Elisa’s Upcoming TV Background Work

Hello!

I know its been a little while but I’ve been busy focusing on theatre and doing select TV background work jobs. But quite a few shows are airing in the next few weeks that I worked on so I wanted to send out a schedule and brief descriptions on how to find me. I also really, really want to start writing more blogs more frequently and not just about my upcoming background work. I feel like everyday in this big city is its own adventure and I should be sharing my crazy stories with all my faithful readers (if there's any left besides my mom)! So stay tuned and become a "follower" of this blog to get updates on when I've posted.


Wednesday March 25th at 10:00pm
Life on Mars – Episode# 116
I am at the toy launch party being held in a warehouse. I am in a bright lavender colored long-sleeved dress and my hair is down and straight. I took a picture of myself in costume this time and have put it at the end of this entry.

When the scene starts and the main characters enter the bar, I am near them when they spot the bartender and possibly close to the camera when Sam starts punching the bartender. Later in the scene when the big mob guy comes up behind Sam, I am back-to-back with the mob guy before he turns and walks Sam out of the building.

Monday March 30th at 8:00pm
Gossip Girl – Episode# 220
The Gossip Girl kids hold a party at Serena’s apartment and the students gets a little crazy. There is a crowd of eager-to-party kids trying to get in the big glass doors that have been locked by the doorman; I am one of those kids. There are two sets of double doors, behind the first set is a group of about 10 kids and behind the second set of doors is a much larger mob. I am in right behind the first set in the center. I am wearing an off-white, cream colored coat and a bright teal scarf. My hair is down and pulled back off my face.


Tuesday March 31st at 10:00pm
Cupid – Pilot Episode
The clip I thought I would be able to see myself for this episode is in the previews and I’m one person too far to the left to be seen. I’m hoping that in the show I will be seen. When the character Cupid is standing on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street he is surrounded by a large group of people. I am to the screen left side in a beige jacket and dark teal scarf. The light turns and we all walk towards the camera to cross the street.

Also, in the same episode, Cupid is standing on a street corner with the main girl who is wearing a green dress. They stop at a hot dog vendor and I walk by while they are talking - I have no idea if I will be see at all in those shots, but it’s worth a look!

That’s it for now! Law and Order Criminal Intent premieres mid-April so I will let you know where to look for me in that when we get a little closer to the air date. This episode will be from a day that I filmed back in September but the season had a delayed start. Some exciting news is I’ve recently been called in for several projects with College Humor and even landed a speaking role for one of their online clips! I filmed last Friday so the clip should be up in the next few weeks. I will send a link when I see that it is up on their website.

Let me know if you have any questions! Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to Spring!

Too Funny.

The Little Things

In New York, most subways stay underground. Thus, cellphones have no signal. However, to get to our apartment, the "F" train comes out from underground for two full stops. After a long, hard day, there is nothing better. Why? Well, because someone on the train is bound to find this 5 minutes as the perfect opportunity to pull out their cell phone and make a loud, annoying, call.

Of course they don't talk quietly. Rather, these inconsiderate others scream their life story. The silence of the subway has been taken over by a fiery red haired, overweight, middle aged secretary gabbing to her her friend about why her boss hates her shoes. This part of my story is entirely annoying. I, however, wait with glee. Why?

Well, soon enough, the subway will dive back into the depths of the New York underbelly and completely cut off cell phone signal again. As we go under, my new cell phone friend screams over and over, "I'LL CALL YOU BACK!! HELLO!!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!! I'M GOING UNDER!... (mutter mutter mutter)." I want to tell my new friend that screaming does not effect the signal strength and that the signal was lost 15 seconds ago. Nahhhh.

A small grin wraps across my face as I return to reading. The subway is once again quite.

This story happens at least once a week. And I. Love. It.

(picture from: http://blog.roadandtravel.com)

Inauguration - Part II

I know this is old news by now, but I figured, better late than never!

So we had our location and now it was time for the loooong wait in the cooooold weather. We had read online that they were not allowing blankets into Inauguration, but we realized once we were there, they only meant in the ticketed areas. The general public didn’t even have to go through security. So, blanket-less everyone in our group tries to make themselves comfortable on the hard and very cold ground. I attempted to lay down the newspaper I had grabbed at the Metro Station to avoid laying in the dirt/straw that was covering the floor. After lying down for maybe five minutes and feeling the cold from the ground seep through my layers of clothing and staring, wide awake up at the dark night sky, I decided I was better off standing. So I stand, jump around, stare at the crowd, and watch the sun come up to keep my mind off how cold it is. The time between 6am-8am is really a blur, it was still dark out and we were bored but too cold to do anything but huddle together for warmth. Eventually the sun began to rise and at 9:00 they turned on the big screens and replayed the events from the day before that took place at the Lincoln Memorial.

