modelinginmexico
Modeling, Mexico, Jill Billingsley, Jill Scott,Archive for March, 2012
Earthquakes!
Tuesday I got to feel my first legit earthquake, mind you there was one in Toronto while living there, but it went virtually unnoticed. Mexico City was built on an ancient lakebed and its spongy soil amplifies the Earths seismic waves, thus causing more damage in comparison to other locations. Yesterdays quake was the strongest recorded since 1986’s (yay to my birth year) earthquake in Mexico. 
Mexican authorities reported the magnitude of the quake as 7.8. In Guerrero, (home to Acapulco) officials say about 800 homes were damaged and 60 collapsed. Tuesday’s quake centered near the border between the southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, with the aftershock’s reaching a measurement of 5.1. I’ve read that there may have been up to 10 aftershocks so far and they are still continuing onto today (Wed). Ari was even woken up at night by one at 4am.
Primary waves in an Earthquake are the sudden jolts of movement and secondary (S) waves are the aftershock. The P waves that I felt were ‘longitude waves’ that made for a side to side movement and resulted in much less damage than what could have been. This all happened while I was on set filming but no injuries occurred and although structures did get damaged, it could have been much worse.
Needless to say, it was interesting to come home and see what kind of toll it took on the model apartment. I should have taken pictures of the stairs as well but couldn’t be bothered to take them after a workday. Even today I hear little bits of ceiling hitting the floor while typing this… ooohh dios mio. Lol. Here is a site that I thought explained Earthquakes half decent. Apparently I show much more interest in things like this after experiencing them.
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~rmellors/lab8/l8maineq.htm
(This entire wall is in my roommates room and it was hit the worse. The whole house got pretty messed up, but I just took pictures of the obvious things that first caught my eye.)
Sleepless Nights w Long Work Days. Heaven!
This last week has been a whirlwind of shoots and confusion. Tuesday (the 13th) I heard back from the castings I’ve attended earlier in the week, to my surprise I had 2 commercials who both wanted to book me for the week and both needed me for the 13th. Unsure of what to ever do or how to even ask, I got back to the commercial that wanted to shot first… which was… VOLK WAGON! for the second time. The original casting called for someone who spoke both English and Spanish and all they required of me was one line, “No, I don’t know what’s IIHS.” It seemed simple enough and it only needed to be read in English so the gig seemed like it would be a slam dunk…. and oh how I was proven wrong!
The location was outside of the city, always a great pleasure to ride in a taxi during morning rush hour and then find out there’a a separate fee once you leave Mexico City. *Note the sarcasm* The call time was 8am with the shooting schedule finishing at 11am – for us ‘interviewers’ at least. When I finished reading half a book, 3 naps, and completing my own makeup and hair, I was ready to shoot at 3pm. Why I had to be there at 8am? I have no clue. And whereas on the first VW shooting I felt I couldn’t have been taken care of anymore than they did, here I felt the opposite. No breakfast came to the actors who stayed in the trailer (4 out of 6 of us), no snacks came to us mid day… and no lunch. Tired from waiting around all day in the hot sun I finally found out what I had to do. Ride an escalator in the mall and recite the clients company’s name – Now I know that sounds easy, BUT FOR THE LIFE OF ME I COULDN’T DO IT! It was probably because I was a little shaken up at their reaction to learning the fact I spoke no Spanish and I couldn’t remotely fake a decent accent. With the majority of the filming crew speaking no English, I guess I could expect not to get a response when I kept repetitively asking what the company’s name was. After a few takes I think they gave up on the scene and a new role was given to me. Not me in my finest hour, but I survived with a good attitude. I realized I may need to bring something a little more entertaining to keep my mind alert, but you live and learn. I made a new friend surprisingly enough who thinks Canadians are pretty cool. It caught me off guard because I spent so much of my day sleeping by his feet, but can you blame me? I thought no one
While filming Wednesday I missed what might have been the best callback ever. Miller Lite! And the whole day consisted of throwing around a football and going over plays. Sounds like heaven compared to the gym I go to on my down days. Hours in the sun playing a game and working out, much better than the call backs that make you strip down and dance around to music you wouldn’t normally listen to. But as I said, I missed it due to work and thought that Miller would lose interest, luckily as soon as I arrived home I got the call for the Miller Lite fitting the following day. I assume it’s because (by fluke) when I did throw the ball during my 1st callback it was a beauty! AND I think I was the only girl I saw who caught the ball while running on their first take. The director knew my name before I even meet her, so I think there was a stronger interest in me than I may have initally thought. It was the first time I walked into a call and they said, Jill Scott’s here. Since last week this has come up 3 times now! Finally the casting houses are beginning to recognize me, which is perfect because they will probably take it easier on me with the rapid Spanish they so often throw my way. My fitting was the cutest little lingerie outfit, complimented with knee, elbow, and shoulder pads. I was hoping to keep it (with most modeling jobs, once underwear becomes a requirement its odd to give it back) but no such luck. And that was that… next day was my Miller Lite commercial. And fyi, for those of you excited to see it, I hate to break the news but this one is airing only in Panama. 
