I Was A Palo Pinto Gold Walk Off

What an exciting couple of days!

Monday we drove to Enchanted Springs Ranch, Boerne, Texas to watch a movie shoot. Our GPS did a great job of finding what should have been the quickest route from Huntsville to Boerne, but for one major goof. It dropped us into the middle of the Austin rush hour traffic on I-35, adding about an hour to what should have been a four hour trip.

However, we chose Monday because they were shooting night scenes, so we didn't miss too much. We watched a couple of scenes of Palo Pinto Gold being shot with Trent Willmon, Joanna Goode and Anthony Henslee, following which we got to visit with the great folks at Enchanted Springs Ranch and Joanna's family. We finally tumbled into bed around 12:30, and crawled out again about 7:00 AM Tuesday.


Monday had been cold, but clear: Tuesday was cold and wet. So Tuesday's shoots were indoor scenes, specifically a couple of scenes shot in a bar, with Trent, Anthony and David King (who plays one of the villains). The other character in that scene is Doug, the bartender.

The production team got started setting up around 10:00 AM, and broke for lunch around noon. It was then that they realized the bar looked too empty, so they approached me to ask if I would be willing to play as an extra standing at the bar. After a few nanoseconds of deliberation, I said "Of course -- I'd be delighted to help you out!"

So they got their extra, and I had a lot of fun!


Afterwards, Steve Schmidt showed Billie, Trent and me a clip of the bar fight scene (an obligatory scene for a Western!).

I've seen a lot of bar fight scenes over the years, and this one is certainly up there with the all-time best. I'd watch the movie just for that one scene (even though I'm not in it!)

I can't remember when I met such a fun group of truly warm-hearted, loving people as the cast and crew of Palo Pinto Gold. David King is a mean-looking villain, and looks totally intimidating until you get to know him, but he's great guy, with a good sense of humor. He's heading for Hollywood this year, and I wish him all the best in his chosen tough profession. I didn't get to meet any of the other bad guys, but I'm sure they're also just as much fun as the good guys I met!

For me, this was a double first time experience. I've never seen a movie being shot before (like all movies, it's a closed set). And I've never appeared in one before.

Are you wondering what a walk-off is?

Well, you've probably heard of a walk-on -- someone who just walks onto the set, but doesn't say anything. I didn't do that. I did slightly less, because I was in the bar when the scene opened, but walked off later.

So I call myself a walk-off!