 |
| What does it mean to get your foot in the door? |
Perhaps it sounds rather harsh but it is totally true. He was signing up to be a background extra, this was not some acting agent who was going to put him up for big roles that would make him famous - he would be no more than just some figure in the background that is designed to fill up space with human bodies but not draw any attention to himself - a human prop. That is quite the opposite of acting, when you step onto the stage or in front of the camera and you try your best to entertain and captivate your audience with your acting, dancing and singing skills.
To understand what is a background artiste/extra is, let's first watch this popular Kitkat ad as a case study.
Cashier who eats the Kitkat = the lead, the hero, aka featured artiste
The old lady customer at 0:38 to 0:41 with the basket = walk-on artiste (ie. recognizable but not the lead, only in a supporting role)
Anyone else seen in the ad (other customers, other cashiers etc) = background extras
Now these definitions are very important because they determine just how much money you get paid. So in this British ad, the background artistes would be paid about £80 to £90 a day. The old lady would get in the region of £200 to £250 (not bad for a day's work) whilst the cashier would get several thousands depending on how long the ad runs, what medium it is used in (TV, internet, movies, events etc) and what territories the ad is used in. For this ad, I imagine the actor would have been paid in the region of about £10,000 (S$20,470) - but that's just a ball park figure.
 |
| Do you want to play the lead? |
Now allow me to explain how the actors would be selected for these roles. The Kitkat cashier and the old lady customer would have had to audition for their parts. A casting brief would have been sent out on the Casting Networks and Spotlight pages, inviting agents to submit agents to submit actors who fit the casting brief A shortlist would then be compiled by the casting director based on the submissions and the actors would be invited to come in to audition for the part. As this is a high profile ad, it would be highly likely that there would be two, possibly three rounds of auditions to find the right man to play the part of the Kitkat cashier.
What about the background artistes then? Well, this is how it works. After all the main roles are cast, rehearsals planned, everything from props to costume to special effects to location is set for the shoot, someone from production, probably the 2nd assistant director (AD) would then get in touch with an agency who supplies background artistes/extras and place an order for some background artistes. In this ad, I counted a total of 7 or 8 background artistes - I can't even give you a precise number as sometimes only a part of a body comes into shot like an arm or a back, so I cannot tell if it was the same person from a different angle. But you get the idea - they are there to give the impression that this is a normal, functioning supermarket with some shoppers, this ad would seem rather strange if the supermarket appeared to be totally deserted. They are not part of the plot, they are not important to the story line - they are just human props.
 |
| Actors have to attend auditions. |
So I imagine the 2nd AD would write an email like this to his/her contact at the background agency: "Hi, I need 8 extras to fill a supermarket scene next Monday - a mix of adults, ordinary looking, people you might find at a supermarket. One day shoot in (insert location of supermarket), approximately from 8 am to 6 pm. Usual rates apply. Please confirm."
The booker at the extras agency would then send a text or email out to the extras who are registered to work with them. The text or meail would read, "Next Monday, looking for 8 adults to fill a supermarket scene, 8 am to 6 pm, usual rates apply, reply if interested" The booker will then try to furnish the client with a mix of male and female shoppers, some older some younger, maybe some of ethnic minority for diversity. Note that there would be no audition for the background extras, since they are not required to do any kind of acting or performance. So you see, the background extras are not subjected to any kind of 'selection process' at all (they merely put themselves forward and it's often first come first serve) - they bypass the entire audition process but are paid far less than actors who have been selected after they have gone through the audition process. By that token, it is very easy to find work as a background extra.
 |
| It is important to understand the industry you want to work in |
So if you want to ever have the chance to play the lead (or at least have a speaking part) in such a production, you need to go through that whole process of auditioning for the part. You cannot turn up at such a production as a background extra and hope to be 'promoted' to a lead role because the director suddenly takes a fancy to you - that never ever happens. Get real! No, all the main parts have been cast, all the important decisions have been made even before the 2nd AD books the extras, so there is no way an extra can ever be 'promoted' like that.
