What’s It Really Like Being an Extra in a Film or TV Show and How Do You Get the Gig? 

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I don't care what anyone says about being an extra, the fact that a normal person like us can be in a movie and be paid for it is just mind-boggling to me. No amount of bad weather or boredom could ever ruin anything about that, and God willing I will be an extra in movies.

I'm an extra ....... It's a nice experience , however .....I started at 6am , hung around in a food truck until 5:30pm and was used for 10 mins 😂.

I love how much more personal you've become in this channel

So I just need to look for ads specifically talking about ''Danny devito body types'' ?

BTW, it’s great when you go off script and we get to see the real, wonderful, Simon show. 😊😊👍🏼

Yup. I do film extra work on the side, and I always tell people that the REAL skill required for that job is "the ability to entertain yourself for hours while not being allowed to leave."

You never know what trying for an extra job can lead to. Although I had zero experience, I went to a cattle call along with hundreds of others for an extra job on a James Bond film. I thought getting to work on a movie set for a day or two would be fun. After filling out paperwork, having my photo taken and a very short interview I left thinking, ok, that was interesting but slim chance. The next day I got a call from the casting director asking if I was free to work for the next 6 weeks. When I said yes, she said they wanted me to be the double and stand in for one of the leading actors in the movie since we had similar looks and build. When I accepted she asked me to come back for a wardrobe fitting, meet with make-up people, etc. that same day as they were going to start filming in 5 days. What a great experience! I learned a lot about shooting a film and what better movie to work on than a big budget James Bond film. Being in the action scenes was amazing and the pay was great too! Even if I went 1 minute into overtime on the set I automatically had my pay doubled for the day! 6 weeks shooting out on location with early morning call times and long hours could sometimes be grueling but totally worth it.

"Edward, you put that in the script on purpose!" LOLOL

I have several cousins who were in Shaw Shank Redemption. It was filmed less than 10 miles from some of the family homes. They enjoyed it alot. Almost every scene, I can point out family lol

Yep, I can confirm, most boring day of my life. However the scene I was in appeared in the opening credits of a show called Babylon 5 for three years straight. It was weird and kinda cool.

I can sit on a sofa and get paid? Nice. That's better than acting like a tree

So basically it sounds like being an extra is almost equivalent to working retail

I was an extra on star trek discovery kept the uniform and got it autographed it was awesome live long and prosper

Every rule given for extras sounds exactly like what I would want in a job as an introvert: an ostensibly social situation with no sociability, no need to make small talk or faking being sociable, and not caring about meeting the people around me. The closest I've found to that is quality control in the factory I work at: I have to work with people on occasion and fake being sociable, I get to remain separate from the rest of the staff to the point of not learning their names for weeks, and I get to be part of a workplace with many people in it without being a part of it. It's an introvert's dream.

I was on set for 12 hours and when the movie came out I was out of focus and was on film for 2.4 Seconds.

ok seriously tho how *DARE* you inform us you were in a movie and NOT provide a picture w a red circle around you X.X edit: i went thru the scene frame by frame, could not find you. will need help xD

And, oh gosh, how I love it when you go off-script! Just the way you go so goofy I bet you are really fun to hang out with. Cheers.

A former co-worker of mine worked as an extra in a looney tunes movie. She said it was a fun experience

Simon's becoming so much more playful. Love it :D Also great to hear his awesome British accent saying "tracksuit bottoms". :D We call them that over in South Africa. :D

Just gonna wait for the person to post the screenshot of Simon in Captain America. Also, does this mean the MCU has its own version of Simon doing Biographics, TopTenz, and Brain Food? I think so!

Hay can i be a background cahracter in your videos I'll juggle 2 apples and increase viewer participation by 32% because people Will comment

... They were making a movie near me and they were offering to pay the extras a $100 a day.

My chiropractor was an extra in Avengers during the German opera-house scene and Winter Soldier.

