DC and Back Again--Day Three

Up bright and early for a 6:30 call time on Vivian's first day of her commercial shootl! She and I started out by meeting everyone down in the lobby of the hotel. We soon crammed into a couple of vans and were taken to the first location which was in front of the Whitehouse. We went right into an RV outfitted solely for the purpose of film-making, complete withOUT a bed in the back for the perfect wardrobe fitting/changing room. It wasn't anything fancy, but I sure wasn't complaining. It was warm, cozy, and I had my breakfast brought to me from the nearby Craft Service catering truck parked down the street. I had asked for oatmeal if they had it, a bagel if they didn't....I got both. nice.

After hanging out a bit and chatting with driver Lee, studio teacher Lorena, and Tony, the other actor that would be in the first commercial shot, Vivian got bundled up and we all walked down to the location. It was still a couple of blocks down the street, as we weren't allowed to park any closer to the Whitehouse.

It was a jam-packed day, frought with all sorts of things that could have caused major trouble. Protests, noisy street workers just yards away, barking police dogs, cold temperatures and even colder winds. Thanks to Neel Lattimore, ex-Press Secretary for Hilary Clinton and now working on this project, a few phone calls to the Whitehouse at least took care of the workers for a while. As for everything else, the crew just soldiered on.

And let me add that my daughter soldiered on like a professional through it all as well. At one point I watched her on the monitors and just could scarcely believe she was mine. Not that I didn't think she could do it, but to the surprise of everyone she nailed her lines and her performance every time, almost always the first time. People passing by, all of the noises, the cold, even me standing right in front of her and watching, she ignored it all and was truly in the moment. Whether she chooses to do this as a career or not, I dare say she was made for it. And for a parent that is both an exciting and scary thing.

Everyone on the crew couldn't have been nicer. They were so attentive to Vivian's needs, even to my needs. Thank God for feet warmers, is all I can say. And broadcast producer Michaels snowpants, which he so graciously took off of his own self to let me wear the entire day. !! Barbara Kopple, the director, was amazing. She was so great with Vivian, made her feel totally at ease. You can tell she's worked with kids before, that's for sure. No Hollywood attitude there--she was so warm and down to earth.

After a catered lunch in a nearby church basement, we headed over to the second location--in front of the capitol. (sadly, my camera's battery power went out so I don't have any photos from there! :-( ) There snow was whipping by horizontally at some points, the wind even knocked an open umbrella into the tidal basin--which totally struck my funny bone. Through it all Vivian never complained and did an amazing job. We were all happy to wrap things up and head back to the hotel when they got everything they needed.

After such a long day of shooting for us and more museum-hopping and hotel staff schmoozing for Cory and Sullivan, room service was definitely on the menu for dinner. Actually, Cory and Vivian wanted some Subway so he went and got that for them and Sully and I enjoyed delicious chicken dinners from silver platters. An early night was called once again to get ready for the second day of shooting.