Yesterday, I did stand-in work for “Mike and Molly”. If you are unfamiliar with what stand-in work is, basically I stood in for one of the main actors while the crew set up some shots for promos that they will be shooting this week. I was there so the main actor didn’t have to be (I’m sure I’m cheaper too). I had been a stand-in once before for the same actor a couple of years ago, but that was a totally different experience.
Last time, we worked at a photography studio. While that was fun, this time is was even better. We worked on the WB lot (where the show is shot)! And as I’ve mentioned before, I used to be a tour guide at WB so I know the lot very well.
My day started off by getting through the lot security (it was actually very easy this time) and getting a ride over to the soundstage that we were working on. The soundstage was on the opposite end of the studio, so the ride was nice. Once I got there, I signed my contract for the day, found a chair to sit in, and read my book.
The lighting takes a while to get set up. We were there for about 2 hours before I had to do anything. But I just enjoyed sitting there and reading (and getting paid to do that).
The stage looked pretty plain. There’s nothing shooting in there right now, and all they had up was a blue screen (so they can replace the background of the picture with whatever they want).
After being on that stage for a bit, we ended up moving over to another stage because everything was already set up over there. We moved over to stage 24, which is the stage that “Mike and Molly” shoots on. It’s also known as The “Friends” Stage because that is the stage that “Friends” shot on for a majority of their run.
I tried to get a selfie with the sign outside the stage, but the sign is so big so both the sign and I got a bit cropped out of it.
A funny thing happened while we were walking over to the other stage. I saw a bunch of tour guides with their carts driving around the lot. Everyone on the cart was looking at me trying to figure out if I was famous enough to want to take pictures of. Of course, I took a photo of the cart trying to decide if they wanted to take a photo of me.
Inside stage 24, it was set up just as if they were taping the show that day. The other stand-in and I sat up in the audience area while we waited, and for the first time ever in the audience area, I had my phone on me and could take a photo of the view.
It’s not as pretty to look at when there are crew carts in front and when it isn’t lit properly, but it’s still fun.
Before we really did any stand-in work, we had to break for lunch. I walked over to the commissary and ordered a sandwich (the WB commissary is actually very good and not too horribly priced). After I was done eating, I noticed what I thought was the VIP Deluxe tour cart right by the tables. I know that my friend, Dean, is the one who almost always leads those tours, so I waited by the cart to see if Dean came by.
After waiting for a few minutes, out came Dean with his tour group! As soon as I saw him, I interrupted whatever he was telling his tour to tell his guests that they have the best tour guide ever (Dean was the one who trained me when I was a guide). Dean seemed super excited to see me too, and we got to chat for a second before he had to take his group to the next location on the lot.
I spent the rest of my lunch walking around the lot, checking out some of my favorite locations.
This first picture used to be the hospital for “ER”.
And next is Stars Hollow from “Gilmore Girls” (it’s also been a ton of other locations, but that’s what I always think of it as).
My lunch hour came to an end and I walked back to the soundstage. They were finally ready for us to do our stand-in work after lunch. Most of the time was in the living room set, which is right in front of the audience area. So I got to stare at the empty audience bleachers and tried to image what it would be like to have an audience in there and I’m performing.
Before I knew it, my day was done. It was a very easy day and it might not seem like I did a lot, but it helped the crew get almost all the prep work done so that on the shoot day they don’t have to waste the lead actors’ time.
I walked back through the studio one more time to get back to my car, and I headed home.
It was one of the best days I’ve had in a while. I got to meet a ton of really great people and I got to spend my day on one of my absolute favorite lots to be on (it doesn’t hurt that I know that lot so well so I can wander and not get lost).
Hopefully there will be more days like this in the future.
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