Life’s a Beach

They were having fun, but not quite enough, and the cameras were ready to roll.

“Just make like you’re having tons of fun, like you’re crazy, full of energy,” a production assistant shouted, surveying the motionless, scantily clad outcropping of Generation X-ers affixed to the pool, chowing Doritos. “I want beach balls flying at all times. C’mon, it’s MTV time!”

On command, Hula-Hoops spin and giant inflatable bananas and alligators hurl through the air. MTV’s Beach House, set atop a Ventura County bluff, rock ‘n’ rolls into action, once again presenting itself as the hippest perpetual party in America’s TV nation.

“All this whooping it up is tiring,” complains 19-year-old Elizabeth Peisner of Thousand Oaks. “It’s hard to maintain.”

The Beach House is MTV’s outdoor summer studio, and from last weekend through Aug. 30, the network is taping a large chunk of its programming at the rented--and temporarily renovated--ranger station beside Leo Carrillo State Beach.

“We wanted to take the show to California, where they basically invented the beach,” said Michael Bloom, supervising director for MTV’s outdoor summer studio. Last year, the party was down the street in Malibu and before that in the Hamptons on Long Island, N.Y.

“This place here in Ventura County turned out to be a perfect spot. Wide open, no neighbors. It’s beautiful,” Bloom said.

MTV spent several months transforming the rustic, 4-acre bluff into the scripted ideal of summer fun. They built a pool, tennis, basketball and volleyball courts and a sun deck and filled the place with an impressive inventory of toys.

There are Hula-Hoops, exercise bikes and weight machines, a trampoline, two hot tubs, giant inflatable toys, foozball and pool tables and the occasional fraternity house couch and MTV icon.

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“He goes everywhere,” said spokesman Scott Acord, pointing to the 8-foot version of Neil Armstrong’s historic lunar walkabout.

Everyone and their television is invited to the faux fest.

“We’re giving people at home a chance to go to the beach for the summer with us,” Bloom said. “This year’s vibe was to create the whole surfer-hangout thing going on.”

The Beach House features guest celebrities such as Nicole Kidman, Charlie Sheen and the rapper Coolio. But most days, the house is populated with extras or “backdrops”--local Gen X volunteers. Except for a few moments of staged ecstasy, being an extra requires few extraordinary skills. Most spend the day lazing around the pool sipping sodas.

“I’m the muscle guy,” said Thomas Giantonelli, 22, of Thousand Oaks. “They call me whenever they need me to show off my muscles.”

As Giantonelli made himself at home, a couple of hundred feet away two extras were looking perplexed. Samantha and Alissa were wondering what to do with their clothes.

“Do you want us in our bathing suits now or when the camera rolls?” asked Samantha Ellis, 23, of Los Angeles, as she and her friend swung in a rope hammock.

“You probably got about five minutes,” replied Wendy Prior, the extras coordinator for the Beach House. “Now remember, [video jockey] Bill Bellamy will walk by you, but you don’t notice him. He’s invisible. That’s the joke. Bill obviously wants to see babes, but they don’t see him.”

The two babes finished their sodas and ran off to change into their bikinis.

Minutes later, Bellamy was successfully ignored by the hammock-swinging extras. Nary a head turned even as he strode through a volleyball game. Rather, they gazed forlornly at the cliff, which appeared to have claimed a volleyball.

The film crew seemed satisfied. The Beach House is a studio, after all. And--between sunscreen applications--work needs to get done. “It looks like we’re having a party, but in reality, we’re making television,” Acord said.

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Throwing a big shindig five days a week is no simple task, and Prior is in charge of making sure the guest list reflects the right image. “We’re young America,” Prior said. “We’re looking for people who define what Generation X looks like--hip, very cool, very diverse.”

What does Gen X look like?

“Well, like they set trends, like my nail polish. Look, it’s all pastelly.”

Pastelly nail polish, as trend-setting as it may be, isn’t a requirement. Age is the only prerequisite. Extras must be 18 to 25 years old (“no parents whatsoever”) and willing to work for Pepsi and Doritos.

“We’re basically looking for people who want to have fun, who want to put on a bathing suit, play volleyball and not just sit there,” Prior added. And with that, another volleyball missed its mark and headed for the beach far below.