According to Burton Gilliam his career was launched when he answered an add for an extra of Paper Moon because he hoped he might meet Ryan Oneal. His part in Paper Moon was expanded to a speaking roll. Mel Brooks saw him in the movie and begged him to be in his up and coming Blazing Saddles even going as far as to re-write the script to add him in it. A huge exception to the rule that being an extra won't get you anywhere I'm sure but I thought it makes for interesting trivia.

Simon is amazing, he's his own co-star, extra and inflatable extra.

Thought I'd leave a comment here since I've been an extra for the past few years on some big projects like Game of Thrones. I'm just writing stuff as I watch the video. I get my work through an agency, they will give my photos/details to productions, and if they think I fit, the agency will give me a text with the details and the dates to see if I'm up for it. In Northern Ireland we don't have a union or anything, but a lot of us are in contact with each other and will always look after eachother and help eachother out. The agency has people that then work with the production which deal with myself and the other extras. They will give us our call times etc and sometimes provide us with transport to set. When we get to set we fill out NDA or disclaimers etc. What we do on the day can be a lot of different stuff. Many days I have just slept the entire shoot. My day usually starts at 3AM and ends at 7PM. About the food, this is really hit or miss. Sometimes we got great food, sometimes we got half a microwaved frozen meal. I never saw shrimp, though I did see steak once on the final day (this was a day where many of us had been working on the show as the same people for years). One day on a popular sci-fi show we got dominoes. I do not consider my extra work a career. I have made a lot of money from it, but I wouldn't call it my main income, I work a part time job ti pay the bills. I was an actor when I was younger, and this is what remains of that life. I don't think this is a good way to break into the industry unless you really put yourself in there. It's good experience but you need a lot of work outside of it to get far. Saying that I know people that went from being an extra in Game of Thrones, to being an assistant director. You learn a lot of BTS stuff when you are looking at it for 8 hours a day. Getting work just depends on what you look like. My Asian friends get a lot more work than my white friends because they stand out or make everything look more diverse. Looking the same as an actor can be helpful. Myself and many friends from a certain big TV show were brought in and used as extras, then pulled out to be doubles for a main cast member because we look like them. This is a good part to point out that my agency has also gotten be stunt work, body double work, and actual acting work. The double work paid not much extra. Can't disclose how much more. Yes it is VERY boring sometimes. We sit in the mud for 8+ hours sometimes. Then there is sometimes where we are joking about the main cast. Sometimes I sit in a tint for 12 hours then go back home. A show I worked on recently, there was an extra who made it their job to try and make other extras laugh. If you laugh, you go home with no pay. Yes if you are caught with a phone, you go home. No pay. BRING A BOOK A small one if you can, sometimes i hide a book in my clothing for between takes.

I have been a movie extra for many years * yes some acting gigs too ) it depends on the film crew/ production you either have a good experience or you are treated like crap union and non union !

netflix is filming a big movie at my school and i’m applying to be an extra tomorrow morning! wish me luck!

I was in on scene director for a couple low budget productions and I cannot help jumping into play as an extra in military battle scenes. I am a historian after all. 😁

I know a girl who was an extra in a movie once I can't remember if it was a DC or Marvel one but she got to meet one of the actors.

I did a ton of extra work in NYC, you learn really quickly- at least with the TV shows, who has the best spread. There was one show we knew it was pretty sparse if it wasn't just sending you out to get your own food, but it was a show you kind of knew you could get 'cause it was the one people didn't really apply for unless other options didn't come through. I will say The Following had an absolutely amazing spread... You also see the same faces as you get accepted to different gigs, and between takes we'd figure out what kind of back and forth to "say" to each other, usually related to past conversations off the set so we were able to get facial reactions that matched each other. Even when you didn't know who you might have been paired up with in a scene, that was pretty common. I also now clap differently- there's a way to clap so it hides from the camera that your hands aren't touching and you're not making any noise, and I find it just funny to do when actually clapping now... it's a super ultra inside joke...

“These pretzels are making me THIRSTY!”

