So, now that the actual shoot took place, I can finally talk about.
Remember that "big gig" I was being so wonderfully cryptic about? It was for a Volvo commercial.
Granted, it will be an online commercial (meaning I'll be that face you skip after 5 seconds on YouTube), but I was one of two actors in the commercial (which beats out being in a TV commercial but as an extra). And, while I can't go into too many details until the commercial is released, I got to play non-threateningly attractive wife to my non-threateningly-attractive husband. We drove around, giving each other puppy looks, doing Christmas stuff you only see on Pinterest.
It was a long, long, long, long, long day. Granted, with modeling/acting, there is a lot of standing around, waiting for the crew to get lighting just right, blocking just right, etc. But we got a lot done in just one day (for perspective: the little 5-minute, not-so-professionally-shot, 48-hour film projects I used to participate in would take all weekend, and submissions usually came in by the skin of their teeth). I was up at 4 a.m. and out the door by 5:15, white-knucking it down to Hopkinton/Holliston in torrential rains. Wrap wasn't called until 5 p.m. and I didn't get home until 7.
Yesterday's 1,000 words was probably the hardest I've ever had to write this month. There have been definitely been a few days where I shrugged my shoulders and went, "Yup, that's that. The streak is going to be broken today." But yesterday was as close as I ever got. My only saving grace was writing dialogue for future scenes until I figured out what I wanted to write for the more linear parts.
I think it says something, however, that I work essentially 15-hour days including a brutal commute and I'm a lot happier than I was when I biked down the street for 10 minutes. I had to drive 3 1/2 hours for my Sportrack, burning through an entire tank of gas and then some in just one day. I have to drive into Boston on the semi-regular, which, including parking and T, is well over an hour. The drive from my little town in New Hampshire to Hopkinton was over an hour and a half. But I loved it and would do it again today in a heartbeat (although I'd probably be passed out by the afternoon).
It's the same with teaching tai chi: it's a half-hour drive to the studio I teach at (teach at until they close their doors *sigh*). Everyone always talks about making sure I leave at a decent time because of my "long commute home". But I don't mind it. On the flipside, if my bike wasn't in perfect condition for my ride to work, I was pissed. If I had to walk for whatever reason, my life was over. I resented the hills, the traffic, everything. I thought it was just a sign that I was growing less patient as an adult. It took leaving the education world behind to realize that I was just that unhappy.
One of the PAs at the shoot got to talking about education with me. She mentioned that she couldn't believe preschool could be that stressed.
"I just think, lot of cute kids, playing and having fun..."
Oh hun, if you only knew.
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