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April 10, 2002
Wrangler I also had an
Wrangler
I also had an opportunity to do a little work on a commercial in the city. My job was to be the extras wrangler for a Tiger Beer commercial. I had to get up by 4:30am to be there by 5:30. Holy Hell!!! I couldn't believe it but I actually made it on time. What followed was a 13 hour day of shepherding and being responsibles for extras. The shoot was kind of fun. It was all location so we were filming in and around crowds of Saturday Madison Avenue shoppers. It's funny to see people stop and ask what's going on. I do the same thing when I see something filming. There is such an energy on set that is so fulfilling...but there is also ...
This weird caste system. It's sad but true. You would think that people in such an artistic industry would be more karmically in tune but no go. Extras are at the low end of the totem pole. I, being the wrangler, was a short step higher. Some people get off on treating people like dirt. Extras are an easy target because they are usually easy to get, severely underpaid, and eager to be as useful as possible. One thing I have no tolerance for is disrepect from people who are essentially on the same team.
The flip side of this is the extras. After awhile it becomes sort of comical. I have been an extra so I know how it feels. You want to do well and you want to be ready in case you get that big break. You want to prove that you are a professional and that you can be trusted with more than just being living scenery. It's a tough job. You often work 13 hour days and have the privilege of being herded around, not told anything, and working more for the "experience" than any real monetary compensation. Many of the extras were trying to work me a little bit. Get in my good graces. See if I could get them a chat with such and such a person. I work for the Background company that got them the job so they were trying to get a leg up there too. "I also have a Nurse's outfit", " I just did such and such". And there is the way extras talk with each other. Talking the game. "When I did extra work on X movie I met Y star and he was so nice/awful/idiotic." It becomes a sort of show down about who has done more work, worked with more stars, come closest to making it...etc etc. That said, I so enjoyed meeting them all. Though all artists, they had such a diverse history. There were people at all levels of talent from all walks. Some wanted a career, some just wanted to have fun being in "the movies".
Very idiosynchratic. On the whole, I loved doing it and really did enjoy the extras with which I wrangled. When they left I felt a little as if I were losing a family. It was a very interesting day after which I treated myself and man living in a cardboard box to dinner and splurged on taking a taxi to the bus. It was also an exhausting day.
Posted by mermu at April 10, 2002 12:36 AM
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