It’s way way overrated, do it once then you probably won’t ever want to do it again. Plus most don’t ever get in the shot. Shots today are all close-up so not much room for you. He nailed what it’s like, speaking as a professional extra. Ha

Wow your speech pattern made it seem like you were just speaking didn't even know you had a script hire this man as an extra right now!

So I now have to break out _Captain America_ and look for Simon.

Ryan Reynolds is dreamy! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

(7:46) - "...cheering clouds?" Oh dear... .

I know a few people who were extras in films/tv. One was a former coworker who was one of the many auditioning Hitler in the musical Producers film. Mel Brooks said to them, "You're wallpaper!" Coworker moves at one point, Brooks exclaims, "My wallpaper moved!" I told coworker he should call his autobiography "I Was Mel Brooks' Wallpaper".

I worked at LAX and Sylvester Stallone was filming scenes for “Stop, or my Mother will Shoot” (absolutely lousy comedy) They wanted real airline personnel as extras, so.... I’m actually in the film... but blink and you miss me. The food was great though. One of my colleagues actually got a line with Syl.. but only because he made Syl look taller on screen. (The professional extras were quite jealous of this)

So, in other words, being an extra is exactly like the show Extras.

I love when Simon breaks. Is so funny

You quoted Jesse Heiman! He's like the most famous extra! He's been in everything! Look up his IMDB listing and you'll see the ton of work he's done. He's pretty hilarious, too. Seems like a pretty awesome guy.

I became an extra accidentally in the movie déjà vu they liked my look and they liked my truck...

Being an extra can be really fun or extremely boring. You quite often see rows of extras laying down in a row sleeping on long shoots. I've had one experience where it was like a small festival, all of us in costume a few people playing instruments, music blaring, random puffs of smoke from nowhere, it was pretty bizzare.

I can confirm being an extra is long hours, being treated like cattle, and lots of sitting around. But the food is pretty good.

When you stood up, I thought you were going to model the the underwear. 🙈

Welp , Today I Found Out that he has legs. Roll credits*

I see what you did there 1:14 ;)

If you work naked can you sue yourself for sexual harassment? My ex-bf and his brother used to get lots of work as extras when they lived in Montana. Lots of 19th century period pieces.

I'm a professional movie extra and this is 100% accurate imo, especially the part about being treated like you're something the director found stuck to his shoe.

I did extra work for about a year for the professional production experience of it all. Mostly played "college student" rolls.

I want to be an extra in a Simon Whistler RU-vid film.

Does anyone else really want to be in a movie, but it’s corona virus and you can’t do anything.....

My father was an extra in Alvarez Kelley, one of the cowboys riding by in a group chase scene, so I always wanted to be an extra. I got the chance in P-51 Dragonfighter as the fat guy who gets pickpocketed in the establishing shot for the bar. I was there 2 or 3 days, at the same place as the scene where Iron Man saves the villagers from the bad guys ('he's all yours'). I was an unpaid volunteer, but it was worth it for the novelty of the experience. The director Mark Atkins and producer/star Scott Martin talked to me a few times. It was a small shoot, but it had a group effort vibe, so I was happy to help out. The pickpocket scene was easy, just lay there and be a passed out drunk while the lady pickpocket does her thing. I'm in the bar fight scene in the background, holding a drink when someone gets knocked back into me. It was about 7 hours for that scene. The drink I was holding was a warm and very flat diet coke. I remember standing in formation in basic training years ago and my day job involves a large amount of occasionally tedious paperwork, so the sitting around waiting to do the scene and standing around while they shot the bar fight were maybe boring but a necessary part of the job. I remember the costume lady trying to find a shirt they had that would fit me, that they could put this ink stuff on to make it look dirty, but I ended up using my own shirt and patting myself thoroughly with dirt instead, since they couldn't find a fit for me. I've been in one other Archstone film, something about some people on vacation that end up on an island where the bad guy is doing organ harvesting. I was a drunk again. I remember the director (Atkins?) asking if I'd mind lying on the ground in the gutter as a passed out drunk. It was a bit awkward because he seemed like he wasn't sure if he was asking something reasonable of me, but for me it was the mission, the job, etc., so I was happy to do my part. It may have been due to me wearing a suit, the same one I wear for work, but the previous edition that wore out too much for work. I still have the unlabeled brown beer bottle from the scene. I kept it in case I ever get to be a drunk extra again. It was a memorable experience. I had a small part to do, but I was happy to do it.

