It’s a feat not too many people have accomplished, yet here in SoCal it’s probably something that your waiter or bartender has been able to do: Get their name on IMDB.
IMDB, of course, stands for Internet Movie Database, a website where you can find every movie or show ever made with every credit attached to it. Can’t figure out who that actor is in that episode of Castle you’re watching? Check IMDB. Want to know where The Breakfast Club was filmed? Check IMDB.
The website is an extremely handy thing to have in moments of tip-of-the-tongue-ness, and a great place for trivia buffs to learn everything there is to know about their favorite movies and TV shows. But do you know what the coolest thing about it is?
YOU CAN FIND ME ON IT!
That’s right…if you just click here, you can find all about my one movie credit, an assistant in the art department for the straight-to-video in Japan movie Tail Sting.
Please feel free to laugh. Loudly.
You can find the IMDB link for Tail Sting here. It’s received an average of 1.9 out of 10 rating from 421 people, which amazes me because I can’t believe that 421 people actually saw the movie. The summary is easy enough – deadly scorpions are smuggled onto a plane where they take over and try to crash it (FYI – this movie was made pre-9/11, so the timing of the release wasn’t in its favor).
So how did a girl who graduated from college a month prior get involved with this amazing project? Let’s just call it luck. I was living with my sister, trying to find any kind of job in the movie business since at the time I thought I wanted to write for movies or television. I needed a way to get my foot in the door, and after a couple issues of the movie biz magazine Backstage Pass, I came across a listing for a Production Assistant for an unnamed movie. So I took a shot in the dark, sent in my resume, and got a call the next day. The “job” was mine.
I was so excited for this job that I didn’t mind the two-hour drive from Corona to Pacoima every morning and every night, six days a week, nor the fact that the job was unpaid. I was officially working in the industry, and I was as green as they come.
I quickly learned, however, that it’s kind of a crappy job. Long days, with the majority of those days just sitting around waiting for sets to be changed. I was officially part of the art department, which is hilarious, because I’m horrible at “art”, but they needed somewhere to stick this quiet 22-year-old girl from Minnesota.
But apparently they did see some potential in me when they decided to make me an extra in a bunch of scenes, like walking through the airport in a freaking swimsuit and shorts, or – the best one of all – a dead body! And not just one dead body, but two. I got to be wrapped up in a blanket and carried out of the airplane with my dead arm hanging out. Pretty awesome.
I got to hold puppet scorpions made of Nerf while a half naked girl got killed in the plane bathroom, and I also became responsible for providing “steam” on the set, where when the director would yell “STEAM!” I pressed the ‘on’ button the steam machine and then wafted it towards the camera with an airplane food tray. I was known as “The Steam Wafter”, and became very popular on set.
We all knew the movie we were making was total crap, but that’s probably what made it so much fun. We didn’t take anything seriously, and it shows when you watch the final cut of the movie (available on Netflix). The people behind MovieMistakes.com counted 93 mistakes in Tail Sting. You can see sound guys standing the background holding boom mics, the Nerf puppets are hilarious, and there is far too much steam in the background (I swear, he kept on yelling “More steam!!!!”).
But working on this movie – my one and only movie credit – was an experience I’ll never forget. It was the first thing I ever did once I got to Los Angeles, even before my rockin’ barista days at The Coffee Bean, and I learned a lot. I met some great people, including the one person who would become the most important person in my life…
My hubbie!
He was with the lighting department, we became besties, and then got married four years later. So really, working on this movie was the best thing I could have done, because who knows where I would be had I not! So thank you, Tail Sting, for being horrible and awesome at the same time.
Happy viewing!
Odds & Thens 