A show about the white house that's entertaining,
funny, whimsical and at times downright chockfull
  of irony.  Just like the REAL white house.

NOTE- I haven't worked the show or even SEEN it in about a year,
these accounts are from my early experiences with it and are
intended to just give you an idea of how they do things on set.
I'm sure a lot of things have changed, such as AD's, PAs and
so on.  There's a lot of transition in those crew positions.

"Somebody's Going To Emergency,
Somebody's Going to Jail"

     When I heard "The West Wing" on the Central hotline, I knew that it was a booking I just HAD to get!  Never mind that Allen was seeking "protestor types" to play WTO protestors and I had done mostly upscale business prior to that.  I honestly hadn't been "scruffy" in years.  But it would be worth it to me to sit there trying to get through for two hours just to POSSIBLY get booked on the greatest show  running on television today!  I don't recall how long it did take, but the number rang and Allen eventually answered after countless busy signals.  "Hi, what's your social?"  I gave him my social security number, he called up my file on his computer and promptly asked me if I still had my mustache and goatee.  I did, so the next question concerned my wardrobe.  I have a nice upscale wardrobe but little in the way of "protestor" threads, so I told him I'd just wear jeans, a black tee shirt and my black leather motorcycle jacket.  He immediately  booked me for the shoot.

     The next morning I parked in lot seven at Warner Brothers and made my way to Stage 28a, where I had been told to check in.  It was cold and blustery, and I was VERY ready for a hot cup of coffee by the time I had reached 28a.  Unfortunately there wasn't any coffee, just West Wing sets, lots of wood and about a hundred other people shivering and wishing that they had coffee too.  We weren't there for very long though, one of the PA's came in and made an announcement that as soon as we had been given our vouchers they'd relocate us.  So after our names had been called off and each voucher had found it's owner, we were ushered out.  I was a little disappointed because  I really didn't get much of a chance to see some of the sets in 28a.   We were all sort of between them and I couldn't really tell what they specifically were.. and it turned out we'd be shooting outside for the rest of the day.

     We played a quick game of "follow the PA" and he led us to Warner Brother's historic little western town called "Laramie Street" which wasn't very far away.  It was so authentic, the streets were muddy from the sporadic rain and we walked on boards that had been laid out for us.  Our holding area turned out to be a saloon that has been featured in hundreds of old westerns and even on an episode of "Suddenly Susan" that a friend of mine was involved with a few years ago.  (For THAT story, check out Michael's "Life of an Entertainer" website at http://www.michaelgier.com and look for "working with Brooke Shields") 

 We hadn't been there very long when a couple of craft service people came in with a few of those huge coffee tankards and hundreds of doughnuts, brownies, pastries and fruit.  The flurry of a hundred extras descending on a craft service table is not unlike that of a pack of hyena tearing apart a gazelle on the Serengeti, and the dust hadn't even settled yet when a couple of the PA's came in and had us all line up and head out for the props truck.  It was parked a couple of blocks away, and most of us were given something that a WTO protestor would be holding during a protest, most of which  were signs of course, and I was given a sign that said "GLOBAL JUSTICE NOW" (I haven't the slightest idea what that means).

     After a bit of confusion as to whether we should head over to the set or go back to holding (not uncommon on calls of over a hundred people) we were finally told to go back to holding for awhile and when we arrived we found that some really terrific crew members had set up a forced air heater in the otherwise freezing saloon.  I was lucky enough to have grabbed a chair about three feet from this blessed machine, and so I just sat and drank coffee, read my book and waited.

     After an hour or so, they came and got us.  We grabbed all of our "Global Justice Now" signs and headed over to a street corner on the Warner Brother's lot that I guess was supposed to be somewhere in Washington D.C.  It was actually just outside a Warner Brother's office building and after we had been placed, a wardrobe guy went up and down the sidewalk giving out ski caps.. I got a blue one.  He took my voucher as collateral to make sure they'd get their ski cap back, which is standard procedure.  So then me and my blue ski cap stood there with all of those other ski capped people for about half an hour freezing our buns off while the crew figured out how they wanted to get this first shot.  Turned out that Richard Schiff (TOBY on The West Wing) would be arriving at the office building in a rather officious looking black car and as he went by us, we'd all be chanting, yelling and waving the signs around.

