Author Topic: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?  (Read 8342 times)

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Offline N. De Plume

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #15 on: March 11, 2012, 11:44:44 am »
You do begin to get sick of them after a while.

Actually, the most annoying part was having to occasionally cram two half-eaten brownies together to make them look like one so that they would be approximately the same size as the previous take. And also: the character was a slob, so I had to keep a mess of chocolate on my face pretty much all night.

Yeah, I know; I've been there myself.  It was a joke along the lines of, "You had to sit around eating chocolate all night?  Oh, poor you!"

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Offline e13

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #16 on: March 13, 2012, 01:13:13 pm »
You can see me in the audience for game shows. Our fraternity did them for fundraising. My sister was in Lupe Fiasco's music video. She was trying to get out of the apartment and into her car but they were blocking her.
That shit is the worst. Was there at least warning beforehand, or did they just unpack and yell "surprise!" as people showed up?

She woke, open the door to her apartment, and *BAM* film crew was there impeding her commute to work.
I was watching Die Hard with the commentary on. One of the scene designers was talking about how awesome it was that, due to few major on location, take over the neighborhood shoots, there were no hurdles they had to jump over to get permission to shoot around the clock.

He then pointed out, grudgingly, that the neighbors were "rightfully" not happy, and it's a good thing all the laws are in place... but man, was it great!  ::)

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Offline Her3tiK

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #17 on: March 13, 2012, 03:14:40 pm »
Whoo! The temp agency called back, and they've decided to audition me! I'm going back to their office this afternoon to get my headshot and audition resume taken care of.

It may not be a full-time gig, but I'll take it! :D
Her3tik, you have groupies.
Ego: +5

There are a number of ways, though my favourite is simply to take them by surprise. They're just walking down the street, minding their own business when suddenly, WHACK! Penis to the face.

Offline sandman

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2012, 03:41:06 pm »
Just a quick word of advice....if they want to charge you anything, anything at all, from "fees" for their booking services or "agency fees," if they insist you get (and purchase) your head shots from them, if there are any "required" or "standard" fees at all....WALK AWAY.

There are a ton of casting and booking agencies like that which make their money not by booking clients jobs, but by nickle and dimeing their clients to death with fees. If these people want you to pay any kind of fees at all they are a clip joint and not a legitimate agency.

Just a word of warning, lots of people get burned by organizations like this all the time.
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us disassemble you. We're not banging rocks together here. We know how to put a man back together. So that's a complete reassembly. New vitals. Spit-shine on the old ones. Plus we're scooping out tumors. Frankly, you oughtta be paying us." -Cave Johnson

Offline Her3tiK

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #19 on: March 13, 2012, 03:57:35 pm »
It seems to be legitimate from what I can find. They recommended a separate company for headshots, and the casting agency itself has a listing on IMDB, which has a considerable number of (B-list) films to it's name. So far, I haven't been able to find any words of warning about either company online.
Her3tik, you have groupies.
Ego: +5

There are a number of ways, though my favourite is simply to take them by surprise. They're just walking down the street, minding their own business when suddenly, WHACK! Penis to the face.

Offline N. De Plume

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #20 on: March 13, 2012, 07:40:17 pm »
Awesome! Hopefully the audition will go just as well.
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Offline Katsuro

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #21 on: March 14, 2012, 05:31:42 am »
If you don't blink.....you can spot the sandman in a crowd scene in the new "Avengers" movie coming out this summer.....

The Avengers? Aww man, you shat all over my Game of Thrones appearance. Although I'm very noticable in a few shots (assuming they edit the scenes in my favour) so maybe I'll still win this round of extras one-up manship lol.

As for advice for the OP, I can't think of much. Just be prepared for 12-14 hour stints of mostly waiting around not doing anything.  After the 10 hour mark you may become tired, pissed off and just want to go home but the next day for some reason you will still be excited as fuck to get back on set. On GoT I was often miserable by the end of my 14 hours of standing literally up to my ankles in horse shit in the freezing cold at 3am, wearing the worlds heaviest costume and boots that would have been more comfortable if they'd been made out of barbed wire. But it was still awesome and i'm really really hoping for season 3.

Also, make sure you pay attention and listen to what you're told to do.

Offline Atheissimo

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #22 on: March 15, 2012, 08:35:41 pm »
I was a paramedic and a policeman in a documentary about a murder called 'Married, Single, Dead'. I had to perform fake CPR on a dummy for half an hour straight, which was exhausting. Unfortunately the producers had neglected to inform the local constabulary about the filming, so I was given a good talking to by some real Police when they turned up in a squad car and tried to take me away for impersonating a Police Officer
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Offline Katsuro

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #23 on: March 17, 2012, 10:24:51 am »
Unfortunately the producers had neglected to inform the local constabulary about the filming, so I was given a good talking to by some real Police when they turned up in a squad car and tried to take me away for impersonating a Police Officer

Were all the cameras, lights, mics etc and all the production crew not a clue for the cops that they were on a set? And if they knew but were still pissed, then why have a go at you instead of the people actually responsible?

Offline DiscoBerry

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #24 on: March 19, 2012, 10:25:15 am »
I was an extra in Up in the Air, with George Clooney.  Could see myself in the theater, dvd cant really see me.  In case you wanted to know, when they are supposed to be in Wisconsin in the winter, they are in fact in St. Louis in the late spring at the semi-famous Cheshire hotel - where its so British, in the parking lot and garage you drive on the left side. 

Offline e13

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #25 on: March 19, 2012, 12:08:18 pm »
I was an extra in Up in the Air, with George Clooney.  Could see myself in the theater, dvd cant really see me.  In case you wanted to know, when they are supposed to be in Wisconsin in the winter, they are in fact in St. Louis in the late spring at the semi-famous Cheshire hotel - where its so British, in the parking lot and garage you drive on the left side.
I'm not even sure the nicest Milwaukee or Madison hotels would even look like that,  ;D

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Offline Atheissimo

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #26 on: March 19, 2012, 03:41:07 pm »
Unfortunately the producers had neglected to inform the local constabulary about the filming, so I was given a good talking to by some real Police when they turned up in a squad car and tried to take me away for impersonating a Police Officer

Were all the cameras, lights, mics etc and all the production crew not a clue for the cops that they were on a set? And if they knew but were still pissed, then why have a go at you instead of the people actually responsible?

It wasn't much of a set, I was standing outside the house they were filming in. To be fair to them, all you could see from the road was somebody dressed as a policeman who clearly wasn't a policeman fixing warning tape to the outside of somebody's house. I would have been suspicious too.
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Offline Katsuro

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Re: Anyone ever been a TV/Film Extra?
« Reply #27 on: March 20, 2012, 03:35:51 am »
Unfortunately the producers had neglected to inform the local constabulary about the filming, so I was given a good talking to by some real Police when they turned up in a squad car and tried to take me away for impersonating a Police Officer

Were all the cameras, lights, mics etc and all the production crew not a clue for the cops that they were on a set? And if they knew but were still pissed, then why have a go at you instead of the people actually responsible?

Ah, well fair enough then.
It wasn't much of a set, I was standing outside the house they were filming in. To be fair to them, all you could see from the road was somebody dressed as a policeman who clearly wasn't a policeman fixing warning tape to the outside of somebody's house. I would have been suspicious too.