I Learned Something Big From My Small Appearances on All-American
Who knew a millisecond flash of my face in a TV scene would be seen?! And who knew people would give a rat’s tail?!
Not me.
This past fall I added another side hustle to my hat of tricks to stay afloat in Los Angeles, background acting gigs. (Don’t tell anybody, but if my grandmother didn’t have dementia, she’d tell you how I knew from the time I could talk that I was an actress, honey! I just knew it, and couldn’t be told differently, especially seeing very clearly that I was a more celebrated performer than all the other little kids in my classes. And if I weren’t so chicken, I’d tell you how that fire still burned in college, moving me to study theatre as an additional minor, and how it still flickers now, but somewhere in adulthood it’s been greatly dampened. So, I make myself believe this is a gig like any other gig, not a peek into my heart’s truest desire.) No different from any other gig I’ve done in Los Angeles, pouring drinks or greeting guests, I didn’t think much of it.
I damn sure didn’t think people I haven’t seen or talked to in a decade would be hitting me up about it!
I worked as a background extra on All-American: Homecoming (season 2).
This past fall filming season, I spent nice, long days on the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, California collecting my lil’ 132 over 8 (that’s entertainment industry work lingo).
I don’t remember exactly how many days I worked on set for All-American: Homecoming (season 2), but I was there for a few episodes, and just my luck, in episode 6, "Free Your Mind" directed by Keesha Sharp, they happened to leave a glimpse of your girl in the final cut, and as QUICK as it was, folks happened to notice me.
I found out I’d made it on TV when people started texting me.
Anyone that has ever visited any home I’ve had knows that I’ve never owned a television in my adult life. Anyone whose home I’ve ever visited knows that I don’t have an account on any streaming service. Anyone exposed to me at a decent proximity for any considerable length of time knows I don’t watch TV, unless I’m in a social setting. (Come on now, I’m not a total weirdo.. I’ll watch, and I’ll have plenty of commentary; it’s taking it upon myself to watch in my own leisure that I don’t do.) That being said, I hadn’t ever watched All-American: Homecoming (nor it’s parent show, All-American), and had no intention of watching it, even after working on set as a background actor for it. When the first few people hit me saying they’d seen me, that changed.
I streamed All-American: Homecoming for free on the CW network website after folks expressed their excitement.
Y’all texting me?! Shoot, now I gotta see!
It’s nice CW TV network allows free streaming of their shows without having to make an account, because baby if I would’ve had to, I was out! It was interesting watching how what I watched in front of me (in-person, on set) came together in the final production.
I’m thankful for people I know that are fans of the show.
What was more interesting than the contrast between what I saw on set and what I saw on screen, was what I saw from people.. People I know, people that know me.. People’s responses to the show (to me being “on” the show) is what moved me to actually think about it. We shot it in the fall, by the time it aired in the spring, it was long-gone from my mind. I’m thankful folks made me rewind.
I made a sappy post on Instagram about being seen on All-American: Homecoming.
As a Los Angeles lifestyle blogger, with a personal blog based in Los Angeles, I need to post more and this heartfelt caption from Instagram, about people’s responses to seeing me on All-American: Homecoming deserves to be cemented elsewhere on the World Wide Web.
Here’s what I posted on Instagram after an onslaught of DMs, texts and calls from something so small:
my lil' background extra work to collect a coin here and there is so small , y'all.. so so so so so so SO small.. but y'all.. Y'ALL are big.. your reactions , your encouragement , your pride ("aye, look my girl i went to school with...", etc.) , your love... YOUR LOVE IS BIG . it's so big it makes me want to do more , reach for more , be more.. be more for you.. do more for you..
i'm just a girl figuring it out.. finding her way #aroundLA ...yet you , people i took classes or rode the school bus with , fellow members from extracurricular clubs , folks from my hometown , family and family friends , co-workers from job after job , a range of acquaintances i've met along the way , & even random strangers in passing both online and off.. you.. you're big.. what you see in me is big
(**this post is not about my [almost non-existent] moves.. this post is about you**)
Plus, I was looking thru my aroundLAwithTK album of my phone’s camera roll for a picture to use for another blog post over in the cycling section, and I came across this set-day selfie (the one that’s the blog’s cover image), so why not?! This annoying iPhone keeps telling me I’m out of space. If I get all this darn blog content out of my camera roll and onto thee actual blog, I’d be able to clear up some space!
Okay, enough about that… I would write y’all an entire post about being on set of All-American: Homecoming, and it’s parent show All-American, as a background actor, but there’s not much say. Then again, who am I kidding?! I can write a blog post about the color of grass and yap for hours. Yeah, I’ll do that… not the color of grass post, y’all, the working on set of All-American.
Whew child.. trying to work towards goals. And they just might work..
Note: I tried to embed the Instagram post here, but it wouldn’t work. Maybe there’s a squarespace glitch with embedding Instagram posts, or maybe I’m not doing something right.. my devices and accounts being set to French (when I’m not yet fluent in French) probably doesn’t help 🙃