Well, after about ten takes of the car containing Schiff going by and us yelling at it, they checked the gate and reset.  We were all shuffled down to the FRONT of the office building now, where Schiff would get out of the car, chat with a woman police officer (played by Roma Mafia of "Profiler") for a minute and then go in.  All the while we were to continue our chanting, yelling and waving (miming it of course, since now dialog was going to be recorded).  If you watch The West Wing, you'll know that Schiff's character "Toby" has adopted a habit of bouncing around a little rubber handball to relieve stress.  I found it interesting that Schiff did the same thing between takes.. bounced his little ball around and even involved a crewmember in an impromptu handball match at one point.  Someday I'd like to ask him if TOBY'S habit of ball bouncing was born of Schiff's, or vice versa.

     I ended up being placed behind a small barricade just a few feet from the entrance of the building and a few feet from Schiff and Mafia.  This is the scene where Toby is met by her, they chat a bit and then go in.  They shot that with a steadicam from the first angle and it took about twelve takes, after which they decided to do the opposite angle after lunch.  So when we broke for lunch I headed back to the saloon and just grabbed a few peanut butter sandwiches from that craft services set-up.  I had been warned that Warner Brothers usually (with exceptions) only provided craft services at their studio shoots, and that to get lunch you would have to go to the commi$$ary  and purchase it.  NO THANK$$.  So peanut butter sandwiches would have to do.

     When we arrived back on set about an hour and a half later, we resumed our previous positions, Schiff and Mafia resumed theirs, and we commenced shooting from the other angle.  Again, about twelve takes to get it in the can.  Then we broke for awhile as the crew reset for the next scene which is Toby and the lady cop coming out of the building and being joined by Brad Whitford, aka "Josh".  If you've seen the episode, you know that Toby and the cop go into the building to meet with a group of protestors inside so that Toby can address them in a rally.  Then when he gets fed up with them he storms out followed by  her and Josh finds them out front, where they all three chat a bit.  Actually, the indoor protestor scenes had been shot two days earlier and we were doing the outdoor scenes only.

     When Brad showed up they rehearsed the scene a couple of times and then started shooting the first angle, again with all of us mime yelling and waving our cute little signs.  Brad had to stand near me to wait for his cue each time they reset to take it again, and I was impressed with how cordial he was.  One young female friend of mine insists that he's "absolutely adorable" and she can't believe I could stand within five feet of him without fainting.  I really have to say he doesn't quite have that effect on me :-)  He IS a terrific guy though, from what little contact I had with him and he's not a bad actor at all, which you know already if you've seen his work on the show.

     After twelve to fifteen takes of THAT angle (Schiff had a pretty difficult monologue in this scene and understandably had a hard time getting through it all in one take) it was time to "turn it around" and shoot the other angle.  So the three principles did it all again about fifteen more times and when the director was finally happy with it, THEY got wrapped.. but WE weren't done yet!  Schiff, Whitford and  Mafia went bye bye and then we were all ushered back up to the corner where we had been that morning.  They placed a sound man with a boom mic in the middle of the street, then they recorded "wild tracks" of us yelling, chanting and doing our thing.  After about fifteen minutes of that we were FINALLY wrapped.  Most of us had to go to the wardrobe trailer and turn in various articles of clothing (I turned in my blue ski cap) and when we got our vouchers back we had to go get signed out.

     All in all, it wasn't a bad shoot although it was a large call and I'm not crazy about those anymore just because of the confusion and long lines that invariably go along with it.  I want to give credit to the crew of TWW though, for handling it rather well.  Some AD's and PA's don't handle big crowds well, and a lot of tempers flare and bitterness results, but not that day.  We ended up getting some good overtime and a "rain bump" for standing out in the drizzle for several hours, so that wasn't too bad.

