SO YOU WANT TO BE A MOVIE "EXTRA".......No You Don't.

Atlanta is quickly becoming the
"Hollywood of the South"
Filming 26 t.v. and movies this month alone...
When you think...
"Light's....Camera....Action"....the last thing you
 think of is "Those Adivari's"...
But if it's something stupid to do...... that just might
keep us from aging....Why not...
Last month a neighbor spotted on Facebook that a local
Casting Agency was looking for
Authentic Looking Italian men for a Crime 
Drama set in Brooklyn....
Well.....Jersey is close enough and the Boss sure is 
Italian... so late one night I e-mailed his picture and
First thing the next morning Hollywood came
Calling....
Never having done this before the Boss was a bit apprehensive
and didn't know what to expect when I waved him goodbye at
4:30 a.m on the day of the shoot....
I expected him back home by around 8:30 a.m. But he's not one
to take on a challenge and not follow through...
He showed up back home around 9:30 that evening....

Vowing ""I'll never do that again"....
He changed his mind the other day when this time they
wanted his Car....
Only agreeing if I was to come along....
They happily agreed and now...
I'm here to let you know what it's like 
"being a movie extra"
You decide if this is something you would do....
Because....
We....are not the only 60-ish Crazies in Atlanta...
There were many husband/wife teams
who do this all the time...
One couple we met have been in
Ten Movies....and t.v. shows...

First thing you need is to have current pictures of
Yourself that you can send off at a moments notice...
The agencies usually post openings with only a day or
two notice....Unless your on the circuit and then I suppose
those people get the heads up for upcoming parts....
They like to have a head shot....a full body shot...
No hats on...or sunglasses...they want to see what you look like...
Age...height...and yes weight is all taken in to consideration...
They really really wanted our car so when they said I could
tag along they had no interest if I had three eyes or an
A$$ the size of one of the Housewives of Atlanta...
Expect to get paid very little for your time...
Monday's pay was $68 for an 8 hour day and overtime
after the 8 hours...
We were paid extra for the car....
The more they need your type of car the more they pay...
expect very bad food if your lucky enough to get fed...
But it seems they always feed people....We chatted up a young college age girl who was on her 4th movie since the week before....It seems the college kids do this not for the extra money but for the free food.....They did give us breakfast when we got
there before they started filming....We also had lunch around
2:00....with snacks (fruit and crackers) after that....We brought a cooler with
Soda and we're happy we did because all they offered was water...
Coffee was made late in the day when people started to
drop like flies from exhaustion...
Not from work...but from sitting....
Be prepared to sit....and sit and sit some more...
Think waiting at the DMV....and then add about
10 more hours....And
I say lucky enough to get fed because if your anywhere farther back in line then the first ten people the food goes like crazy...And they Don't replenish....
There were probably over 100 people and while some had plates piled with food while others ....including myself....had a few mini meatballs...and a small roll...

They send you "instructions" the evening before with
everything you need to bring....what time to get there and
the "secret" location...
You sign a confidentiality form that you will not discuss
anything about who...where...when....or what....the
filming is about...
And the Worst thing for a Blogger as an extra....
NO PHOTO'S.......
don't even consider sneaking out your camera phone...
This particular movie requested "upscale"
People.....with "expensive" clothing...
Instructing us to bring "Lot's of stuff"...
dresses....tops...pants...shoes...purses...jewelry...
Some of the women came with large rolling suitcases that looked as if they were Embarking on the
QE2 World Cruise...
I brought enough stuff to make the husband
Bitch that he had to carry it all....
in the rain....
Yes it poured....
And the "Good Car" does not leave the garage in
the Rain....But this was an exception...
We were excited to think we might see our car
featured in a major film....
Wet cars dry right??......
The first person you get to see is the infamous
"Wardrobe People"....
I went very high end casual in white "skinny" jeans...
an orange tee (they wanted bright colors)...and my
go to favorite....a Brooks Brothers Navy Blazer
with gold buttons...
finishing off the look with Sperry Top Sider boat shoes...
and my favorite Louis V purse....
I thought I would be discovered the minute I opened the
Car Door...
the Boss....in matching orange Ralph golf shirt...
and Khaki's....
We matched!!!
I figured they would either think it was cute or
"Creepy"....
So much for being "upscale"....
They had us out of those clothes so fast our heads were spinning... They had not a lick of
interest in all the crap I hauled along...
With a quick look inside my garment bag the
"Wardrobe Expert"...picked out a striped cotton jacket..
a blue tee and cream dress pants...
I was horrified even though they were my own clothes...
They didn't match....who wears white with cream???
And Target vs. Brooks Brothers??
Really....
Then to add insult to injury....if Ralph Lauren was
dead he would be rolling over in his grave...
They made the Boss take off the lovely orange
golf shirt and replace it with a zip up sweater
from Goodwill....
it still had the infamous color of the week
"Goodwill Color Tag"
still attached to the sleeve...
can you say..."Cringe".... 

This Blog post is getting as long as our day was....
But bear with me...I'm almost done...
and it's not going to be getting any better I'm afraid....
When they were "dressing" me I was told I would be pulling
up to the location and getting out of the car as the
"Star" pulled in behind us....
How exciting I thought...just like last month when the Boss filmed
his scene just with him and the Star....
a sure sign you will be on film if only for a few seconds...

Did I mentioned it poured....
The car is a Convertible.....
See where this is about to go.....
we waited and we waited and we waited some more...
We asked and asked again and all we got was...
"Any time now"...
I passed up being in a bunch of other scenes....knowing if I left
the room they would call us for the car scene...
I'm surprised I'm not still sitting there...
Needless to say it rained all morning and they used someone
else's hard top car for the scene....
By late in the day they called for all the extras to
be in one last scene.......
They split up me and the Boss in a dining scene....
Where of course my back was to the camera...
Being totally exhausted by then I actually "cut" in line
to hand in our paperwork so we could get paid...
A snooty lady in line behind me yelled for me to
take my jacket back to Wardrobe before I walked off with it...
Was she insinuating that it looked like it was from
Goodwill???
I yelled back that it was mine...
We stopped for Pizza on the way home and ate it like it was
our last night to live...
We got back home and the Cat expected us to come home with
News of being nominated for an Oscar....
When she heard our film career was short lived she
went to sleep and hasn't had anything to do with us since.......

The Boss said he would do it again if they only wanted one of
our cars....not him....
Me....Only if Tom Selleck was filming out in my
Cul De Sac.......naked.