I needed to bring 110% I brought about 72%

Warning: Not for the faint of heart

I was nervous weeks before shooting "Section 8" for Scott Howe (which we shot this last Saturday). Nervous because I have never had to even THINK about dramatic acting such as torture scenes etc. I was like a broken record saying, "If I don't give 110% to this, it is going to look goofy..."

Call time was 5pm out in Carmichael. I was excited that Laura Tapia was going to be doing my hair and make up for this project. Scott, RuiXia, Laura, Jodi and I all sat in the back yard catching up and discussing the project at hand. Scott suddenly asks me, "Can you do a Filipino accent?" I quickly and confidently replied, "Oh yeah." He proceeded to ask me if I could try and film my lines with a Filipino accent, I was dumbfounded. I stuttered, "Uuuh, well.. I could but, I'll have you know that the only time that I ever do that is when I am joking around with my parents so... might be hard not to start crackin' up, not to mention everyone who knows me is going to be crying from laughing so hard". We then agreed that we would film it both ways and see which one came out better.
Makes me laugh just thinking about it.
"Sir, I've failed to cooperate, Sir" turns into "Sir, I'b paled to cooperate, Sir"

So call time was 5pm, we discussed the script, got my make up done, etc and we were ready to shoot some time after 10pm. The shoot location was also in Carmichael, in a shed on some property. Everyone was freaking out because there were huge black widows out there. It was good for me, just added to my torture vibe. The shoot was really exciting but tiring, we wrapped after 3am. Joaquin our DP played the "Interrogator" and it was hard to be scared of him because he is just one of the sweetest guys. You could only see his back on film as it was an over the shoulder shot so, as I was saying my lines, begging for mercy, to be released, to not kill my baby, Joaquin had this peaceful expression on his face. Another really cool thing is that for the sake of saving time I had arm stand-ins. Both Jodi and RuiXia had their arms done by Laura while I shot other scenes. The arms were just amazing, I rarely cringe about stuff but these were definitely cringe-worthy (in a good way of course). Oh and one of the COOLEST things EVER were these eye drops that Laura had that made my eyes bloodshot! It was crazy because between takes Laura would need to put these drops in my eye(s) and I would call it my homage to Clockwork Orange. Oh and the burn on my chest, was a sly 'shout out' to Fred Krueger. I posted it below but I am posting these icons small because I don't want people to stop talking to me. Hey, can you guess which arm was dubbed "Hot dog" ???


Paul brought us pizzas and beer, there couldn't have been a better treat. I sipped my beer REALLY slowly, really nursing it, I was afraid it was going to hinder my acting. In retrospect I should have inhaled the beer so that I would now have an excuse for my mediocre performance.

Below: As I get my hair and make up done on Day 2 of shoot (it's my "Mom, don't cry... I'm all better now" look). The pic below that is the start of our scene shot at the park, we were aiming for a slight contrast from the night before.


Call time for day 2 was 9:00am (after wrapping at 3am the night before and not going to bed until after 4am, I was a wee bit tired... but fine.)
Day two was wrapped at around 6:30pm and I was off to the next shoot, Being Lisa.
Which had a call time of 7pm. Yeah, I was a little late but... we didn't start shooting until 10pm.

"Captain James Cook"

I clearly remember meeting writer/director Stephen Darmstandler and his wife at the Cast and Crew Call. Stephen's wife looked at my resume and recognized me from the My58 Host Hunt of 2006. She said that she even voted for me, how awesome is that?

I filled out a questionnaire they provided and went about my way. Stephen got in contact with me and invited me to an audition that they were holding out in Elk Grove, of course Michelle got the invite as well so, partner in crime by my side we drove out together. To make a long story short, Michelle nailed the role of "Blake's mother" and I scored the role of "Preppy girl" which I later found was mis-labeled (read on).

As a cast we all got together out in Elk Grove for rehearsal readings. Even though my part was small, I was excited to be a part of this project! Over the next few weeks, I was in touch with Stephen via rehearsals, email and phone. I must have made a good impression as he cast me for a cameo in the beginning of the film as well.

Next was wardrobe. The script read "Preppy girl" so naturally, I think proud crowd, cheerleader, miss goody two shoes, Abercrombie, you get the idea. I started putting outfits together and here is what I came up with:



So, I thought these were cute, kinda preppy, right? Oh, too hoochie maybe? Well, let's alter it a little then:



There. Pants = not so hoochified?

Oh what was that Stephen? You want a Filipina Urkel? Revenge of the nerds action?
Hey man, all you had to do was ask:




Above is my nemesis "Blake" bumping into me.

The shoot was a lot of fun. Stephen is a wonderful director and actor (he played the role of "Teacher"), the crew was all so nice and the entire cast had me laughing almost non-stop throughout the day, a bunch of characters.

In between takes we could nestle into one of the classrooms (at Sac High) where Stephen had the movies "ATL" and "RIZE" playing. For lunch we were fed the most delicious pizza from a place called Pizza Bell (located in Elk Grove). Think Little Caesar's Pizza meets... I don't know, something more expensive and more delicious! Was that an obscure example? Well, let's just say that I LOVED Little Caesar's Pizza growing up.

That was a fun day.

No really, it's true

Glance up at the 29th. I remember at the beginning of that last week I saw an empty square on my calendar, I DOVE for a pen and immediately crossed that date off just so that I wouldn't book anything not even shopping, swimming, or a movie. NOTHING could be more inviting than not having to be somewhere or do something, no matter what it was!