Craft Service. Mmmm... doesn't it just sound delicious? It's usually one of the busiest departments on any film set, and The Closer is no exception. Craft Services were originally established to fill in for any department on a production who may need help. Over the years, they have evolved into a vital part of any show, by providing us with nourishment, fuel, and pizza! I had been trying to catch Erik Sorensen with a few free minutes to talk to me, but "free minutes" isn't in his vocabulary. So, I saw him at the Crafty table, and just decided to tag along.

STACEY K. BLACK: Hey Erik, what do you recommend I snack on from your Crafty set up?

ERIK SORENSEN: Well right now? We're getting close to the end of the day, so it's looking pretty thin. I have some good avocados on the truck.

SKB: Ooh, I love avocados. I'll walk with you, are you going that way?

ES: Yeah, I'm going that way.

SKB: Can I ask you some questions for the TNT "On Set Blog" while we walk?

ES: What kind of questions?

SKB: Well my standard first question is to ask what's the most challenging part of your job.

ES: Challenging? Nothing's really challenging.

SKB: You've got it all down to a science?

ES: Pretty much, yeah.

SKB: Me too, I totally get that.... So, how about the weirdest request you've ever had. On any show, not necessarily this one.

ES: Well, probably "The Kyra Shake" would be the most intense thing I've ever put together.

SKB: She loves those shakes. We all do!

ES: Yeah, there's a lot of different ingredients, a lot of good stuff.

SKB: What do you put in them?

ES: Green powder like spirulina, coconut oil, almond milk, agave, sometimes honey, soy protein powder, sometimes peanut butter depending on which fruits I'm blending in, and whatever else I can dream up.

SKB: What does this crew request the most from Crafty? Taco bar? Veggie rolls? Pizza?

ES: We try to mix it up. They like fish. There's a lot of fish eaters here. Probably because it's the most expensive.

(At this point we have arrived at the Craft Service truck, owned by Eric Armao, which is like a giant kitchen on wheels. A couple huge refrigerators, freezers, cabinets filled with snacks, chocolate, a complete sandwich station. Okay, it IS Heaven on Earth.)

SKB: Do you have a favorite baseball team?

ES: Probably the Dodgers. But I'm more of a Lakers fan. That's why we have the TVs on the truck, for the Lakers games.

SKB: How many TVs do you have?

ES: Two in here and one outside.

SKB: Sometimes I come by this trailer and it is rockin' out with the music. I see you have speakers up there.

ES: Yeah, we've got top-end speakers, we've got a satellite dome with HDTV and Direct TV. Whenever you move you just push a button on the inside and it'll find a signal. As long as you're not blocked by trees or something.

SKB: You've got some cool perks. They come with Eric's truck, right?

ES: Yeah, you can hear the news in the morning, because in this job sometimes you can get so far out of the loop of reality and what's really happening on the outside, so TV can help.

SKB: It can come in handy.

(With my sharp investigative skills, I notice that Erik has been cutting an avocado.)

SKB: Is that for me?

ES: Yeah!

SKB: Look at you! Hookin' me up with an avocado! You rule!

ES: Do you want chicken salad or tuna or anything?

SKB: Maybe a little tuna in there, yeah. Thank you, that looks amazing. So Eric, is there anything that you've been asked to do that you just flat-out refused?

ES: Uh, yeah. Yeah, there's been some things. You know, part of our job is to pick up the trash, and on one show, some cats stayed over night on the stage, and they made a mess on the rug, inside the set, and they said "can you come take care of it?" So I started to roll up the rug to throw it away, and they started freaking out, and I said, "hey, my job is to throw things away. Not to clean it up."

SKB: Nice. So, can you tell me a little about how you help this show remain "green?"

ES: It's fun being green, because you're at the beginning of things, and there can be a lot of waste in this department if you're not careful, and any little bit that we can do to help, karmically I think it helps me, you know. I dig it. I think it's a good thing.

SKB: I love that we don't have individual plastic water bottles anymore. The water stations and the personal, reusable water bottles, it just seems like everyone should be doing it.

ES: We try. It's a tough thing to do, but if we can show everyone else that we can do it, on stage, and on location, once you show them it can be done, the producers can require it, if they want to.

SKB: It really should become the industry standard.

ES: Yeah.

SKB: I mean, this container that you put my avocado in, what's it made of?

ES: Wheat fiber, and our utensils are made from corn starch.

SKB: Amazing. So, I have this obsession with the honeybees. They keep dying. What do you make of it?

ES: It could get worse. And there's a water shortage too, here in California, and it's gonna affect our farmers, and prices and everything are gonna go up.

SKB: We need to conserve water.

ES: Yes, we need to conserve water. But that's just the start.

SKB: Thanks for the interview, and the avocado!

(it was delicious!)