I was told when starting my career as an actor to do extra work, but not to do it a lot . The idea is to get on film sets, see how they work. Following that up I was also told to not do it a lot. Its ok when you are just starting out, but use it more so as a stepping stone and to not over load your resume with extra work. "You don't want to be known only as an extra. Learn from the experience, and use to to get more supporting roles until you are able to get a lead. The idea is after you do extra work a few times ( which can pay fairly well) you kind of get the lay of the land, but once you get some experience move on. I agree and disagree with this. I know a lot of people who actually make a good living just doing Extra work in Pittsburgh. They also get decent jobs as a spokes person in commercials, or supporting roles. You wanna impress the extra's casting, let them get to know you. But do you want to be a full time extra, well that is debatable.
I recently answered a facebook ad from a film maker by the name of Maurice Waters Jr, he was looking for a few extras to be in a music video. Maurice owns and operates a videography company called the Brand. He shoots weddings, music videos, you name it. More importantly... he is very good at what he does, has a good attention to detail and is very, very nice! I had met Maurice about a year earlier, when I worked at Gold Coast and we rented out Auditoriums to people he and his wife came and watched a film. They were very nice. So I answered his ad! Why not, I'll be an extra, I had nothing else going on that day and figured it would be an excellent networking opportunity. It Was!
The music video was for Tee Hubb's song God Tough. A catchy song that is well produced and available on Apple Music and Spotify. I would be playing a person in a hazmat suit. WHAT?! But Will, you are an actor! You wanna show your face, it's your money maker, you wanna be seen! Not necessarily. Again I did it more so for the fun of it, to network, to keep fresh and do something new. I know a lot of actors that would hear that and say, whoa no thank you. Not everyone would say that... but some have a star mentality to them. Nothing wrong with that. All depends on the situation and opportunity at hand.
Personally I had a blast and felt it was a great opportunity to network and hopefully work with this crew of people again. Maurice was such a great director. Very kind, his direction was simple and to the point. Tee was very sweet and talented. Leigh Anne Johnson was there taking BTS photos and has a bit part as a reporter and was very kind. Last but not least were Tally and Amina ( the dog). Tally is a dog trainer and Amina is one of his trainees. Boy, let me tell you he had that dog trained! It was great working with these like minded individuals, they were super nice and more importantly had an excellent sense of humor which made the shoot fly by.
The place we shot was an old Recycling Center... really spooky. I wanna shoot a short horror film in there. It looked like something out of the video game Fall Out. I attached a few photos of the set. I'd love to do like an Escape From New York type short in here. The only issue I foresee is that you'd need a lot of batteries for your lights. I did not take many photographs as I wanted to be in the moment and not interrupt shooting but the place was just a treasure trove and just dying to be used for a horror film of some sort. Maybe a tribute to Romero is in order soon... hmm.
So even though you don't see my face, I am proud of what we all accomplished together. The music video is very professional, sleek. It looks amazing. It can be seen down below.
So I leave you with this... regardless of what people say... if you are presented with an opportunity that you feel in your gut is good but maybe it doesn't pay, or you aren't in the forefront, etc but you could benefit from other things... take it. You never know what may come from it. Check out The Brand here... they are great! http://thebranddigitalmedia.com/about-us
As for me, It's early in the AM. I've got some paperwork to do. Hey! Let's talk soon!
Keep being Creative!
- Wilby