How to make money while rubbing shoulders with TV’s rich and famous | Personal Finance | Finance

You may have been watching a film or TV show, or have even seen the Ricky Gervais show Extras and thought, do all these people in the backgrounds of TV and films get paid to be there?

The answer is yes, generally they do – on professional productions anyway. Then you might wonder, is the money good enough to consider trying this?

Extras or SAs (Supporting Artists) are paid to fill out the backgrounds in TV shows or films that need crowd scenes, passers-by, pub regulars and so forth.

Generally, an SA won’t have a featured or speaking role, although you can get these: their job is to blend into the background and seem like they’re part of the scene unfolding in the foreground.

That said, you can gain the odd extra role with a speaking line, for which you get paid more – that’s up to Casting.

MoneyMagpie.com spoke to Yorkshire film director Miles Watts, who has directed four feature films, years worth of multi-national commercials and shorts.

Miles said: “The respect I have for SAs skyrocketed after needing to work with them on my own productions. For one film I needed zombies, so we put out a casting call and were greeted with dozens of willing folk happy to be slavered in fake, sticky blood and shamble through various shots.

“For a more serious feature film, we needed a dog walker and a police officer in the background, and we chose two SAs who looked the part and were good at, well, standing around looking like a dog walker and a police officer.”

“It’s important to understand that either of those shots, and therefore those SAs, might not make it into the final movie, which is nothing personal.

“But usually because the edit was too long, or something in the shot wasn’t quite right. As a director/editor, we don’t pick the shots in which the SAs are doing their best takes: we tend to focus on the lead actors and the scene as a whole, while the extras are just that: extra detail that you shouldn’t notice unless they’re picking their nose.

“The camera crew will get a lot of what they call ‘coverage’ of extras, most of which we don’t need, but which covers them in the edit… which is why it’s called coverage, I guess!”

So how does one become an extra? Well, there are various factors to consider. Below, we explore the various things you should keep in mind if this is something you’d like to explore.

Contact a talent agency

One way to get work as an SA is to go along to a local casting call (check socials or your local newspaper) or sign up to an agency.

An agency will require photos of you and a biography, with front, side and back pictures of you with no makeup, plain enough clothes and a clear expression: sort of like taking a passport photo. This way, the talent agency will be able to see what you look like. Be honest with your photos, because you may just have the exact look they’re going for depending on the project: being the size you are with the hairstyle you have (although sometimes you may be asked if you’re amenable to changing your appearance) could be exactly what they need.

Do some research into the best UK talent agencies. Some of these include:

Google around and make sure the agency you apply to is legit, and adheres to the laws of talent work in the UK. As an agency worker, you have the same rights as other employees and workers to: get paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, to not have any deductions from your pay that are not legal. To be paid on time and by the agreed method.

Once you’re signed up to the agency, you’ll have to wait for opportunities to come your way, which is the shaky part of being an SA. If you stay signed on with your talent agency, you may be surprised how often you get emails asking you to try out for several big productions – we’re talking BIG Hollywood films with huge stars, and new TV shows for Netflix and the BBC.

Costume fitting – what you need to know

After putting your name down, you’ll be invited, if they’re keen on you, to a costume fitting, probably in a local warehouse which will be full of very nice people rolling large metal rails containing huge amounts of clothes. You’ll look around and start to see just what goes into making a production involving crowds of people, and it might make your head spin.

But your job is to do whatever the costume people say, as you are measured and photographed and squeezed into various hats, suits, waistcoats or dresses. The costumers will want to see if you look right for the scene or scenes you’re in, and whether you’d be better suited (pun intended) to play a miner, a grocer, or a lord or lady. Or a zombie!

Once that fitting is over, you’ll be contacted by the production to let you know if you’re needed and the whens and wheres – and of course they’ll now have all your details. You’re on their books now!

Before the shoot, sometimes JUST before the shoot, you’ll be contacted by email to confirm the shoot dates and the scenes you’ve been put down for. Try and respond immediately, whether you can make it or not, as the production will have a lot of people to organise. If you can’t make it, it helps to let them know.

Day of shooting 

Ideally, you’ll need to drive to the shooting locations, which are usually near-ish where you live (once they know your details) but frequently in the middle of nowhere, and the start and finish times often leave a lot to be desired.

The longest shoot day can start at 5am and end in the early hours of the next day, for which you will be paid overtime, but it will probably be a long, uncomfortable day where you’ll have to wear a false beard or tight suit (again, depending on the production and the costume fitting you’ll have already gone through.)

A few last words from Miles: “You’ll be answerable to firstly the Costume and Makeup Departments, where you’ll be tousled and buttoned into your outfit, then to an Assistant Director who’ll spend a lot of time speaking into a radio and ushering you back and forth from set to make sure you don’t wander off.

And you can’t make a lot of noise on set between takes either, or you’ll incur the wrath of the 1st AD, who are scary by nature and necessity! (it’s one of the hardest film set jobs).”

After a few goes through the blocking – which is where the actors and extras work out who’s standing and walking where – it might be relayed to one group of SAs that they aren’t moving fast enough through the scene, or too fast, and some tweaks of the camera will be required. That will be your day, basically: being told what to do, do it again, and again, lots of waiting around, then repeat the process.

One thing: you’re NOT allowed to have your phone on set, so you can’t sit around texting between takes, and there’ll often be long periods of time where you’re sitting on set or in a trailer with nothing to do.

So bring a book for the break room. And DON’T take any candid snaps on set, or post anything online, or you’ll get yourself into some legal trouble! That said, a lot of locations are so remote that there’s no phone reception anyway. So again, bring that book. Or some knitting.

There IS the camaraderie of the other SAs however, and you will make some good pals on set. You’ll be nipped and tucked and combed and glued into your costume throughout the day, and your legs will be killing you by the end of the day – and all for often not making it into the final cut.

Getting paid to be an extra

On the professional film and TV shoots, you will of course get paid for all of the above: for costume fittings and any extra time spent on set, and it should be paid when the company says it will be.

The pay for an SA in the UK is currently about £50-100/$100-150 per day. If it’s hourly you’ll get paid minimum wage (or similar) but this is never an hourly job: they’ll likely need you for extended periods of time because filmmaking is not an exact science, despite the best efforts of the shoot schedule!

So the money seems pretty good for a side job but not as a main career, as you’re at the mercy of whatever productions are running.

Covid was disastrous for the film and TV industry but it’s slowly coming back: these days you’ll HAVE to be Covid-compliant on set, so that means doing a home test before and after you’ve been on set (and it’s your duty to tell the production if you catch Covid before or during the shoot); using the hand-san provided, and generally being careful and compliant.

It’s also vital to note that half of what you earn could potentially be spent on your travel costs. Plus, the schedules are often mercilessly last-minute and inflexible, so if you have a regular job or family commitments, it’s very hard to fit SA work into your monthly schedule. If you fancy it though, and you ideally have your own car, you may want to look into it.