Students Make Background Noise as Extras on Big and Small Screens

Want to be paid to dress in bell bottoms and an Afro? Olivia Whelan, BC ’08, spent a recent weekday doing just that. She was working as an extra for the new network TV show Life on Mars. “Since this was a period episode, we had to get dressed up,” Whelan said of the ’70s-style shoot. “We were instructed to dance, and someone was passing around fake drugs.”

For Columbia students, experiences like Whelan’s are not hard to find. As an epicenter of film production, New York offers plenty of opportunities to Columbia students to work as extras on professional productions. Even through this economic downturn, the New York City extra industry is a fecund market. “Right now, the New York market’s exploding,” explained Brad Kenny, New York manager for Central Casting, the largest “background talent” (the formal title for extras) agency in the country. “There was a big tax incentive added about a year ago. If there are students who are interested, they can definitely do it.” This past spring, the New York State Legislature tripled the tax incentives for in-state professional productions, and these incentives come on top of an additional tax credit offered by the city. Now, city productions can deduct 35 percent of production costs from their tax bills, a major pull for producers and a boon to student extras.

Kenny emphasized the extra opportunities for employment created by that tax break, and he urged students to register with his office and start searching for extra gigs. If students do not work with Central Casting, “they could go online, type in ‘extras,’ ‘casting,’ or ‘background casting’ and pull up an organization like ours,” Kenny said.

To register, extras need a headshot that can be distributed to production companies. Extra roles rarely require auditions. Instead, jobs are doled out based on the look the producers want. Producers sift through the headshots, finding faces that fit their needs.

Although the opportunities are plentiful, extra work is not all fun and games. Newly registered extras are non-union actors, which means less pay and poorer on-set treatment than what unionized counterparts receive. For the Life on Mars shoot, Whelan noted that she worked fifteen hours straight with very few breaks. Plus, union actors were given food before working whereas non-union workers had to wait.

However, the treatment varies with each production. “I think it depends on what kind of shoot you are doing,” Whelan said. “Every shoot is unique.”

Whelan recommended that first-timers find independent and student productions and start extra work with those smaller enterprises. Moving up the ladder as a professional actor is certainly possible. After logging a fair amount of hours as an extra, actors are eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild. Though an initial fee and yearly dues are required for membership, the higher pay and better treatment may outweigh those costs, especially for actors doing lots of extra work.

Kayte Dzime-Assison, CC ’11, is a SAG member. She has been acting professionally for ten years and mixes extra work with employment in larger roles. She worked as an extra in the films Step Up, Step Up 2: The Streets, The Kingdom, and State of Play, a Russell Crowe film slated for a 2009 release. Though privy to the benefits of union acting, Assison’s extra experiences echo those of Whelan. “The day is a lot of waiting,” she said. “They call you background. You’re a set piece.” Despite these similarities to the non-union experience, Assison still values her union membership, which opens up opportunities for her. “There are a lot of films that specify that they want union actors,” she said. Assison is also happy with the acting and extra prospects that have come with attending Columbia. “I came to New York because of the acting opportunities,” she said. For Assison, extra work is a worthwhile experience.

Should Columbia students seek employment as movie extras? “I definitely recommend it,” said Assison. “It’s a great opportunity to find out what goes on onset.” Working as an extra can have other benefits as well. “Sometimes ... they might pluck you from the crowd. You go as an extra and get a bigger role,” Assison noted. Whelan, from her position as a non-union actor, also recommended extra work to students, though she spoke more tepidly. “I would do it,” she said, “but it’s not something I would like to do regularly.”