That Time I Was On “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”
The other day I was brainstorming ideas for a blog post about how witches are portrayed in movies and television. Conferring with Professor Google, I found articles about Willow from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And then I remembered, hey wait, I was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
Think back to 1999…
I was 25 and moved from New York to Los Angeles to become a movie star, which is to say three of us crammed into a one-bedroom apartment and I worked temp jobs to pay the rent. My refrigerator held nothing but, and this is true, half an onion and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray. (I’m living proof that the “starving actor” troupe is real!)
Anyway, I auditioned and managed to book five lines in season 4 in an episode titled “Beer Bad”. I played a sorority chick named Paula who Xander hits on at a bar but I end up going off with a guy who turns into a cave man (the actor standing next to me in the turquoise shirt).
The set was a bar and I started playing with a plastic stir stick, which the director ended up liking. I got to keep it (for sanitary reasons) and I still have it somewhere in my box of nostalgia from my acting days.
The filming lasted two days I think, and they were the best two days of my acting career because they were so much fun. I got to hang out in a trailer that had my character’s name posted on the door, which was really cool.
The wardrobe people had me try on several outfits and settled on the pink sweater. At the time I had a bellybutton ring (this was the 90’s y’all) so they covered it with a piece of flesh-colored tape. Hair and make-up people got all the actors ready in a separate trailer and then were onset during filming to touch up everything.
And then I got to say my lines! Well, actually, they filmed Xander (Nicholas Brendon) first. I had to say my lines and the cameraman stood behind me. Then, they rearranged the whole set up and had the camera behind Nicholas’s shoulder.
Buffy (Sarah Michelle Geller) was on the set but my character left before her scenes. I’m short, but Buffy was teeny-tiny! And she looked pretty damn fierce honestly.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch the show back then because I was working three jobs (starving actor) and didn’t have time to watch any TV in those days, but now that I’m writing a witch novel, I kind of want to revisit the series.
Apparently Willow (Alyson Hannigan) is a witch (and Buffy’s best friend) who evolves quite a bit over the arc of the story.
How about you? Who’s your favorite TV witch?
Lisa 😉
Here’s my memoir (available HERE).
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