not my spotlight just yet

Remember back in 2018 when I went to Central Casting's open search for new faces?

These last two years I've received quite a few emails from them to ask about my availability.

Here's one from last month that had sounded very interesting.

 

"11/03/2021
Hi Faustina,
7 FUN FILLED HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL NIGHT SHOOTS AVAILABLE IN MONTICELLO, GA!!!!
Brandi from Central Casting is checking your availability for the following job. Please review and use the buttons below to let us know your availability either way.
***We are only checking availability at this time***
Project: BOO!
Date(s): Mon Nov 8, 2021 [COVID TEST #1 (Atlanta)], Wed Nov 10, 2021 [Filming day #1 (Monticello)], Thu Nov 11, 2021 [Filming day #2 (Monticello)], Fri Nov 12, 2021 [Filming day #3 (Monticello)], Mon Nov 15, 2021 [Filming day #4 (Monticello)], Tue Nov 16, 2021 [Filming day #5 (Monticello)], Wed Nov 17, 2021 [Filming day #6 (Monticello)] and Thu Nov 18, 2021 [Filming day #7 (Monticello)] NIGHT SHOOTS!!
Role: HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL GOERS IN COSTUME
Location: MONTICELLO, GA (Covid test will be in Atlanta)
Rate: $121 /10 for each filming date plus $40 bump for Monticello location, plus $15 costume bump, $22/2 for covid test.
Other info: This movie called BOO! Starring Marlon Wayans and Kelly Rowland is all centered around a small town that LOVES Halloween, and the entire Movie is taking place on Halloween night at a Halloween FESTIVAL where EVERYONE in town goes to the Festival and dresses up in COSTUME and has a great time, but on this particular Halloween, there will be different CHARACTERS AND MONSTERS that will seem to come alive and terrorize the town.  This is a family film and a comedy, and NOT a super scary Horror film, but there will be a lot of fun characters, and there will be a LOT of scenes where you will need to act terrified, and maybe some running away.  Filming will take place in MONTICELLO, GA, for ALL 7 NIGHT SHOOTS.  It's a matching recall EVERY NIGHT, so you must COMMIT TO ALL 7 DAYS.  These will be NIGHT SHOOTS, meaning they will work late into the evening and go past midnight, and could go as late as 2 or 3:00 AM (but I'm being told they shouldn't wrap later than that).  YOU MUST BE FULLY OPEN AND AVAILABLE FOR ALL THE WORK DATES, AND BE OK WITH NIGHT SHOOTS, AND BE OK WITH THE LOCATION IN MONTICELLO, GA (There is a $40 gas bump being added to the already higher rate of $121/10, plus you will get an additional $15 bump for having your own Halloween Costume).
EVERYONE should be prepared to bring some sort of Halloween themed Costume. Please do the best you can, any Costume pieces, accessories, Fall colors. AVOID THE COLOR RED, NO LOGOS, NO TRADEMARK CHARACTERS, ABSOLUTELY NO CLOWNS!
 Everyone should be prepared to dress as if they are attending a Halloween themed Festival.  Costumes can be something fun, but try to keep it general and generic costumes and face costumes, masks are ok as well, but really be creative, they want it to look like people in this town GO ALL OUT FOR HALLOWEEN, and really try to show up with the BEST COSTUME. Some ideas like "Cowboy" (or any other Western themed costume) or "Baseball Player" (or any other full on Sports player) or "Pirate" or "Ghost" or "Taco" costume (or any other fun food costume) or "Sailor" or "Ninja" or "Renaissance" or "RockStar" or Animal, or Skeleton, etc, also they want some SEXY costumes (NO NUDITY) but think Sexy Nurse, Sexy Cop, Belly dancer, Hula dancer etc, also think over the top Monsters, and ghouls, and ghosts and goblins, dinosaurs, Witches, Devil, Angel, please get creative and have fun with it, reminder NO RED and NO CLOWNS!!
THE FIRST COVID TEST IS THIS MONDAY NOV. 8TH (IN ATLANTA) AND THE 7 FILMING DATES IN MONTICELLO, GA ARE WEDNESDAY THE 10TH, THURSDAY THE 11TH, FRIDAY THE 12TH, MONDAY THE 15TH, TUESDAY THE 16TH, WEDNESDAY THE 17TH, AND THURSDAY THE 18TH!!  YOU MUST BE AVAILABLE ALL THE TESTING AND FILMING DATES, IT WILL BE THE SAME LOOK AND MATCHING COSTUMES ALL 7 DAYS IN MONTICELLO, GA!!
Also, “BOO!”  is requiring all cast & crew to be FULLY vaccinated against COVID-19. Please also answer the questions below about your vaccination status, you should answer YES OR NO  if you FALL INTO EITHER OF THE TWO FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: (1) fully vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson) or (2) have a disability or sincerely held religious belief that prevents vaccination. YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO SHOW PROOF/EVIDENCE BEFORE YOU ARE ABLE TO WORK!  
This job offer is conditioned on answering the questions, and if you answer YES to either question, satisfactorily sending such evidence to the production, AND also testing negative for COVID.  Once you have responded to this message, you will be given instructions where to send your proof/evidence, it will be sent directly to production NOT to Central Casting.
Please respond whether AVAILABLE OR UNAVAILABLE using the buttons below, and please answer ALL the questions. If you consider yourself available, please make sure you have all day AND NIGHT availability for all 7 of the specified dates.
If you are not available, please do not ignore this email. It is important that you respond using the buttons below.
DO NOT reply directly to this email, please respond only using the buttons below.
Kind regards,
Brandi
(If you have any questions about the terms used above, please check our FAQ)
Central Casting - www.centralcasting.com"

