|
Two hitmen sit at a busy outdoor coffee shop, they are discussing their next target - a rich business man with a huge gambling problem. In the background a variety of people sit and chat, read a newspaper, eat lunch, and walk past with their dogs - these people are movie extras.
Today I am going to tell you how you, or anyone, can work in a movie....
Nearly every large movie has a cast of hundreds of people working the background scenes, you can easily become one of these extras and get yourself into the movie business.
Many actors start thier career as an Extra, it is easy to get into and there are rarely any castings, you do not do much on set, you have to keep out of the way and no one cares if you are tired, hungry or thirsty. Plus movie extras get paid only a little money.
But don't let this mean that if you get a job as an Extra you can bludge, and sit around and be lazy. Being an Extra is a good way to start practising your acting.
Good Extras are aspiring actors, they assume the role of the person they are supposed to be, even if it is a small part. I personally know of 2 of my friends who have turned up to a movie and a popular TV series respectively and been promoted from Extra to Actor within the first days shooting.
The other catagory is a Featured Extra, which means you are still an Extra but instead of being a part of the crowd you are actually featured in the film - the waiter who brings the coffees to the hitmens table for instance. He does nothing more than the others but his face is on film
That pays about 10 to 30 times better than a standard Extra.
If you are alert and on the ball, lively and enthusiastic and the first one to your position everytime and do all your actions perfectly the director will notice - as most extras are lazy wannabes. They want to be a super star - they think they are good enough and are just waiting for their lucky break - doesn't happen.
So to start as an Extra you must do two things:
- Get a couple of good face and full length body shots, dressed and if you have a good body a swimsuit photo would probably be a good idea.
- Get out and visit every extras agent in your area - list with as many as possible, there are no exclusivity contracts with extras agents so the more you list with the more work you will get.
Really it is that easy. Get out your yellow pages, or search google for extras agents or extras agencies there are hundreds.
Also check online at internet forums and if you are attending University or College check with the Arts deptartment, often low budget films will recruit interested students to work for cheap.
Get to it.
|
