4pm to 4am...you've got to be kidding

Okay, here's the thing. When I helped on Annie's last film she did in Cave Creek, all I had to do was go to Costco a couple of times. That was that. Piece of cake. But nobody seemed to get the message this time that I'm just a volunteer, a local girl with a bit of extra time on her hands that doesn't mind helping out once in a while for a good cause, but, really, I do have a life. So when I kept getting the Call sheets emailed to me and the rumors of 12 hour days, I kept thinking, well, that's for the other people, not me. Right? Again, the message wasn't getting across. But last night the call time was 4pm, meaning check-out time was 4am. 4am is hard (and I should know since I got up around 4am the past two days in order to get to Carefree by 5:45 for pick-ups. But last night the place was doing okay with out me, lots of people around to help so I snuck out after only a short 6 hour shift. But still, what a night. Shot everything indoors. Raced with the sun to catch some good scenes in the kitchen. The guys lit up the place with all their reflectors and massive cameras and sliding platforms and different colored filters. Very cool. Charles kept running outside to check on his sun, making sure it didn't drop out of sight before he was done with it. Annie, what an amazing perfectionist. She spotted the brand new cheap plastic plates from Target for the kitchen props and had the art department sand them down, make them look used. It was incredible to watch the scenes come together through her eyes. The house had been transformed from model home to government foreclosure in two hours and the crew hauled in all their equipment building it up and taking it down over and over again to get the perfect view. We had some free time and covered everything from immigration to the crazy, dangerous world of Cave Creek Arizona. My heart was racing by the time I made it to my car in the pitch black desert night after the stories of torture and murder and drugs, but mostly worried about the coyotes that we heard the night before, eating up something out there in the desert. I rolled south down the hill back to Scottsdale as the rest of the gang got ready for round two.