Do you need an agent to become an extra?

Question

If not, how do you go about finding a job as one?

Everyone who answers helpfully gets a thumbs up!

Answer 1

No, extras do not have agents. If you live in Los Angeles or NY there are companies that you go through. These are for LA:
http://www.centralcasting.org/LA/actors/registration.html
http://billdancecasting.com/
http://extrasaccess.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 it, 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. If you're under 18 and in LA, you can go through http://www.kidsmanagement.com/kids.html

*Central also does NY.

For anywhere else, you can see if your state has a film alliance / commission / society or whatever your state calls theirs (some have more than one). Sometimes they post audition information for projects filming locally and/or they may have info for who does extras casting. Just do a web search for your state name and the word film and see what comes up, then explore the sites thoroughly and see what you find.

good luck!

Answer 2

never pay to be cast for anything. and no you dont need an agent to be an extra. a legit agent will not ask you for money. they get paid when you get paid.

Answer 3

No you sign up with Central Casting.

Answer 4

i read somewhere that beginners shouldnt use an agent because by the time they find one itll pretty much be too late once you get your name out there and everything normally a good agent would come you.
:P

Answer 5

not really but it helps because they can probably find you more gigs than if you tried yourself,