Xochi Blymyer:
My Life as an A.D.

The summer of 2005 brought on a new television show called "Sex, Love and Secrets" which was about the young, hip crowd of Silver Lake, CA. Only 2 episodes were aired and it was cancelled.

I spent the rest of the fall and winter working on various movies & television here and there as reshoots came about or additional photography - it was a lot of fun meeting and/or seeing many people on all these shows. The movies were Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Aquamarine, Bordertown, Big Momma's House 2….and then I did some days on Grey's Anatomy.

Around Thanksgiving I got a call to work as the 1st AD on a movie called "Reno 911!: Miami". It is the big screen version of the popular Comedy Central tv show. Very silly, very funny and shot like a documentary. We went on location to Miami where we blew up a whale on the beach, blew up a police car on a bridge with the helicopter gun and speeded around Miami streets in a cool cop car…all as the "Reno Sheriff's Department" kept order in Miami. We finished up the movie in California using areas that looked like Miami, Florida.

I then worked on the 2nd Unit of "Heist". A television show about a group of robbers setting up the ultimate heist. We saw a lady jump off the side of a building and parachute to the ground, guys speeding through traffic and more…unfortunately, we'll never know what the big heist was going to be because that show got cancelled too!

Working on the television show "Prison Break", season two of the television series was the next adventure. I headed off to Dallas, Texas where I heard the "prisoners" had escaped! I spent the next 10 months in Dallas…or every suburb/town/field/railroad track/lake remotely near Dallas! We made it close to Oklahoma and even flew to Pensacola, Florida for the show finale. It was the hottest place I've ever been and the coldest place I've ever been but a wonderful adventure, with a great crew and cast. Such a great crew that I organized an "Academy Awards" luncheon with music, lights, awards of excellence and more. It was a show I'll never forget and hope to work with those folks in Dallas again one day.

I returned from Dallas at the end of the season and enjoyed a much needed rest. I decided to take some time off and put into action some ideas I had been thinking about while working. I began designing a line of T-Shirts that are simple and inspirational. The name is XB's Inspirational T's and has just been launched at the beginning of this year, 2008. They make people smile! (In fact, our favorite T-shirt is "If you smile, I'll smile".) I was fortunate to have Robert Knepper (T-Bag from Prison Break) call and tell me he'd like to wear my "Act as though the whole election depended on your single vote." shirt at Sundance Film Festival he did. He showed it off on the streets of Park City, Utah telling anyone who asked where he got it. That was very cool to start the publicity that way! XB's Inspirational T's keeps me busy between projects and I felt we could use a positive way to start conversations.

At the end of the summer this past year, I worked on an episode of "Mad Men", a new television series on AMC about Advertising Men in 1960. Once again, I was thrown back into the 60's where the movie magic really comes out. On the set everything is 1960 to the paperwork, typewriters and furniture. The cast is dressed in great 1950-1960's clothes and they had to smoke up a storm. The show won two Golden Globes and really is a good show.

The end of 2007 brought a Writer's Strike which lasted for 100 days. It brought the reality of the unknown to everyone connected to working in the movie business…everyone from directors to the dry cleaners to the donut shop to so many people to list. It was rare to talk to a friend that was working during this time.

In April 2008, "Raising the Bar", a Steven Bochco Production on TNT began filming. I was a 1st AD on the show for the season. It stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar as a Public Defender in New York City. We shot it on stage in Sylmar, California but used that movie magic to make the audience believe we were in New York. The cast and crew were a delight to work together with for this series.

After the season of "Raising the Bar" ended, "Mad Men" needed someone to fill in for the last couple episodes. It became what I called my summer job again. This 2nd season was all set in 1962 and brought up many of the issues of that year. The show has continually been nominated for many awards including a Director's Guild Award for one of the episodes that I had the opportunity to work. Because the director, Matt Weiner, was nominated, the assistant directors were also nominated for the DGA Awards as part of his team. We all attended the Dinner but "Mad Men" didn't win. In September 2009, the same episode of "Mad Men" - "Meditations in an Emergency", did win an Emmy for writing and the series won best drama.

In December 2008, I worked on a 2nd unit of "Boogietown". It was a very, very low budget movie. The idea was to film a story around street dancing battles. I'm not sure if that movie will make it to the screen, perhaps one day!

On January 5, 2009, my dad, Pat Blymyer, died. He was a legendary gaffer in the movie business for over 45 years. He was my best friend and I couldn't have asked for a better person to be part of my entry into show business and so many great adventures we had together. What has been a blessing for me this year is being able to work with people whom have worked with my dad. They have helped me keep his memories alive by telling stories of their time with him. Sometimes it's just a word or a moment that reminds us of him and we laugh. I think Pat would be laughing with us. If you'd like to know more about my dad you can read the blog I have for him at www.todaysthedaytogetupthenerve.blogspot.com.

"Raising the Bar" the Steven Bochco/TNT production came back for Season 2 in the spring. I was invited to work again on the show. The same great cast and crew came together and we shot another 15 episodes. We created more of New York City right there on the stage, always impressive how it can be done. I put on another Awards Luncheon for the crew, this time singing "There's No Business Like Show Business" with lyrics I wrote specifically for our show. It was another entertaining lunch, many deserving awards were given out!

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