A Day in the Life of an Extra

Obviously no two days are alike in the world of extras, but this will give you a good idea of what to expect as an extra.

You’ve received an email (or SMS or WhatsApp) telling you that tomorrow you’ll be needed on set at 7am for the day. For this shoot you’ll be picked up at the central bus station in town at 6.30am. It’s a scene in a café so you’ll be inside and you’ve been asked to bring a change of casual clothes and a couple of different shirts. You prepare your on-set bag, set your alarm clock (and your phone alarm as backup just in case), and get to bed early.

Up at 5.00am. Breakfast at home, coffee, and a quick trip to the bus station to be picked up where you meet a couple of other faces you’ve worked with before.

No matter what happens, you can NEVER be late or you’ll be off the job.

You hang around chatting till 6.30am when a mini-bus arrives and picks you up, taking you to the location on the other side of town.

Arrive on set at the so-called Base Camp (where all the trailers and equipment are set up). Here you are met by the 3rd AD (Assistant Director) who shows you where you can wait – today it’s a covered tent where you’ll find chairs, a coffee machine, and a few snacks. Luckily there’s also breakfast laid on today so you grab a croissant and some coffee and then sit down and spend some time chatting with the others and reading the news on your phone.

One by one you are taken into the wardrobe trailer. Wardrobe looks over what clothes you’ve bought with you and maybe adds an item here or there till you look right.

Then you go over to the makeup trailer where your hair is checked and if necessary, makeup applied. Back to the tent for some more waiting.

It’s 9am by now and the AD pops her head around to tell you that you’ll be needed in approximately 15 minutes. You put your mobile phone in Airplane Mode and stash it in your bag.

There are no phones allowed on set and if they see you using it, they’ll send you home.

Finally it’s time.

As the actual shooting location is just a few meters from Base Camp an AD shepherds you there (if it’s further away, the minibus will take you). When you arrive, the 3rd AD tells you a little about what is to happen. In this case you will all be customers in a café at lunchtime. The two actors will be at one of the tables and they’ll have a whispered conversation. You just need to carry on as normal.

There are cameras set up outside the café in the street. The crew is setting up the scene. You need to stay with the rest of the extras and follow carefully what the AD tells you. They spread the extras at different tables in the café. Then the director looks it over and you’re asked to move to a different table. A few other changes are made, too.

You sit there quietly chatting with the extra you’ll be sharing the table with.

A set dresser comes along and puts down two coffee cups on the table, telling you not to drink the coffee as it’s a prop!

Ten minutes later the scene is ready to go. The lead actors appear and go and sit at their table. They are very famous and you recognise them immediately.

The general rule here is that if they speak to you then you can answer back, but you shouldn’t initiate anything; it is forbidden to ask for a selfie with them – this can get you taken off set!

Quiet on set. The director calls, Action! and you “chat” with the person opposite you but not making a sound. You know something’s happening behind you with the lead actors but you don’t turn round and have no idea what they’re doing.

Cut!

The director make some changes. You’re told to move to another table this time by yourself and the AD tells you that on Action! you need to read the newspaper they’ve put there. But make sure you only read the back page and don’t open it or turn it over or make any noise at all. Other changes are made with other extras – and while all this is going on you remain silent because people are working around you preparing the scene.

Action!

It begins again and then on Cut! some more minor changes are made.

Over the next half hour they shoot a lot of takes and make different changes. You carry on reading the back page of the paper till you know it by heart.

Then they need to change the position of the camera so it’s half an hour break. The AD takes you all back to the tent where you make yourself comfortable, grab a coffee, and check your phone messages.

Then it’s back on set for the same scene from another angle. This goes on till just after midday when lunch is called.

Catering is at base camp where a few tables & chairs have been set out. The actors and crew go first; when they’ve collected their meal the extras can get theirs: a disposable plate with whatever you fancy from the catering truck. There’s the usual fare and almost always a vegetarian option (vegan is less common) and you sit wherever you can find to eat it. (And just to make sure you don’t mess up your clothes, you might be given a bib to avoid stains.)

And then the afternoon begins just as the morning did. Your clothes, hair and makeup are checked and then it’s back on set, sitting in the same chair, reading the same page of the paper till the director says Cut! and the scene is finally over.

Back to the tent, change, and then thirty minutes later you’re in the minibus going back to that morning’s starting point.

A couple of weeks later you get a text message from your bank saying that the production company has deposited €120 into your account.

And then eight months later you go to the cinema and there on the screen you see a famous Hollywood movie star sitting in a café whispering to another famous Hollywood movie star, and there in the background there’s you reading your newspaper.