Back on set
It's strange being back on set for commercial shoots. The past two weeks were a very intense time, 12 hour shoot days, our director cramming in as much as humanly possible and sometimes inhumanly, too.
I had to get two rapid result Covid tests as this is protocol regardless of vaccination status. I much prefer this weekly check over carrying a piece of paper that becomes increasingly irrelevant for two reasons: The Delta variants ability to cause breakthrough infections, and the vaccine effectiveness starts to wane after five months. This means the people who got vaccinated in April are now less bullet proof than they want to believe.
More importantly on a set with so many people, I'd rather know they aren't asymptomatic spreaders, too. So it's a win win. And the rapid test isn't that bad. Whatever they swirl around your nostril makes your sinus feel weird for an hour and then you're fine. It's not like the kind where they shove it so far up, it's like you're in ancient Egypt having your brain removed before mummification.
Despite the unpleasantness of wearing masks for twelve hours a day (another requirement) the shoots were like every shoot I've been on in my advertising career. High energy bursts of activity followed by long slogs where you're watching people set up the next shot.
The crew was efficient. There was a greater deal of camaraderie than I have seen in the past, perhaps aso due to a growing sentiment that masks and tests aside, things really are getting back to normal. I know there is a segment of the population that is terrified at that notion, but like it or not, we are emerging from the pandemic.
I'm very much looking forward to it, for no other reason than the shoots I've been on this year have been lacking in the craft services department. It's just not as glamorous being handed a box lunch or having to go to a counter to ask someone if you could have a bag of chips because it's all kept away from the crew. I'm sure I was not being judged by the lady for my snack choices, but I did feel the need to explain my tendency to stress eat while on set. Call me selfish, but I'm looking forward to the day where I can just grab my Cool Ranch Doritos for myself.
Los Angeles has gotten so much worse since I've left. More murders and theft in Venice. They've moved the homeless population off the beaches but the majority are still uninterested in housing and are just migrating to different parts of town. Apparently an extra police presence is needed in Melrose because the crime has spiked there. Stabbings, armed robberies and more.
I don't know how residents keep putting up with it, and aren't questioning the lack of leadership, never mind the lack of return on their tax dollars. The city had an uneasy air to it, just underneath the cherry veneer, as if everyone seemed determined to hide their sadness and dismay. I wonder if that's a local feeling or if it's countrywide.