behind the scenes at a night shoot

I've been feeling jetlagged all week. And it's not because we've made a wonderful long trip (I wish), but because I shot two night shoots in a row last week. Now I hear you thinking: that sounds quite nice, such a night shoot. And it certainly is, especially at the moment when you've been awake for 16 hours straight, the fatigue gives way to silliness, and you have a table full of ‘coke’ (no worries, it was dextrose powder) in front of you.

I would like to give you a behind-the-scenes look during a night shoot.

10:30 AM: I wake up after 4.5 hours of sleep, because we went to bed at 6 AM the night before (or actually that same morning) after a long night shoot. Breakfast is served until 11:00 AM, so I quickly race downstairs for a sandwich. I also see the rest of the crew still half-asleep scattered around the dining room. Good morning everyone, ready for another night?

12:00 PM: to start the next recordings as fresh as possible, I do a little ten-minute workout in my hotel room and swim some laps in the pool. This sounds lovely, but secretly I also miss my two men and my own bed after a few days. Then I quickly tackle some emails, learn some lines, and we are ready for another night.

5:00 PM: together with the other actresses, we are picked up and taken to the shooting location. You often end up in the most beautiful locations, and again we are in a stunning ‘glass’ house that pretends to be a chic nightclub. After an hour and a half of hair and makeup (I secretly close my eyes for a moment), we immediately start with the lunch break. A little explanation: normally you start the day with a breakfast call and your lunch break is a hot meal in the afternoon, but since we shoot at night, we work with ’French night‘ and you start the day directly with the hot meal. And I can tell you that they are always very extensive and mega culinary, so during a long shooting period, I usually gain a kilo or two.

11:00 PM: we have just started the first scene and the giggly atmosphere is already nice. The series is about a high-end escort agency and all the actresses have been assigned a man for the evening. Let's put it this way: some are a bit happier than others, but fortunately, all the gentlemen are very nice. In between, we are all waiting in the makeup room (in the Netherlands, we don't have luxury trailers and often wait by makeup or clothing) and all the gossip and stories are thoroughly discussed.

3:00 AM: everyone is starting to get quite tired and concentration is hard to find. We are already behind schedule, so it's not really appreciated if we are messing around between scenes. In front of us is a table full of cocaine plus supplies, and that certainly invites a nice photo session. Secretly, we ask an extra if he wants to take some photos, and the result is quite nice. Unfortunately, I can't share those yet, but believe me: keep an eye on my Instagram in a few months. Here's a little preview of that nice table full of white powder.

5:00 AM: I am ‘wrapped’ (done with the recordings) and quickly taken back to the hotel to sleep for half an hour. I have to drive straight to rehearsals for another project, so it's going to be a night of staying awake. There's also a huge traffic jam at 6:30 AM on the ring road of Antwerp, so I arrive just in time in Amsterdam. At 7:00 AM, I completely crash and could cry when I lay my ear on my pillow. It's going to be an extremely long night to catch up!