On Memorial Day my mother called and asked me if I wanted to be in a movie. In the local events posted online there was an ad about a movie that needed extras to film an audience scene for a movie about a band that wins a country music contest. The ad said the movie was to be a Hollywood feature, that every age was welcome, and to dress in regular clothes.2
My oldest son said that he did not want to go because he said he did not want anything to do with country music. You know how 16 year olds can be. I told him that he needed to come because it would be fun, something he would remember for the rest of his life, a good experience, you know, all those clichés. With my urging, he reluctantly started getting ready. 3
To tell you the truth, I really did not want to go. I was tired and depressed, and I had not bleached my hair since August of last year, so I had about 5 inches of roots
showing. (I have since bleached my hair, so I am a platinum blond again 
). Despite the fact that I really did not want to do it, a tiny part of me told myself to do it because I have always been the type of person to want to experience new things, so I forced myself to get ready, and when my mom got here the kids and I piled in her van and set out for Hanford where they were shooting the scenes. 4Hanford is about 20 miles away, but it is not a community we are very familiar with, so we drove past the theatre they were using several times. My youngest son kept telling us that he saw it, but we did not listen to him because when we asked him what it said on it, he told us that it said “Josh Taylor,” and we told him we were looking for the Fox Theatre, but when we did find it, the marquise did say “Josh Taylor” on it. We felt bad that we had not listened to him. 5
So we got there and they had each of us sign a release form so giving them permission to use our images, and then they had us sign a book and give our emails so they can let us know when the movie will be coming out. 6
Everyone was so nice. You hear so many stories about how television people are all phony and that they are vain, etc… and I for one was extremely surprised at how grateful they were just to have us there. I know that the people who showed up were doing them a great favor, but I did not really expect them to acknowledge it the way they did. 7
The theatre seats 1500 people, but only about 150 people showed up, and they moved us all around the theatre in order to make it appear full, LOL. 8
They filmed a couple of scenes with us there, so there were some real actors there. I did not recognize any of them unfortunately. 9
Now, we were there for about 3 ½ hours to shoot what will probably only be a couple seconds of film for the movie, but my kids will both get air time because they put my youngest son right up front. They made a big fuss over him and how he smiled the whole time. They said he “never broke character.” They also filmed a scene where two police officers are carrying pop corn and drinks and other snack foods while they look for seats, and they end up stumbling over a bunch of people to get to seats in the middle of the row. In the process, one of them spills pop corn and soda on my oldest son’s head, LOL. 10
They had some of the actors singing for us to applaud. They sang this one song over and over again, and since there were not very many lyrics, I can still remember them all. I looked online and did not find them, so I guess it is a previously unrecorded song, probably written especially for the movie. I can’t give the song writer credit, but I am going to post the lyrics as I remember them: 11
People get lost and
are never seen again
Indigenous people
they’re kept in pens12
trains, planes and cars crash
ships, blimps and dreams sink
it’s not as safe
as you might think
I wouldn’t go outside if I were you 13
Buildings fall down
even though well erected
people get poisoned
even when they
use as directed14
trains, planes and cars crash
ships, blimps and dreams sink
it’s not as safe
as you might think
I wouldn’t go outside if I were you 15
As depressing as the words are, the song was actually pretty. 16
There was a girl there they called Fuchsia. Now, I don’t know if that was her stage name or her character’s name, but she was dressed in a very country outfit with a VERY short skirt. She sang a song for us too, but she only sang it 2 or 3 times, so I don’t remember the words, but it was called “Cheerful Disposition,” and it the lyrics were very cute. 17
I stayed to the back because I did not really want to be very visible. They gave us all water about half way through the shoot, and then when it was over, we all got a t-shirt. 18
The name of the movie is Pickin’ and Grinnin’, and it is supposed to be out before the end of the year. It is about a country band and the band members are getting older and still haven’t had their big break, but the contest they enter is finally it. The sheriff in the film is named “Sheriff Twitty,” LOL, and there are a lot of other country music homages, they said. They had everyone there clapping and yelling and had us stand and really whoop it up for the camera. 19
In the end, I was glad I went. It was interesting to see how a movie is shot, and it was a fun and free thing to do with the kids.
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