Extras, Extras! Part 1: A Little Background ...

First, the negatives … 

With the economy still stalled, dragging my coaching practice to a near halt along with it, I’ve had to rely on the other two of my triumvirate of “a-muse” services – writing/creative coaching and acting - to keep the lights on.  Frequently, it hasn’t been easy.  Or pretty.  Or fun.

Oh yes, of course I have the random two-week cruise ship photo shoot in the Caribbean, South America, Alaska, French Polynesia, or the Mediterranean (this coming May and June!) working as production manager/stylist to keep me out of the poorhouse and off the ledge.  Thank God. But in between these heaven-sent projects, life can be challenging to say the least, sometimes petrifyingly so, the other 11+ months of the year.

As a very last resort, as I wait for the economy to turn that corner, for the time when people and corporations will once again feel secure and confident enough to invest in “non-essentials” such as the career, creative and wellness coaching services I provide (which, ironically, happen to be even more necessary, important and useful during hard times like these), I have turned – of all things - to acting to provide some steady-ish income. 

While well-paying acting jobs remain as few and far-between as ever, the amount of badly-paying acting jobs has increased exponentially of late.  Thanks to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s generous film and television tax abatement program, many production companies have come to New York City to shoot. Drawn by the enormous pool of talent, the wide array of locations the five boroughs provide – more authentic than any backlot or studio – as well as the considerable financial incentives, over 20 television shows, an endless stream of films, and many network, cable, Internet and informational commercials are now lighting up as well as clogging up the city’s streets.  The local industry seems even stronger than during its pre-9/11 hayday.  

Which means hundreds of contract and freelance jobs every week for writers, producers, directors, production crew (cameramen, sound engineers, wardrobe, props, artists, locations, drivers, caterers, etc.) and yes, talent.  Alas, the bulk of the juicy roles and guest appearances still goes to a handful of so-called A-list actors (read:  famous stars!), while B- and C-listers (less well-known but recognizable) get the supporting and featured roles.  The rest of us, unfamous but not untalented, are hired for – the horror! – extra, or background work.

Anyone who has worked on a movie, television or commercial shoot immediately recognizes the hierarchical structure on the set, and the distinct divisions between the royalty (stars and director), aristocracy (supporting and featured actors, high-level production crew), the guilds (various production departments – sound, gaffers, grips, hair/make-up, etc., even the 20-something production assistants) and the lowly peasants (background).  It reflects the old-paradigm corporate structure based on a militaristic model, whereby the top-down flow of command is meant to clarify everyone’s duties and insure accurate communications so that the magic moments created by the players can be captured by the cameras.

The extras comprise the lowly masses holding up at the bottom of the pyramid. Their function: to animate the setting, to create authenticity of time and place to the scene, to bring a sense of life and living, to accurately, evocatively frame the action and the stars.  Ranging from the ordinary:  audience members watching the performance or sports event; the rubber-neckers gawking at the action; the attorneys, jury and gallery in the courtroom; the doctors, nurses and patients in the hospital; the pedestrians on the street and in the stores; the guests at a cocktail party or gallery opening or bar or restaurant or nightclub – to the shocking or bizarre:  the blood-spattered terrorist and war victims; the tangle of semi-clad body parts writhing in orgy scenes; the attacking hordes rushing the battlefield; the mewling asylum residents; the twisted, carbuncular undead zombies.  Glamorous work, indeed. The background also serves to fill in holes, to hide equipment, to block other elements that don’t belong and would break the illusion. Furniture with a pulse, I call it.  There’s no business like show business.

And interestingly, within the whirling, swirling mass of humanity animating the background at the bottom of the production pyramid, there exists another hierarchy all its own:  the division between union (Screen Actors Guild, a.k.a. SAG, or A Television and Radio Artists, a.k.a. AFTRA) and non-union talent.  The peasants and the serfs. 

Because they’ve paid their dues (union dues, that is), SAG and AFTRA members can work as stand-in for the stars; they earn nearly double the base pay and receive a much higher rate of overtime after 8 (as opposed to 10) hours of work; they are paid penalties for production errors such as late meals and crowded holding areas; they receive extra fees for wardrobe, umbrellas, rain, smoke, and other hazards/inconveniences.  They are served meals first, and sometimes eat the good stuff (smoked salmon, crab cakes, sirloin) with lead actors and crew rather than vats of mushy institutional swill; they are wrapped last so they can earn their OT; and are guaranteed transport to and from set before non-union talent.

Now this may seem very nice for union members, which it is.  But for non-union talent, working the same long hours in the same conditions doing the same work for a fraction of the pay, the small indignities quickly add up and soon begin to wear one down.  (Especially for those of us with college degrees, who have done post-grad study, who have managed departments for large international companies, who have been acting since the 80’s, who are certified professionals … )  And the separation seems to fly in the face of the original spirit of unionization:  to guarantee a reasonable wage, safe conditions, and equitable, fare treatment for workers.  All workers.  Don’t get me started -

But I digress.

Why do we do it?  Why would anyone work background?  Surely not just for the pittance it pays, barely minimum wage for non-union talent.  Years ago, early in my acting career, I worked background on many productions before swearing it off forever or until I die, whichever came first.  Thanks to the Great Recession, I’m back on the set with many a motley crew of background actors.  Some aren’t even actors; they are teachers on school break, the un- or underemployed from myriad professions in need of income, or the curious seeking the excitement and glamour of working on a real-live set!  With movie stars!  Some are serious actors waiting for their big break, hoping to get “discovered” by being selected out of the crowd to appear in a scene, given a line and/or a union waiver and/or a credit.  Some are jaded actors who spend their time adding up infractions, figuring out what their pay will come to.  Others come for the bragging rights; they hope to get on camera, to see themselves on screen, to impress family and friends.

I write, absolutely dreading the upcoming 4-nights on the set of a blockbuster with an all-star cast including Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Common and others, shooting the big climactic ending, anticipating an exhausting shit-show of epic proportions.

Here are some of the places my thoughts take me when I go negative, as I sit in holding among my fellow extras, waiting endlessly between takes … Next up:  what doesn’t suck, and why working background can sometimes be kind of cool …


@2012 Tess Quadrozzi, A-Muse-In-Manhattan