I know what some people may say - you never know, don't be so pessimistic, you are already on set with famous actors and directors walking around, you never know how you may be discovered. Yeah right, I say, fucking bullshit. Let me tell you why this is a dumb theory. Yes there may be directors and famous actors walking around a film set - but they are busy focusing at the task at hand: shooting the film, the programme, getting the next scene done, planning what you have to do in the next 24 hours - you are NOT looking for the next big star to play the lead in your new film. No, because that function has been already outsourced to the casting director who uses the audition process cast for parts.
 |
| Limpeh during a rehearsal |
Let me tell you why people believe in such ridiculous stories about 'being discovered' - everyone wants a short cut to success and fame. Bullshit I say, get real. They think they can bypass the entire casting/auditioning process (which is extremely difficult) and simply be 'discovered' by chance whilst doing a something mundane like walking down the street or hanging around a film set doing nothing. No, it doesn't work like that - perhaps one or two lucky people may have managed to get 'lucky breaks' like that, but this is a very 守株待兔 attitude. This Chinese idiom is used to describe someone who does not work for something but instead sits around and waits for something to happen. You want to become a big star - you have to work hard to be noticed: you must attend plenty of auditions, establish a presence on Youtube, you get yourself a good agent, you network with relevant industry professionals, you maintain a presence on social media to raise your profile, there is so much that you can proactively do to help yourself: but you do not leave things to chance and hope for good things to happen to you.
Let's take one of these activities for example: establishing a presence on Youtube. It is an opportunity for you to show off what you are best at doing, it is a platform for you to showcase your talents. Whether you can sing, dance, play the guitar, juggle, tell jokes or do anything else to amuse and entertain the Youtube generation, just film yourself and upload it to Youtube. Let's go back to the Kitkat ad that we talked about earlier. At 0:38 to 0:41, just as the old lady with the basket approaches the cashier, there is a man pushing a shopping trolley in the background. Maybe he can sing, maybe he can dance, maybe he can do incredible kungfu, maybe he speaks ten languages, maybe he can do parkour, maybe he is a really funny comedian - but we will never know because background artistes are never hired to do anything that requires any element of 'performance'. No, more demanding roles like that would have to go through the more formal casting/audition procedures. Alas for this man, he is hardly going to impress anyone with his trolley pushing skills.
I am merely being very pragmatic here - if you have a genuine desire to become a famous, successful actor, then you need to do something that will best showcase your talents to the important decision makers in the industry. You need to plan strategically and work with the right people, put yourself in the right places at the right time in order to maximize your chances in what is a very tough industry. Doing background work whilst hoping to be noticed is hardly a strategy that has a very high chance of success. You need to at least attend the auditions if you want to have half a chance to succeed - and if you do not even attend the auditions, then you have virtually no chance at all. Don't waste your time barking up the wrong tree by doing crap that will not get you noticed.
Let me put it this way: if you were to buy a lottery ticket, then maybe you will get lucky and win a prize. But to even stand a chance, you need to invest in buying that lottery ticket. That's what attending auditions are about - each audition is like a lottery ticket. But background extras do not get to audition at all, they do not even have a lottery ticket to begin with. So imagine someone who is too cheap to buy a lottery ticket, hanging around a bank, hoping that someone coming out of the bank will be generous and give them a $100 note. (Mind you, there are always beggars hanging around the NatWest Bank on Dean Street W1 near where I live.) Sounds crazy, right? But you'll be amazed how many people are dumb enough to believe that it may happen. Just because you hang around a bank doesn't mean that people are going to give you free money - just because you hang around a film set as a background extra doesn't mean the director is going to give you a big role. Wake up and smell the coffee - there are no short cuts in life, certainly not in this industry.
I entered showbiz late in my life - I left a lucrative career in finance to give showbiz a shot, so there was a huge opportunity cost for me. I wasn't prepared to mess around, wasting my time and my youth, I didn't have any time to bark up the wrong tree. I wanted to know what was the fastest, most efficient way for me to get quality acting work. I wasn't prepared to try something that may not yield any results for me quickly and I certainly did not leave finance to become nothing more than a pathetic background extra in a film - fuck that shit, no fucking way. I didn't want to be remembered as "that man pushing the trolley at 0:38 in that Kitkat ad", no I was either going to do some meaningful acting or I was going to go back to work full time in finance. No disrespect to the guy pushing the trolley, but fuck that, if that was all the acting work I could that, then I would say, forget acting, I'm going to do something else with my life!