 

Like I said, it sounds very interesting!

Here's the thing, though: I don't live in Atlanta or Monticello.

So, for the mandatory testing date - even though I'm fully vaccinated and have even had my booster - I would have to drive to Atlanta, then drive back to Savannah.

That's easily eight hours of driving, providing the test is not early on Monday morning, in which case I'd need to plan on staying overnight in Atlanta on Sunday night.

Then there's the several sequential days and nights of shooting in Monticello.

There's the three-day block one week, then a 4-day block the next week.

Those would definitely involve paying for a hotel, as well as meals.

I'm sure they will have catering on-site, but what types of food might that be?

In any case, the money that I would make would not be going home with me; it would be staying in Monticello in its hotels and restaurants.

As fun as this filming sounded, then, I had to answer "NOT available".

So, just what bought this back to mind, nearly a month later?

I've just received another request from Central Casting.

"Hi Faustina,
Elizabeth from Central Casting is checking your availability for the following job. Please review and use the buttons below to let us know your availability either way.
***We are only checking availability at this time***Replying UNAVAILABLE will never reflect badly or hurt your chances of future work - please only reply AVAILABLE if you have full open availability***
Project: The Resident
This production is requiring all cast & crew to be FULLY vaccinated against COVID-19 and to be considered for work you MUST FALL INTO EITHER OF THE TWO FOLLOWING CATEGORIES: (1) fully vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson) or (2) have a disability or sincerely held religious belief that prevents vaccination.  
If you meet this criteria, only reply “Yes” below WITHOUT PROVIDING ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AT THIS TIME. If you are selected, you must provide evidence to the production that you fall within the two categories mentioned above before your covid test. Any job offer will be conditioned on satisfactorily showing such evidence to the production AND testing negative for COVID. The production will collect your evidence prior to your covid test, not Central Casting; thus do NOT send your evidence to Central Casting.
Date(s): Mon Dec 6, 2021 [COVID Test] and Wed Dec 8, 2021 [Filming]
Role: Homeless Encampment Background
Location: Testing in Atlanta or Conyers (you can choose) - Filming in Conyers
Rate: $88/8 + $22 for your pre-employment testing
Other info: Masks are required at all times unless filming
The Resident has a lot of early mornings - if you're not comfortable getting to set very early (around 5 am) please respond *Unavailable* to this booking - not all days will be that early but we would prefer you be available and comfortable with early mornings in case you're needed.
Please respond whether AVAILABLE OR UNAVAILABLE using the buttons below. If you consider yourself available, please make sure you have all day availability for all specified dates.
NOTE: If you would like to voluntarily add your COVID-19 vaccination status to your profile, you may do so by logging in to your casting profile and marking the status within your Key Information.
If you are not available, please do not ignore this email. It is important that you respond using the buttons below.
DO NOT reply directly to this email, please respond only using the buttons below.
Kind regards,
Elizabeth
(If you have any questions about the terms used above, please check our FAQ)
Central Casting - www.centralcasting.com"

 

Conyers this time?

With a choice to also have the mandatory COVID-19 test done there?

Well, that's all well and good, but I live in Savannah, so I'd still be booking a hotel stay or two in order to be part of the background.

I have to wonder if this might be yet another case of folks looking at a map and saying, "oh, Savannah and _____ are right next to each other", like AMC has done.

Here's the thing, though: several movies have been filmed within Chatham County during the last two years.

I know this because I have friends who have been part of their background scenes.

Have I been contacted about those?

Not once.

Perhaps this particular company has not had a hand in those films, right?

But they know where I live...

and I've even recently updated my file online, so they know I'm vaccinated...

however, the background scenes continue to be at least four hours away, one direction.

I guess I am still "NOT available".