Working on Set- Supp Blog #1 Shelby Adair

A few summers ago, I had the opportunity to work on set of a GLAAD PSA with director/producer Brett Ratner. The concept was to "Come Out of the Closet for Equality," followed by various celebrities walking out of a literal closet and speaking directly into the camera. I had no idea that when I was offered a PA job that I would get to meet all sorts of celebrities like Jackie Chan, Jason Alexander, Charlie Sheen, Pauley Perrette and DeRay Davis. All of the crew and talent were there as volunteers, so I was surprised that so many showed up in their own free time, but it turns out that a lot of these people knew Ratner from working with him in the past and were volunteering as a favor to him-- and as an advocate to the cause. I was assigned the  job of greeting each celebrity when they pulled into the parking lot and then walking them inside to speak to the producer. Although there are a lot of people coming in and out of a busy studio parking lot, it was pretty easy to spot our guests because they usually arrived in g the shiniest, newest Mercedes Benz or Jaguar. But not all. Shawn Ashmore arrived in a light blue Prius, and I didn't even recognize him at first because he looked and acted so causal. Since I had walked a ways down to meet him at the gate entrance, he offered to drive me up the road to the set! Although he was clearly just a normal, really cool guy, I still geeked out for a moment that I was sitting shotgun to "Iceman" from X-men! I also specifically remember meeting Charlie Sheen because it was around the time that he used the word "winning" a lot and gained more fame for his abnormal interviews. I was unsure of what to expect, but he and his bodyguard/driver were so fun and friendly! While Charlie did his bit for the camera, me and his bodyguard hung out in the back of the studio chatting--mostly about their elaborate shortened limo that had a huge TV and several mini bars in the back seat. My job instructions were to interact with the guests and help them feel welcome, so I was simply doing my job!
I made a strong point to act completely normal the whole time and treat all the celebrities like I would any normal person, which really wasn't  hard since each person was so laid back. It was a cool experience, especially to interact with so many interesting people in one day. I have never been star-struck, but there is a certain level of shock and surrealism when interacting with the people seen on TV;  although it was the first time meeting them, I had a (one-way) level of familiarity towards them that I had to ignore and pretend like I had never google searched them or watched them each week on TV in my living room. It is amazing how meeting just a few people can be such a life highlight.


 The PSA series that were to be shown on HBO are now available on the GLAAD webpage (http://www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-launches-psa-campaign-created-brett-ratner-asking-allies-come-out-equality)