It’s weird to think that there is career extras

I would make a career out of this just to hand out professionally-laminated business cards which state,: *"Don't ask Me, I'm just a an imaginary stock personality."*

You nailed it, I've been an extra for a few years and it's exactly as you described.

I used to do extra work in the UK and the Ricky Gervais show 'Extra's is a fairly accurate representation of the work. If you want to get in to the work take a book, magazine or handheld gaming console with you, most of your time will be spent waiting for your scene to be setup.

That's cool as shit man being an extra in the Captain America movies

Interesting thing to note.... there way a bit-player/extra from the 1930s... had steady work all the way into the 90's.. when asked why he was willing to play, mostly, gangsters who got shot, or just died, he pointed out that HE was working while Cagney, Nolan and Bogart were just sitting around.

A friend of mine tried to be an actor. He peaked when he got a gig as an extra on Zoolander. Ben Stiller even shoved him out of the way. Unfortunately, his scene was cut and only exists on the deleted scenes of the DVD.

A friend of mine who was a special-talent extra (because he had done SCA swordfighting) mentioned being on the set of a war film but not given any earplugs.

Simon's little giggle tho! ❤

Its very boring with lots of hanging around and waiting for things to happen. Sometimes its very dreary with repeated takes of the same scene until the perfectionist director is satisfied...

I used to have a skinny friend who landed a gig for a few weeks as an extra in a TV movie, as an emaciated American POW in a Viet Cong prison. His fringe benefit was getting banged by one of the “talents” for the better part of a month. Lol Had another friend who appeared as an extra in a crowded nightclub scene on Miami Vice.

I'm going to guess that it was Karl Smallwood who added the 'dreamy' bit about Ryan Reynolds.

Having been an extra on a TV show, a movie, and a commercial, it was enjoyable to hear an accurate rendering of that experience. About clothing; pay close heed to the scene as described, as this can make a difference in whether they decide to use you in that scene. Also, when we were on the set of Leap of Faith, we were strictly told not to approach Steve Martin for an autograph. Contrary to that directive, a mob ran toward him anyway; they were non-selected for future work.

I'm an extra, and I absolutely love it 😁 when I can get work 😂 not much call for guys with bum length redhair and a beard to the tummy button 😂

Oh yea? Casting couch? 👀

Not really. I was an extra in the movie for Love of the Game Kevin Costner you know. This filming was held in Yankee Stadium and we were expected to dress as though it were August. I wear a heavy Army trench coat World War II issue and a heavy scarf which I could shed when we were actually in the process of filming. They moved us from one part of the stadium to another for various shots and as it was around Thanksgiving you can imagine how bitterly cold it was for us. I do not recall if it was three or four or five days but I filled out the papers they gave us to turn in at the end of that time to be paid for our service as extras. The food was pre-packaged salads with the squeezy pack of salad dressing container of juice a container of soda or orange juice I can't recall exactly but it was all just stuff you'd walk by grab a can grab a bottle grab a pre-packed sandwich that sort of thing. I waited for my check but it never came-- I was never paid even $0.01 for that work that I did and I never did bother to watch the Damned movie even to this day. I tried doing the movie extra thing several times in New York City but that was the last time I bothered with it.

I could do all that stuff, but if it requires moving to California, HELL NO!

My friend has an aunt that's been sitting in the jury for Judge Judy for about $600 a day. That's not a bad gig.

I might do this if I need a bit of money at some point. I have duplicates of everything, because things only come in so many colours. I can mouth things without overcompensating exceedingly well because my mom is deaf and reads lips. And I am a maladaptive daydreamer.

Anyone able to help me get their attention? I want to know why sports players get paid so much. There are a few different takes on this but i know the research they do here is very well executed.

