Actor: Brett DelBuono
Entry #2

"Cute Teenage Chick???"

I knew it was going to be a good day at work when, in addition to the great people I already get to work with, there's an actress playing a character named "cute teenage chick" who I'm in a scene with. On top of that, I had a late call (11:30am), so that meant I got to sleep in a little. As you can imagine, I show up to work well rested and excited.

When I get to our sound stage (the big "soundproof" building where all of our sets are), I run my computer and note books up to my dressing room, change, and then jump into the hair and make-up trailer so they can make me look good. I have to get to the set about an hour or so before I actually have to work so that they can straighten my hair which takes a while because of my insanely curly hair. The hair straightening started earlier in this season in an effort to make me look older (let me know if it worked when you see it.) It usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour, but just like the wardrobe fitting, it goes by in no time because we have fun. I usually take the time spent in "the chair" to go over the script and the scenes that I'll be in later that day, well that and joke around.

Once my hair is all done, it's on to rehearsal. Everyone involved in the scene gets onto the set where we're shooting and we, yup you guessed it, rehearse. The director takes this time to "set up the shot," which means he or she decides where to place the cameras, and "block" the actors in the scene, or tell us where to be throughout the scene. I take this time to fully understand the scene and decide how I will play it. The DP (director of photography) decides how to light the scene. Once we finish rehearsal, I have about 15-30 minutes before we film, so I run up to my dressing room to try and finish some schoolwork.

Although this may seem strange, when filming a movie or a T.V. show, you don't shoot the scenes in the order that they appear in when everything is cut together. This means that sometimes you shoot the end of the script before the beginning. That was the case for today; the first two scenes that we filmed were my last two scenes in the episode.

After we shot the first two scenes, it was time for lunch, possibly the best perk of working on a T.V. show. It's a buffet incomparable to anything I've ever seen. It's my second year working on this show and I still can't get over how much food there is and how all of it is, in the words of Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell "crazy delicious." This lunch was different from most lunches on the first day of shooting, however. We ate while having our table read, which is when the entire cast of that episode sits down and reads through the script. This is not an uncommon occurrence, but it's usually done on the last day of the preceding episode. Time constraints from the last episode, however, pushed it over to the next day. Hearing the entire script out loud is incomprehensibly helpful. I gain a better understanding of my character's point of view and the direction that my character is going this week.

After our lunch/table read it was time for me to shoot my final scene of the day. Just in case you thought I forgot about "cute teenage chick," this is the scene that she was in. Have I mentioned that the Cleaner has the best casting ever? The actress, Andrea, lived up to her character's name, and was really chill to boot. I also got to work with Esteban (Swenton) and Grace (Akani), two people who I love working with, but rarely get the chance to, so that was another treat. This was a great way to end my day, if only all my days could end with "cute teenage chicks" and great actors/friends.

-Brett