In the interest of taking a break from kind of hodgepodge of random posts lately, how about we bring it back to a story for a few posts?
Picking up from last time –
So, I didn’t work on AGT in the summer of 2009, but I did spend a bunch of time in and out of the hospital. So, there was that.
I kept an eye out for when they’d start auditioning for the following season. I felt I’d worked so hard in the previous season that I was not going to give up on this show!
When the auditions came somewhere close to me (New York, perhaps?), I emailed my producer bud, asking if I’d be taking notes for her again.
She did get me back working on the show for the season 5 audition tour. I don’t remember the exact sequence of events, but I do remember at some point I ended up in the other (even more senior) producer’s room.
I think what happened was that producer #1 wasn’t there for one of the cities, so I worked in producer #2’s room instead. He took a liking to me. And then I was basically with him for the rest of the time. I think they had a little (not actual but cute non-)fight over who would get to keep me. (I know, I know. I’m so special, right?)
So, yet again I did another season of cities with AGT. I don’t think I made it to quite each one. There was crazy hospital stuff going on still. But, I worked in most of them. Overall, the crew was actually very nice to me and accommodating of any hospital stuff.
I was really lucky though that this seemed to be the one job that wasn’t affected all that much. I think because this job was so sporadic, it happened to hit the times I wasn’t in the hospital, which was really convenient for me. (And I actually scheduled my open heart surgery for one week later than necessary so I could get in one more city (Portland) before I had surgery.)
One thing that was really nice during my 2nd season is that they began giving me a tiny bit more responsibility. In Portland, they actually let me train the group of outside room PAs (who gathered paperwork and kept the flow going)… And they told me it was the best group they had for the whole audition tour. *high five*
(I promised my group free treats if they made me proud. They did. So, we went out for shakes!)
The tour ends. Yet again, I got to go to Vegas.
Vegas was a grand ol’ time. I didn’t do any Vegas-y type stuff. But I did have a lot of fun playing card games with contestants for hours on end.
I mentioned last time that since the initial auditions were over, I didn’t have the same job. The producer didn’t need me taking notes for her. So, this time I was assigned to contestants. Specifically, my job was to make sure all the kids under 16 got all their required hours of schooling and rest and such.
Sucks for you, adults. We can keep you till 3am if we feel like it! Families who have minors in them – free pass, baby.
I got along well with all the kids and parents. And I almost certainly had the most fun job. Instead of lugging equipment places or doing whatever else, I basically just got to hang out with nice people while logging their hours and trying to keep them happy.
I worked somewhat closely with the studio teachers. They were a very nice bunch.
I still got to see the producers sometimes, because they’d ask for me to come give them an update on how many hours we had left with certain acts. (The younger the kids, the fewer hours they can have on set per day.)
So, Vegas ended and I headed up to our swanky wrap party. Here, I ended up in a conversation with producer #1 and producer #2 together.
This is where I’ll pick up tomorrow.