Recently I had talked about people who are conditioned to be optimistic without even understanding the situation - their optimism is a reflex action based on a desire to encourage, rather than anything else. So when I told my friend on Facebook that he was wasting his time doing background work, I was attacked by another one of his friends called Walter for being so pessimistic. Walter claimed that there is no one way to get started as an actor and that there was nothing wrong with doing some background work for it was a foot in the door. What a load of bullshit this Walter was spouting - then it transpires that Walter has been working in the restaurant trade in Indonesia and the Philippines, he couldn't possibly be further removed from the world of showbiz in the West. Good grief. See what I mean about idiotic people who try to be positive and encouraging despite knowing jack shit about the topic they are talking about?
With any industry, there are always more effective ways to get into that industry and climb the career ladder. Sure it pays to be innovative and try something different once in a while - but before you do something like that, ask someone who has been in industry, "will this work? Is this a good idea? Will this help me get ahead in the game? Will it be worth my while doing this? Or am I just wasting my time?" Ultimately, you need to check if your strategy will influence the key decision makers in your industry - maybe making an iconic Youtube video will get you noticed, but being the man who pushes the trolley in a Kitkat ad won't do the trick. Allow me to finish with a true story that would be funny if it wasn't tragic at the same time. Please watch this ad for a property investment firm that I starred in back in 2011:
This was filmed in the Gilgamesh restaurant in Camden. Hit the pause button at 0:22 and may I draw your attention to the background extra seated on the left hand side of your screen (with half his face obscured by '主席先生'). He appears again 0:27 and very briefly at 1:12 - now if I didn't point him out to you, would you have noticed him? No, I know half of you right now would be scowling at my very strong Singaporean accent and how my 'colleague' Mae has an extremely strong HK accent whilst 主席先生 just sounds plain weird when he tries to say "哪个城市?" Mind you, the actor seated to Mae's right is Japanese and doesn't even speak a word of Mandarin.
But I digress. Let's focus on the background extra who appears first at 0:22 - we'll call him Mr 22 for now. He was so keen to show that he could act that he got into a passionate argument with his fellow background extra when the camera was pointed in his general direction. We could all barely contain our laughter as 主席先生 was so being upstaged by Mr 22's super enthusiastic 'acting' - I swear he was waving his arms in the air at one stage and almost stood up. He was clearly trying to draw attention to himself as he was so excited about being filmed. The director had to yell cut and tell the guy to calm down, sit back and act normally. Oh no, but Mr 22 argued with the director. "Chinese people are passionate people! You go into a Chinese restaurant and there will be people talking loudly, having arguments, being excited!"
The director pointed out to Mr 22 that we were recording dialogue and that he should not say a word, or draw any attention to himself. There was tea on the table, so the director told Mr 22, "just drink your tea when we are filming, okay?" We thought Mr 22 had gotten the message, just drink your cup of tea - what could possibly go wrong? So as the director yelled, "action!" We waited patiently for 主席先生 to deliver his lines but instead, we heard a loud slurp and Mr 22 exclaim, "哇!这茶确实很好喝!" (Wow, this tea is indeed delicious!") We were all laughing so hard the director could barely say 'cut'. Mr 22 was upset that nobody appreciated his spontaneous 'acting' efforts, that we were all laughing at him.
The director told him, "I told you to drink the tea, I didn't tell you to say anything about the tea, just drink it! What is so hard to understand about that?" Mr 22 then came up with all kinds of excuses again to try to justify his outburst about the tea - but the bottom line was, he really, really wanted to act, he wanted to be seen and heard in the ad. He didn't understand that as a background extra, nobody wanted to see him act. So finally, the director said to him, "Just sit in the chair, don't move, don't talk, don't drink the tea, don't touch anything on the table, don't make a sound, don't look around, don't move a muscle, just breathe and be as still as a statue. All you do is breathe. You think you can do that?"
The 2nd AD took him out of the room for a "chat" and they returned a few minutes later, with Mr 22 practically sulking. I don't know what was said to Mr 22, but I could see that he had been chastised and probably threatened with dismissal if he disrupted another take. He sat back down, pulled a long face and behaved himself for the rest of the shoot and did as he was told: he sat in the chair without moving. I've been acting for a long time: I have come across so many crazy characters over the years in showbiz and I have blogged about the people I've met - like Mr Baldy, and then there was the desperate Mr Wang in Prague, the two racists Calvo and Ziege, the HK and China team on the Snickers project, my Belgian colleagues in Liege, working with Tameka Small of TAR China Rush - well Mr 22 is another person I remember for all the wrong reasons. Alas, I do feel sorry for him you know.