MY total time there- about 11 hours

MY total time spent on set, actually working- about 8 hours

MY total time on screen once the show aired- about 3.5 seconds

The Fall's Gonna Kill Ya

  Once again The West Wing was posted on the Central hotline, and when I called Allen in response he booked me for the next day as a "Speech writer".  It had been about a month since I had worked the show as a protestor, and now I was clean shaven which helped to get this particular booking.  When I walked into stage 28a that morning I was greeted by Yamiko, who was our PA in charge for the day.  Only about thirty extras were needed this time and so rather than bringing on a bunch of PA's to handle everybody like they do on the large calls, they can get by with having just one in charge.

     Right inside the door of stage 28a is the set used as the press briefing room on the show and it turned out that this would be our holding area since it wasn't being used for filming that day.  I put my stuff on a chair and stepped out into the area that craft services had set up in, this time complete with not only coffee but all kinds of goodies.. already I was enjoying this job a heck of a lot more than I had the last time I worked the show.  After some coffee and a banana, Yamiko told us to head over to the wardrobe trailer to get checked.  It sits behind 28a next to assorted other trailers used for the show, including the actor's trailers and so on.  I had been told to wear a conservative business suit and that's what I had on, but it turned out not to be conservative enough.. the wardrobe guy dissed it AND he didn't like anything else I had brought along in my suit bag, he said I was "too California".  He had me change into a pastel dress shirt and some dress shoes from the trailer.. well, at least I got to keep my own pants.  And wouldn't you know it, THIS is the only time I hadn't brought my very expensive dress shoes from hell that kill me every time I wear them.  I had been wearing my plain black soft soled Nikes that make the soundmen happy, but this wardrobe guy took one look at those and said "you've GOT to be kidding"!

     After changing and arriving back at 28a, I spent maybe a half hour hanging out, drinking coffee and visiting with the other extras before Yamiko finally came in to get all of the "scriptwriters".  There were about six of us and as we followed her into the stage next door (23) she took us to the Roosevelt room set where the crew was setting up the shot.  They told us just to take seats around the table, and after we did so they started moving us around and placing us where they wanted us.  There were two other people playing scriptwriters who were already seated when we arrived and they stayed in those same seats.  These two were "dayplayers" and had lines in the scene.  They didn't hang out with the extras since they each had their own trailer and had been hired specifically for this scene (the rest of us would be involved in a few scenes shot later that day).

Doug is the first AD on The West Wing and it was he who decided who should sit where.  After we had been placed, Doug had the young man who was standing in for Rob Lowe walk the scene a few times so that they could get the camera and lighting the way they wanted it.  After they were happy with that, Doug yelled "thank you second team, first team in"! which means that the stand in goes bye bye and Rob Lowe (Sam) takes his place.  They rehearsed it a couple of times and then decided to roll, getting the first angle in about five takes.  Then they readjusted the camera to go "tighter" on Lowe and ran the scene again, then adjusted so they could go tight on the dayplayers who had a couple of lines and they did it again.

     At a certain point in the scene someone knocks on the door and signals to Sam, so he excuses himself and goes in to the hallway to talk with her.  They had shot that first part up until he goes in to the hall, so now they were breaking down the camera and redressing the area of the Roosevelt room where the camera had been sitting because now that would possibly be in the shot.  This would take awhile so Doug excused us all to go back to holding, cautioning us to remember exactly where we were sitting and to make sure our note pads and props didn't change position.

     After forty minutes or so, Yamiko sent us all back in and we took our places.  Now they would be using a steadicam outside in the hallway and once again Lowe's stand in was present.  After walking through it, Lowe was sent back in and they shot it from the point of him excusing himself, going out into the hall to talk with her and then they both walk to his office with the steadicam tracking them.. we had to stay seated because we could possibly be seen through the windows as they walked.  Whenever they reset to go again, Lowe would take his place next to us beside the table and at one point the show's creator Aaron Sorkin came in.  He and Lowe high fived each other and struck up a lively conversation about the show until Doug politely encouraged Sorkin to "please move out so we can get rolling"!

