03-10-2013, 11:05 AM
I think the most interesting and most overly impressive job I had was being a movie extra when I lived in New Orleans. SAG doesn't work in Louisiana so anyone can jump on the I want to be an actor bandwagon and work comes through regularly. My neighbor was on Jerry Springer 3 times, I worked with the actor who played the cab driver on Treme and one of my friends still makes a living going between NOLA and LA shooting the weirdest stuff. I only made it into a few seconds of Nicolas Cages Seeking Justice but I made $80 a day along got 2 free meals and all the snack I could steal/eat. I had free fresh fruit, candy, chips and soda for a week afterward. I was on call for Bruce Willis' movie Red but they didn't use me and had a habit of over booking the extras and then cutting them.
Ironically, when I moved back north, I never took my name from the casting companies lists and was just asked to apply (send updated photos, maybe come in for screen test) for the show The Vampire Diaries - if they paid enough, I would fly down, go bum the couch from a friend and work the week.
In case your wondering, not its not that interesting, its really boring to have to hit the same mark (walk from here to here) for 10 hours and yes there are people who think they are amazing because they are a featured extra (they get to say a line or 2). Nicolas Cages stunt double was both much more personable and more attractive then he was so I spent most of the time hanging around him while Mr. Cage was constantly surrounded by his people or shooting scenes where all he did was run up and down streets (plot was he is trying to find his wife). I wanted a gig like my coworker on Treme - he made a few grand working a week or 2 every season but I just didn't try. Seriously, if I had gone in and shot a test reel, I would have gotten more work - its a business that is in constant need of new bodies. I was pretty happy working overtime at the House of Blues so I just didn't worry about it.
Ironically, when I moved back north, I never took my name from the casting companies lists and was just asked to apply (send updated photos, maybe come in for screen test) for the show The Vampire Diaries - if they paid enough, I would fly down, go bum the couch from a friend and work the week.
In case your wondering, not its not that interesting, its really boring to have to hit the same mark (walk from here to here) for 10 hours and yes there are people who think they are amazing because they are a featured extra (they get to say a line or 2). Nicolas Cages stunt double was both much more personable and more attractive then he was so I spent most of the time hanging around him while Mr. Cage was constantly surrounded by his people or shooting scenes where all he did was run up and down streets (plot was he is trying to find his wife). I wanted a gig like my coworker on Treme - he made a few grand working a week or 2 every season but I just didn't try. Seriously, if I had gone in and shot a test reel, I would have gotten more work - its a business that is in constant need of new bodies. I was pretty happy working overtime at the House of Blues so I just didn't worry about it.
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