I'm Ready For My Close Up

An inside look

Before last week, I had never done any acting for film. For a long time I was working towards being a professional actor, it’s true, but I only ever had aspirations toward the stage. It was always the live performance aspect that I loved, and I had this idea that acting a part in a film would feel disjointed and not… organic, I guess. At any rate, as I enter the final year of my 40s era, I find myself presented with opportunities to grow in creative performance. I’m learning more about how to be a storyteller — this space and my Dear Readers are incredibly helpful — and when an audition notice came up for a movie filming in the area I thought, “Why not?”

In describing my experience working on Small Town Girl, I can only think to do it through the lens of a) someone who only came in for 2 out of the 18 shooting days, and b) a theater actor. Most of the major roles in the movie — cast mostly from Minnesota, with a few actors from Iowa and one from Nebraska — were played by actors with previous film experience. The learning curve was steep, starting with the audition.

Film auditions these days are rarely in person, at least for the first round. I (easily) convinced my tech brain bestie, Charlie, to help me record my audition tape. I stood in front of some cupboards, read the lines off of my phone, and sent the video off to the director. I had zero expectations, but was proud of myself for stretching out of my comfort zone. Surprise, surprise, a couple of days later I received an email from the director: would I be available for a callback over Zoom? Well of course I would!

Bill Cooper, the director of the film, sent me a link for a Saturday morning Zoom meeting. He asked me to memorize the audition script, and dress as if I were going to host something. He also asked me to have glasses and a clipboard as props. He was very kind, and along with having me audition again with direction, he gave me some great advice in case I want to try for other movie roles. Memorize the script, don’t read it off of your phone. Zoom in to show shoulders and above only. Get professional head shots. Luckily for me, I apparently reminded Bill of his high school drama teacher, which was perfect for the role. I was cast right there on the Zoom, which took my breath away just a little bit, as you can imagine! Bill happened to be leading a film-acting workshop the next weekend, and offered to let me come in for a day to get my feet wet. I was able to meet him, and get just an inkling about what he would expect from me on set.

Over the next month or so I started chatting with the costume designer for Small Town Girl (heretofore known as STG). As a low-budget indie film, the goal was to dress actors from their own closets as much as possible, a challenge as STG is set in 1973! Hannah (the costumer) emailed me some photos of style ideas, and I agreed to look through my closet and some local thrift stores. Eventually I came up empty, so I found a relatively cheap dress — one that I would wear again — and sent a screenshot to Hannah. She was excited about it and thought it would be perfect with accessories. Whew!

The first rehearsal of a theater production is generally a read-through of the script by the actors, with the director and assistant director present, often the stage manager. You sit around in a circle, reading the script out loud, putting names and faces to the characters for the first time. For STG, the read-through was over a huge Zoom call. The whole cast was there, and the entire production team. “Production Team” is different from the film crew — they deal with money, schedule, location scouting, and shepherding of the actors… who are referred to as “The Talent”. (No, I did not manage to get used to that in my two days on set.)

Filming began on June 9, and I was not scheduled to shoot my scenes until June 19-20. The production sent out a newsletter every week, with photos and updates and “things are going great!” messages, and I just kept getting more and more nervous. It felt weird not to be there, supporting the rest of the cast as they acted, and figuring out where my character — Ms. Gunther — fit into the narrative.

I went in to my first day terrified, sure that I was going to fumble multiple takes, get scolded for being “too theater” (meaning: too big, too broad, playing to the back row), and waste everyone’s time. The night before, in a panic, I texted the Hair/Makeup people to let them know I had tattoos! Even though Megan was very kind —advising me that I should tell production about any tattoos right away “next time.” — it threw me off, and I felt that I had already screwed up. My confidence was not where it should be, and you should probably empathize with Dan in retrospect because he dealt with a LOT those last couple of days before shooting.

When I walked into Lost Forty Studios that first day, the first person I met was Samson, the 2nd AD (assistant director) who was one of the people who 1) knew everything or could find out, and 2) shepherded “the talent”. He gave me my “sides” (script pages that were filming that day) and placed me in holding to wait for wardrobe.

Wardrobe was a joy — Hannah was just as delightful in person, and her two assistants were friendly and helpful. The dress worked great, and she had a sweater — the SWEATer will come up again — ready to go over the dress. I brought 4 different pairs of cheaters to try; Hannah narrowed it down to two and said that Bill could make the final decision. He eventually chose the ones I wore as Mrs. Peacock in Clue, which was a fun little detail!

Next, I was shuttled to Hair and Makeup. Those women rocked. Megan and Summer had music playing from 1973 (I did need to clear up that no, Bob Dylan is NOT dead, in fact my brother is playing shows with him as we speak!). Summer airbrushed my tattoos that we thought might show on camera, and Megan wrangled my hair into a brown football helmet with one of my silver streaks cresting in a wave right across the front. It apparently suited me so well that Matt, the producer, didn’t recognize me when I came in the next day with my *normal* hair!

After that I was ready… to wait. Don’t get me wrong, there is often a lot of sitting and waiting in the theater, depending on the size of your role. The thing about film is the cameras. Not only do you have to do a different set up for every scene, you have to do a different set up for every way you want to shoot just one scene! It takes time — even with the pile of wonderful professionals you have on the job — and if the scene requires multiple takes to get it right… well, you wait.

Samson (2nd AD) had walked me across the street to the old fire hall where we were shooting that day, but after a couple of hours of waiting, we ended up heading back to Lost Forty for lunch. It was probably 3pm by the time they were ready for my scene. I headed upstairs… to the non-air-conditioned hallway where we were shooting on that 90° day. Remember my SWEATer? Dear Readers, I did think I might die.

This is the point at which I discovered the most significant (to me) difference between theater and film: the crew on a film set does not act like the actors are a pain in the ass and constantly in the way. Look, folks — I’ve done my time as a theater techie. I’ve stage managed a couple of shows and believe me when I tell you that actors are pains in the ass and constantly in the way. This incredible STG film crew might well think that (though it is always my goal to not be That Actor), but I sure couldn’t tell. For your enlightenment:

• David, the 1st AD (assistant director), did not roll his eyes or make fun of me when I started entering before he said “action.” (I mean, YOU ALL KNOW that you start when they say “action,” am I right?)

• The camera and sound humans gave me compliments on my performance. I HAD 3 LINES THAT DAY. I can’t stress enough how small my part is, and they had been working in that heat for 8 hours at that point and still took a moment to build me up.

• Agatha (costume assistant) and Megan (hair and makeup, or HMU) ran out to me between takes, took my sweater off, ran tiny electric fans on me, and blotted the sweat off of my face. I can’t even explain how they saved me in those two days.

• Megan also sent me photos she took from the monitor so I could see how I looked.

• When I was done shooting my scene on the second day, David announced to the set, “That’s a picture wrap for Ms. Gunther!” and everybody clapped. They do that for every actor.

I walked away from those two days feeling like a million bucks. I have zero idea how much of me will end up in the finished film, but it doesn’t matter. I’m so excited and proud to be a part of Small Town Girl, and I do believe I am open to more film work in the future. How fun is that???

Thanks for reading.

Love, Susie