     It took maybe ten takes to get that portion (those hallway steadicam tracking shots are tricky!) and then they went to shoot the portion of the scene where they talk in Sam's office, so we were dismissed since they closed the office door and we were definitely out of the shot at that point.  We went back to holding for a few minutes, but then Yamiko came out and broke us for lunch, so Robert and myself decided to take a personal walking tour of the WB studios.  I had worked there before, on The West Wing and Gilmore Girls, but he hadn't and it's always fun to show someone around.  If you're a West Wing fan and you remember exactly the scene I just described, Robert was the silver haired gentleman sitting to Rob Lowe's left at the oval table.  He's new to background work, and enjoying it thoroughly.

     After lunch we reconvened at the door to 28a and Yamiko promptly ushered us back into stage 23, this time for a shot in the white house lobby.  It wasn't just the speech writers this time, but everybody.  There were uniformed secret service guys, white house staffers and just a general mix of people in business attire.  Yamiko  placed me by the front door and I was told that I'd be entering and I'd chat briefly with one of the uniformed secret service guys sitting at a desk.  Then after two particular people crossed from right to left in the lobby, that was my cue to go on in to the interior as if I was headed for some office.  I stood by the entrance while they continued setting people up and a props guy came over and handed me a briefcase.

     The scene was to be played by Janel Maloney, who plays Josh's secretary Donna on the show.  She would be coming into the lobby and assuring a seated gentleman that Josh would be with him momentarily.  Of course, Janel's stand in was there while they were setting up, but she left and Janel came in when they were ready to shoot it.  Turned out that with the cue given me, I would leave the desk and start walking in to the interior as Janel finished with the man and then she would walk by me and cross behind me.  On the third take I was a little late leaving the desk, resulting in a near collision with Janel (which I certainly wouldn't mind in a different setting!).  The director yelled CUT and they had to reset.. all because of me.  That's a little embarrassing, but Janel asked him if we could keep that shot.. "It's so natural" she said.  He declined to do so, and so we all went "back to one" and shot it again.  I suspect Janel was trying to make me feel better about having blown the take.. very nice of her!

     Sometime between the third or fourth take of that scene, Richard Schiff (Toby) came in and was showing some visitors around on the set.  He was dressed casually and so obviously wasn't shooting that day.. just hanging out and showing off his work place.

     After the Director was happy with the first part of the scene, they readjusted to shoot the rest of it.  After Donna leaves the man sitting in the lobby (crossing behind me WITHOUT colliding), she enters the next room and is confronted by two staffers who tell her about a Chinese satellite that is crashing to earth.  So they had to readjust the lighting, camera, background people, props and everything to pick up the rest of it from a different camera angle in the next room, and of course that took well over half an hour.  When they had it all set and were ready to shoot,  I was told to just cross behind Janel while she dialogued with the two staffers and so I crossed once over and once back.  Each time I did I was prompted by a silent signal from Yamiko, who was standing about ten feet out of the camera's view.  She also signaled other people to cross as I did, so you'll notice maybe ten or so people crossing behind Janel in that short scene, giving it the appearance of a very busy office!  And unless you roll it back on tape VERY carefully, you really can't tell that it's only about four or five people crossing multiple times.

     After that scene was finished, they had to do some interior office shots but it didn't include any of us so we were wrapped.  I went and changed, gave my shoes, shirt and tie back to the wardrobe guy and then went to find Yamiko to get signed out.  When she signed my voucher, she took note of my name and put it on a list.  I didn't ask her at the time what that was for, and so didn't find out until a couple of weeks later from Allen at Central Casting that this was a list of preferred people that may come back next season as regular White House staffers.. Whoo Boy!

