A Convenient Coincidence

Today was a really fantastic day! A piece of a movie called The Big Year, a movie about birding, was filmed on the preserve today. Jack Black is in it, and he was there. My aunt and I headed out early in the morning to be there. My aunt was making sure that they were keeping to trails and not damaging the habitat at all. A bunch of gigantic trucks and trailers came in and started setting up. There was a trailer with makeup rooms and catering cars, and a dining car with a huge lunchroom, and trucks kept filing in and perfectly parallel parking.

Since I was with the park manager (aka my aunt) they asked me if I wanted to be an extra. I said yes and was so excited! Now I have to tell you the ending because I didn't actually get to be in it. The camera malfunctioned before there were any extras needed, so the crew moved on to the Joshua Tree preserve, and I didn't go. But! there's more to the story.
It was astounding seeing the set up. It seemed a huge affair with people running around and all the trucks, and the set organizer said it wasn't even a big production for Hollywood! And after a few hours of the trucks and people just coming in, they finally started getting ready to film. While they set up, my aunt and I met Jack Black and got pictures with him. He was nice and really funny (though I guess you could predict that). And then they filmed some scenes with him. They filmed lots of little clips for a montage, and then after a while the camera malfunction came and they left.
And while that was happening I met the extras and many people in different jobs around, and I really saw how much work goes into just five minutes of a movie. Between shots people were standing around Jack Black holding an umbrella over him and fixing his hair and talking about his costume.
Lots of people spend most of the time just waiting around. The extras and people who set up especially have a lot of waiting time. It was really fascinating talking to everybody and seeing how something like that is run. One of the extras I met said that the way you get places in Hollywood is just being in the right place at the right time, meeting the right people, and the site scout told us how some jobs work in film production and how they're made.
I can't believe they happened to come through to the preserve I'm interning at while I'm here! I'm so so glad I got to see it. I wasn't an extra after all, but I don't really care. I feel so lucky!