The Magic Castle

The wrap party for The Great Buck Howard was at The Magic Castle. How cool is that! Not everyone can go to the Magic Castle and they have a strict dress code there, so I was excited to go.
First of all, I got turned around on the way there. Ended up at Hollywood and Highland, not a great place for traffic on a friday night, and could not make a left turn and could not turn around to go in the direction I wanted to go! After about half an hour of trying to get from one side of Highland to another, lol, I finally made it! Talley, who had worked on casting, was not far behind me, and so I waited at the valet for her to arrive. We walked around the building to the room that had been reserved for the party. It was very cool. Everyone was so dressed up, it was difficult recognizing some folks. =) I decided to check my coat and was told that I had to go to the front desk at the entrance. So Talley and I went on a scavenger hunt for the front desk. Through the long and winding rooms and hallways, with a magician around every corner, we finally found it, and after checking my coat, Talley said the password to the owl to allows back through the secret door. Back at the party, there were magicians there to entertain us. We got to see the world champion of magic perform, which was so much fun. Apparently, not many americans have won that title. Finally, after some more food, drinks, magic and dancing, it was time to go home. I had a blast!

Talley and I posing for the camera

Here I am with Ted, one of our fabulous stand ins

The Great Buck Howard - Last Days

So I worked my last 2 days as background coordinator this week. We had 375 extras working Tuesday and Wednesday, and filmed at the Palladium. Things went fairly smoothly on Tuesday, but yesterday was a different story. The morning started with an extra fainting. An ambulance was called and she was sent home so she could go see her doctor. On this note, for anyone working on a film set, you should know that there is always a medic working. They are there for anything from someone needing tylenol for a headache to emergencies such as this one. When the extra fainted, it was a bit scary because she did not wake right away. So a few people called 911. Can't blame them, because it is ingrained in all of us to do so in an emergency. But the medic hadn't even gotten there to assess the situation. In our situation, it turned out that the paramedics came in handy. But in talking to the medic, he told me that in a lot of cases, this isn't so. A film production has lots of resources at hand, and if an emergency isn't immediately life threatening, a medic can take care of the situation at hand and then use the transportation department (affectionately known as transpo) to bring the victim to the hospital. So if you are ever working on a set, cast or crew, and, heaven forbid, a medical emergency happens to you or someone around you. Don't grab your cell phone and call 911. Find the nearest person with a radio and call for the medic.
Another side note I learned ...
When calling 911, it is much faster if you call from a land line. Calling from a cell phone will require transfers to the right place and then you have to be able to tell them exactly where you are. Whereas if you call from a landline it goes to the right place immediately, along with all the info (address,etc) that is needed. So basically, the time it takes for a medic to come assess the situation and potentially have 911 called from a landline can be shorter than if someone were to call 911 right away from a cell phone.
OK, so that was my lesson for the day ... thought it was good info I should share ...

So, the wrap party for The Great Buck Howard is tomorrow night. I'm super excited about it because it's at the Magic Castle! I've never been before so I'm looking forward to it. The only issue is ... what to wear? There's a formal dress code there ... guess it's time to go shopping!!