Local 706 - The Artisan

Fall 2016

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44 HAIR continued on page 46 B Y D A N I E L C U R E T J O U R N E Y M A N H A I R S T Y L I S T I arrived at an undisclosed location in Santa Clarita in the middle of the night. I parked and shuttled into one of the most organized background rooms. I was there to work with a core group of 10 hair stylists on 200 "host" and "guest" characters for the Sweetwater Town built at Melody Ranch. Westworld was one of the biggest HBO shows fi lmed in Los Angeles. There were three hair trailers and an additional room at the Ranch. There were double-up units, splinter units, wig-washing units and a really large cast consisting of 40 principal and 200 background actors. For the fans among you now watching the show, the work speaks for itself. It has period Western and modern/futuristic hair styles. The show has a polished vibe that only true col- laboration within the Hair Department can achieve on such a large scale. No detail has been overlooked. Each and every actor on that set was given a specifi c look by the hair stylists and make-up artists. Most of the time, achieving that look required the use of several wigs and hairpieces juxtaposed like a jigsaw puzzle. At other times, the wigs were applied, greased, dusted and bolted on to last all day in the excruciat- ing heat of the canyons. Those of you who have had the pleasure of knowing Joy Zapata personally know she does not hold back from sharing her knowledge and opinions on all things visual and all things hair. While we were in the midst of getting everyone ready, Joy would cruise by checking in with everyone, looking at the work getting done, critiquing some and complimenting oth- ers. She would then gather us in a little meeting to go over the day 's work and overall vibe of the specifi c scenes ahead. The scripts and daily sides were under tight restrictions and everyone was sworn to secrecy. The following are excerpts from conversations loosely based on a few questions I asked Joy over the two months I ended up "playing" with the team. How did you get started in the industry? I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. My family moved to California. I went to beauty school after high school. On my fi rst job, I was a butterfl y in The Disney Electric Parade. They had an opening in the Hair Department. At that time in the '60s, everyone was wearing wigs and hairpieces. Soon after taking the job, I became the fi rst 19-year-old head of the Wig Department at Disney doing wigs for Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Electric Parade, Tinkerbelle, Snow White and basically everything that went to Florida. It's funny, at that time, there were only three employees at Disney and now there are about 100 that are members of our union. One day, Lee Grant called the Wig Department looking for a hair styl-

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