MY total time there- about 9 hours

MY total time spent on set, actually working- about 5 hours

MY total time on screen once the show aired- about 15 seconds

*THIRD SEASON*

July 18th, 2001- Episode "Manchester"

I arrived at stage 28a on Wednesday morning and checked in with SKID, who is now the 2nd 2nd AD on The West Wing.  That's a fancy way of saying "assistant to the assistant of the assistant director". He was a PA when I worked the show last season, but now that he's been promoted he's the one in charge of extras and he had a trainee named HARMONY hanging around to keep us all in check.

Right when you walk through the door of 28a, the press briefing room is on the right hand side and usually it's used for background holding but today they were going to shoot a scene in it.  I'd anticipated this, since I'd been booked as a "press corps reporter", so I was looking forward to shooting a scene with Allison Janney (CJ Cregg, the White House Press Secretary on the show.)  After we'd all checked in with Skid he sent us down to the wardrobe trailer to get our clothes checked.. I passed!  What I had arrived wearing was fine for the press briefing scene and then I was told there'd be another scene later on, so the nice wardrobe lady picked a shirt and tie from my wardrobe bag for me to change into when we got to that point.

It wasn't until about an hour later that they were ready to shoot the press room scene, and we were all ushered in and told to grab seats.  About five or six seats were already occupied by stand-ins who were in place of the actors hired that'd actually be shouting questions at CJ.  The rest of us took seats around them and then Andrew, the new first AD on the show this season, switched a few of us around to get it evened out (not too many women in one place, the guy in the ugly shirt OUTTA the front row, etc..)  After the crew finished tinkering with lights and cameras, the stand-ins were dismissed and the actor/reporters took their places.  Then Allison Janney came in and took her place at the podium.


 Andrew had given us some cue lines where we'd all be shouting "CJ! CJ!" between her answers, and so we rehearsed the scene.  There is a poignant moment during the questions and answers when a reporter asks CJ something and she responds with an answer that she immediately regrets.  She has a particular reaction and emotion that goes along with what she'd just said, and she really got the sense of her feeling through quite well.

This particular episode is directed by Emmy winner Thomas Schlamme, who also serves as an Executive Producer of The West Wing along with Aaron Sorkin and John Wells.  Mr. Schlamme must have used every possible camera angle in that press briefing room, because we were in there (off and on) for the better part of the day to film a scene that's probably going to take ten minutes or less of screen time.  CJ answers questions, reporters keep hammering away at her with MORE questions and she gets quite stressed out.. and that's about it.  I have an online friend who is a big fan of the show and is nuts about Allison's character of CJ.  Well, I guess it's safe to say she's nuts about Allison too.  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to write a letter to her during the filming of this scene, so if you see me scribbling notes in my notepad while CJ answers press questions, I'm actually writing to BEV.  After receiving them she thanked me for the cool "prop" from The West Wing.  I guess it qualifies as an actual prop from the show, it's probably the only one I can actually take off the set and send to someone.  I wish I could get Allison's autograph for her, but I'm not going to cross the protocol line to get it.. sorry Bev!

Sometime in the late afternoon we finished up in the press briefing room and the crew headed next door to stage 23 where the majority of the White House interior sets are contained.  A number of additional extras had arrived and they were all playing White House staff, secret service guys, etc.  The shot would be one of those "walking down the hallway with the steadicam tracking" shots which can be very tricky.  During the time the crew was setting up, we were all hanging out in 28a near the craft services table and at one point Martin Sheen came in followed by Stockard Channing and a young female PA.  Sheen's congeniality on set is legendary among background actors, and so even if this WAS the first time I was seeing him in person I wasn't surprised in the least when he made eye contact with me and smiled as he walked by.  Most of them prefer to pretend you're not there at all, but not him.

As they walked by, I found it rather amusing when I realized they were going into the interior set of the President's bedroom, which was right behind where I was standing.  They posted the young PA at the door and spent the next twenty minutes or so in there, with us all looking at each other with quizzical eyebrows.  We knew they were just running lines or having a personal discussion or something of that nature, and that the bedroom set was the only place around that afforded the privacy they needed.  But the sight of the President and First Lady heading off to the "First Bedroom" and posting a guard at the door was TOO MUCH.. ("If this set is rockin', don't bother knockin!")

