Well it’s not hard at all, but you do have to except the fact that you’re just going to be, more often just a blur in the background, you may get lucky and be placed in the cameras line of site, there are a few things you need to know before you ever step foot onto the film set, and a certain way you must act if you want to continue working as an EXTRA.
YOU HAVE BEEN BOOKED
GOOD JOB! You Have Been Booked for your first day on set, now what?
Here is the scenario, you have an 8:00 Am. Call Time, let’s say location (A) 40minuetes away from your home, you have been asked to bring three sets of clothing, No Reds, No white, and nothing with Logo’s or flashy Patterns on them, short hair, with no facial Hair.
OK, so from this point on allot of what I am about to tell you is just how I get ready for the day before a shoot , hopefully it will help you, not all circumstances are the same.
PREPARATION
First: Know where you are going, and how to get there.
Why? You ask is this at the top of the list, to be honest it’s always at the top of my List, Let’s say 40 Miles away at point (A) is in an unfamiliar town, you may have driven through it, but never really just spent any time in the town, and don’t forget about Traffic or road closers, always make sure to have an alternate route,
You want to be on time, for your call time, I prefer to be about 15 minutes early,
A few minute early won’t hurt you at all, plus you have to get all your clothing together and head towards the Extras Holding area, OK, a few tips, don’t just rely on one source for a location, GPS doesn’t always work, print out a copy of your directions once you have them, it is good to have a back – up copy with you.
Most of the time the Casting Agency will send you a small map of where the set is located, but not always, when your close to the location there will be small signs to guide you, they look something like the one bellow, OLC, stands for One Last Chance, you may see a crew parking sign and a Extras area sign, just fallow them and you are sure to reach your destination.
Secondly: Do I have the cloths I need? If not what do I do?
Well, you should already know what styles of clothing you have, if you have told the casting agent that you have what He or She has requested, and you don’t, you (LIED) and that’s not good, I can’t help you with that one, all I can say is, FIND SOMETHING FAST.
But let’s say your Honest, and you have an idea of what is needed, this is simple it’s like packing for a trip, get what has been asked of you and pack it up the day before, also it is a good idea to have three alternatives to whatever has been requested, you can keep them in your vehicle and let wardrobe know you have them once on location if needed, I always pack, deodorant, Books, Games, ETC.
I won’t go into all the technical reasons why you shouldn’t bring certain colors of clothing, But I will simply tell you why not to bring anything with a logo on it, simple, TRADEMARK, someone or a company owns the rite to that logo or pattern, you have to have permission to show those logo or patterns, OK moving on.
Thirdly: Hair style and Facial Hair. (Men) and maybe occasionally (WOMAN)
OK guys well, oh wait and occasionally the lady’s, if you don’t have short hair cut it, real simple, Facial Hair, well just fallow the guidelines they gave you, Hopefully you asked if they wanted a full beard, or mustache, or scraggly crack head, OK maybe that’s wrong, I’m sorry I had too, I apologize to the scraggly Haired Crack Heads out there, OK.
This is what I do, I shave the Morning of the shoot date, at the very last minute, I get a five o’clock shadow very quickly, so I do whatever is needed that morning, trim it up or cut it off whatever, simple. You wouldn’t believe it, but I have seen it, a few times, people coming on set not prepared, I have seen Extras Told to leave.
OK so you read this and your thinking, he hadn’t told me jack, I’m not stupid I think I know how to pack and shave, what a waste of time reading this.
Well stay tuned folks for Part Three: ON LOCATION, finally this guy is going to tell me something I don’t know. OK, I promise I will give you a rundown of onset lingo, gosh, I have to stretch all this stuff out, I got a real job ya know, I got five kids to feed OK.
OK guys my bad attempt at being funny, Thanks for Reading.
Baretta Simmons
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