Working During Stage 2 in Ontario
Project “Board Games” was the second audition I received after the world announced a pandemic. Guess what? I booked it! Regarding working regulations, I had no idea what to expect when I went in for my shoot that day. I was also not too sure what they wanted from me as their game show “host”. Well, let me tell you, it was one of the most challenging projects I have ever worked on, but I absolutely loved it.
The audition process was done through a self-tape which I had submitted on June 26th. About a week later I found out I booked the role and had my wardrobe meeting on July 6th. The wardrobe process was actually very interesting during this time. Instead of the usual meeting with the wardrobe team a few days before the shoot, they sent an uber driver to my house filled with all of the clothes they wanted me to try on. How cool is that!? There I was in the comfort of my own home, trying on all these outfits as if a store sent them to me. The following evening we had a meeting with the whole production team on Zoom. During the meeting I tried on all the outfits they put together; it felt like a virtual fashion show. The team took screenshots of what they liked and eventually settled on the two outfits I would be using for the shoot.
July 9th was the day of the shoot and prior to going in that day, the production manager sent out forms and checklists as a protocol for COVID-19 regulations. These forms asked the usual questions of having any symptoms. They also made us sign forms to avoid suing them in case of an outbreak from the workplace. We were also sent a list of rules to be followed on set that day including: a temperature check upon arrival, wearing masks and shields at all times, constant hand washing/sanitizing, physical distancing, no in and out privileges, bringing our own lunch and eating separately during break. The makeup artists weren’t allowed to do my makeup, so I had to show up with my makeup done. I didn’t mind, I love doing my own makeup! The artist was only allowed to do touch-ups and hair. The crew was small, only about 8 people! This meant everyone had double duties, resulting in a longer scheduled set time.
Things didn’t go exactly as planned for me that day. I’d like to blame this on the fact that it was my first day at work after 3 empty months. I learned many lessons from this day and hope to never repeat the same mistakes ever again. For me, being punctual is super important. I believe that when I’m early, I’m on time, and when I’m on time, I’m late. For any project I book, I’ll always meticulously plan everything the day before: location, what time I need to leave and what route I’m going to take. My first mistake was looking up the shoot location address on Waze (the GPS app I used to think was better than Google Maps because it notified of nearby parking, up to date traffic, and if a cop was nearby). Waze showed me Centennial College, which is where my brother went to school; I had been there a few times before. Thinking I was familiar with the place, I knew there would be nearby parking as it was a residential area. Based on this, I figured leaving about an hour and half prior to the shoot left me reasonable time to get there, park, and have 20 minutes to myself before my call time at 7:30 AM. Cut to.
When I arrive at Centennial College, I easily find parking nearby. At this point, it’s 7:00 AM and I’m going over my script. I’m relieved and quite frankly impressed with my time management! 30 minutes early and filled with the usual emotions before a shoot day. 15 minutes pass and I’m taking my sweet time getting out of the car, making sure I didn’t park in a no-parking zone. I walk over to the school and notice the number on the front of the building is different. My heart starts pounding but I’m trying to justify that I’m still in the right place, I just needed to find the building entrance. I walked to every entrance I could find and the building was locked. I call my production manager and she tells me she’s outside but I can’t see her! It finally sunk in that I was in the WRONG place! I quickly check google maps and the address is actually a 10 minute drive from where I was! It was 7:25 AM and I was freaking out. After apologizing to my production manager, I said I’d be there as soon as possible. Cut to.
As if being 10 minutes late wasn’t enough for me to make a bad impression, I also had some issues with the script. I received the final script for this project five days before my shoot date. In hindsight, I suppose it was enough time for me to have it fully memorized. However, in my defence, memorization was not written on the script! Most of my lines had “VO” before it, which stands for “voice over” (so I didn’t think they would be filming me while I said the lines). I mistakenly asked my production manager a couple of days before the shoot if the lines needed to be memorized. Of course she said yes, but I wouldn’t have to do full runs. So there I am, two days before the shoot, scrambling to memorize these lines but it just won’t stick. It’s usually easy for me to memorize lines for a scene because I can attach emotion to the words. The scene becomes relatable and actually means something to me, whereas with this script, it was just rules to a game I’d never seen or played before. If this wasn’t already hard enough, I also had two board game rules to memories; each two to three pages long! Cut to.
The following day, I was able to memorize most of my lines but I couldn’t say them all in one take without having to stop and look at the script beforehand. Unfortunately, the director wanted one full clean take of me just saying the rules to the camera (yikes). I shrunk inside and told him I’d try my best. I got in front of the camera and of course, after two sentences, I froze. My biggest nightmare is someone regretting their choice of me as their talent, yet that’s what I could see in the production teams’ faces every time I couldn’t say my lines in one clean take. After continuously messing up my lines, I was internally yelling at myself to get it right thinking “I don’t want to do this anymore”. I even had thoughts of quitting acting altogether!
I got through the first board game and then we had lunch. After lunch was the second board game, which I really struggled with. I could see the crew was getting tired. Despite my various slip-ups, we got the job done and the crew was forgiving. I believe it was because most of us on set that day were working for the first time since the pandemic, so we had the full energy and attitude to work through it. One of my biggest mistakes was expecting this project to be easy breezy. Luckily, we finished everything on time and left the shoot at around 6:30 PM, which was the predicted time. I spoke with the production manager before I left, thanking her and apologizing for my continuous mistakes. To my surprise, she said I did an amazing job, and the rest of the production team, who were watching via Zoom, loved the humour I added to the role. She said I was too hard on myself and was happy to have me part of the team. It was a huge relief to hear that!
This project was definitely an experience that will stay with me forever. These moments are necessary to wake you up and humble you. As an actor, I believe it is important to be confident in yourself, however in this instance I had more confidence than the skill they needed from me that day, which wasn’t a good impression. I was unprepared for the shoot and deeply regret not taking more time to study and memorize the script. I also regret trusting Waze. Going forward I will always double check addresses on Google maps! Funnily enough, it turned out the makeup artist on set that day had ended up at Centennial College as well; that’s where her Uber driver dropped her off. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one which made the situation more understanding. Phew!
While stressful, the day was filled with impactful lessons, which will forever be etched into my mind. I will make sure to never repeat these mistakes again! Also, how cool is it that I got to work as an actress in Toronto during stage 2 of the city reopening from Covid-19 closures? I will forever be grateful for this experience, and want to thank Mowad Productions for hiring me that day. It was amazing being able to work with a team who were so fun, kind, hardworking and forgiving. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
And to YOU- thank you for following my journey and taking the time to read my blog! Lots of love and please continue being safe and healthy!
-Mako