I've already had 5-6 gigs as an extra and this video is so accurate! Of course, that also includes the part where you are treated as cattle, since there are times when the food isn't more than a bun with a thin slice of cheese and a thin slice of salami...and hopefully some water or coffee.

It's, um, pretty obvious that you didn't even iron that shirt. ;3

There is no excuse for humiliating people in any workplace. People who do this are actually seriously neurotic, have a personality disorder and very insecure.

You write your own scripts, you would just desperately trying to play off that very "not-qwear" laugh

I've been an extra a few times. Boring is the best word to describe it. The other thing to add is that some scenes are just unpleasant to shoot. Try standing outdoors in a field in winter for four hours in the middle of the night. It's not much fun.

My partner has done a couple background character gigs and he loves it. He’s in a deleted scene in geostorm, a spot in a show where he was just in an aisle shopping, and another show during a protest scene. He made about $300-$400 for half a day of being on set.

A couple of my friends were extras in a film about a civil war prison camp. If memory serves the name of the movie was "Chancellorsville" . They got $100 a day to be really dirty prisoners laying in mud and dirt, 10-12hrs a day, for about a week. They got the part by being (at the time) in a crew of civil war re-enactors. Couple of other guys I know, just acquaintances, were trapped (goat-roped) into acting in a reality show based on the shop they were employed at the time. They both said the money was unbelievable for the little bit of acting involved (one made enough off the deal to leave and open his own shop). The shop owners said their total payout wasn't that much more than they would have made just being open regular hours doing customer work, but the exposure more than doubled their business and forced them to relocate to a larger building. Good problem to have IMO. The series ran a couple seasons on Discovery, I think, then was re-run a few times, so they all got decent residual payments for a while.

I was recently an extra in an upcoming movie. Checked in with the staff at 5:30 in the morning, got buses out to the filming location about 10:00 after breakfast, wardrobe, hair and makeup stood under a canopy with about 5 other extras from about 10:15 in the morning to 7:30 in the evening when they called me to go sit at a table and smoke a cigarette and drink a beer for about 30 minutes while they filmed the shot several times from different angles. It was an exciting experience that I would definitely do again. That said, if you don’t like standing or get bored easy, being an extra is NOT the gig for you. It is definitely not as glamorous as you might think.

If they’re sponsoring your shirt, its probably because they found your usual psychedelic garment an eyesore! LOL

I’m an extra for a up coming Hulu series! I’m getting $100/8 and overtime!

Once i was an extra in a porno movie.

Its what you make of it. I don’t find it boring at all. if you’re passionate about what you do.

My step dad played in jarhead as an extra at George Air Force base in Vic Victorville and they were told to talk and create background noise. They had actual conversations but he said by the end of the day they ended up going “blah blah blah” He also played in Herbie. We missed the Hulk though. You’d be surprised how many movies that are filmed in our desert. My mother was in Contact. The scene was set in the summer before spring and it had to done in the morning.

i have been extra several times - main thing i learned is I could eat the food from talent table if i just walked up and acted like i was supposed to be there - worked for me -

You could be sitting on a chair under a pop up tent for 12 hours to be walking past another extra for 1.7 seconds

first. Im an extra on this yt channel

I was an extra in Ace Ventura 2. The food was great, we were on set for 2 days the scene I was in lasted 30 seconds in the movie. Tommie Davidson was very personable between takes joking with us. We only saw Jim Carrey when he filmed his scenes didn't speak to anyone. It took 4 hours in makeup to get his hair like that. It was a good $350.00 for a couple days "work"

That was really informative and well researched, thanks.

Don’t Speak To The Actors . Do As The Director Tells You To Do .

I’ve just finished being an extra on a big budget production and this guy has simply nailed it!

Being an extra is torture,, those guys must be paid more than the main actors

I've never understood why my nieces and nephew love being extras in movies. I understand even less now. :0

surprised you didn't mention costume extras... they can make a good bit more.

Now I gotta go watch the original captain America to see if I can spot Simon.

"From: Casting Couch". *snrk*.