…even just to be an extra. I’d love to see myself in a film viewed all over the world. It would also be a great conversation piece.
You don’t give a location so I’ll assume you are in the US.
Here is just one site which gives details on ‘extra’ work. The article is preceded by several links for projects currently casting. One film will be shot in New Delhi so you may wish to give that one a pass unless, of course, you are in New Delhi anyway, in which case you might like to give it a go.
If you secure employment via any source I have provided to you, or through any future links supplied by me, I will require 10 per cent of your gross earnings. I trust you find these terms acceptable and I look forward to representing you in your new career.
C. Guevara, Agent to the Stars.
That’s the key. Get an agent. There are some agents who specialise in Extras casting, but most of them run the gamut and cover all sorts.
It also helps to live in a place where movies (or TV) get made. They ain’t gonna fly you in.
I live in NJ
Well, the first step in overcoming a problem is admitting you have one.
While there’s a thriving film industry in New York City, if you want regular extra work you really need to be in Hollywood.
Be warned that being an extra is extremely tedious and you can earn more by drunkenly panhandling by the freeway.
You are entering one of the most crowded professions in the World. :eek:
Given that trained actors spend the vast majority of their time out of work, please be prepared for disappointment as a mere extra.
However the suggestions of getting an agent and being prepared to travel to work are sound.
If you want to be unorthodox, you can try another route.
Alfred Hitchcock and Peter Jackson have both appeared in films (just become a world-class director first 
).
Stan Lee has appeared in the Fantastic Four movies (just because he invented the characters and wrote the comics 
)
JK Rowling could undoubtedly have appeared in any Harry Potter film if she wanted to (just write the best-selling novel of the film)
I have an aquaintance who works on the side as an extra in New York. As the work is infrequent and only pays abouy $100 a day, she mostly does it for fun.
You may have seen her as “random person in the background” on The Sopranos or “college girl with backpack walking to class” on The O.C.
I think this is more suited for CS than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
You don’t need an agent to be an extra, and you probably cannot get an agent without first belonging to either SAG or AFTRA. And you usually cannot belong to either SAG or AFTRA without first being in some film and/or TV show in a part that is eligible to allow membership in SAG or AFTRA, which you normally cannot get unless you already belong to SAG or AFTRA.
There’s the Catch-22 of the TV/film industry. If you really want a SAG card, there are ways around the standard procedures and it helps a LOT if you know someone on set. You don’t need one to be an extra though.
If you’re in NJ, there are probably decent opportunities in the NYC area for extra work. Look up “casting agencies” in the metro NY phone book, or google it. Find out what their requirements are. As a start, they will ask for a acting resume (it’s okay if you’ve got no real experience) and a headshot. Some places deal in paper only, some in electronic only, some want both. Then you register with the agencies and when they have a need for extras that fit your age/sex/look, they usually email and initiate next steps.
FYI, they don’t like to be bothered by people not following the rules of who contacts whom and when.
You only make about $100 for about 12 hours and it can be fun but it’s not glamorous work.
If you would be satisfied with being an extra, you don’t need an agent: just contact a casting agency and say you’re interested in extra work. You’ll have to give them a picture, but as an extra, you don’t even need a fancy posed portrait. Many agencies will accept good snapshots for extras casting.
Keep in mind that, as others have said, being an extra can entail tedious work for several days only to find you aren’t seen at all in the final film, or are only visible as a tiny dot for a fraction of a second. At best you may be recognizable as someone walking by in a crowd scene for a second or two. It bears very little relation to acting, and by definition will not involve any spoken lines.
If this is the extent of your ambition, and you have the time and patience, and don’t need to make a living while doing the work, go for it. You have a fair chance of getting into a movie or two.
But if you want more (a speaking role, for instance), your chances of “success” (in the sense of just getting into a film at that level) drop significantly, and you will need an agent, and professional publicity stills, acting lessons, etc., etc., etc. It will be dramatically more difficult to realize that ambition.
Stan Lee has had a cameo in most/all of the big-screen adaptations of Marvel properties. I think that FF2 is the first time he’s appeared as himself. Usually he’s something like a hot dog vendor in a street scene.
Definitely don’t spend a lot of money on headshots just for extra work. Do some research on what headshots look like (you’d be surprised at how many people think a blurry picture from 10 feet away is a headshot!) and take the pictures yourself or have a friend do it. Esp. if you know a little Photoshop and can touch them up, that’s all you’re going to need.
As long as they can be printed to 8x10 and show your face clearly they’ll be fine for extra casting. Note that you can be a more glamorous you, a more rosy-skinned you, a no-pimples you, but the picture has to be recognizable as what you really look like. Not so touched up or coated with makeup that people can’t recognize it’s the real-life you.
Good advice here. I’ve been an extra in movies before, and while I didn’t follow this advice to the letter, it would work for most cases.
In my case, I have something else they want: a specific look. They shoot many Westerns out here in the Canadian west, and they often need “Grizzly Adams” types for background characters. I fit the bill; I have long hair and a beard, and can look like a mountain man or prospector or similar if that’s what they need. So if I get a call, I can count of three days or so of wandering around the prairie or sitting in a saloon, and getting paid for it, while the cameras roll.
Now for the bad news: it’s not glamourous, nor is it a way to get rich. And the “don’t call us, we’ll call you” advice holds true, so you work at their pleasure, not yours. I have met one person who has made a living from it, but he is a bit of a special case; he just seems to have the look that allows him to be a western saloonkeeper in one film, a Dickensian character in a period piece, and a modern businessman in another movie. But I don’t. Anyway, they are long days (generally 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.), the wardrobe is ill-fitting, and you basically stand around a lot waiting for something to happen. Bring a good book.
Not trying to dissuade you at all, just letting you know the realities of the situation. Follow the advice above, and if you have everything they want and they do indeed want you, go ahead–you’ll probably have fun (I do). But play by their rules and treat it like a hobby. I think that if you treat it like anything else, you’ll be disappointed.
Oh, on the resume, if you have any kind of weird talents or experience, put it down. That’s often what will get you called. I know someone who got a part in a horror movie based mostly on the fact that she could scream VERY loudly, for a very long time. If you can juggle, ride a horse, ride a unicycle, speak French, know ASL, know how to fence, can do gymnastics, know ballroom dancing, have your own white tie & tails, have spectacular legs, can wiggle your ears, and so on, put it down. This might be what gets you called in.
You could join the military and hope to get stationed someplace someone decides to film 
I had some friends who were stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco during the filming The Presidio. They’ll use actual soldiers and if I squint, I can spot one or two people I knew, marching around in the background.
Not a Marvel property but Stan played himself in Mallrats.
Something working in my favor…it seems like most major film stars came out of NJ. I’ll start a thread in Cafe Society for this.
Thanks a lot for the advice everyone.