Thursday morning I signed Miller’s contract, and was told to meet up with another model named Grace. The agency thought this would make it easier for us to find our location and save some money. With my ingeniousness, I found my own way to the location through another model named Thai. All I had to do was take the subway to her. I phoned Grace (a spanish speaker) to tell her the good news. I’m ecstatic whenever I don’t have to ride in cabs but Grace was lost in translation when I tried explaining to her where we should meet up, and to make matters worse, she was adamant about me going back to the casting house where I signed my contract earlier that day. After a few minutes of confusion I gave up and thought, “fuck it”. I will do what I need to do to get to work and Grace will be on her own, at the very least she has Spanish on her side to help her out. Well, Grace must have called Kyoto because next thing I knew I was talking to Irma trying to explain why I didn’t want to go all the way back to the casting house (that I call Coyocan). Clearly, I struggle getting my point across anytime I need to talk to anyone, so I gave up… if Irma (my booker) wants me in Coyocan… then that’s where I will go. Off to meet up with Grace. Little did I know, she finally understood what I was trying to tell her, so she left the casting place to meet up with Thai and together they took off to the commercial together. When I finally arrived to where I thought I had to be, no one was there to meet me. Without an iphone or a form of internet, I am literally lost whenever life deviates from the plan. I sat across the street for a while trying my best to calm down while texting the agency, Thai, and anyone who may help in explaining why the hell I was stranded in an area I spent all morning in and had no urge to return back to. The videographer of the original casting found me all chocked up across the street and called a private taxi (which settles my mind much more than catching the ones Joe-Blow drives on the street). I had NO pesos left from my 1000pesos/wk allowance so mi amigo, Paco, kindly covered me and explained my final destination to the cabie. Finally I was over the midday drama and on my way to the shoot that I have been most excited to be part of since I got here! I was originally told when I first started modeling that this is where my niche would be, so to get there felt like an accomplishment, a life’s milestone I suppose. Hopefully that doesn’t sound bad.
Miller started off with some catch up practice for myself. 3 football coaches and I practiced throwing the football correctly and after watching another model throw, they all decided – in lue of my new found skills, I would be the quarterback! The director, I’m assuming, also liked my look because I was the only football playing model to be given lines. 
A half a page of lines! Now, after the pervious day’s experience this may have seemed like a bad idea, but I swear I rocked it. Every line was memorized and I only needed to run through two of them. Not sure what makes it different, but here I was pumped. I STILL CAN’T REMEMBER WEDNESDAY’S LINES though, reading lines reminds me of cramming for a test 5 mins before going into class, but now I get paid and get extra special attention 😉 Once again the commercial’s food trailers neglected me. 
I missed out on hotdogs while throwing the ball and learning my stance. I swear, half of my day I spent fondling strangers balls and grazing model’s neither regions. Not because I am a new found rapist, but apparently that’s just where your hand lies while waiting to retrieve the ball. The first scene took 2-3 shoots. 
It was so incredibly quick and the men behind the cameras complimented me as soon as I came off set. What an arm! Good Take! 
4 or so more scenes later and after delivering my sweet lines, the night ended with a lengthy photo shoot. 3pm to 6am. Now that’s a complete days work. Did I mentioned it rained and we played in lingerie throughout the frio noche.
(here’s an action shot of me on the left, I swear I was the fastest… which is messed up considering how much height most models have on me)
It was one of those jobs that not all models may be happy with, but it was amazing. I made friends, got a mini workout, and those catering trailers did tend to me later in the evening…
OoooOOo how I love alvacados in my sandwiches. While the night winded down, I also got good news: 1st, Doritos wants me for a callback on the 20th (and as soon as I finished my casting with them I felt confident that they may want me); 2nd text, On the 20th I have yet ANOTHER commercial for a company called CableMas. Once again I am double booked! Will it work out in a way where the agency can keep both places interested me? Who knows… I hope so! Doritos would be so amazing to get, but as it stand my next week is scheduled with wardrobe fittings and shooting for Cablemas. If shooting is early enough and time permits, you can bet I will try my best to make it to that Dortios callback!
Here’s a gallery to view the images larger with a few extras included. =)
Short & Sweet
Our landmark to remind us we are close to home
This is a still the videographer takes before a model or actor introduces themselves and shows their profiles and backside. This is the second time I ever saw what sold a client on me so I thought I would capture the moment.
In this gallery I put random photos of Ari and myself waiting for casting calls, images of what my work is like from wardrobe to behind the scenes in the makeup rooms. I was able to sneak photos of the digital shots of me modeling jewelery and lingerie. I’ve included my counterpart for a beach scene photo shoot that a client hired me for, random structures, and most importantly my new found baby… Taco/Burrito. That is my guitars name. I spent all my weeks pesos on it and had to carry it for the entire day to castings and the agency… but it was worth it. Now I have a guitar who plays horribly bad but nevertheless, a hobby to keep me busy on my down days. If you click on the images you can view them one at a time larger and see me in my ”bum-padded” underwear. Hahaha. Ohhh and finally, I got hired to do product shots for underwear… it was… ummm, different.
So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
Dr. Seuss
Which is why I did this blog focusing mainly around images until something new and exciting comes up. Hasta luego!
Jill
modelinginmexico 