How in the name of death is easy but comedy is hard does an actor travel to auditions, callbacks and shooting sites
without a car in Los Angeles? Why,
mass transit, of course! I'd say over 90% of the time I use mass transit with only a couple of rides from pals. So, except for when my friend, Art, picks me up every 3 to 4 months to do a run of a dozen or more casting agencies, I'm a mass transit working actor.
In Los Angeles the mass transit system is called
Metro and considering the sprawl of this area it does a fairly good job of running on time. Metro also operates a
subway and several light rail lines and dedicated busways. The subway is an especially great way to get from North Hollywood to Hollywood as it takes only ten minutes which is impossible to do by car. On most lines, buses/trains arrive every ten minutes or less.
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| (Me trying to catch the Malibu Beach bus. - photo credit: E.L. Nagode) |
Now, before you think this post is a puff piece for Metro, let me advise you of some of the
drawbacks of the system for the commuting actor. When I went to Culver City from my home in Northridge to appear as a guest on "America's Court" with a 8:30am call, I had to catch the very first bus of the morning. That meant waking up at 4:00am because in more "suburban" areas, Metro's service is spotty in the early morning as opposed to more main corridors. This holds true for late at night as well, for although Metro operates some Night Owl service, there are only 2 routes in the entire Valley. Plus, except for Friday and Saturday night, the subways and trains stop running before 2:00am. So, one of the rides I received was after the night shoot for "Ataru", which ended at 2:00am.
You may be pondering,
what does any of this have to with chickens? Actually, there may be some correlation, especially when you spend any time hanging around the subway, however, it mostly has to do with practicing your lines. Whether you are doing the practicing for an audition or a shoot, your roommates may not be interested in being THAT person over and over again. Hence, chickens.
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| (Chickens fascinated by my powerful line practice. - photo credit: Jovan Jupiter) |
As you can see in the photo above, chickens make a rather attentive audience. You practice one path or another, speak softly or break out in a bellowing yell and they continue to stare at you with a fowl look in their eyes. You stand and try a little move and they seem to ape your movement. When you are done with your practice session, the chickens will always give you a round of appreciative clucking. Just another helpful hint from your favorite mass transit working actor.
