Everybody Hates Kwanzaa (Everybody Hates Chris)

Thursday was an 11:30am call time with only 6 kids and probably 60 adults or more. Filming took place on the street and holding was inside an empty building. We knew this was a Christmas/Kwanzaa episode that will air next December. They had many of the background actors dressed in red or green (or both). There was "snow" on the ground and everyone was wearing jackets, mittens and scarves. Damien wasn't used much at all. He might be seen walking down the street and again in front of Chris's apartment but he also may have been too far out of the scene. It was a long day on set and we couldn't wait to grab something to eat on the way home.

Friday he was called back in to be a Corleone student. Only 20 kids were on set yesterday. It was a 9:30am call. This time filming took place inside Corelone Jr High. First 10 kids were called in to film and Damien was not one of them. About 40 minutes later the second set of kids were asked to join them. Damien tells me he was sitting in the classroom while they filmed but soon they took him out and refilmed the same scene. Not long after they took out more kids and filmed it over again. Which one they'll actually use is anyone's guess.

I'm not surprised any more when scenes get cut out. Damien loves doing this and is saving his money, so he was happy to hear he's now considered a regular on the show!

Two Days on Everybody Hates Chris

Got another call from Damien's manager for two days of work on Everybody Hates Chris. Damien is excited about this call since they asked for a hispanic boy. This usually means he'll get to do something special and be seen on camera. Also, we feel very comfortable on the set of Everybody Hates Chris. We know our way around the studio and the crew is beginning to recognize Damien and myself. Unfortunately they don't like photos taken on set so I won't be taking any photos UNLESS we happen to spot Adrian Monk (Tony Shaloub), then we'd have to be brave and ask for a photo. "Monk" is Damien's favorite show.

Last night we were channel surfing when we came across a movie called, "You, Me and Dupree". It was funny though later I noticed it wasn't a movie aimed at kids, oops!, but Kate Hudson plays a teacher and when they show her classroom, who sitting there but Mario, the actor from Surfer Dude! He was too cute when this was filmed. If you watch it, that's him sleeping in class and later yawning! lol

Damien has a late call tomorrow for EHC so we could be there late. Not sure I'll have time to update you tomorrow but if I have the energy, I'll do my best.

While typing I just received another phone call from the same people who sent us on Surfer Dude. They want to know if Damien can do a commercial this Saturday for WalMart. Wow. When it rains, it pours.

~My sympathy goes to my brother, his ex-wife and their three kids in the loss of Rick yesterday. Keep your chin up Tami. We love you.

Everybody Hates Earth Day

We are always given a call time change box to call. When I called it this morning, the time was changed from 7am to 8am. Ahh...more sleep!

We get a kick out of these golf carts! And on the PA's manilla envelope (which holds the boys paperwork) it says Everybody Hates Background! Hey! That's my kid!! lol

Today was a GREAT day for Damien. They shot outside and it was Damien's first time on Everybody Hates Chris shooting outdoors. It's very different from shooting indoors. Seems like there were lots more crew on set.


In this scene, Chris runs from the Corleone school doorway. Damien will be standing by the bike rack to the left of the doorway, chatting with other boys.

A restaurant scene. Damien can be seen walking in the background. You can find his shoulder length black hair and his checked blue shirt.

Damien really had to act in this scene. They placed him with a group of bullies. He gets to pummel Chris! Damien is far from a bully!

This turned out to be one of Damien's favorite days on set. He made some new friends and was used in a lot of scenes. A tour van passed us as we walked to lunch. They stopped to announce that Damien was shooting Everybody Hates Chris. Hi there people on the tour! We'd love to take that tour ourself! They get to go all over the Parmount lot but Damien needs to stay in the holding area. If you're ever on the tour and see us walking by, please say Hi, we'd love to talk with you.

Everybody Hates Actors

I called the infomation line and heard that Damien's call time would be at 7am. That's early! We would need to get up at 4am. It took us 2 hours to get to Paramount Studios. I'm always surprised to see how many cars are in the parking garage that early in the morning.

Today was a confusing day. They were shooting in Studio 17 and holding for the parents was in Studio 18 (where part of CWW was shot). That is a huge holding area and it was freezing. Damien is out of school for the summer and a few other kids were also out of school. They waited with us while all the others (about20 students) went to school. It seemed like a long wait but they finally took the kids from holding and the school to film.

Most of the productions seem to have their own golf carts to get around. I spotted the EHC carts and had a good laugh!

I went inside to check out the set but it was surrounded by walls. There would be flashback scenes so there were several different sets. Damien and the others seemed to be gone for hours. When he finally returned he was very excited because they had sat him next to Chris in the school and he knew he'd be on camera. But not much later we learned that there was a problem with lighting and the scene would be reshot. They took only half the kids this time, Damien not included.

Though Damien was called onto the set a few more times, he was always waiting by the side and never actually filmed. He was a little disappointed at the end of the day.

While sitting in holding another Mom and I began chatting with a Dad of one of the child actors. Turns out his son worked as a surfer on Surfer Dude and also the Dad himself dressed up as Madonna for a funny scene with Kevin James in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. That will be fun to see.

Damien's haircut for Surfer Dude.

Well, it was a long day for Damien and he really made no new friends this day. He was teased about his hair but what the boys didn't know is his hair needs to stay this way till they are done with him on Surfer Dude.


When Damien was leaving they asked him back tomarrow and he agreed. We got home at 10pm, ate dinner and now off to bed. Up at 5am for a 7am call tomorrow.

Another EHC job

Today we get a call from Damien's manager. Not only does she want to know if Damien wants to work on Everybody Hates Chris this Thursday, but also asks us who exactly is calling us for these other jobs. (Charlie Wilson's War and Surfer Dude.) I told her that I'd rather have her handle any jobs Damien gets because when someone just calls us out of the blue, things can get confusing. I gave her the casting companies name.

For instance, we were waiting in the parking lot one day for a van to take us to Surfer Dude and an hour later I finally had to call my brother. He then called his friend, who was working on the set, to get someone to send us a van. We were lucky to know someone to call or else they might believe my son was just late. With our manager involved, we can just call her and she straightens everything out for us. I believe she called the other casting company. I just hope they still want to use Damien in another scene in Surfer Dude.

So Damien accepted the job to work on Thursday. We'll need to call her hotline Wednesday night for more info.