MASQUARADE BLOG
Tonight is our Halloween episode, and there is no better place for it than San Francisco. There is no shortage of action in this city, and you would think that Marisa had done or seen everything there is to see after serving in the Army. However, driving a beat-up ambulance, flying a mermaid, and becoming a medic somehow never made the list.
Rabbit and I do arrive by AMBULANCE in this episode, and you'll see me drive this beat-up rig. I couldn't see ANYTHING, so I had to look out the SIDE window.
You'll see WHY the ambulance was beat up tonight, but here's HOW. An actor took a Louisville slugger to Tyler and Boone's rig WHILE THE CAMERAS WERE ROLLING. (The ambulances are very expensive, so production didn't want to destroy more than one rig). The actor had only ONE TAKE to smash the window.
No pressure or anything.
This episode is also the first time I have to do proper MEDICAL PROCEDURES ON-CAMERA.
Originally, I was supposed to be a helicopter pilot. But, as you noticed in the second episode, they started bringing Marisa out of the copter. Tonight, Marisa will show off her new EMT skills.
Marisa doing medicine = ME doing medicine.
So, our medical advisors gave me a last-minute crash course, and even though I practiced for HOURS, I'm sure it'll just get 10 seconds of screen time.
They showed me how to put in a cannula (a plastic tube that runs under the nose and is used to administer oxygen). You should see me put this on a patient tonight.
I learned how to check blood pressure, put in an IV, how to tape the IV, and supply oxygen to a patient. I had to be able to do it
In 30 SECONDS...
AND say my lines...
AND make it look REAL.
Obviously, our medical advisors are fantastic, and they go above and beyond to help us look as authentic as we can.
But, I'd be remiss if I didn't compliment our make-up and hair team, especially in the HALLOWEEN episode.
One of my favorite characters tonight is the mermaid Rabbit and I pick up. Our make-up artist painted this actress with blue water-based make-up (no toxins) and sprayed her body with glitter. After applying several shades of blue, he hand-drew the fins and scales with TATTOO INK pens. Then, our hair stylist used blue and green hair spray. It took about two hours to complete.
They are usually impressing us with all-too-realistic injuries that are sometimes hard to look at, but Halloween was a chance to see their skills in action without the blood and broken bones.
To answer a question that has come up multiple times:
YES, a lot of our storylines are influenced by ACTUAL events. For example, the car-plowing-through-the-crowd sequence in the second episode was somewhat inspired by the tragic Santa Monica Farmers' Market incident in 2003.
And, to answer a question AJtenn posted:
Rabbit does not have his pilot's license. He could NOT take the controls of the helicopter, although he probably THINKS he could.
Well, thanks again for reading and let me know what you think of tonight's HALLOWEEN episode!
