Our Commercial Experience

It began on Monday at noon when all 3 kids started at 10:00 trying on about 15 different outfits apiece, and we're talking shoes, belts...the whole shebang. We did that with no break and finished around 3:30. I was trying to sneak them bites of granola bar between outfits because no one in that wardrobe room seemed to notice that they were hungry and tired. That's when I realized, the clock is always ticking and we are very low on the totem pole. I will say that the wardrobe man, Wes was one of the only genuinely kind people we dealt with throughout the entire experience. He became Charlie's friend and that was helpful.

The next morning, we had to be in Pasadena at 6:30am to begin the first day of shooting. They treated us pretty great right off the bat, taking our breakfast orders and making sure we were fed. There was a girl assigned to be our "buddy" throughout the day. We will call her April. While we ate our breakfast, April came in our trailer (which was about 64 cubit feet) and started talking. "Oh my gosh, you guys are the cutest kids I've ever seen in my life! Oh, we're going to have the awesomest day ever! You know what? I love kids, and I'm going to be your best buddy all day, ok? Whatever you need, you just ask me and I will be here for you, ok? Oh my gosh, you have the awesomest eyes I have ever seen! You know what? I have a bag full of such awesome treats and surprises and you know what? if you do everything the directors say today and be such good kids, I'll let you choose ANYTHING you want out of my bag!" Then Charlie chimes in for the first time, "Well, what's in there?" I'm sure visions of superhero action figures and endless bags of skittles were dancing in his head. April piped up, "Oh my gosh, you are awesome! Give me five, bud! Ok, I'll let you see!" She then opens a bag and it becomes clear that some adult with no clue had gone to Party City the night before and bought random noise makers in bulk and dangerous party poppers (in bulk as well), and called it their 'awesome bag of treats.' "Um, ok...I didn't know what was in there...um, but these are awesome! Let me show you how you blow in these and they make the awesomest noise ever!" She blows into a party blower that doesn't make noise. At this point, we have all begun to doubt the awesomeness of April. I still thought she was trying really hard though and held no ill feelings. After a few more high fives, it was time to start working. She mentioned what a fun day it was going to be (all the while Charlie is looking at her with skeptisism) and then the studio teacher poked her head in the door. "How much homework does Ella have? Can I see it?" "Oh my gosh, she will never get all of this done. Honey, you have got to start on this homework right now and try to hurry, ok?" Ella says, "Is it ok to eat my breakfast first?" Studio Teacher: "What are they trying to do to me, she will never get this all done. Ok, I have to go. You work hard, ok? I'll be back and check on you soon." Charlie was wisked away by someone to go start shooting, and we were left alone.

I will not attempt to "play by play" the entire day, but you get a sense of what I'm talking about now, I think. All day was rush rush and pressure and fake fake people trying to get things out of my kids. At one point, Charlie looked at April and said, "Why do you tell me that everything I do is awesome?" Charlie was the real struggle of this experience. Right from the beginning, they started asking him to be obnoxious and rambunxious and do things that a bad kid would do in the shots. In the first scene, he had to sit in a minivan and knock his head against the seat repeatedly and his "mom" attempted to back out of the driveway. He quickly became aware (because they told him non-stop) that the entire nation would be watching him on their television sets and that he would be seen as a "bad kid" by every viewer in the country. That was all it took to turn him into Mr. "NO I WON'T AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" (I had never seen this side of him before...honestly) He was completely put off by the notion that all TV viewers would think he was a bad boy. The entire week, we fought this battle. Sometimes I bore the brunt of it, because I was the only one the directors (and their throngs of assistants) could count on to have any chance of making him obey. Numerous times, 30 people stood in the wings and watched their clocks as I made promise after promise to Charlie, trying to make him just do it so we would be done with it! If I got upset with him at all, these throngs of people quickly made sure that I didn't make him upset, and swooped in with fruit snacks, juice boxes, and licorice. The worse he acted, the better they treated him...for 3 days. You are wrong if you think John and I didn't have one of the most difficult weekends ever, trying to undo all of this spoiled brat syndrome these people created.

We were there 8 1/2 hours that first day. The next day started at 6:00am in Pasadena as well, in a grocery store where at 6:30, Louis had to repeatedly dumpt a box of Fruit Loops on Ella's head (6 or 7 takes, I would say) which sounds like a blast, but not when you've been up since 4:30 and dumped into an outfit that itches you. Louis did as he was told, but wasn't enthusiastic about it. He was a good boy though...very indifferent about the whole thing, doing what was asked of him and being overall agreeable. Ella was an angel. She is a pleaser and always will be. She was way more patient with those people than I was. (One of the wardrobe people told me at one point that Charlie was so skinny he could easily play a role in a holocaust movie) She was beautiful in her many outfit changes and liked getting her hair and makeup done. We were there just about 5 hours the second day, and then only 3 or 4 the third day. We were so exhausted though.

I was glad to be done with it. Charlie asked to never have to do that again in his life. The day after it was over, I called the agency and took him out of their system. They told me it was pretty common and that if he ever changed his mind, they would let him right back in. I told them not to hold their breath! :) The pictures I could get were very few. They either had me wrangling Charlie during the shooting or asked me to stay far away from my kids so that they wouldn't see me. I will post the ones that I could get (as soon as blogger lets me...i think it's broken)

All in all, this wasn't fun. If it were just Ella, or just Louis, or maybe even just Charlie, I think it would've gone much smoother, but all three of them was really crazy. As I type, I know that complaining is ridiculous, because my kids have a start of their mission/college funds that John and I never could have given them. It was a HUGE blessing that they landed this commercial. I thank the Lord for that, and I thank him that it is done with. One thing I learned from this is that Charlie won't take any bull from anyone. He sees through people and wants them to be honest. Really, there's nothing wrong with that. One other thing I learned was that actors in "the business" cannot possibly be "real ordinary people" as they often claim to be. There is just no way.