SHELLY WAS A SOAP QUEEN!
well.... not really, just thought it would make an enticing headline of sorts.
But Lanreg was curious about my stint as an extra on a now defunct soap opera, so i thought i would share this tiny tasty morsel of my life as i know i don't talk too much about myself in my entries. In fact i probably tell you more things about myself in your journals, usually tanked on vodka and being annoyingly repetitive with my comments. ( its okay, i am fully aware that i do this
)
It was probably about the second year i was living in manhattan when a former live in lover sent in some of my pics to ABC studios, no doubt pushed into this very act by my mother....who believed i was destined to be on the soaps.
Must have been a damn good headshot, because they actually called
I was asked if i was available on a certain date for some extra work, no dialogue required ( thank the gods, because i can't remember more than two lines at a time without needing cliff notes....the sole reason why i could never seriously pursue acting when i was younger)
The date was made and i was a wee bit nervous but kind of excited at the same time.
I was not briefed at all ahead of time regarding what kind of scene it was, just told not to worry about wardrobe and to wear minimal makeup.
And just for the record, the soap was called "Loving" and it was a thirty minute soap that aired before.... i think....fucking memory!...."Days of our lives"?
So i arrive at the studio, and fifteen minutes before they shoot my scene, this is what i'm told...
"Its a flashback scene in which the main character is mourning his dead wife who he just lost in childbirth...
it takes place on a commune, sometime in the seventies"
"We don't want you to say any lines at all....just stand next to this guy and look really concerned"
"Oh...... and here's your dress... dressing room is back there"
with that, i am handed a tent dress, a really long hippie caftan dress of sorts
and here i thought they were going to glam me up and have me in the background of a cocktail party scene or something.
Nope.... four people.... the main actor, the actress playing the dead wife, and me and some other hippie dude.
Shooting begins, the main actor is crying and shamelessly overacting ( which one does when on a soap opera... i think its in their contracts)
at some point the guy next to me turns..looks right at me and says this line
" I don't know what to do..... this has been going on to long"
now keep in mind... i was told i couldn't say anything..
so what did i do?
I stood there in my fucking tent dress, put my hand towards my mouth, and looking "Very concerned"...
slowly shook my head.
end of scene
Since i wasn't a member of the screen actors guild, i only made like a hundred dollars, but it was for ten minutes of work!
The casting agents would eventually have me come down weeks later to do a "Cold reading"....
but thats another story altogether, and an even more embarassing one.
They used me as an extra one more time after that, again, another story for a later date.
they had to stop using me because i needed to join the union, and i was so dirt poor at that time, i just couldn't afford to. Having a sag card = cash
"Loving" is no longer on the air...
and the world is a better place because of that.
These episodes are on tape by the way, damn dirty evidence.
And my mother was elated by my soap appearances, often telling any random stranger that would listen.
( after of course, whipping out an old modeling photo of me from her pocketbook, all yellow and curling up at the corners)
"This is my daughter Michelle...... she was on the soap opera "Loving"...ever see it?"
Shit... this was long!
Thanks for reading it if you made it all the way down here!
Next time, perhaps i'll just post a photo of my ass again
have a great weekend everyone
xxoo Shelly
well.... not really, just thought it would make an enticing headline of sorts.
But Lanreg was curious about my stint as an extra on a now defunct soap opera, so i thought i would share this tiny tasty morsel of my life as i know i don't talk too much about myself in my entries. In fact i probably tell you more things about myself in your journals, usually tanked on vodka and being annoyingly repetitive with my comments. ( its okay, i am fully aware that i do this
)
It was probably about the second year i was living in manhattan when a former live in lover sent in some of my pics to ABC studios, no doubt pushed into this very act by my mother....who believed i was destined to be on the soaps.
Must have been a damn good headshot, because they actually called
I was asked if i was available on a certain date for some extra work, no dialogue required ( thank the gods, because i can't remember more than two lines at a time without needing cliff notes....the sole reason why i could never seriously pursue acting when i was younger)
The date was made and i was a wee bit nervous but kind of excited at the same time.
I was not briefed at all ahead of time regarding what kind of scene it was, just told not to worry about wardrobe and to wear minimal makeup.
And just for the record, the soap was called "Loving" and it was a thirty minute soap that aired before.... i think....fucking memory!...."Days of our lives"?
So i arrive at the studio, and fifteen minutes before they shoot my scene, this is what i'm told...
"Its a flashback scene in which the main character is mourning his dead wife who he just lost in childbirth...
it takes place on a commune, sometime in the seventies"
"We don't want you to say any lines at all....just stand next to this guy and look really concerned"
"Oh...... and here's your dress... dressing room is back there"
with that, i am handed a tent dress, a really long hippie caftan dress of sorts
and here i thought they were going to glam me up and have me in the background of a cocktail party scene or something.
Nope.... four people.... the main actor, the actress playing the dead wife, and me and some other hippie dude.
Shooting begins, the main actor is crying and shamelessly overacting ( which one does when on a soap opera... i think its in their contracts)
at some point the guy next to me turns..looks right at me and says this line
" I don't know what to do..... this has been going on to long"
now keep in mind... i was told i couldn't say anything..
so what did i do?
I stood there in my fucking tent dress, put my hand towards my mouth, and looking "Very concerned"...
slowly shook my head.
end of scene
Since i wasn't a member of the screen actors guild, i only made like a hundred dollars, but it was for ten minutes of work!
The casting agents would eventually have me come down weeks later to do a "Cold reading"....
but thats another story altogether, and an even more embarassing one.
They used me as an extra one more time after that, again, another story for a later date.
they had to stop using me because i needed to join the union, and i was so dirt poor at that time, i just couldn't afford to. Having a sag card = cash
"Loving" is no longer on the air...
and the world is a better place because of that.
These episodes are on tape by the way, damn dirty evidence.
And my mother was elated by my soap appearances, often telling any random stranger that would listen.
( after of course, whipping out an old modeling photo of me from her pocketbook, all yellow and curling up at the corners)
"This is my daughter Michelle...... she was on the soap opera "Loving"...ever see it?"
Shit... this was long!
Thanks for reading it if you made it all the way down here!
Next time, perhaps i'll just post a photo of my ass again
have a great weekend everyone
xxoo Shelly
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Btw, gallas13 always calls me Shelly. I don't know why but I love it so I don't dispute it.