ALT-2 Exciting Job what its like to be a Movie Extra
Having been an extra in a couple of things this year and sadly as yet I have not rubbed shoulders with the likes of George Clooney, Keira Knightley or Johnny Depp (Yet) it has to be said that it's quite interesting to get a different prospective of how a film is put together.
So far I have only actually been mentioned in a film called "Veils" which is a short film for the Jewish Film Festival, but for anyone who knows her, Maureen Lipman (who actually portrayed Joyce Grenfell in a theatre production) was one of the main lead characters and you can actually see me at the Jewish wedding ceremony on the girls' side dancing.
It was a very long day and the synagogue that I attended was in the depths of East end of London. It was a bit of a rundown synagogue and probably in its day was a lovely place of worship.
There were about 30 extras and we all had the joy of sharing 1 toilet in the whole place (which was minus a toilet seat) and lacked decent toilet paper.
Oh we did get what they called buffet lunch which consisted of kosher finger rolls of egg mayonnaise, sardine and tomatoes or what I think was a cheese paste.
Now I am not saying I was ungrateful, but we had to be there from 8.00 that morning and it was until the filming had finished and they had various problems throughout the morning with sound equipment.
All the extras were mainly asked to sit down in the pews until such time we were needed and we were constantly being yelled at by someone asking us to keep quiet.
It was an unpaid role and actually the whole day was around 10 hours. I had a very numb back side by the end of the day but it was actually my first extra role.
Since that time I have appeared in a couple of other ITV dramas such as Catwalkingdogs with Kris Marshall and Diana Quick. This was a bit more exciting and my little part in it was fleeting glances only in the supposed audience of a pretend Dog Show (similar to Crufts). I actually got paid for this.
My most recent claim to fame is not so much of an extra but someone who took part in a focus group talking about women's clothes, size and weight and meeting Trinny & Susannah. Again for those of you clued up on women's fashion, they are sort of guru's, but have recently been slated by the press.
Later on in the Autumn there is scheduled to be another TV drama where I was actually part of the crowd in a so called film awards ceremony. Cannot tell you what it is but look out for me I will be in the crowd somewhere :-)
Exciting job, yes I suppose being an extra is, I am amazed at how long everything takes to prepare and how everything is put together. You meet some great people of all walks of life. Different locations and as I have done a bit more extras stuff I am getting to see more and more famous people.
It's not all glamour, and not always that exciting, and sometimes consists of a lot of hanging around in gloomy surroundings and often outside but its something different to take me away from my normal routine and I must admit, I am quite proud to see my name in the credits though and I have found a whole new load of friends through being an extra.
