BEHIND THE SCREENBy Sana Ahmed
Online writer
The scene is set: a crowd waving American flags impatiently awaits their president on the steps of a majestic looking church. It is a chilly fall evening, but his countrymen and women stand unfazed and can’t wait to catch a glimpse of their beloved leader. His motorcade finally arrives. He elegantly steps out of his car to greet the crowd. After some brief nods, handshakes and waves, he proceeds inside the church to address a gathering.
Starring Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland, the preceding was the setting of a scene from Hollywood’s 2006 blockbuster, The Sentinel. Contrary to what was portrayed, it wasn’t fall and the location was certainly not an American city. In fact, the crowd waving American flags was largely Canadian and was told to dress in fall attire on what was in fact a hot and humid summer evening in Regent Park, Toronto.
Such crowds, typically known as extras in the business, are a necessary aspect of any production. Extras aren’t recognizable faces, but in films like Cinderella Man and Titanic, they constitute a huge part of filmmaking. Usually appearing in non-speaking roles, extras require little to no acting experience. While they don’t attract any major publicity, chances are that there is at least one extra filling the screen with background action in literally every film, television show or commercial.
In recent years, since Toronto has become the hotbed for Hollywood filming, a large number of talent agencies have propped up to cater to the needs of casting directors.
Owner of Melissa Lee Talent Agency Inc, Melissa Lee says, “I am surprised how little credit background extras get in the business. Even the background casting director is hardly given any credit at the end of the movie.”
Lee sometimes spends hours for a fitting on a period film. People normally think that the job of a background talent agency is to send a whole bunch of people to shoots, whereas this might not always be the case, as copious amounts of time and effort are put into the process.
One such extra that appeared in The Sentinel is 23-year-old Lianne Tripp. “I’ve been acting for years,” she says. “I did a minor in drama at university and being an extra has given me an inside look of what happens on sets.”
There are two main categories of extras – unionized and non-unionized. Tripp, like many performers, was not a member of ACTRA – a Canadian union representing performers in the media. Being an ACTRA member can affect extras in terms of pay and food they receive on set. Performers can become members of ACTRA only after they accumulate a certain number of acting hours in a year. Another way of becoming an ACTRA apprentice is through upgrades, which usually happen once an extra gets to say a line.
An extra sometimes means being just a number on a big set. When called to set, they can work as little as 15 minutes or up to nine or ten hours. As with any job, extras get paid, but how much they make differs as pay and scheduling vary depending on the film’s budget and whether an extra is a union member. Wages usually start from $9.50 per hour for a non-union member on film and T.V. sets. If an extra – union or non-union – is cast in a commercial which is then aired on major American broadcast channels, it’s possible that he or she can make big bucks usually ranging in the thousands.
Alissa Ourokova who has been working in the industry since 2001 started off with doing background work. Unlike Tripp, since the time she started, Ourokova has become a full member of ACTRA. “Obviously, a background performer is lowest on the food chain, but that comes with the territory,” she says. “I started out as being a background extra, but now I also work with a principal agent and I get a lot more roles.”
Tripp, who has been an extra on several films, got into the business through an independent agent. She says it’s a great way for anyone to make extra money. While on set, Tripp says she met a lot of new immigrants who were there precisely because of this reason. Tripp says that there is hierarchy on set. “In certain cases, extras are definitely not treated as actors. They’re treated as how you’d treat a crowd of people watching a concert.”
Even though they aren’t given any preferential treatment, doing extra does have its perks. “I get to meet people from different backgrounds. There’s a great camaraderie that happens between extras,” says Lianne.
Extra work appeals to all kinds of people, but the chances of being discovered depend on the ambition for future aspirations of an extra. For example, Hollywood heavyweight and Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro first appeared as an extra in the early eighties in Madonna’s La Isla Bonita video. But making it in the business requires determination, dedication and talent. Especially in Toronto, where filming for Hollywood movies usually occurs in the summer months, it’s not feasible for an actor to simply rely on extra work for a living.
But what is certain is that without extras, film, commercial and T.V. productions cannot amount to anything. Extras are the backbone to films because without them it’s impossible to make scenes look realistic.
Courtesy of Lianne Tripp
