Ever seen those ads for movie extras needed?

Question

ok so i was wondering if all that is true about being able to come out in movies and commercials as an extra? i love to act and i would love to come out in commercials. should i try it.? has anyone ever tried calling? help me asap

Answer 1

Where do you live? I would be very leary of any ad on tv... If all you want is extra work, try going to extrasaccess.com

If you live in LA or NY you have more options.

http://www.centralcasting.org/LA/actors/registration.html
http://billdancecasting.com/

Central and Bill Dance charge a fee to join and yes that is normal for companies that hire extras. They are not 'agents' they are companies that do a service and that's that.

ExtrasAccess is new to me. It's an offshoot of ActorsAccess which is more for people looking for principal work and even though I've never used ExtrasAccess, I trust it because of the people it comes from. Getting started is free, I'm sure there's a fee along the way somewhere, but I've never used it so I don't know where that comes in.

Another resource would be any film alliance / society / commission website your state has. Just do a search for your state name and the word film and see what comes up. If you don't get much from that add one of the words above. Sometimes those sites have casting info especially when a production prefers to hire locals as extras.

Be prepared for long hours, no respect, and to hurry up and wait! Well, it will differ on each set, but hopefully you'll meet some great people and have some good experiences along the way.

good luck!

Answer 2

Absolutely, happens all the time. A director will realize they need extra actors and do an open call, pick people based on whether they have the right look. You'll be paid for it of course, but you probably won't get credit, extras rarely do.