Joel and I seemed to be the ones in our group that had the smallest bladders and we had been strategizing on when and where to take our bathroom breaks. Port-a-potties lined both sides of the Mall, but the map we had showed that there were going to be restrooms available inside the Museum, which luckily was directly to our right. Around 9:00 we decided it had been long enough since our last bathroom break but soon enough that we wouldn’t get stuck in a huge line and miss all the events starting at 10:00. We worked our way through the very thick crowd doing our best not to step on any of the people still lying on the ground. We get up to the museum entrance only to find out it won’t be open until 10:00! Not wanting to wait and risk miss seeing Obama’s entrance we settle for the port-a-potties which had only a five minute wait. On our way back we notice the souvenir booths and decide this is probably the best time to wait in line. We buy a bunch of buttons and are then on our way back through the crowd using the landmarks surrounding the Mall to find our group in the sea of bodies.

A little while later Mike and I realized our toes were getting quite cold and not having planned this adventure in advance, we hadn’t bought the toe warmer packs. So back through the crowd we wiggled to the souvenir booths in search of warmth. We see the long line to the souvenir booth that is selling the hand and feet warmers and decide we have nothing better to do and the warmth will be worth the wait. We took turns standing in line while the other person walked around to check out the different booths and crowds. They had set up ‘warming stations’ which were essentially a giant generator-looking thing with a 3-sided tarp around it that people huddled in to get warm. The swarm of cold bodies struggling to get close to the heat made me laugh and I decided walking around was accomplishing the same task just as easily. The booth is sold out of toe warmers so we settle with the hand warmers and quickly put them in the inner-layer of our socks. And once again, I begin the journey back through the sea of people to our spot.

It was finally nearing the start to the ceremony. The arrivals began, the large screens were now broadcasting what was happening just a few hundred feet in front of us, and it couldn’t have started soon enough. Personally, I was a bit bored during all the announcements and arrivals … senators…important political people … celebrities … I just wanted them to hurry up and announce Obama! After what felt like forever, the important people of the day arrived! The sound of the crowd cheering, everyone waving their American flags, and the collective positive spirit that filled the air is something I will never forget and cannot be justified in words.

You have all seen the inauguration ceremony, or at least portions of it on television. It feels so surreal to think back to those moments. We were all so tired and so cold but we were all there because we believed in the change that we were witnessing. I teared up several times during Obama’s speech. I found it immensely powerful to look around at the older generation of African Americans standing beside me and wonder what their life experiences have been and what this moment meant to them. Never will I forget the sense of pride I had in my country at that moment.

The ceremony was ending, Obama was president (oath slip-up and all) and it was time for us to begin our journey home. A water main had broken that morning and shut down a few of the key streets open for inauguration attendees to exit the Mall. Deciding we were better off completely avoiding the parade route, we made our exit up and around the capital building. I have attached a map to this blog tracking our movements for the day. After literally being carried along by the crowd the five us manage to make it out to the street in one piece and begin another long walk back to the Metro. The entrance to the Metro is swamped by a large un-moving crowd. We realize the police are only letting certain amounts of people into the station at a time in order to prevent overcrowding on the subway platforms. Eventually it is our turn and we push our way onto the crowded subway car and head back to Bethesda where the car is parked. In Bethesda we revive our bodies with some Chipotle followed by coffee and are on the road back to NYC. We arrive back on our street at 8:30pm that night, exactly 24 hours since we left the day before. Were we tired? Absolutely. Were we stiff from standing in the cold? You bet? Were we happy to be home? Of course. Would we do it all over again? Without a doubt!

INAUGURATION MAP
Blue Line = walking route we took into inauguration
Pink Line = walking route we took out of inauguration

Funny Elisa Video

Recognize one of the models? I DO! -Mike

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Proud of My Country and Proud of Myself

For those of you who have been patiently waiting an update to how my Nanny Diaries adventure ended, have no fear, I will get around to writing about it soon. BUT, I have something a bit more exciting to share at the moment and its going to be a long one…

It was Monday night, January 19^th and Mike and I had been discussing possible places to watch the Inauguration on Tuesday. We had decided Times Square would probably be the most exciting, after actually going to DC of course. We were mad at ourselves for not going into Times Square the night the election results were announced and we promised ourselves we would go somewhere for Inauguration to share in the excitement. The more I was thinking about it, the more I wished we had found a way to go to DC, but I had thought that if you didn’t have a ticket you couldn’t even get close. I sit down on my computer and start googling Inauguration info, I eventually stumble upon a map of DC showing where people can and can’t go for the ceremony and parade. Whoa, I had no idea that the general public could go onto the National Mall! Hmmm… the wheels in my head start turning and I start to feel spontaneous. Many of you know, I am not the greatest at being spontaneous; actually I’m terrible at it. I am a planner, I like to have things fully thought out and prepared well ahead of time. But this was going to be an incredible moment in history and I feel like I’m so close to the action, why not go and be a part of it.