When we were called into stage 23 to shoot the hallway scene, I found out that it would be Rob Lowe, Richard Schiff and Allison Janney.  Lowe and Schiff would be walking along talking, and run into Janney coming the other way.  They shot it in two parts.. first Lowe and Schiff walking, speaking their dialogue, then they changed camera and lighting around to get the part where Janney enters.   Before we could shoot the first part, we were all waiting for Lowe to arrive.  When he did, the makeup people hadn't arrived yet to do their final touches on the actors before the camera rolled, and he didn't care for that at all. "Where in the HELL are they?" he yelled. "On their way" the Director assured him.. "They'll be here any minute". Lowe cussed out the Director, then stormed off the set, yelling "Screw them, I'll be in my trailer." Of course , the very MOMENT the door closed behind him as he exited the sound stage, the makeup lady and her assistant came in the opposite door, out of breath from running so hard. "Where's Mister Lowe?" she asked the director. He replied that "Mister Lowe was running a little behind schedule." The Assistant Director asked the Director if he wanted him to go fetch him, to which the Director replied "No, he'll return when he's ready." SO, an entire crew sat around for about fifteen or twenty minutes until Lowe finally came through the door, happy as could be and acting like nothing had happened. A Director WILL go through hell and put up with all kinds of crap to make his/her principle actors content.

  I wasn't used in the first section, but was placed down a hallway for the second section.  I'd be walking toward the camera and actors, and turned into a hallway out of the camera view where I'd stop and all three actors would end up too, standing next to me.  About five takes got that scene down and after the fifth one, Richard Schiff gave Allison Janney a big old kiss on the cheek because she had done so well.  Her character of CJ was supposed to be pretty upset during the scene, and boy WAS SHE!!  After every take she was red-faced and seething when she ended up next to me in the hall.  She's an absolutely amazing actor.

With that done, we were sent to change into our second set of clothes wardrobe had picked out for us and then told to wait in our area of stage 28a.  The next scene to be shot was going to be a recreation of the season ender where The President is facing the press and he's about to announce whether or not he's going to run again.  This scene was actually shot in DC last season, and now they were recreating what they could of it on the second half of stage 28.  They couldn't get everyone and everything used in DC of course, so they were recreating what they could and they were just going to do tight shots.. no wide, master shots at all.  If you see any in the season opener, they're probably footage from last season's DC shoot edited with the footage shot on The Warner Brothers stage.


The President contemplating the
solution to some troublesome
world affairs

When Sheen came in to shoot it, he passed through our section of 28a and warmly greeted a lot of the extras that he knew from the previous season and hadn't seen since then.  He joked around a bit with a regular White House Staffer and Skid, so when Sheen said he had to go to work now and was leaving, Skid announced  "Ladies and Gentleman, The President of the United States!".  On cue, Sheen launched into a perfect Dick Nixon impression complete with jowls and both arms extended with fingers flashing that famous V sign.  It got a pretty good laugh from everyone present, including me.


The REAL Dick Nixon and his famous V sign.

They took the next three hours or more to shoot that scene and they ended up not using most of us, so I never did make it into the set next door to check it out.  It was just another one of those situations where they kept us on hand in case the Director used a camera angle that he wanted to put some extras in.  Several times during the shooting, Sheen came in and raided the craft service table.  One of the older ladies who had been a reporter in the press briefing room along with me was chatting him up while he was eating.  That's a bit of a no no in the first place, but I'm getting the sense that it's okay on TWW set as long as it's Martin Sheen you're talking to and he's not working.  But my friend Paul and I were both a bit appalled at the point where she asked him to autograph the notepad she was carrying.  Now THAT'S crossing the line no matter who you're talking to on set.  But he graciously signed it, being sure to spell her name correctly.  Whatta guy!

