JIM WORKS ON BRAND NEW FOX SERIES "FRINGE" AS UPSCALE NYC BUSINESSMAN!!

Tiffany at Central Casting in NYC called me Labor Day weekend wanting to cast me as a NYC businessman for an episode of the new FOX sci-fi series "FRINGE" on Wednesday, Sept.3rd. I was unsure because I had also received a call from Amerifilm Casting in NYC to be the piano player for an upscale party scene for the film "Unorthodox" shooting Thursday, Sept. 4th. I wanted to make sure I was "rested" for that role as it was more of a feature, and I knew if I had to return to Pennsylvania late Wednesday I'd get virtually no sleep for the next day..so I called an old NYC actor friend and asked if I could crash Wednesday into Thursday--he gave me the thumbs up. So I called Tiffany back and locked it in--what a two-day ride I was in for!! Call time was 7:00AM at 16 E. 10th Street in Manhattan(between 5th and University)...I took the earliest Bieber bus leaving Wescosville PA that morning(4:20AM)--the ride was smooth and fast and we pulled into the Port Authority at about 6:10AM...I taxied it downtown, got some breakfast at the outdoor craft service area on set, and I and the other actors headed to our "holding area" around 7AM. We had to walk up 2 flights of winding stairs to a warm apartment room with only two small fans to keep us cool. Our Production Assistant(PA) Lisa was very nice and accomodating..but we were to wait hours before being called to the streets below...the first scene I was to play a pedestrian along with other actors, criss crossing 10th St. and University--the star of "FRINGE" Anna Torv ( http://www.anna-torv.com/ ) would be "jogging" in one scene, and I walk right past her as she jogs by me. Prior to this however, while waiting to go to set, one of the AD's came up and asked me to come with him--my "hands" were being beckoned. I was being considered as a "photo double" for one of the main actors--but only my "hands"--when they discovered that the hair on my hands could probably help me land a role as a caveman in the Geico commercials--they sent me back to "holding"(lol)--apparently the star actor was very fair skinned and had little-to-no body hair.(There also would have been a "Pay bump" in my paycheck had it worked out). Once we finished the pedestrian work, (which was troublesome as the NYC commuters and residents did not like being told by the crew that they could not walk down 10th street), many of us were huddled into a van and transported to 646 Park Avenue at 66th Street--the old 7th Regiment Armory Building--now simply called The Park Avenue Armory (http://artobserved.com/nyc-seventh-regiment-armory-to-become-contemporary-art-space/ )Ah--alas this would be a fully air-conditioned building that would be the venue for an upscale business seminar featuring many of us in upscale business formal wear. Again Anna Torv and a few other main actors were at this "seminar"--and we were to mingle around them--waiters attending to us. An entourage of main actors descend a long staircase--and I and a pretty lady named Madeline are sent up the staircase passing them. Later in some scenes I was paired with another pretty actress named Colleen, and we would stroll past the many other actors likewise playing business people, greeting them. Our day lasted until 9PM at the Armory where we wrapped...This episode will air most likely in October, probably about the 4th one of the new season--this blog will be updated with the airdate so check back! Visit the main site for this show at http://www.fox.com/fringe/ , and for a fun You Tube video of a "Behind the Scenes look at FRINGE" go to http://www.fringetelevision.com/2008/09/video-behind-scenes-at-fringe.html

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