Some may not know this, but the Good Doctor is wrapping up forever, after a seven season run. Most of it was shot nearby at Bridge Studios, and I've had a number of days working on the show, starting from the original pilot, right up to this final season. While I'm not a fan of the show, there's a bunch of background (BG) folks that I've met and worked with over the years, and so it's a bit of a bittersweet time for some. Famous for their indoor BG holding, fantastic Craft Services, and amazing meals (Raincity Catering), it had set a high bar for the best BG show to work on. And so, during the last few weeks as we were winding down, a number of the regulars were being given their hospital ID badges as token souvenirs.
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| Could it be this stock photo? |
After a bit of back and forth, he suggested that after the scene finished, that he'd take me over to look for it. So we jogged over to the Emergency Ward, and wandered around, trying to find it. After a minute or so, he said, "I guess set dec has already taken the portraits down". Rats, I thought, that would have been neat, taking a selfie of me playing a doctor, standing next to a portrait of me as a doctor, hanging in the hall on The Good Doctor.
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| Stock shoot w/ Shannon Fagan |
A week or so later, I'm back on set for episode 709, and we’re waiting in holding when Johnny props sits down in a chair next to me, and we start chatting about things, like what he's going to be doing after the show wraps, etc. He volunteered to make me a souvenir ID badge as well, so I Airdropped him a recent head shot for him to print out. I then tell him the story about Charles seeing a portrait of me, but not being able to find it. I had hypothesised that I had done a stock photo shoot a number of years back, and maybe someone had selected my picture from the thousands of images on Shutterstock or Getty Images, and had it printed and mounted for use at the hospital.
But what are the odds of them picking an image of me, someone who works on their show, as Background, AND as a doctor? Then Johnny proclaims, "I'm going to find it. Set dec probably has them stacked up somewhere." Anyhow, we got wrapped for the day, and I never got a chance to see him before I left to see if he had printed that ID badge, or exchange any contact info if he did locate the portrait. Thinking I'd get back before the show wrapped, I didn't think much of it.
I kept waiting to get re-booked on The Good Doctor before the final episode, but it didn't look like it was going to happen, and my week started to fill up with bookings for other shows. So I reached out to other regulars, including the "50-something Asian male BG" FB Messenger group, to see if anyone else was going to be at the studio, and could grab my souvenir badge (Ed, I still have yours). I joked about someone finding my portrait too, and then Arnie chimed in that Johnny props had found it! But how was I going to get there to get it? When you're booked on other shows, you can't just leave whenever you feel like it. Kristi, another regular BG I had reached out to, suggested that I just go to the studio, but they don't just let anyone walk onto the lot.
I'd pretty much given up any hope of getting my souvenir badge (which would have just ended up at the bottom of a drawer somewhere anyways), and the portrait story would have been just that… a good, tall-tale. But late one night this week, Kristi texted me and said that Sarka, another BG we knew was booked for The Good Doctor, so I reached out to her. She said she would let Johnny know I was looking to catch up with him, and try to get his mobile number. Ok, first problem solved! Now, when would I be able to get to the studio before they closed the doors on the show? And while Sarka was going to be there and could probably grab an ID badge, I couldn't ask her to haul around a framed portrait of me.
One thing about working in BG, is you never know what your schedule will be like, or when you'll be wrapped. But after arriving at Superman & Lois and checking the call sheet, it looked like I might be wrapped in time to get to Bridge Studios while their BG group was there (after all, the prop master for BG would only be around if there are BG required for the scene). So I get to the studio, and tell the guard at the gate who I am, and that I'm there to pick something up from Johnny props. As expected, he won't let me in. So I text Johnny, and wait a minute or two to see if he responds (this slight delay will be relevant in a bit), then call him so that I can get onto the studio. After a bit of a scolding from the gate guard, he finally lets me pass.
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| Things are about to get weird |
Now that I’m on the studio lot, I head over to the entrance to Stage 11, and I catch Johnny just as he's coming down the stairs from his prop room, and sure enough, he's got a big, framed picture of me - Dr. Diego Alvarez. We're not there for more than a minute when another guy walks into the elevator area with a "what's up?" kind of look. Johnny and I briefly explain the strange circumstances of the portrait, until it gets even more strange.
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| Chad K. Art Dept. Director |
It turns out that this guy, Chad, is the Art Dept. Director, and he's the guy who would have had the portrait made! Incredulous, I said, "So one of the people that works for you, went onto some stock photo site and just happened to pull my image down for $20 or whatever? There must be thousands of pictures of Asian male doctors." (on iStock.com alone, there are tens of thousands) He said, "It would have been iStock, but it gets even better. When we originally printed that,
we put my name on the bottom, thinking it would be funny. And then someone said
no, we can't do that. But my mom knew about it, and she just texted me today saying,
you need to get that portrait." No shit. He showed me the message.
What are the odds that at the exact moment that Johnny and I are exchanging the I-can't-believe-that-this-happened portrait, that the guy who commissioned it walks in? And has his own story about it? Chad then went on to say how this was a "Matrix Moment"; one of those strange things that you'd swear couldn't happen unless you were there to witness it.
Anyhow, thanks to everyone that had a small, but crucial part to play in this, my Matrix Moment.
