For the most part, I have kept this blog as a way of virtual "scrap-booking." I get ideas, or want to remember certain images or performances and post them on this blog so I can go back to them later on whenever I feel the need.
I haven't really blogged about what it's been like to work as a "Background Artist" aka "Extra" on the many film and television productions I have been lucky enough to book beginning back in March of 2009.
My first background job out of the box back here in New York was back in March 2009 on the original "Law & Order" which is now in its 20th Season. I walked into Central Casting New York, registered, had a digital photo taken and the senior casting director, Ali Mehri, walked in the room and asked if I was free on Monday for "Law & Order." I enthusiastically replied "Absolutely!"
I had done background acting before in LA but really thought it was beneath me. I also didn't want to get pigeon holed as a background actor because I was planning on being a "star" or at least a principal player. However, years of struggling and working many B jobs including a 5 year stint at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City combined with the worst economy I've ever seen, brought me to the realization that earning money in a legitimate way is my bottom line.
While this is definitely not the career I have always dreamed of and expected to have, it has been paying the bills for now. Occasionally, I do have to supplement with unemployment insurance when I don't book enough gigs. It is completely ironic that with 10+ years working as an Executive Assistant in corporate America, I can't even get an office job as a temp and I have to rely on background acting work to pay the rent. Who would have thunk it???
This past week I worked an night shoot on "Ugly Betty" from 3 pm until 3 am on location in Washington Square park. I was nervous about running into my former classmate Vanessa Williams. I know Vanessa would be nice but I would really feel like a loser working as a background actor next to her Emmy nominated performance as Wilhelmina Slater. Luckily I didn't have to cross that bridge. Vanessa had worked the shoot the night before. The night I worked it was just America Ferrera and the actor who plays her boyfriend.
I actually enjoyed working on "Ugly Betty." The 2nd 2nd AD (Background Actor Director) was a very cool guy named Kenyan. He was easy to work with and it was really kind of nice to be shooting outside in Washington Square Park. There were so many dog owners walking their pets that night. Several dogs stopped and let me pet them. It was almost like the dogs sniffed me out! They knew I was a dog owner and lover myself. One owner had to literally drag his dog away from me. The dog just wanted me to keep petting him. That kind of made me feel good. Dogs always have that kind of affect on me. They are very loving animals.
I stayed awake by drinking numerous cups of coffee and doing my best to eat healthy snacks like nuts, fruit and cheese. Craft services (also known as "Crafty") is one of the BEST parts of working on set. They set up a table of delicious and nutritious snacks and sometimes completely irresistible decadent snacks. It's definitely hard to stay disciplined when there is a piece of cheesecake, pumpkin pie or freshly made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. THOSE are especially my weakness. I justify by thinking to myself "well I don't smoke or drink and I have to relieve the stress somehow." Eating the on-set treats seems like a semi-healthy coping mechanism. Although my waist and belt size can't seem to figure out how to maintain a consistent length which is appropriate for film and television work.
Now it's true that there are all different sizes on TV but in general to look the best on camera it has been pretty well established that thin or SUPER thin is the best size to be. I have only been thin for small windows in my life when I spent a lot of time dancing. My senior year of college I was a dance minor and the 3 plus hours of ballet, jazz and tap daily really helped me to easily maintain a 28-30" waist size. After I graduated, I continued to take dance classes so I was thin for several years probably right up until the year 2000. It's been about 9 years since I have been an average waist size of between 28" - 32." I'm older, I don't take dance class every day and I haven't been to the gym in several months because I can't afford it. I also had to stop running because of a stress fracture.
I digress. I am barely seen on camera anyway. My job generally consists of doing "crosses" while the camera shoots the principal actors and passes by me very quickly. Occasionally, when it does linger on me for a second or two, which is an enormous amount of screen time for a background actor, I can hit pause on my DVR and get a screen grab. This season I have been able to be seen on "Gossip Girl" as the Health Inspector for Chuck Bass' new club and "White Collar" as a CSU FBI guy.
I also have been working pretty consistently on "Mercy"as a Hospital Administrator. This is NBC's new drama about nurses which I believe the network would like to have replicate the success of ER. It shoots in a studio in Secaucus, New Jersey. It's not very far from midtown Manhattan but the production doesn't have a shuttle bus from NYC to NJ yet like "Law & Order: SVU" does. We have to take the NJ Transit to the Secaucus train station and then a shuttle picks us up and brings us to set.
Although I have worked background on four episodes which is about a dozen days of actual shooting I have not had any screen or on-camera time like I have on the other shows. Most of the other recurring background cast has actually had their own close-ups at one point or another. It's okay. I didn't get into background acting to get a close-up or even necessarily be seen on camera. I just needed to pay the rent and I since I've been paying my SAG union dues since 2001, it was time to let the union card work for me.
The most memorable experience I have had thus far was working as a stand-in for Paul Shultze on "Nurse Jackie." Stand-ins read and run through the lines and blocking (staging) while the camera and lighting crew set the shot up. The actor then is free to work on their hair, make-up, lines and/or just relax before they actually film the scene. I have onl done stand-in work a handful of times so I was a little nervous. But I have decent amount of experience as an "speaking" actor which started back in high school. So I felt relatively comfortable doing the scene when the director called action for 2nd Team. 2nd team is the official term that stand-ins are referred to on set. The principal actors are referred to as "1st Team." There is generally a 2nd Team rehearsal for the camera before the principals aka 1st time rehearse and then shoot the scene.
It's great practice and I was really excited. Since there were only a couple of lines I was able to quickly memorize them and copy what I saw Paul Schultze doing. The 2nd AD called "Action," I did the scene and then the 2nd AD called cut. Paul Shultze said "That was almost too good!" I was kind of embarrassed and didn't really know if he was being a dick and belittling me or just trying to be funny. I went back to my first mark to wait for the next rehearsal. Paul came out and introduced himself and said, "I really meant that. That was really good." I was SCHOCKED! Not only because of what he said but the fact that he actually went out of the way to introduce himself to me. It is VERY VERY VERY rare that a principal actor even speaks to a background actor let alone introduce themselves and pay them a compliment. I just said "Thanks man. I was just copying what you did."
The other really awesome experience was when I worked as a stand-in on "Wall Street 2" with Oliver Stone.
TBC . . .
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