The fact is, if Mr 22 wanted to act, he could have attended the audition and who knows? Given the fact that he does speak Mandarin, he could have gotten my part (given that my Mandarin isn't that great and I have such a strong Singaporean accent). Or he could have played the part of 主席先生 - but the fact that he came through the background extra route rather than the actor's route meant that he was never ever going to be 'promoted' to do an acting role despite his best efforts to try to act during the shoot. That's just not how it works in this industry - being a nuisance on set was not the ideal way to get yourself noticed by directors: Mr 22 only demonstrated that he couldn't follow basic instructions, was hard to work with and disruptive on set. Doing background extra work was never going to be a foot in the door for Mr 22.
Did I take Mr 22 aside and talk to him about this? Actually, I didn't but I did feel a bit sorry for him. So I gave him the opportunity to ask me for help - I went over to him, introduced myself and made friendly conversation. Instead of asking me important questions like, "how did you get a speaking part in this ad? Where did you find out about the auditions? How did you apply for the auditions? How do I find out about auditions like that?" No, instead he chose to criticize the quality of my Mandarin. I simply said, "Ah yes I know, I realize... I'm from Singapore, we do speak Mandarin with a rather strong accent there." And I left it at that - he had the opportunity to ask me for help but he chose not to and I wasn't going to offer it unless he asked me for it. I can't force my good advice upon him.
At the end of the day, I don't mean any disrespect to background extras - but it is what it is: an unskilled job at the end of the day, unlike actors who are highly prized for their acting ability. Background extras merely turn up as human props to fill a screen, such as to make a supermarket or restaurant look normal without drawing any attention to themselves: that is the polar opposite of actors who have to use their acting skill to captivate the audience and capture their attention. Mr 22 and the guy pushing the trolley in the Kitkat ad were hired to do just that - be no more than a blurry human figure in the background, you are not even supposed to notice they are there at all. Background extras never ever have lines, they never ever do any 'acting', they are meant to just fade into the background. If you're willing to do just that then you can earn a decent day's wage for doing surprisingly little. There are loads of people who are willing to do just that for a living (hey if you're unemployed and need paid work, this ain't bad at all - you don't need any skills apart from the ability to follow simple instructions. If you understand the deal - then fair enough, but if you really want to be an actor and play the lead, you are so barking up the wrong tree: don't waste your time doing activities that won't further your career.
So there you go. An actor is an actor, a background extra is but an extra - don't ever confuse the two and don't ever become a background extra if what you really want to do is act. Always make an effort to understand the industry you want to break into, learn the rules and find the most efficient way to succeed. Don't end up as frustrated and upset like Mr 22 when you see people like me getting the speaking parts whilst you're relegated to sitting very still in a chair in the background. There are no short cuts in life: if you want to succeed, then be prepared to work for the success you crave. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask away in the comments section below. Many thanks for reading.
 |
| Do you want to stand out from the crowd? Do you want to act? |
I am merely being very pragmatic here - if you have a genuine desire to become a famous, successful actor, then you need to do something that will best showcase your talents to the important decision makers in the industry. You need to plan strategically and work with the right people, put yourself in the right places at the right time in order to maximize your chances in what is a very tough industry. Doing background work whilst hoping to be noticed is hardly a strategy that has a very high chance of success. You need to at least attend the auditions if you want to have half a chance to succeed - and if you do not even attend the auditions, then you have virtually no chance at all. Don't waste your time barking up the wrong tree by doing crap that will not get you noticed.
