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Girl Talk Thursday: How to Eat on Set.

This week's Girl Talk Thursday is about food and cheap meals and eating under $10. Which is pretty much what I always do when I'm working. I'm a big fan of the one pot meal. Sunday happens and I throw a bunch of stuff in a pot. The end result is a chili or a stir fry or stew or soup or something that reheats well and can sit in my fridge for a week. I do a lot of stir frying when I'm cooking for myself. Some veggies, tofu, rice if I'm ambitious. It's all pretty simple and meat isn't involved so generally it stays low cost.

This week however I am not cooking. I'm currently working and therefore I'm being fed. Lunch is a big deal on set. People LOVE their food. I've already had to do two lunch runs today alone. First was for some stunt guys with an early call. Went to a local restaurant, picked up some burgers and a couple of Arnold Palmers, and that was lunch. Second was a McD's order for an actor. Big Mac, no onions. Easy.

My lunch today came off of a truck. Veggie burger topped with guac, side of french fries. Most amazing Mango & Mint smoothie ever. Actually, I think I have more smoothie in the fridge. Mmmm... smoothie...

My lunch was actually the crew's breakfast. Working in the office I'm on a different schedule than everyone else. While we may be shooting nights, all of our vendors still have normal business hours. The office needs to be open when they are. Our staff of four is currently working split shifts. Our coordinator and other PA are on the early shift working 8 AM to roughly 8 PM. The assistant coordinator and myself are on the late shift. Our call is 10 AM and we've been going until 11 PM or so (last night was nuts and we didn't finish until after midnight). Crew call however isn't until 5 PM and catering works around that. They started serving "breakfast" at 3:30 and that's when we had our lunch (minus the other PA who I made order something at 1 when I was grabbing the stunt guys orders). I was almost there until they served "lunch" tonight and considered staying. But I was tired. And not really hungry. Bed sounded like a much nicer option.

I was also eating from crafty all damn day. Fruit, nuts, the smoothie, chocolate... I had a bagel in the morning... COFFEE. So. Much. Coffee.

I didn't need anymore food tonight.

This show is a little different than a lot of the shows I've worked on in that our office is right next to the stage so we do have access to craft service and catering. On a lot of productions the office will be located somewhere other than where shooting is taking place. When that happens we're on our own for food. We stock our own kitchens, buy our own lunches. I'm getting spoiled here. I like it.

Oh man, yesterday at lunch they had this cucumber and dill salad... It was so damn good. The veggie options have been a little sparse on this show but they're doing okay. I'm eating plenty. And a lot of it has been YUM.

I'm going to gain twenty pounds by the end of this week. I know it. Ah well, isn't that like storing fat to get through the winter or something? After this week I'm back to unemployment and fending for myself. My meal options will be getting much slimmer. Back to the toast and hummus for me!

The Oscars

Okay, so I didn't really watch them. I mean, I could kind of see the reflection of a TV playing them in the window while I was out having dinner with my family. And I walked into the house just as Hurt Locker won the award for Best Picture.

Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow. Hurt Locker killed tonight.  I'm a big fan of the film and I'm thrilled to see it do so well. Bigelow and Hurt Locker are not only deserving, Bigelow's made history as the first woman director to win Best Director. It's about damn time.

Will this lead to more opportunities for female directors? More recognition? Let's hope so. Talent trumps gender. Maybe Hollywood will remember this in the future.

High Points

I'm not really sure which was better. The hour + myself and the other PA spent moving seven not so light folding tables and thirty folding chairs from our stage to our production office. Or when, 45 minutes before we were supposed to leave for the night, that stage manager came over to tell us that we had to move them all back... Yeah... That happened.

I'm working!

Two weeks on some reshoots, I got the call on Sunday, started yesterday at 8 AM, and that's how this industry works. (Ironic as I just put something similar in a short story and my character made a point of saying that this is NOT how the industry works. Really, I should know better)

It's busy! Super! And I'm tired! Super.

Actually, it kind of hurts to stand up right now. So I stopped doing that. I blame the chairs. The ones I carried, not the ones I sat it. Right.

We're also working in the ghetto. The part of LA you never enter. Unless the production space is cheap and then yeah. Just, um, don't go out alone at night? Or something like that.

I'm enjoying myself. It's exhausting and I'm a little bummed I've had to put some of my own writing projects on hold but it's so super nice to be back doing a little feature work. And to have a job for two solid weeks.

I'm not going to think about how sad it is that I now consider two weeks a long time... Also figures that someone else I know called to see if I was available to work on another thing this week. It comes in waves.

Right. On that note. I'm going to bed. I need sleep. And did I mention that my feet hurt? They do.

We'll see if the next two weeks bring me any stories to share. No promises. Sometimes you take what you can get.

Hopefully all of this work I've been getting lately means things are picking up. It's actually starting to kind of feel like it.