Can't believe I "ate" the whole thing

It's been a little more than three weeks on this project, but it ended last night with a cold October bang. And where it looked like I was going to get paid for this gig (I was told I would be paid, at least for the last week), I think I may have been lied to in order to get me to cross the line to the camera side - which meant hosing over the gentleman who brought me onboard the project.

Typical production behavior.

In the meanwhile I have been stuck receiving calls from a lot of people regarding a myriad list of issues; most especially from the gentleman who leased us his 36' 5th wheel as a honey wagon. Sorry to say this whole experience will most likely sour him on leasing it to a film crew again. I have left notes and calls to the two who should be in charge of getting Dan (trailer man) onto the grounds in order to retrieve his trailer, but he continues to ring my phone, which has no minutes left on it. My next step will be to send him Mike's number should the calls continue to Monday.

Yes, that's right, for the first time, I am over on my minutes; and that's something else I need to address with Mike (the producer).

As I prepared to depart the major location Friday evening, I left notes and cleaned the catering area (AKA "crafty") to an impeccable state, but drew the line at the trailer. It was horrendous!

As soon as filming wrapped, and the stream of actors, singers, musicians, factory workers, production staff, camera, sound and misc others decended upon crafty for dinner, the above the line folks dove into the honey wagon and trashed it. They popped corks and drank, then left for the reception at another location on the grounds.

When I entered the cabin, the smell of alcohol was so strong, I had to step back. Empty bottles and cans were everywhere, and cups and wardrobe were strewn all about. People's jackets and backpacks, muddy footprints and general trash was just too much. The formerly clean interior was now a horror story, and I wasn't playing the hero in this one. Although, I did take the pile of thoughtlessly abandoned walkies and ear pieces to the lone girl in charge of collecting them. She, like myself, was left wondering "what the h*ll" as we stood alone in our respective territories.

Once the hord in crafty turned into a trickle for me, I began in earnest to clean the catering tents, and when the last person wandered in looking for a meal, I apologized for the food offerings - which were no longer steaming (the sternos had burned out long before) - and for the lackluster selection. You can only feed so many people when provided with a limited amount of prepared food.

I spent my time going back and forth between the catering tent and the trailer, grabbing my items and loading them into my car, and chasing after refuse and emptying carelessly full cans of pop and bottles of water before tossing them into the correct receptacles.

The night was soggy and cold and terribly windy, and I didn't see any merit in hanging about any longer than necessary, especially since I had done my duty, and I was now working into my 14th hour that day. I sent a text to Mike asking about the time to show up Sunday (since the catering driver told me that food had been ordered for breakfast and lunch), and received a text in return saying 'don't show up.'

"Call me so I can thank you" was the last thing sent...and I jumped into my vehicle and pointed the nose of my car toward home.

Since then there has been no word about payment for my time in production. That has been a bitter mouthful to swallow.