So its been a while since I've updated this thing. Actually I attempted to do an update last week but due to my lack of sleep and some computer issues, it did not happen. I saved the post to finish later so who knows maybe it'll post at a later date :) Anywho, so last week I got the awesome opportunity to work as a production assistant for the American Idol auditions in St Louis. I was supposed to work two days (Sunday and Tuesday) but on Sunday Mother Nature decided to send hurricane weather to the midwest and there was no way I was driving to St Louis in that weather. So I only got to work one day but it was the most important: Audition Day!
My call time was for 4 in the morning (OUCH!) but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. When I got to Scottrade and met my bosses, I was given my first task: put ice in Ryan Seacrest's dressing room cooler and make sure his room was Seacrest-worthy. After that I was sent outside to work the crowd. I almost lost my voice trying to get the crowd amped up enough for the opening shot and I am pretty certain I lost 10 pounds running up and down the line in the heat. I was the not so smart kid that decided to wear jeans ugh! I did make some new friends in line though and I hope they made it through to the judges audition. They were these kids from Indiana and they were all in Glee club together. They were my line buddies and kept me entertained during my time outside. Around 8 am we got the call on our headsets that Seacrest was on his way out and when I told my part of the crowd that, they went from sleepless zombies to party animals. Everyone was cheering and jumping up and down. Amazing what one little man can do. And he is little. I walked past him on my way back from escorting a contestant to the overflow line and I was shocked at how short he actually was. And super tan too.
So after spending about 3 hours outside with the crowd, the assistant production manager Blue (who is super awesome by the way!) called me back to the Production Office (PO) and informed me that my new duty was going to be the office PA. Yep that's right, I got the cushy position of sitting on my butt in the air conditioning watching television while checking in/out headsets and handling receipt reimbursements. Okay well it wasn't that simple because the production manager Brian kept having me do random things like refill water in the coolers and pack up stuff in the office but I was happy to do it cuz I was getting bored just sitting around. I am definitely one of those people that could never work at a desk job for the rest of my life. I am far to active and my brain needs to be exercised as much as my body. At around 3, Seacrest had left the building and I was given the task of breaking down his dressing room. Blue did make me laugh at this point because everything in Ryan's room has to be sealed when he gets it. So as we were pulling things from his room, Blue realized the big ol' bottle of mouthwash she got him was opened but only a little sip was gone from it. She was like, "Brian, what should we do with this? Sell it on EBay?" So pretty much this big bottle of perfectly good mouthwash was now going to waste. Oy! That's Hollywood for ya though, I guess. The rest of my day was pretty uneventful though we did get a lot of entertainment from the headset convos and descriptions of "interesting" contestants. One PA asked where they should send the losers. The reply he got was "Send the non-winners to such and such" To this he replied "But where do we send the losers?" I think the entire PO busted out laughing to that one. And we found out that a contestant (a non-winning one) spit on a security guard on their way out....stay classy St Louis! My day finally came to an end at 7 pm....yes that's right, I was going strong from 4 am to 7 pm and I could have kept going if I wanted to. In my eyes, this was just preparation for when I'm a doctor working 72 hour shifts (WHOO!) I'm not gonna lie though, once I sat down and started relaxing, my body felt like it was going to break in half....probably from all the packing and moving of boxes Brian had me doing.
My favorite part of the whole experience.....being in Seacrest's presence? No. Meeting AI producers? Nope. Being in on all the Idol secrets? Close but Nada. The AMAZING and FREE food catered to us? You betcha! Any one that knows me knows I love me some good (and free) food. Every meal we got was like a four course meal and delicious. I still dream about that food....yum!
So there ya have it. My wonderful time as a production assistant for the IDOL. Hopefully in September I will get to work the job again for the Judges Auditions....FINGERS CROSSED!
No comments:
Post a Comment