called me back for the next day of work with a call time of 6:30am.

On Tuesday it was pretty much a repeat of Monday. I was booked with my car and was on set for about 12 hours. This day was a lot more relaxed for me. I didn't do much. They shot a lot with just the main actors. But I was used for a couple scenes. Then I was blessed with getting a SAG voucher for the day. I was SO excited! For those who don't know - SAG (Screen Actors Guild) is the biggest actors guild. Mostly all of the actors you see on TV and in movies are members of this guild. Eventually getting in is my goal too. However, getting into the guild is hard. You have to have 3 SAG vouchers to even be eligible to become a member. Basically this means that you have worked on 3 different days on SAG projects and were paid SAG wage. This Disney movie I shot is a SAG movie. For SAG productions they have to have a certain number of SAG people working (I'm not sure exactly what the number is) otherwise they get penalized. So what happens is whenever SAG people don't show up for work then they have to give SAG vouchers to non-union people. Basically, the non-union person/people get paid SAG wage and then the production doesn't get penalized.

So anyway I was one of the two people who was blessed with receiving a SAG voucher for working on Tuesday. As we neared the end of the day, we found out that they were cutting about half of the people for Wednesday. I prayed I wouldn't get cut. But was told that since I was receiving a SAG voucher I was going to be one of the ones cut. Even though I didn't want to be cut, I understood and it seemed only fair. Although after finding out that they were going to shoot parking lot scenes on Wednesday I asked the guy in charge of the extras, if I needed to come back because of my car. He said he would check. Later I found out that I would indeed be called back again for Wednesday because they needed my car for the scenes. I was so happy! I got a SAG voucher for the day and then was saved from being cut by my car!

On Wednesday, I had a call time of 6:00am. I arrived early and checked in only to find out I had been booked as SAG again for the day. I couldn't believe it - I was so excited! We had some weather issues this day. But eventually it cleared up and we were able to progress. I worked for about 12 hours yet again, but didn't mind at all. I got to shoot a scene beside Sterling Knight that day as well. I was so excited! I know I will be in the movie for sure now because I was right beside him for one scene. He is a really nice guy and let me just say he's very good looking in person too :) ...

I loved being on this set. I was blessed with being there for 3 days and had a blast! I was sad when Wednesday came to an end. I had gotten to know some of the other extras and crew workers. I was finally familiar with everything and everyone. I was having so much fun but I knew my time was up. It was a very good experience I will never forget. I can't wait until I am the main actor on a set :)

"Starstuck" is a Disney Channel Original Movie. It won't be out until 2010 sometime. I don't know when yet, they are still filming it. But I will definitely be watching for it and will let you all know when it comes out so you can watch it and try to find me!