Full-time Extra

After talking with a friend of mine who's out here doing extra work full-time, I'm going to try and pay my bills by doing purely extra work. I didn't think it'd be financially possible for me to survive on just background work, but if I get consistent work then it should work out. I'm excited about this because it's flexible, I enjoy it, and it allows me to be on movie and tv sets and learn from watching! Just pray I get enough work to pay my bills!

This past week I was booked for a Bollywood film that I learned today has been cancelled. Pretty frustrating. We had two days of rehearsal because we were gonna be part of a wedding dance scene. So, I spent two days learning choreography and not doing extra work to have the project cancelled. It's not nearly as bad for me as it is for everyone who's been involved in the project thus far. That would be miserable.

On Thursday, I got to work on the pilot for a show called "Lily." It's a spin-off of "Gossip Girl" set in 1983. I was part of a huge group of extras who were dressed as 1983 rockers. I was put into some maroon pants, a torn up maroon, blue, green, and tan knit sweater with diamond design, maroon suspenders, and black boots with yellow snakeskin accents. I looked ridiculous. Then they put a ton of eye makeup on me that made me look like David Bowie. Hilarious. Most of the day was spent sitting in this shady warehouse south of downtown LA where I met quite a few interesting people. We filmed in this basement room that had been spray painted with graffiti and stuff to look like a club scene. We were supposed to be rocking out to the band "Snowed Out" which actually turned out to be "No Doubt." I'm serious. I was in the same room as Gwen Stefani and the rest of No Doubt filming a TV show. Where the heck am I?! Haha! The lead character is played by Brittany Snow, so it was pretty cool to see her. The episode will air on May 11, so be on the lookout!

I also met some really fun background actors toward the end of the night, so we had a lot of fun acting like idiots together. My "background family" as we began calling ourselves consisted of Joy, Sarah, Michael, and me. They were hilarious, and I hope we get to work together again soon.

This week Jared DeVirgilis and his girlfriend Rachel also came in town! I can't believe that I've already had two of my friends come and visit LA since I've been here. It's been really good to have them come and make it feel a bit more like home here. I showed them all the usual LA tourist spots, and I think Jared is now in love with the city. He says he's really gonna consider moving out here, so it'll be interesting to see if anything comes of that. I have a feeling his parents would definitely not be too fond of that idea!

Oh my gosh! Speaking of family... my sister Rebecca got engaged on Friday! Many of you don't know my sister's story, but it's quite interesting how God has moved in her life and all of our lives over the past year. He's definitely been a source of unbelievable strength through a very difficult time for her and our family. It's just so incredible to see how the Lord's plan is worked out. She's engaged to a guy named Lance McCord (this means they'll be two Lances in the Stone family. My other sister Rachel married a Lance), and he's been a great friend of hers since the 9th grade (although, he remembers her from when they were in 5th grade together... crazy, I know). I have a feeling that he's always had a crush on her. Of course, everyone had a crush on Rebecca. If you've ever met her, you can see why. Anyway... he was a senior with her when I was a freshman at Grissom, and he was sort of my "big brother" on the track team. After I graduated and went off to Samford, he would apparently stop by my parent's house and visit with them from time to time even though all of us (the kids) were gone. How awesome is that?! So... after years of being separated and many life experiences later, they met back up and something was different about their relationship. They started dating, and I'm pretty sure they knew right away that this was it. I have no doubt that Lance loves her more than any other guy ever could, and I'm so excited for them! Also, Luke absolutely loves Lance, which makes everything even better. Here's a picture of the two of them from Christmas:


And another one of Luke, Rebecca, and Lance (they're crazy):


Alright. I'm gonna end on that news, cause it can't get any better! Hope you're all doing well, and I'll post again soon!

Robby