After awhile, Harmony came in and announced that they wouldn't be using us in this shot after all, so she was going to sign us all out now so we could go.  (Skid had already left about an hour earlier.)  It was about eleven PM.


July 25th, 2001- Episode "Manchester"

I arrived at stage 28a just prior to my 10:30am call and several others were already there, sitting around on folding chairs or standing outside the soundstage door smoking a cig. Not a single person had a cup of coffee in hand, which was a dismal sight for a caffeine addict like me. I then remembered that we would be shooting on location today and so craft services was probably set up over there. I could hardly wait to jump on the shuttle!

After I had obtained my work voucher from Marcus, the PA on duty, I was checked by the wardrobe lady and she liked what I was wearing.. casual dress shirt, black slacks and dress jacket. Perfect for a press corps reporter traveling with the President, who was just in a bar to unwind and have a few drinks. The shuttle vans running were picking up extras who had been cast as White House staff first, THEN the extras cast as local bar patrons and of course the press corps people last. I have no idea why it was in that order, but I sure was glad to see the coffee urn when we arrived at Chadney's Restaurant in Burbank.

Chadney's is an ideal locale to shoot a bar scene in.  It's only fifteen minutes from the Warner Brother's lot and the parking lot there had room enough to put all of the production trucks and trailers, plus to set up a big white tent with chairs and tables for the extras to hang out in.  I grabbed my long awaited cup of coffee and sat down to gab with my friend Rosa for awhile.. she was also booked as a press corps reporter and we have worked on several projects together since last season.  If you do extra work long enough, then after awhile you can't go to a shoot without seeing at least a few people you know, so you better get along well with everyone.

Rosa and I were interrupted by Skid, who made an announcement to all of us that we'd be going in soon to get placed, then he told us what this scene was about so we'd have a sense of what's going on in context.  It seems the President has traveled to New Hampshire to announce his candidacy for a second term and to gather support.  Of course, he has White House staffers traveling with him and a press corps.  For this scene, the bar will not only have a few of those staffers and press corps, but local press and local New Hampshire bar patrons as well.

About a half hour after his announcement, Skid sent Marcus over to get us and on the way we all stopped at the props trailer and each told the props lady what our part was so she could give us each something to wear, carry or hold.  I was given a press pass to hang around my neck and a camera bag to carry, sans camera (smoke and mirrors, folks!  It's ALL an illusion!)  My friend Paul was given a copy of The Washington Post, as were several other visiting "reporters".

We entered the bar and Skid assigned myself and another guy (Dennis) a task.. when action was called we'd enter, go down the little stairway and look for a table.  Finding one, we'd sit at it and have a minute of conversation, at which time Dennis would get up to use the men's room.  Every other extra in the bar was given something specific to do, be it walking, standing or sitting, so it would have the appearance of a very busy bar on a Friday night.  The principles on set for this scene were Richard Schiff (Toby), Rob Lowe (Sam) and Allison Janney (CJ).  The three would be sitting at a table at the foot of the aforementioned stairway, and at a certain point in the scene Toby would challenge CJ to a round of pool.  So they'd get up, go up the stairs to the pool table and start shooting balls, shots and the breeze.

It took several takes to get them to the point of just getting up to go TO the pool table, and next they had to reset the camera so the shot would follow them up the little stairway to get there... a logistical difficulty.  So we were all dismissed to go back to the holding area for awhile so the crew could set up that shot.  When we were all brought back in later, we had to resume whatever position we had been in when Toby and CJ were leaving their table, so I just continued sitting where I was but Dennis had already gone off to the Men's room at that point.  The camera was set on a big hydraulic crane this time, and it tracked Toby and CJ as they went up the stairs and to the pool table.  As the camera came over towards the end of that shot, it ended up hovering right over my head on the end of it's crane arm.. a little nerve racking, even though I knew it was probably quite secure.  I wondered what that camera weighed, but I wasn't really that anxious to find out.

