My Experience as an Extra

Fair warning, dear reader. This is an extra-long post about my recent forays into the world of background acting. I hope you enjoy it!

The morning came early. It was Friday. Fridays are usually spent catching up on all the things I wasn’t able to do the rest of the week. But this Friday, all that had to be put on hold. I had been called to work as an extra for the production of a video that would be used for Microsoft’s in-house vendors.

How could I possibly say no?

The call-time was 8am. The production was being shot on Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington. Traffic in Seattle is notoriously jammed, especially during rush hour. It could take 45 minutes to get to Redmond or it could take an hour and a half. I checked and rechecked Google Maps to see how traffic was looking and, at 7am, I called up Lyft to hitch a ride.

Yikes. The price to ride out to Redmond at that hour was enormous. Like, $35 enormous. But I don’t have a car and I had waited too late to take the bus, so there went $35 of my pay down the tubes.

Never mind. My excitement overran the disappointment in the travel fee. Once in the Lyft, I took a quick selfie to capture the moment. I can see the lack of sleep around my eyes but everything else is alive with possibility.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the the building where the shoot was happening. Rain dampened my hair but not my spirits as I grabbed my suitcase from the back of the Lyft. I was greeted at the door by a security guard who asked if I was with the production company. Once inside, I followed signs to an elevator, up to a third floor conference room.

This was the third time I had been part of a large corporate production. A couple of years ago, I was invited to model for a social media campaign for Propét, a local shoe company that specializes in comfy shoe designs. It was a smaller production crew, but was exciting nevertheless.

And, last year, my good friend Mel of Bag and a Beret invited me to be an extra on the set of the Nordstrom commercial where she was a principal actor. Both of those experiences reminded me of my time working as an event producer for a radio station and a camera operator for a CBS television affiliate when I was in college. Both experiences left me with the kind of excitement little kids have when they’ve swung high on a swing or been tossed into the air by a trusted uncle.

Again! Again!

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I Am Not The Center of The Universe

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach for the Redmond shoot, but much to my relief, I was calmer than the previous times. I wondered to myself if I was getting used to the work or if I was just tired from lack of sleep. As a night owl, an 8am call time came way too early.

I waited in a chair outside the conference room that had been designated as “Wardrobe.” Then I was directed to a different conference room that would be used as our “green room” until it would be overtaken by production. I filled out the required paperwork and met with the people from wardrobe who decided what I would wear for the shoot. Other than that, I was instructed to help myself to some snacks and wait.

This time waiting gave me a moment to acknowledge that I’ve learned my part in all this. My role is minor compared to the others. I am not a principal player. I am not a director or producer. My job is to blend into the background as naturally as possible. I don’t say this to belittle my participation or to put myself down. It’s simply acknowledging reality–I am not the center of this universe. Remembering this allowed me to relax even more.

My Favorite Perk

No matter which production I’ve participated in, the one big unknown is who I’ll meet. That alone can set my nerves to jangling, even when everything else is put into perspective. Will they be nice? Or is it going to be like junior high–every kid for themselves?

This brings us to my favorite perk of the job:
Working with people from different generations and different walks of life gives me the opportunity to see the similarities we share.

Knock on wood, every experience has been filled with really nice people. Maybe I’ve been lucky that way. There could come a time, I suppose, when the director is a jerk or my fellow extras are nasty, but so far, I’ve only met people like me. We’re nervous together and we want to do a good job. We’re there to get experience, to create something, and to make some money doing something we enjoy.

Don’t Believe All the Generational Generalizations

Something I never thought about before was how I’d be given the opportunity to work with people decades younger. I don’t have children of my own and I don’t have many friends with children so the only time I am usually around kids and younger adults is when I’m around my nieces and nephews and they live in Nebraska and Phoenix, so…. You do the math.

Although there are usually a couple of people my age, the majority of background actors on the sets where I’ve worked range from 18 to 30.

At first I was intimidated. I had a picture in my head of what Millenials and Gen-Z were all about. What is it the media tells us about them? They’re selfish, self-centered, all about their “brand” and how they appear to the world more than how they actually are inside. Oh yeah–and always on their phones.

Like all generalizations and stereotypes, the picture of Millenials and Gen-Z painted by the media is done with too broad a stroke. I like to think that what I’ve discovered in my encounters with “the younger set” is closer to the truth. The people I’ve met are just like me–nervous and excited and ready to dig into life. They also tend to be a lot like I was when I was their age. They’re looking for real life, real connections, and doing their best to make decisions about their lives. They’re curious and interested about the world. In other words, they’re real human beings, just like me. And it’s so fun talking with them, learning about their interests, many of which line up with my own.

Getting to know these young adults, I’ve come away with a new appreciation and hope for the future. I’ve also been reminded how people used to beat up on my generation (Gen-X) as well, so I’m beginning to think it’s like college hazing–something we need to cut way back on. I mean, if we expect them to not judge us for our age, we can’t judge them solely based on theirs. As always when it comes to any generalization, it’s best to get to know individuals in a specific group before dismissing them because of some assumption or another.

Lotsa Downtime

It may come as some surprise to know there is a lot of downtime in this work. It certainly came as too much of a surprise for a fellow extra on the Microsoft set. (Let’s call him Tyler.)

Tyler came to the shoot with stars in his eyes and the energy of an 8-week old puppy. He was new like me and he wanted to know everything there was to know about this job. By the end of the day, though, his exuberance gave way to exhaustion and peevishness. He literally seemed to melt into the folds of the couch he was sitting on. The job was not what he had expected.

