Early Saturday afternoon, after a wonderful opportunity to sleep-in, I received a call from my agent informing me that I had been booked for a Rock Video Shoot the following day. At first I was reluctant to do it because it would interfere with my Second City class, but when she indicated that they asked for me BY NAME she had me talked into it. Not everyday you get an opportunity like that. Plus, I hadn’t had a paig gig in almost half a year. So, I apologized to my Second City carpool buddy Diane (who is reluctant to drive in the city by herself) and prepared myself for the unknown. Every shoot is different…and rock videos can be especially gruelling. Of the three other videos I had done so far, two had been bad experiences. But I try to see the glass half-full…so….

After waking up surprisingly early following my 3am shutdown time the night before, I got myself dressed up into the plain blue suit they requested I wear and headed down to 235 Films where the shoot would take place. My agent Samantha had also indicated the artists name, Joel Kroeker; but at first it was unfamiliar to me. It turns out he was more familiar than I thought.

I got to the studio dead-on the nail at noon call and got myself settled in to wait my scenes. Soon afterwards I was speaking to the producer who informed me that my role was a really belligerent boss and that I would be screaming my head off at Joel. Oooo…fun stuff! At least I know my scenes would make it in this time…sort of important to the video. As is usual, the shoot was running a bit behind schedule so we didn’t even start prepping to shoot until around 3pm, but that ended up being ok. The book and writing pad I brought along to keep my occupied ended up being mostly untouched as there was plenty of good conversation to go around. Most of the rest of the cast in my scene all congregated in an upstairs lounge and we all happily talked and shared like experiences. Three cast members actually live right near me in Newmarket – two of whom are young musicians who play in bands by the name of The Rileys and Red Scorpion. Joel himself soon joined us and hung out, and that’s when it hit me…I DID know this guy. I’ve seen his other video that’s out a few times on Much More Music…it’s called Goodbye Jane. Great song! The video we were shooting this time was called The Wind and from what I heard it sounded awesome. I plan to pop out to pick up his CD when I can.

The shoot itself was a great experience. Very 1984 looking set…cast members stamping paperwork in uniform fashion. I come marching in and start screaming at Joel and throwing papers in his face. He then gets up, faces me down, throws his cuban soldiers cap on and runs out. The rest of the video sounds awesome from what I read so I’ll leave it to viewer imagination to see the rest. I can’t wait to see the final product myself.

At 7pm they were finished with the office scenes and were setting up for crowd scenes…but since I was so recognizable a character they allowed me to go home. After this week…I was happy to do so…as was Melanie happy to have me go home. I collected my stuff, shook a lot of hands (and received fantastic compliments from the director who stated he’d try to find other work for me when it became available – WOOHOO!), and then walked over to Joel to thank him for being so great to work with and would he mind a picture. Stephanie (who by the way also plays Jane in the first video) jumped in for the shot. I most certainly didn’t mind.

All in all…it was a great day. A fulfilling video shoot, and a wonderful ending to the weekend.


Stephanie, Joel Kroeker and myself Posted by Hello