A Goal to be a Movie Extra Achieved! Completely Randomly.

The phone rings at 3pm on Tuesday. “Want to be an extra in a Danny Glover movie?” my friend asks. “Can you be at the African American Art and Culture Complex in San Francisco by 5:30?”

Considering I had a goal to be an extra in a movie on my life list, I didn’t have to think twice.

While filming for the Harimaya Bridge is near completion, on this day they were filming a scene which will appear near the beginning of the film. It’s fascinating how the film team can track every little scene, filmed out of sequence. Our job as extras was to be a concert audience. The Berkeley Youth Orchestra did a lovely job playing the original piece composed for the movie. Having sat in many a concert, I knew all the right moves for acting like an audience member, no matter how much I wanted to pull a Kramer-like move (ha ha).

Anyhoo, it turned out this day was Danny Glover’s birthday. The entire event was quite special for other reasons: Glover started acting at this very center as a teen as a good friend of co-star Ben Guillory. Now his daughter works at the center. The Director Aaron Woolfolk grew up in Oakland and I had the pleasure of sitting next to one of his relatives.

Peter Coyote also appears in this movie. As an old fan, I enjoyed seeing him live if only for a few lines.

It will be fun to see if I end up on the cutting room floor (or the digital trashcan). But I’m happy they allowed us to take pictures and videos as a great memoire.

The Most Glamorous Careers Require Tedious Work

As we sat around waiting for scenes which required participation by the extras, I commented to Chris that most jobs that seem glamorous often require such painstaking detail to piece it together that, in reality, it is drudgery.

Namely advertising, online experiences, and movie making. All of these fields have producers who tend to the minutiae of every detail. The work needs to be done, and re-done repeatedly. You manage the creative process often in pieces with painstaking attention to detail.

Recently I achieved my goal of writing a screenplay and I learned about planning for props, thinking about all the film locations, and even what sound effects would be required. Phew!

These are truly productions in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

You Too Can Be an Extra in a Movie

Of course you need to add a goal to your life list to be an extra. Just by writing it down you’re more likely to make it happen. See all the various ideas on SuperViva.

Find Auditions - Sign up for free with Explore Talent

Not that I have all the secrets. But a few things you can do are:
1) Of course, be somewhere where movies are frequently made.
2) Subscribe to INFOLIST to learn about events and all kinds of movie industry related opportunities.
2) Check Craigslist under Gigs/Talent. You’ll often find film students needing extras. Then there’s events like the 48 Hour Film Project where you could be needed.
3) Stay tuned on SuperViva to receive an invitation to be an extra in my movie

I’m sure there are many Hollywood sites and publications that call for extras. Now go for it!

About Chris and My Fellow Extras

My friend Chris who invited me and most of the extras are members of the award-winning drum and bugle corp, The Renegades. I mention this because if you haven’t seen a drum and bugle corp made up of “grown ups” who participate in the band as a hobby (or maybe their work is the hobby, this is their life), give their videos a look.

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