So you Wanna Be an Extra? Pat And I Can Help With That
If you’ve ever wanted to be an extra in a hit TV show, Saturday March 17th is a great opportunity.
By kncitom on March 8, 2018
If you’ve ever wanted to be an extra in a hit TV show, Saturday March 17th is a great opportunity. The producers of HBO’s hit series Big Little Lies is holding a casting call for extras for their upcoming season.
The show is shot in Monterey, so the casting call is taking place all day at the Seaside Embassy Suites, Ballroom D. Bring a 3×5 photo of yourself and a pen. They are looking for people of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and ages (6 year old minimum). If you’re chosen, you’ll get $96 for an eight hour day…but keep in mind you would need to be available to shoot day or night. Click here for more
And we can tell you first-hand: being an extra is easy! A few years back, Pat and I were extras on Reba’s hit TV show, in an episode called “Switch”, which featured Reba speed-dating to find a boyfriend. The “gig” was set up by our friend Melissa Peterman, who played Barbara Jean on the show after we asked her during a phone interview if she could pull a few strings. To our surprise, she did, and we got to not only be extras but we also broadcast from the set!
In the episode, Pat played a bartender, and I was (briefly) Reba’s speed dating partner. All we had to do was exactly what the director said…which I still had trouble with.
See, extras aren’t supposed to talk. Duh. But in the first take of my scene with Reba, when she says “enough about me, tell me about you…” I blurted out “Well…” That was all it took. Cut! I was then reminded in front of everyone of the rules. By the time they were ready to roll again my reddened face was mostly back to normal.
If you’ve never seen it, here’s the episode in its entirety. Pat makes his debut at the 5:38 mark. Me and my skunk-colored shirt, the 8:40 mark (and the extra in between “Cheyenne” and her husband is our old engineer and great friend Matt Greer, as a pretty convincing dinner customer)
–Tom
