Thomas Gibson was yelling at me.

“Hey! Are you going to sell these photos to the National Enquirer?”

The actor, formerly of Dharma & Greg and who currently plays Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner on Criminal Minds, shouted this question to me from down the alley behind House of Hayden, where he stood with series star (and one of my actor heroes) Joe Mantegna.

I was standing in the back doorway of House of Hayden shooting with my zoom lens—I didn’t even think he could see me.

I shook my head side to side.

“Are you sure?” he yelled.

Damn. This guy has amazing eyesight, I thought to myself.

I shook my head up and down.

“Because they won’t buy them!” he informed me.

Gibson just seemed to be having fun with me, so I kept shooting.

But about 5 minutes later some little piss-ant AD (assistant director), no doubt showing off for the crew, asked if I was shooting the photos for personal use.

“Yes.” Well, why not be honest? I thought. “I’m shooting for the local paper,” I said.

“Well, can you not do it right now?” he asked.

I wasn’t making any noise or interfering with their production, so I asked “Why?”

“Why not?” he echoed with his lame schoolyard taunt.

While I was busy filtering through appropriate childhood-era comebacks in my head, he brought out the big guns: “You should call the production company and go through the chain of command!” That was the star-studded equivalent of: “Because I said so and I’ll tell on you if you don’t stop it!”

“But I’m already here and you’ll be finished by the time I do that,” I said. Not to mention that they were filming in a public place and, like I said, I wasn’t bothering anyone besides this little “giant.”

Thank God somebody who was actually in charge chose that moment to shout “Quiet on the set!”

I was beginning to feel pretty silly engaging in this whiney little bitchfest in front of Joe Mantegna. What must he think of me? It wouldn’t matter that I didn’t start this fight or that Mantegna didn’t know me from that little AD. I was guilty by participation.

Tags: criminal minds, house of hayden, joe mantegna, Long Beach, television