A Glorious Backseat: Acting as an Extra

Whenever you see the posters of elderly epic movies, you might notice an often-repeated phrase: featuring a cast of thousands In the lovely elderly days of film making, producers had all the money to pay thousands of people to show up as gladiators, raucous crowds, or protesters. To act as an additional in a film was akin to rubbing elbows with the stars, and individuals who acted as extras were over happy to lend a hand in making a film.
Today, film studios rely heavily on special effects wizards to generate artificial crowds. For example, whole battle scenes can be filmed with only ten to a hundred people standing in as soldiers, with the remainder of the people designed in to the scene. Nevertheless, acting as an additional has not lost its appeal, and there's still plenty of ways to land a role as an additional. You can walk through a scene, raise a shield for a scene, or basically be somebody in the background.
In case you are interested in acting as an additional and yes, getting paid for your services; here are a few tips that you may need to follow.
- Join an acting workshop. Most workshops will either be headed by individuals who have worked in the industry, or organized by individuals who regularly cast for major studios. In order to land a role as an additional, you need to have connections, so start making them.
- Look for an acting agency that makes a speciality of landing extras. Do plenty of Net research on this one: you can find acting agencies that regularly look for extras, and who like to keep pools of people to act as extras. Get your resume prepared and have some lovely images of you taken.
- Join online groups or forums that are frequented by individuals who work in the film industry. In order to land a role or get a job, you need over abilities and skills: you need to have connections, and you need to know people. Activate your social network: in case you have close friends, you can ask about working as an additional. Who knows? Simple questions and friendships can sometimes make for massive breaks in a career.
- Watch out for calls for extras in your local newspaper or on your favourite Net film site. Be vigilant if a film is shooting in your town or nearby, as the producers will certainly post openings for extras. When the demand extras comes, get everything prepared as though you’re already posing for your shot!