#zombie extra

[didee-anne]

Ror surprised me with an overnight stay at a hotel last night! We dressed up and went down to the bar for drinks and while we were chatting and flirting the stunt coordinator I worked with on Z Nation walked in! He doesn’t live in Spokane so I never expected to see him again and the crazy thing is I was JUST thinking of him last week while I was looking at old pictures from set 🤯 Alex was the stunt coordinator and helped me die on a few different episodes! He’s in town working on a horror movie being shot. Anyway, it was absolutely crazy seeing him and I loved getting to introduce him to Rory!

The hotel was so much fun and I love that he managed to surprise me with it! 🥰

[bighairmonkey]

Makeup time for a “Standard Zombie” on Z Nation is about an hour and a half. Extras that play Z’s get to do their own cleanup. “Hero Zombies” take longer due to prosthetics - anywhere from 3 to 5 hours! Extras LOVE playing Hero Zombies because it usually means better camera time, and the hair and makeup crew will help on the cleanup!

Jason Jakober (one of our regular zombie extras) has some GREAT photos of the process of removing Hero Zombie prosthetics after a shoot.

[didee-anne]

Addy wears these badass boots in season 5 and at the original warehouse sale I looked for them and found out that principle character’s cothing doesn’t get sold. Meg did tell me the brand though so I looked them up and they’re stupid expensive. Freebird by Steven. Since the show has been cancelled there was a huge warehouse sale today; props, busts, clothing and props from main characters and repeat guests and such. I found the boots! It was crazy busy so I put them on the floor and measured them against the shoes I was wearing and it looked really close so I was going to buy them but I didn’t have enough money 😭 it’s cash only and I had $50 on me and the boots were well over that. Well lucky for me I ran into Lucas! He paid the difference for the boots AND a Zona zip up hoodie 👍🏻 anyway, long story short the boots are too big and it’s obviously something that I can’t return. 😭 Since they’re a nice brand I’m considering trying to sell them but everyone just tells me to keep them and shove a sock in the toe. Idk. I’m so sad they’re too big though and I’m beating myself up for not working harder to find a quiet corner to try them on before dropping that kind of money on them.

Anyone want a super great pair of boots for what I paid plus shipping?

[didee-anne]

Yesterday was crazy busy but so much fun!!

I (mostly) finished the kids’ costumes before they hit Pumpkin Lane for some trick or treating, I worked Pumpkin Lane handing out candy for H&R Block, went straight from work to the Z Nation shop and spent 2 hours getting zombiefied for a teen-only Halloween event me and my friend and fellow z Lucas were hired to work at, then spent 3 hours posing for pics, riding the carousel, scaring teens, and zombie dancing. It was a blast but made for a late night. Got home a little after 11 and after washing the makeup off and showering to get the gunk out of my hair I got to bed shortly before 1.

Still no word on if Z Nation will be renewed for another season so I enjoyed the possible last time I’ll get to hang out with Tess and Logan.

I think Lucas lost his voice last night from all the growling he did. Truly would be hard pressed to fine someone I enjoy working with more.

[didee-anne]

Since Dan is tweeting ‘em I can share ‘em!

Season 5 is going to be intense but a lot of fun too.

Can’t wait to see the finished result of all our hard work!

[didee-anne]

Being on set Monday and Tuesday was so much fun!

Got to hang out with an extra that I’ve gotten to know pretty well over the years. His name is Lucas. Knowing another person on set always helps ease my nerves about being on set and he’s always as excited to see me as I am him so that helps too. 😅

Met a handful of really cool people and it was just a great group of us. I like where the story is going, it’s fresh and different and a lot of fun! I love how the show really does it’s own thing. We had a fun guest on set too, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to share who it was so I’ll wait until the episode airs to share. ☺️

While in makeup Monday Russell (Doc) came up and shook all the extra’s hands and introduced himself which is always super sweet. Not a lot of the main cast interacts with the extras. Keith (Murphy) did too a bit later. Towards the end of filming on Tuesday Keith came up and chatted with the extras for a bit and offered to take pics with us. He was called back to set before he finished with everyone so I don’t have any pics with him but I took a couple for one of the extras so I think that’s good enough.

I had some suggestions for how we filmed a scene for one of the militia guys and he said he’d see how it goes during filming and then before we started filming the extra director came and told him to do basically what I’d already suggested and he got the biggest smile on his face and said that I’d already told him to do that and gave me a high five; so that was cool! 😄

I get to go back Monday but I’m not sure if it’s for the same episode or not. It is kind of a continuation of what we’ve already filmed, which is why I’m not sure. It’ll be fun though and Lucas will be there so, again, yay!

The make up this year is a lot easier to wash off and I’m so glad because in years past it’s taken upwards of 2 hours to get clean. This year it’s taken 20-45 min and I’ll take that anyday 😂

Ok. I’ll share more after the episodes air and if we’re snap friends I hope you didn’t mind all the snaps I sent in costume 😂

[didee-anne]

My call time is 5:45 tomorrow morning and here I am at almost midnight browsing tumblr.

I’ve been dealing with some intense insomnia the last several nights so I’m not sure if I’m putting it off in the hopes that I’ll fall asleep once I do go to bed or what. I just wish I could sleep and wake up feeling refreshed for once. That’s all I want.

Totally random but I was originally booked for today, tomorrow, and next Wednesday but then yesterday I got unbooked because I’d played a talker recently and I think my characters would be too similar? Anyway then a few hours later I got another email saying that while the original role I was playing got canceled they’re booking me for a different role but it would just be one day of filming instead of three. Oh well. I’ll take it. I’ve filmed more episodes and been on set more this year than I have any other year and that makes me happy.

I don’t know if I’ll know any of the extras tomorrow though so I downloaded the PDF copy of my tax book and am bringingthe rest of my homework with me so if I don’t know anyone then I can just study.

[didee-anne]

Spent 14 hours on set yesterday. Was the same character I’d been playing so it’ll be fun to see that story play out over 3 episodes.

It was my last day on set so after we wrapped for the day I got pics with some of the grips who had been fun to work with, Meg (one of the wardrobe gals), and Alex (the stunt coordinator). I’m not a regular extra by any means but it’s still nice when the crew recognizes you and refers to you by name. ☺️

Between takes Keith offered pics but I was the only one with my phone so I got a group selfie with him then he took my phone for a bigger group selfie. I almost got a pic with Anastasia but we’re not supposed to ask the actors for pics so while I don’t think she’d have minded I still chickened out because there’s always the possibility of getting in trouble.

Red was super cute and Pandora is eerie. I was in the make up chair next to Lydia last week and got to see how they get her mask to stay on and everything which was really cool.

I saw DJ Qualls at lunch yesterday, which I think is the first time I’ve been there the same time he is.

Ok, I’m just rambling now so I’ll stop. I’ll post more about filming after each episode airs.