As Toby and CJ play pool, the camera was relocated to the upper level and stayed there the rest of the time.  Meanwhile, we just did our stuff in the bar.  The scenes shot cover a lot of time and dialogue, so eventually through it all I had covered some ground.. sitting AT the bar, sitting at another table talking to a woman, standing near the bar talking to a man, etc.. quite a few pages of script were being shot that day and it took about twelve hours or more to get it all in the can.  We would go back to holding if the crew was going to take awhile to set up a new angle, and when we'd return we'd be assigned a little something different to do because a lapse of time was being covered and the impression that was to be given to the viewers was that we'd all been there for awhile, including Toby.

At a certain point in the scene, CJ has left and Toby has been joined now by Charlie who is played by actor Dule Hill.  Rob Lowe's character of Sam didn't join in on any pool shooting and opted to stay at the lower table.  SO, Lowe himself was only there for about the first two hours of the shoot.  There was a point early in the day when Lowe was standing beside me and the wardrobe guy came around to take his picture.. it's done so that wardrobe will have a visual record of what "Sam" was wearing in that scene.  I was standing so close to him that I ended up in the shot.  Wish I had a copy of that pic, but it'd be fairly difficult to obtain..  and impractical.

The entire day was spent shooting either Toby playing pool with CJ or with Charlie.. and they weren't done yet even though we didn't get out of there until midnight.  The shooting would resume the next day, but I wasn't called back for it because my character had left already (along with a number of others) and the place was going to fill up with more New Hampshire locals in the context of the scene.  In an ironic move, a longtime friend of mine who I had gotten into doing extra work was booked for his first job the next day.. as a New Hampshire local.  So he and I would be seen in the same scene when this episode of The West Wing airs, but we didn't even get to work together!

Nothing particularly exciting stands out from this day of shooting.  I know fans like to hear about how crazy their favorite actor behaved, or who threw a tantrum while on set but honestly nothing stands out from this shoot.. it was all business as usual.  The highlight of the day was when the Director was a little upset that all of the extras playing New Hampshire locals had shown up dressed a little too "upscale".  He had wanted them in flannel, t-shirts and leather jackets, rather than casual dress shirts and dress jackets, so the wardrobe people hustled to re-dress them while shooting was held up for a brief while.  Good thing they had what they needed in the wardrobe truck.. I think a big part of their job is to come prepared for every possible contingency.

We finished shooting for the night, and by the time all of the shuttles had taken us back to stage 28a at Warner's and we had gotten signed out, it was about 1:00am.

Thursday, August 2nd 2001- Episode "Ways and Means"

Once again, this was a day that would be spent shooting scenes in the White House press briefing room.  I was booked as a press corps reporter along with nineteen others and we all arrived just before our ten am call time.  The episode is "The Ways and Means", which is the third of the third season.  Three different scenes were shot and so we were just shuffled around each time because each scene was supposed to be on a different day.  They just shot all three in a row and each time, they changed the matte.  The matte is a huge photo hanging outside the windows that are on CJ's left hand side when she's giving a briefing.  It's actually several depicting the same scene (an outdoor view of the lawn and a street) and they are at different times of the day.. they have different shading and one is a night view. They are about thirty feet high and hang like shower curtains on a huge railing.  When the crew wants to change the scene, they just slide one out of the way and slide the next one in.  When the press briefing room isn't being used then they are just all slid to the side out of the way so as not to hinder foot traffic walking through the soundstage.

Next to the press briefing room on stage 28a is the set for The President's bedroom, and it's on the side that the mattes are.  SO.. if you are watching a scene that takes place in the press briefing room and you catch a glimpse of the great outdoors through the windows, it's not really the great outdoors, it's just a huge picture.  And BEHIND it is the President's bedroom (along with the craft services table and possibly cast and crew members standing there eating something or sipping coffee while the press briefing scene you're watching is going on.)  I just watched an episode shot during the first season where CJ and Mandy have a chat at the end of a press briefing and so they are standing right beside the windows and it's raining outside.  It's incredible how real it looks, but it's really just the interior of stage 28a.