Let me put it this way: if you were to buy a lottery ticket, then maybe you will get lucky and win a prize. But to even stand a chance, you need to invest in buying that lottery ticket. That's what attending auditions are about - each audition is like a lottery ticket. But background extras do not get to audition at all, they do not even have a lottery ticket to begin with. So imagine someone who is too cheap to buy a lottery ticket, hanging around a bank, hoping that someone coming out of the bank will be generous and give them a $100 note. (Mind you, there are always beggars hanging around the NatWest Bank on Dean Street W1 near where I live.) Sounds crazy, right? But you'll be amazed how many people are dumb enough to believe that it may happen. Just because you hang around a bank doesn't mean that people are going to give you free money - just because you hang around a film set as a background extra doesn't mean the director is going to give you a big role. Wake up and smell the coffee - there are no short cuts in life, certainly not in this industry.
 |
| Are you barking up the wrong tree? |
I entered showbiz late in my life - I left a lucrative career in finance to give showbiz a shot, so there was a huge opportunity cost for me. I wasn't prepared to mess around, wasting my time and my youth, I didn't have any time to bark up the wrong tree. I wanted to know what was the fastest, most efficient way for me to get quality acting work. I wasn't prepared to try something that may not yield any results for me quickly and I certainly did not leave finance to become nothing more than a pathetic background extra in a film - fuck that shit, no fucking way. I didn't want to be remembered as "that man pushing the trolley at 0:38 in that Kitkat ad", no I was either going to do some meaningful acting or I was going to go back to work full time in finance. No disrespect to the guy pushing the trolley, but fuck that, if that was all the acting work I could that, then I would say, forget acting, I'm going to do something else with my life!
Recently I had talked about people who are conditioned to be optimistic without even understanding the situation - their optimism is a reflex action based on a desire to encourage, rather than anything else. So when I told my friend on Facebook that he was wasting his time doing background work, I was attacked by another one of his friends called Walter for being so pessimistic. Walter claimed that there is no one way to get started as an actor and that there was nothing wrong with doing some background work for it was a foot in the door. What a load of bullshit this Walter was spouting - then it transpires that Walter has been working in the restaurant trade in Indonesia and the Philippines, he couldn't possibly be further removed from the world of showbiz in the West. Good grief. See what I mean about idiotic people who try to be positive and encouraging despite knowing jack shit about the topic they are talking about?
 |
| Are we socially conditioned to be encouraging and positive regardless of the situation? |
With any industry, there are always more effective ways to get into that industry and climb the career ladder. Sure it pays to be innovative and try something different once in a while - but before you do something like that, ask someone who has been in industry, "will this work? Is this a good idea? Will this help me get ahead in the game? Will it be worth my while doing this? Or am I just wasting my time?" Ultimately, you need to check if your strategy will influence the key decision makers in your industry - maybe making an iconic Youtube video will get you noticed, but being the man who pushes the trolley in a Kitkat ad won't do the trick. Allow me to finish with a true story that would be funny if it wasn't tragic at the same time. Please watch this ad for a property investment firm that I starred in back in 2011:
But I digress. Let's focus on the background extra who appears first at 0:22 - we'll call him Mr 22 for now. He was so keen to show that he could act that he got into a passionate argument with his fellow background extra when the camera was pointed in his general direction. We could all barely contain our laughter as 主席先生 was so being upstaged by Mr 22's super enthusiastic 'acting' - I swear he was waving his arms in the air at one stage and almost stood up. He was clearly trying to draw attention to himself as he was so excited about being filmed. The director had to yell cut and tell the guy to calm down, sit back and act normally. Oh no, but Mr 22 argued with the director. "Chinese people are passionate people! You go into a Chinese restaurant and there will be people talking loudly, having arguments, being excited!"
 |
| That is Mr 22 in the ad - he isn't recognizable. |
The director pointed out to Mr 22 that we were recording dialogue and that he should not say a word, or draw any attention to himself. There was tea on the table, so the director told Mr 22, "just drink your tea when we are filming, okay?" We thought Mr 22 had gotten the message, just drink your cup of tea - what could possibly go wrong? So as the director yelled, "action!" We waited patiently for 主席先生 to deliver his lines but instead, we heard a loud slurp and Mr 22 exclaim, "哇!这茶确实很好喝!" (Wow, this tea is indeed delicious!") We were all laughing so hard the director could barely say 'cut'. Mr 22 was upset that nobody appreciated his spontaneous 'acting' efforts, that we were all laughing at him.
