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The red light controls my destiny

My office is just to one side of the set area. Which is great for the whole, in the thick of the action, experience. But not so great when the thick action prevents me from getting back to my office.

When they are rolling, there are strategically placed bells and flashing red lights on the entrances to the set. If the lights a-flashing, shut yer pie hole and don't dare take a step with those squeaky shoes of yours.

If they're shooting just down from where our office doors open, I can't tell if they're rolling or not. There is no flashing light "inside" the set (...the idea being that everyone on set knows when they're rolling... but the door to our offices swing right onto one of the sets... and there's no flashing light in our offices, which means I have more than once burst out the door to a gathering of very pissed off people staring at me, whirling their index finger in the air above their heads, the universal sign for "we're rolling you dolt and probably have to redo this take because of you!"). If there are no pissed off people staring at me, I have to press my face against the glass of the exit door to see if I can detect the reflection of the external flashing light on the hardware of the door that faces the exit. On my return, I may be standing in the outside hallway, staring at that flashing red light, waiting for it to stop winking at me so that I can get back into my office.

I've spent a lot of my time today with my nose pressed against the exit door's window, and twiddling my thumbs staring at that blinking red light.

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