Being Flexible

This past Sunday, during church services, my phone started buzzing. So, I answered it and started talking loudly in the middle of the congregation. Just kidding! Actually, I slipped it out of my pocket, glanced at the number, and put it away. Basically wanted to know if it was something I would want to check on after the meeting. No need to follow up on a pocket dial from the other end of the pew.

Turns out it was for a project I had booked earlier that was shooting that day with a call time that happened to be when the services had started. So I immediately called him back and told him it was the first I heard of it. And that I was available and could probably be there within the hour.

I had worked with him before, so he didn't think I would have just flaked on him. Shows the importance of developing a good reputation. If I didn't have a good track record, he might have just tried to get someone else instead of following up with me. Okay, he would probably have cast someone else in the first place, but that's beside the point.

Fortunately, as I mentioned, I was available and willing to rush to set. After the shoot, we looked into why I never got the shoot info. It turns out when he sent out the email, it was going to the same number of addresses as the number of people working on the project. But one was a child actor and another was her mother. He decided it would be best to follow up the night before in the future. Also shows why you're often asked to confirm.

Was I at all upset about the communication glitch? No. Although, I was a bit concerned and curious. Would having received the email been preferable? Absolutely. They had to wait for me. Okay, they did use the time to shoot some scenes I'm not in, but still. Also, I could have been...on another set and unavailable. What!? I could of.

I suppose I could have told him I was unavailable on such short notice. However, this is my career so the thought never even occurred to me. Things happen last minute. Sometimes by accident, as in this case. Sometimes because the opportunity didn't exist the day before.