I officially moved into my apartment, May 23rd 2008. In a matter of days, I will have been out here 4 months... I can't believe it. It doesn't feel like that long has passed but the calendar tells me different.
I'm currently a production assistant for Clean House on Style. Various photos can be seen on my facebook and mySpace from all the awesome crew members of the show. The first thing I worked on besides Clean House was a male makeover pilot called, "Dude, Where's your style?" Which should be premiering this fall sometime on Style.
Now, let me set a few things up. Style's primary audience is 18-45 year old females. Very gender specific. Why are they making a MALE makeover show? Very simple. It's not really about the transformation the male undergoes and how he feels about it himself. That's a portion of the show but the real idea is showing how to make your man take care of himself. That's the audience, females. It's about turning your not-so chic guy into a well groomed man so he is an amazing accessory for the girlfriend to show around because he is a direct reflection of her and the relationship. I really don't have a huge problem with this but at points it felt like it was bashing the guy for just wanting to wear sandals with a t-shirt and cargo shorts... MY wardrobe. I do dress up and I'm sure this guy did but I guess that combination is undesirable in public.
The next thing I worked on was a music video for polish popsynth star, Ramona Rey. Supposedly, she's big in Poland. That shoot was super fun. It was shot in a warehouse in downtown LA. It involved lots a hot chicks and half nude guys dancing around Ramona, all while they were colored with black light paint tribal symbols. Of course at the end, she makes out with one of the guys and one of the girls, but none of the other dancers knew this so it was pretty hilarious watching their reactions. I was on set for that from 11am on a Saturday until 6am Sunday. Almost 20 hours, but it was worth it.
After the polish music video, one of my contacts from the pilot managed to get me on a promo for the MTV VMAs. It was for a show called FN MTV (Friday Night MTV) which Pete Wentz hosts. I guess on a normal basis, Pete interviews all these bands and singers and they do a set. I was estatic to work on that one. I got the opportunity to work on the Paramount Studios lot. I watched them build all the sets for the music video acts like Pink, Jonas Brothers, and Kanye. I met Pete Wentz and saw his wife, Ashley Simpson. Pete was doing different interviews with Tokio Hotel, Mr. Brant, and T.I. . It was all very cool. Also, happened to have seen Eddie Murphy's brother and Jamie Foxx being driven in a golf cart on the lot and Christian Slater going crazy over finding a bathroom. I almost hit him with my golf cart...
This last Thursday was an amazing day as well. It was officially the 100th episode party for Clean House. They decided to blow 30,000 on a party up in a 10 million dollar mansion up in the Hollywood Hills! It was my first red carpet party.
The night started off with me and my roommate driving down Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood... trying to find this parking place in the invite. My GPS gets me to the address but all that's around there is a parking garage so I'm already confused (The invite said that there were going to be signs for Clean House posted... which turned out to be a guy with a 8 x 11 piece of paper inside the garage hmph.) Anyway, after calling a fellow PA from Clean House, she informed me about the parking situation. I park and a couple minutes later, I'm on the curb with others from the crew awaiting shuttle service. Yup, there isn't enough parking up in the Hills so they had these brand new, fully loaded black Lincoln Continentals picking us up and driving up to the mansion. It took about 10 minutes without traffic to get there.
I exit the car and start walking up this drive way. I notice that we are overlooking the side of the Hills so I stop and take a gander....
Wow! Breathless. Wordless. It was that I could see all of LA. Thousands of lights dotting the landscape. I could make out about 4 planes in 2 mile increments on their way to LAX. I move further up the drive way to the entrance of the mansion.
A red carpet with guard rails leads me to the doorman holding a list. My name isn't on it because I didn't RSVP because I didn't recieve an invite in time because my name was spelled Stern instead of Stein in the email address... ya. Anways, get in and it's amazing. Cathedral ceilings, modern art work. I'm greeted by a girl who asks me if I want some champagne. Of course ;)
The night turns into a mingle fest and I hang out with all the crew and producers from Clean House. Waiters walk around with platters of cocaine... no, just kidding ;) Shrimp, chicken skewers and various deserts. Deliousoso! It's an open bar so I beeline that to drink some Coronas. Everyone is dressed fancy. Old prom dresses, dress shirts and slacks... classy jeans and button ups. People talk from the balcony above. Others gather around the pool that over looks LA. I see all the hosts hanging out. Niecy Nash came to visit and had her show down with Lisa. The host that's been taking over which she is working on her series that got picked up. A grip friend informed me that Paris Hilton was there earlier and that he has a few minutes to talk to her. Said his head was doing backflips. Sweet! Ultimately, it was an amazing night.
Want to thank my friend, Gina for taking all the photos you see. This is a picture of me and her at the party.I am going to try to stay on top of the blog. Until next time, have fun.
