Fabulous Life of an Extra, or Something Like That

I have gotten some questions about my background acting gigs and how that process works, so here it goes!

I have found out that there are talent agencies for everything under the sun. Acting, modeling, singing, writing, voice overs and background acting all have separate agencies. I am currently signed up with an agency called Central Casting which is a background talent agency. What this means is that casting directors for television shows, movies, commercials, print ads and so on, will call up Central Casting when they need extras and stand ins for their projects. To do background there is no talent needed, you just pay $25 for a three year membership to Central Casting and you are in.

After you sign up you are given a pin number and a little online profile. Each day I have a number that call to listen to see what the different casting directors are looking for. If I feel as though I fit the description, I call up the director. At this point it kind of turns into a radio show contest. Busy signal, after busy signal, after busy signal until hopefully I get a ring. If I get through and they answer I give them my pin number and they pull up my profile, which has my picture and measurements. Right there on the phone they will tell me if they want me or not. Sometimes they say you are not what we are looking for, but you cannot really take it personal, although it is hard not to. If you are booked, they give you another number to call which has all of the info you need for the shoot. What to wear, where to go, when to be there, where to park, if you will be feed, etc. Most of the work is for the next day so you call on Monday to get booked for Tuesday and so on. Sometimes they book a few days in advance and sometimes they are booking for multiple days.

You do get paid to do background work which is great! You are paid a set $64 for eight hours of work. What that means is that if I only work three hours I will still get paid the full $64, and if I work longer than the eight, I will get paid overtime! So that is a great deal!

Being on set is fun and I do enjoy it. You get to see all the background action and learn all of the filming terms and lingo. What is not too fun about it is that you are at the absolute bottom of the totem pole. You do not want to mess anything up because they will not hesitate to chew you up and out. I was on one set and the actress stopped the filming to fuss at one of the background actors for clinking his dishes during the restaurant scene. Another director yelled at a background actor for missing his cue and was sent off of the set. So it is very important to pay attention and not get in the way at all! For the most part the actual actors have been nice! While doing Extra with Mario Lopez he would joke around about his lines and make fun of them. He would call the writers out for the lines not making any sense or for being lame. It is nice to see when actors realize they are just a normal person who has been very blessed!

So far I have been able to work on Mad Love, Extra, Cougartown, The Event, and 90210. I filmed the season finale for each of those, except Extra, so it will be awhile before I can watch to see if I made any face time. You never know where background stuff may lead. The chances of anything coming from it is very very slim. It is about like a janitor of a fortune 500 company becoming the CEO. However; I am making lots of connections with other people who are working to become actors and directors. Do you remember Gunther from Friends? He was the Barista at Central Perk who had the crush on Rachel. He was just a background actor that they decided to make a regular. So, you never know.