It is 5:00pm. I start searching to see if there are any bus or train tickets left for DC that leave late that night or early in the morning. Everything is sold out or really expensive. Mike comes over to my computer and can tell that I’m up to something, then he notices the DC map I’m looking at. I tell him I just really wish we would have planned to go to DC and I was trying to find a last minute way to get down there.

Mike: Too bad we don’t have a car, or could borrow Becky and Joe’s. (Our friends who live upstairs)

Elisa: But they’re already going to Inauguration, remember?

Mike: I wonder if they’ve left yet…

We hear footsteps upstairs Mike and Elisa look at each other mischievously.

Elisa: Yes, but they are going with their friend Joel, we don’t even know if they have room in their car.

Mike: Let’s go ask!

Mike, Elisa, and Zoka walk upstairs and knock on the door, Becky answers.

Mike: Hey Becky, what are you up to?

Becky: Our friend Joel is here and we’re just getting our stuff ready to go down to DC for Inauguration…

Elisa and Mike exchange another mischievous glance.

Becky: … do you guys wanna come?

Mike and Elisa look at each other and smile, excited squeals come from Elisa and Becky. The time is 5:45pm.

So that is how it happened. The next few hours are spent frantically planning, packing, calling our dog sitter friends to take Zoka for the night, and calling and begging my wonderful cousin Sandra who lives in the DC area to let us crash at her place. Sandra (and Russ) graciously say that we can get to their house late that night and crash for a few hours before taking the Subway into DC.

At 8:30pm we are crammed into Becky and Joe’s two-door car with bags of warm clothes and food. We are on our way! We arrive in Bethesda (a suburb outside of DC) where Sandra lives around 1am. We park at the parking garage next to the Metro station and then have a ten minute walk to Sandra’s house. A sleepy looking Russ and Sandra greet us and show us to our beds, we give them bottles of wine to thank them for their last minute generosity. We finally get to sleep around 1:30ish with the plan to wake up at 3:15. The metro starts running at 4am and we want to be on the first train to make sure we can get as close to Obama as possible.

On just over an hour of sleep, we wake up, pile on layers and layers of clothes, and head out of Sandra’s house by 3:30am. For the record, I am wearing two pairs of socks, snow boots, long underwear under my jeans under my sweat pants, 6 shirts/sweatshirts, a down jacket, scarf, earmuffs, hat, hood, and gloves.

We walk to the Metro station and find it already crowded with other crazy Obama fans. We catch the first train into the city and are lucky enough to be the last stop to get seats on the train. On the 20 minute ride into DC we are grateful to have an opportunity to rest our legs as the train becomes a sardine can. We get off on the stop as close to the area we believe to be the entrance we can use to get into the Mall. Its around 4:30 in the morning as we start to wander the streets of DC navigating amongst the already crowding streets, police, and blocked streets. None of the maps we had printed off the internet or the ones we grabbed out of the paper that morning were very helpful in helping us determine the best entry point onto the Mall for those of us who did not have a ticket. I felt like a rat in a maze as we continually were being told by police that we couldn’t go down the streets leading to the National Mall. After over a mile of walking we had made our way all the way south of the Mall and found an entry near the Washington Monument.

There are already streams of people walking towards the Mall and the Capital Building. We have no way to know how full it is at this point but just starting walking towards the Capital to see how close we get. It is about 5:30am at this point and we are still walking, the Capital Building is getting closer and closer! We finally come to a point where the crowd has stopped and people are staking out their patch of dirt. It is just before 6am, five hours to go until the excitement starts, now we just wait and attempt to stay warm.

More coming soon … Mike may finish the second half of the blog … pictures coming soon too!

Mike’s peanut thoughts on a plane.

When did the airline industries get so bad that they could no longer afford the honey in their honey roasted peanuts? Even crazier, when did Delta “discontinue” ginger ale. The poor ginger root’s entire market share was destroyed with the stoke of an airline executive’s pen. How many other mainstream items come with ginger root?

Upon inquiring further, my flight attendant “Jane” stated that Delta is getting back the airline’s staple root drink in May. Which only leads me to think about how it takes just shy of five months to get pop back on a plane.

So I sit on my flight with water and my two bags of peanuts.

Jane, however, has my back. A few moments later, she comes back and says, “here, drink this and tell me what you think.” It looks like ginger ale, smells like ginger ale, tastes like ginger ale… “Thanks!” I say with my ginger needs fulfilled. “It’s not ginger ale…” Jane leans in a bit to overcome the constant hum of the plane’s engines, “… it’s Sprite with a little Coke.” To my surprise… it really tastes the same.

“Now, what about a secret recipe for getting my peanuts honey roasted?” I respond. Jane smiled a bit, said she’s got nothing, and left. The previous statement came out without even a slight innuendo... I swear… or rather hope.