steve in hollywood

Then YOU have what it takes to be a Hollywood Extra! That’s right, these “background” positions require barely more intelligence than your average moist potato. Yet, they are in demand all year in sunny Hollywood. Want to know more? This is what you’ll do in your exciting new career as a movie/TV background performer:

*Stand around behind actors during filming

*Sit around for hours and hours at a time, grazing from the snacks brought by catering

*Hold various objects

*Pretend to do various, daily, routine activities such as: eating, drinking, cheering, talking, and walking!

Seriously.

The Day of the Extra 

Basically, you usually get a “call time” of 6am or 9am, if it is a daytime shoot. Outdoors will usually be around 6am so they can get as much daylight as possible, indoors will usually be 9. You arrive on the set and are herded to the special “background” area. As background, you are basically just below the crew “gopher” and just above “dead earthworms” in the set hierarchy. If there is a special costume for you, you’ll go to wardrobe and get it. Often they will keep your pay voucher until you return the wardrobe, in case you are tempted to steal it. Then you may go to make up. It is also possible if it is just a scene with “regular people” you just wear your own clothes and do your own makeup. Of course, I’ve been a “regular people”, but also a space marine, an alien, and a gypsy, for example.

Then, we get to the real core of doing background work, the nitty gritty, the main job: sitting around waiting. Usually, when you get makeup and in costume, that is the first time you get to wait. About two hours is normal. Most experienced extras bring books or laptops; the more social ones bring card games. Many talk on their cell phones, unless the cattle pen– er, holding area, is too close to the set for sound. One thing I have learned that extras are terrible at: being quiet. The ADs (Assistant Directors) on the set are constantly shushing them.

Usually, as an extra, your shift is 11 to 13 hours. This means your whole day is pretty much shot, unless there is something useful you can accomplish while sitting around. Of course, if you tried to accomplish something, that would be they day they actually use you for 10 of the 12 hours you were there. Normally, I have found that extras are used about 1/3 or less of the time they are there. I have also found that my analogy is correct, most extras do have the intelligence of an above average moist potato.

One nice thing about being an extra is that the food is generally really good. I think it is because they have to pay one company to feed the main cast and crew, so they use the same one for us earthworms. If it would save them money to feed us raw wheat germ and it were allowed under union rules, I have no doubt they would do it.

So, they finally call us to set, we all stand around and wait to be positioned. They position us for the shot. Then the director decides they don’t really need us and sends us all back. This happens a lot. You get used to it. One great skill I have learned from background work: I now can sit around and do nothing for hours, skillfully, without hardly even getting bored. You’d be surprised how useful this is.

Eventually, the day ends, we get out of wardrobe, trade it for our pay voucher, get it signed, and then we get into the shuttle back to the parking area. If you are coming back the next day, you pretty much go home and sleep because you don’t have time for much else.

Picture of the day 

One morning, while living in the crazy house* I woke up to find this interesting rainbow. I found out it was caused by the reflection from a CD shining through a wine bottle on my desk.

*This is a whole blog unto itself, believe me.

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