You've heard the expression, "I'm putting that on my bucket list". Well, I've always wanted to be an extra in a film just to see how the 'process' worked. So, when I saw an ad for extras for the TV series "Homeland", I sent in the required information and waited. After several email exchanges, I was booked for a shoot.
Of course, I notified my immediate family and friends, which prompted one of my sons to proclaim, "Dad, that's the coolest thing you have ever done!" I would have thought fathering him would have qualified....go figure. I had to cancel a prior engagement to be available for the shoot. The penalty for cancellation was to find out how "hot" the lead actress was.
My lawyer daughter in-law suggested I should not disclose anything about the shoot (although she wanted all the details), so I'll take her advice.
Being an extra was everything I had heard it would be. It is a long and somewhat, boring day. I had heard they had to have 60 minutes of film for every one minute that gets into the show, and, after my one day, I can believe it.
For the extra's, it was organized chaos, but seemed to work. They told us the day would be hurry up and wait - and it was. The crew was unbelievably professional and nice. I think the degree of "niceness" surprised me. The number of folks required to produce a show is overwhelming. I wondered if a few less folks or a few less takes would really make a difference - but this is an award winning show, so I suppose that is what it takes for excellence. I would guess a third of the extras admitted they were hoping they would be 'discovered' and become the next big star. The rest said they signed up just to see how the process worked (but secretly thought they would be the next star). Some of the extras had worked previous seasons and took great pride of a 2 second appearance that had taken a 14 hour day to produce.
So, will I have a 2 second appearance in season three?
Not likely. Some of the props were wrong and we were told if the camera was going to be on us, they would be changed out - which they never were.
Was the lead actress "hot"?
The fact is, you would not be a lead actor or actress if you were not "hot". The reality is, the lead actress was not in the scene and I wasn't able to find out.
Would I be an extra again?
Probably not.
Would the lead actress be in the scene?
Of course, I notified my immediate family and friends, which prompted one of my sons to proclaim, "Dad, that's the coolest thing you have ever done!" I would have thought fathering him would have qualified....go figure. I had to cancel a prior engagement to be available for the shoot. The penalty for cancellation was to find out how "hot" the lead actress was.
My lawyer daughter in-law suggested I should not disclose anything about the shoot (although she wanted all the details), so I'll take her advice.
Being an extra was everything I had heard it would be. It is a long and somewhat, boring day. I had heard they had to have 60 minutes of film for every one minute that gets into the show, and, after my one day, I can believe it.
For the extra's, it was organized chaos, but seemed to work. They told us the day would be hurry up and wait - and it was. The crew was unbelievably professional and nice. I think the degree of "niceness" surprised me. The number of folks required to produce a show is overwhelming. I wondered if a few less folks or a few less takes would really make a difference - but this is an award winning show, so I suppose that is what it takes for excellence. I would guess a third of the extras admitted they were hoping they would be 'discovered' and become the next big star. The rest said they signed up just to see how the process worked (but secretly thought they would be the next star). Some of the extras had worked previous seasons and took great pride of a 2 second appearance that had taken a 14 hour day to produce.
So, will I have a 2 second appearance in season three?
Not likely. Some of the props were wrong and we were told if the camera was going to be on us, they would be changed out - which they never were.
Was the lead actress "hot"?
The fact is, you would not be a lead actor or actress if you were not "hot". The reality is, the lead actress was not in the scene and I wasn't able to find out.
Would I be an extra again?
Probably not.
Would the lead actress be in the scene?
