“Atmosphere”
Without It There Is No Story
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
I did a LOT of background work in those early years. I loved it. It was so rewarding because you learned a lot. You learned about how a set is run. You learned about lighting, camera angles, watching the lead actors do their thing. It was just SO rewarding.
I felt that I would always do background work. That’s what I thought at that time. I loved it so much…that I’m just going to do this forever.
I remember working on the set of Touched by an Angel. If anyone remembers Touched by an Angel, Della Reese was the principal actor. Her character was the lead angel. She would send these angels from Heaven to Earth and they would help people sort through the messiness of their life. It was just a wonderful show.
But this is what Della would do everyday when she came to set; she spoke to everyone. Every single person on set was an important part of what was going on with Touched by an Angel. She made you feel important. It didn't matter if you were a grip, or hair and makeup; if you were wardrobe, cinematographer or background; she made you feel very important.
I remember when she came into our waiting area while we were just kind of sitting around waiting to go on and she spoke to all of us and she said to us, “You are the atmosphere. Without you there'd be no story.”
I was like WOW, that's pretty big! She made us feel that important and I never forgot that.
Every time that I'm on set I would always go over and say hey to all the background actors because I had been there. I was there and I know how important it is. I mean can you just imagine two actors talking, and if there wasn't anything happening in the background, can you imagine how boring that scene would be?
Yeah cuz without the background actors there isn't a story. There's nothing but talking heads. I thank Della Reese for helping us to understand that job is just as important as those who have lines.
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