To be fair to Tyler, we were on set for 12 hours. Our actual time working was maybe two or three hours. The rest of the time we spent sitting, eating, chatting, and walking around to get the blood moving. We got paid for all 12 hours but waiting around so long can take its toll.

People who do this often seem to have it best figured out. They bring work or school work. (Most have jobs or school lives outside this.) Some bring books and music to tune into. Some dive deep into an epic game of Candy Crush.

So far, I’ve been too geared up to work on anything “big,” so I run through battery power on my phone skimming social media, texting family and friends, and reading light articles online. To combat Tyler’s level of disappointment, I’ve learned to keep myself entertained. Or maybe it just doesn’t take that much to keep me entertained. 🙂

Something that was especially disappointing to Tyler was that, even after all that waiting around, there’s a chance we won’t make it into the final cut. I wasn’t in the final Nordstrom commercial, for instance. Tyler and I will never know if we made it into the corporate video either. It was an in-house video, shown only to employees and corporate vendors.

So What Do You Do When There’s Something to Do?

When not being used for a scene, we waited off to the side in a room away from the action. Every now and then a production assistant stopped in to check on us and to pick a few people to participate in a scene. For the Microsoft video, I was directed to walk past a window in one scene and, in another scene, to walk down a hallway with a “colleague.”

It doesn’t sound like much, but there is a choreography to it and the extras are guided almost as much as the main actors. For instance, during one scene, I was given a Microsoft Surface to carry and a coffee cup with a lid. I was instructed to keep the logo visible on the Surface when I walked out into the hallway. It was all timed so that one of the principal actresses and I made eye contact and whispered hello, like colleagues do. The goal was to make it look like a regular hallway within Microsoft. In fact, down the hallway real Microsoft workers were allowed to cross at an intersection, giving the scene even more authenticity.

In addition to knowing our marks, we were directed to make our pace be as natural as possible, even as we crammed ourselves around equipment while waiting for our cue, and crossed over wires and cords to walk naturally past a window.

Got My Bags Packed

I started this post with a picture of the suitcase I took to Microsoft that day. Whether the productions are large or small, I have always been asked to provide at least part of my own wardrobe. A few days before each shoot, someone contacts me with whatever requests they have. I’m asked to bring several outfits along a theme. For instance, Nordstrom’s production was set at a holiday party. The Microsoft video was business casual in the fall. Propét had very specific things they were looking for and they asked me to text over photos of possibilities.

The goal for all extras is to blend. Our industry title is “background.” That means, don’t do anything or wear anything that attracts too much attention. Not that the wardrobe department would allow people to wear anything obnoxious, but an extra could still do things that might distract from the main action.

I.e., Don’t do this the moment the director yells, “Action!”:

And don’t do this if you recognize a principal actor. Unless, of course, that principal actor is Mel and then forget everything I’ve said. Right, Mel? 🙂

This is better:

My pink hair pushes some limits for the background of some productions but there are so many people today with pink hair, it’s becoming almost neutral. Although I forgot to do this for the Microsoft video, I am supposed to keep my casting profile up to date with current photos of my hair color so the casting teams know what to expect. Happily, they did not kick me off the set and I was chosen to work on various scenes anyway.

Below I pose with Betty at our fake premier. I’m wearing the actual “business casual” outfit chosen by Wardrobe for my most recent job as an extra.

For that same video, I was given an ID badge. On that day, my name was Elise.

In addition to the clothes, I also pack extra face powder, lipstick, and a hairbrush, plus, battery packs for my phone, in case there aren’t any plugs close at hand.

Makeup artists are there to help with the makeup side of things but since I am background, I just need to look healthy and my usual routine has so far passed muster without any outside help. A natural look is better than something too made up.

I’ve also taken snacks to these shoots but there has only been one set on which food and beverages weren’t supplied in abundance.

Is It Worth It?

The pay follows along both the minimum wage laws of each state and, if a union production, the rules of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). The most I’ve made on a production is $16/hour, minus the 10 percent casting fee that goes to my agent.

According to another member of the team who is a union member and has been doing this for a couple of decades, once the clock ticks past eight hours of work, overtime kicks in. That means time and a half for union members. I’m not sure if that applies to non-union. I’m still waiting for the check from the production company that did the Microsoft video, and still being new to this, I didn’t think to ask about time and a half. Something I now know to ask next time.

Totally Worth It

At the end of that long day, my excitement continued to hold me up, but I had to take some Advil for an incoming headache that could have turned to a migraine if I let it get very far. (I didn’t have my migraine medication with me but I will next time.) I did joint exercises in the lobby to wake up my weary bones but I was truly drained by the time we were given the go-ahead to go home. After that, it took me a couple of days to get back on my feet and feel normal. The next day I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a bus.

Even so, I love it. I love the creative energy, the camaraderie, the team effort, the desire to get things right, and meeting people who break all the stereotypes and generalizations I’ve been fed. It’s addicting and I’ll keep doing it until they stop asking me.

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Special Thanks

I’m not going to take up any more of your time talking about my outfit, but I do want to point out the cute jacket and necklace Betty is wearing in the photos above. The jacket was a gift from Bloggette Extraordinaire, Jude! Thank you, Jude!

And to Jodie from JTouchofStyle, thank you for the necklace Betty is wearing! I’ll be stealing this outfit from Betty very soon as the weather is perfect for it.

Joining up with the lovely Patti from Not Dead Yet Style for her Visible Monday linkup!