Pooper's first commercial, Part 6 - the FINALE

So, just to recap, we are in the midst of filming, one section of Dodger Stadium at a time.

We film a section, and then when given direction, we move over to the next section. The director told us that when we see this on TV we will be amazed. It should like a stadium filled with people, with all the sections spliced together.

The stadium was empty, other than us. There was no baseball game, although Im sure when it becomes a commercial, there will in fact, be a team on the field.

Once seated into our section, it was important to be quiet, until our cue to pretend we are at the game, at which time, people made small talk with their neighbor, stared or pointed out onto the field. Some people would clap and cheer, but it seemed odd to have us all doing different things, I mean in real life, if there were some great play, or a homerun, the entire crowd would cheer, not just one person, but anyways.

During this one particular section, we had met back up with Sam and his mom. We filmed a few sections with them, always careful to mix up our seating (sometimes kids next to each other, sometimes moms next to each other), and all of a sudden, during a time when it was supposed to be quiet, we saw a man in the stands below us, the seating section directly behind home plate.

He carefully set up two small (2ft x 1 ft) speakers, and similarly sized topiarys. And within minutes a strange, very Scottish song began blaring out of the speakers. I thought for sure this would bother the director, and maybe it did, but he just kept on with our shoots.

As the Scottish song continued, well dressed folks began to enter the seating area below us, and soon there was, what can only be described as "circus music" being played. Formal wearing people continued to enter the bottom area, and Sam's mom and I just looked at each other and laughed.

It became apparent, that perhaps a small wedding was going to take place in that section. Not a wedding on the field, but in the section behind homeplate. Each new song played, was more bizarre than the previous, and there didnt seem to be any sort of theme or cohesiveness to the music list. After about 15 minutes of mismatched songs, the bride and groom came out, beautiful wedding dress, tux, all accented with flowers in "Dodger Blue"

Maybe it was the 100+ degree temperatures that had been baking our brains, or the fatigue, or the headache, or the personalities of some of the "extras", or the crazy music selection, but the whole wedding thing seemed incredibly bizarre.

We continued on, filming section by section of the stadium. Sometimes, we would take the two flights of stairs up to the next level, film a few sections up there, and then come back down, film a few sections below, walk back up...there was no rhyme or reason, but eventually, we worked our way through each section of ths stadium.

When we did the final few sections, which were right next to the camera location. We were given props; foam "#1" fingers, lemonade, and popcorn. Pooper received a bucket of popcorn, and he devoured it pretty quickly. I made sure that he stayed hydrated, pushing bottled water on him, against his desires, but trying to make sure he didnt wind up with the headache that I was experiencing.

It was one of our final shoots. It was now after 7pm, and the sun was leaving view of the stadium. All of a sudden, at a time that we were supposed to be "quiet", I heard someone screaming a couple of rows behind me,

"dont call me a faggot, you are a faggot, dont tell me Im a faggot! You always do this to me, whispering things in my ear and spitting on me!"

This twenty-something, long haired girl, continued to rant and rave, and now the entire group of us were turned staring at her. She didnt seem to notice us. She was screaming at the little lady behind her. The lady seemed surprised by the rant, and just sat their sweetly, quietly.

The young girl looked like a lunatic, and she continued to scream and ramble, and people started to motion for production staff to come and take care of things. It seemed as if the girl was losing her mind, yelling at the older woman who sat quietly. People were beginning to whisper for "security" and the girl was so worked up, that I think we all were expecting her to go ballistic and get physical.

The man in front of me said, "It's not her fault, the woman behind her is crazy, and she likes to set people off."

Me: "yeah, I know, she was screaming at me earlier."

Man: "yeah, she is a regular extra, I see her almost everyday, and she is always starting problems."

sure enough, the sweet woman, sitting behind the raging girl, was none other than Rose.

Apparently, she had whispered mean things to the girl, throughout the shoot, and the girl finally hit breaking point.

Rose got up and left the area, at the girl's threatening insistance, and the girl eventually calmed down.

Shortly thereafter, our "celebrity" arrived. It was none other than Tobey Maguire. I had heard whispers that Jodi Foster would be in our commercial, and who knows, maybe she'll be edited in (similar to what I expect with Gabrielle Reese in the morning commercial.)

Tobey sat in the final section, close to the camera. I could barely see him, but everyone was excited and talking about him.

Once things, "wrapped", we gathered up our things, said, "good-bye" to our friends, and headed out to the car.

Pooper and I talked about how we are looking forward to seeing the commercial, and about how the end result will look. If we pause the tv when the commercial is on, we should be able to find ourselves, dozens of times, sitting in the stadium.

I asked him which commercial was the most fun to make, and the "pool party" was the easy winner. It was too bad that the weather was hot and we were a bit tired, but even still, I think the Dodger Stadium commercial was interesting, and it will be fun to look for ourselves in 2 commercials this summer.

When all is said and done, Pooper had fun, and I am proud of him for being selected for the "pool party" and also for pushing through the long day and heat to complete the stadium commercial.

We are looking forward to the campaign for Stand Up 2 Cancer. All we really know is that it is an initiative put on by the entertainment industry, to make a serious attempt to find a cure. From what I understand, it will air throughout the summer, on tv and in movie theaters (before the movies), and will lead to some sort of event or telethon at the end of Summer. I dont know how much of that is accurate, but I sure cant wait to see them, and even more, I cant wait to find a cure!

THE END