Extra Work! or My Life as a Background Performer

Okay! Okay! I get the message people! Here is a new post. Goodness knows I don't want my friends to die from lack of updates from my life.

As many of you already know, I've started working as a background artist (aka: background performer, background player, extra, organic scenery, lens meat). "Lens meat" is my favorite.

Here's a list of the shows I've been on since February. I present it in jpeg form. One meets a lot of awesome people doing background work. One also meets a lot of weirdos. I don't want a weirdo finding my blog and then finding me on a set somewhere (I'm paranoid, I know. Better safe than accosted by a weirdo on a movie set.)

Click on it to make it bigger.


You'll notice 18tly appears often. It means "18 to look younger." Kids that are willing to do background work are few and far between for various reasons. One is that they have to miss a lot of school. Another is all the paperwork and red tape they have to go through to be allowed to work under the age of 18. Not to mention that they have to have a guardian on set the whole time, and they have to bring their homework with them for onset "school". So for all those reasons, productions don't usually use a lot of kids on a set, unless they absolutely have to. Instead, they use us 18tly's. 18tly's can work longer hours, don't have to take breaks for "school" and don't get paid as much (13 year old kids make more than I do. Heck, babies would get paid more than I do if they had the proper paperwork). I didn't think I looked like I was under 18, but apparently I do, because I get booked for that type of work a lot.

It's hilarious when a 13 year old kid asks you how old you are, and then says "Wow! you're twice my age!" when you answer. Hilarious. Yeah.

Anyway, I like doing background work. It's fun, despite all the cons :)

Cons:
1) Not knowing when you're going to be done. Some shoots may last as little as two hours and as much as sixteen. Once you're there, you work until the production assistant tells you that you can go home.

2) Long hours. I've had a least three 16 hour days since I started doing this.

3) Lots of down time. Background artists tend to spend a lot of time hurrying up, then waiting. They may tell you call is at 6:00 am, and the production may not use you until noon. You just never know.

4) Weird hours. Sometimes call is at 9:00 am. Usually, it's anywhere from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm, depending on whether they're doing a night or a day shoot. Usually, if it's a night shoot, "breakfast" is at sundown. If it's a day shoot, it'll start at sunrise, then the next day call time will be eleven hours from when we wrapped the day before.

5) Low wages. If you're non-union (like I am) you'll get paid $7.50 an hour. For people in the union, the pay is a lot higher - $15.75 an hour. Some people do non-union work in hopes of joining the union. Others prefer non-union work because there aren't many union jobs to go around.

6) Not being sure if you're working the next day. With background work, you have to book yourself on jobs or have other people book you on jobs for you. Either way, there is no guarantee that you'll work every day. Some people, depending on their look and availability, may only work once or twice a month. Others may work every day of the week.

The good far outweighs the bad in my humble opinion.

Pros:
1) I can take as many days off as I want. By the same token, I have to rely on myself to get jobs. If I don't feel like working on a given day, I can just take it off. It's like I'm my own boss :). (Plus, if I have an audition, I can take that day off without consequences! More stories about that later).

2) Everyone who does background work does it because they want to. No one has to do background work, because there are tons of other more stable jobs that people could do. Most people on set love being there and have really good attitudes about it.

3) My coworkers change every day. Even if people are acting super crazy (which is a story I'll save for another day), I don't have to worry about it, because chances are I won't see them for a while (if I even see them again, that is).

4) My coworkers (who aren't super crazy) are usually really interesting. Most of these people are aspiring actors/comedians/performers of some sort, and they always have lots of stories to tell. Even the people who are bonafide professional background actors have stories to tell other background actors (more stories about that later too).

5) I get to see how movies are made. Being on a movie set is neat. When you're there, there are tons of people, tons of equipment, and tons hullabaloo. When you see the finished picture, you don't see any of that. Little do you know that behind that bush in Pirates of the Caribbean is about twenty people, an endless amount of wires and cables, and one big ass crane.

6) I get to see movie stars up close. So far, I've seen Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Gary Cole, Jennifer Coolidge, Kyle MacLachlan, those ladies from Desperate Housewives (I don't know all of their names, so sue me), Jessica Alba, Charlie Sheen, Eddie Murray, Dennis Rodman, and Jason Lee. Granted, I've never talked to any of these people (background artists can get kicked off for "bothering the talent") but I've been within 10 feet of almost all of 'em (man, now that I type that out, it sounds really sad).

7) I get to be on TV and the silver screen! Well, kind of. I was seen on Numb3rs, but I didn't have a camera handy to tape myself. I did see myself on Desperate Housewives though! I appear twice in the next clip. I'm really blurry the first time, and you can't see my face the second time. That whole outdoor scene took two days to film and I think it only took 10 minutes of the show. Meh.



I'll try and post more stories, but it's hard to find the time sometimes. I have to be up at 6 am tomorrow to be at set by 7. Blah.