The director told him, "I told you to drink the tea, I didn't tell you to say anything about the tea, just drink it! What is so hard to understand about that?" Mr 22 then came up with all kinds of excuses again to try to justify his outburst about the tea - but the bottom line was, he really, really wanted to act, he wanted to be seen and heard in the ad. He didn't understand that as a background extra, nobody wanted to see him act. So finally, the director said to him, "Just sit in the chair, don't move, don't talk, don't drink the tea, don't touch anything on the table, don't make a sound, don't look around, don't move a muscle, just breathe and be as still as a statue. All you do is breathe. You think you can do that?"
 |
| Mr 22 was told to sit as still as a statue. |
The 2nd AD took him out of the room for a "chat" and they returned a few minutes later, with Mr 22 practically sulking. I don't know what was said to Mr 22, but I could see that he had been chastised and probably threatened with dismissal if he disrupted another take. He sat back down, pulled a long face and behaved himself for the rest of the shoot and did as he was told: he sat in the chair without moving. I've been acting for a long time: I have come across so many crazy characters over the years in showbiz and I have blogged about the people I've met - like Mr Baldy, and then there was the desperate Mr Wang in Prague, the two racists Calvo and Ziege, the HK and China team on the Snickers project, my Belgian colleagues in Liege, working with Tameka Small of TAR China Rush - well Mr 22 is another person I remember for all the wrong reasons. Alas, I do feel sorry for him you know.
The fact is, if Mr 22 wanted to act, he could have attended the audition and who knows? Given the fact that he does speak Mandarin, he could have gotten my part (given that my Mandarin isn't that great and I have such a strong Singaporean accent). Or he could have played the part of 主席先生 - but the fact that he came through the background extra route rather than the actor's route meant that he was never ever going to be 'promoted' to do an acting role despite his best efforts to try to act during the shoot. That's just not how it works in this industry - being a nuisance on set was not the ideal way to get yourself noticed by directors: Mr 22 only demonstrated that he couldn't follow basic instructions, was hard to work with and disruptive on set. Doing background extra work was never going to be a foot in the door for Mr 22.
 |
| I have been in this industry for a long time. |
Did I take Mr 22 aside and talk to him about this? Actually, I didn't but I did feel a bit sorry for him. So I gave him the opportunity to ask me for help - I went over to him, introduced myself and made friendly conversation. Instead of asking me important questions like, "how did you get a speaking part in this ad? Where did you find out about the auditions? How did you apply for the auditions? How do I find out about auditions like that?" No, instead he chose to criticize the quality of my Mandarin. I simply said, "Ah yes I know, I realize... I'm from Singapore, we do speak Mandarin with a rather strong accent there." And I left it at that - he had the opportunity to ask me for help but he chose not to and I wasn't going to offer it unless he asked me for it. I can't force my good advice upon him.
At the end of the day, I don't mean any disrespect to background extras - but it is what it is: an unskilled job at the end of the day, unlike actors who are highly prized for their acting ability. Background extras merely turn up as human props to fill a screen, such as to make a supermarket or restaurant look normal without drawing any attention to themselves: that is the polar opposite of actors who have to use their acting skill to captivate the audience and capture their attention. Mr 22 and the guy pushing the trolley in the Kitkat ad were hired to do just that - be no more than a blurry human figure in the background, you are not even supposed to notice they are there at all. Background extras never ever have lines, they never ever do any 'acting', they are meant to just fade into the background. If you're willing to do just that then you can earn a decent day's wage for doing surprisingly little. There are loads of people who are willing to do just that for a living (hey if you're unemployed and need paid work, this ain't bad at all - you don't need any skills apart from the ability to follow simple instructions. If you understand the deal - then fair enough, but if you really want to be an actor and play the lead, you are so barking up the wrong tree: don't waste your time doing activities that won't further your career.
 |
| Do you really want to be an actor? |
So there you go. An actor is an actor, a background extra is but an extra - don't ever confuse the two and don't ever become a background extra if what you really want to do is act. Always make an effort to understand the industry you want to break into, learn the rules and find the most efficient way to succeed. Don't end up as frustrated and upset like Mr 22 when you see people like me getting the speaking parts whilst you're relegated to sitting very still in a chair in the background. There are no short cuts in life: if you want to succeed, then be prepared to work for the success you crave. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask away in the comments section below. Many thanks for reading.
|
| Oh Mr 22 who wants to be an actor... |
No comments:
Post a Comment