[NEohioPAL] background actor

Tue Sep 2 21:18:52 PDT 2008

Well, first things first, in LA its more appropriately referred to as
"background work" or "background (extra)". This is where you don't have any
speaking parts but all movement and filling in for the actors. Next is to
contact Central Casting                                 (
www.centralcasting.org <http://www.centralcasting.org/>  ) , the proprietary
background casting house in town. For the last 80 years they have cast 60%
of the casting business, even Brad Pitt has passed through these doors
before being kicked off the set for...well I'll let you here about that once
you get to LA.(smile).
    There at Central Casting you'll pay $25.00 for the picture and
registration fee, which places your image and specs in the industry system
database. Once you do this then you'll have access to calling in daily and
checking the casting lines for the details looking for your character type.
You can also contact and sign up with any of the local calling services
(approx. 8-10 in town) to increase your chances of getting daily castings.
These calling services usually charge a monthly fee of about $30-60 per
month but are well worth it because they will call you for the casting
instead of you having to call in to Central Casting all day. These services
are great but should still call Central Casting daily to check for the shows
you might like to be on. Its almost like you are competing with your calling
service on who can cast you first, you or them but sometimes they can get
through to the casting directors (episodes/sitcoms/features/shorts) faster
and more efficiently, that's great if they can.
   Once you are cast from the hotline number from Central Casting or calling
service, you will then be given a details phone number that will provide you
with the location, time and attire to bring to the set. After arrival on the
set you will check in and follow the directions given to you. In most cases
there will be breakfast, lunch and dinner and there will be moments of
downtime in conjunction with the taping. Background work is usually anywhere
from 8-12 hours with overtime kicking in right after the 8th hour at time
and a half and then double time kicking in at the at the tenth hour so be
patient and understand that these hours are the norm in Hollywood taping.
     There will be plenty of actors on set working background from all
variations of life, so jump in and meet the people, make some new friends,
work on some monologues and bring a book and/or laptop and Ipod. Be very
professional, assertive and promt. Background is the beginning of your
acting experience in LA and this where you learn your patience and
discipline in Hollywood working on set and with the production crew. If you'
re great, they'll love you, if you're terrible, they will let you know and
in this business your reputation is everything. So be professional and learn
the business from this aspect.
     If you'd like an example of how the Central Casting hotline works, call
the men's line at: (818) 260-6120. I'm not quite sure what the women's
hotline is but you can call the information line at 818.562.2700 to get that
number.
   I'm an actor from the Cleveland area who moved to LA 2.5 years ago. I
hope that I've been of some assistance to this topic and if you need further
information of have any more questions, please don't hesitate to email me or
myspace me. Take care neohiopal and great success!

____________________________________________________________________________
________________________

Oliver L. Thompson
OliverTheActor at yahoo.com
http://www.oliverlthompson.com/

-----Original Message-----
From: neohiopal-bounces at listserve.com
[mailto:neohiopal-bounces at listserve.com]On Behalf Of MARC MORITZ
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 8:01 PM
To: neohiopal at listserve.com; bob kozlina
Subject: Re: [NEohioPAL] background actor

Move To LA.

--- On Tue, 9/2/08, bob kozlina <bobkozlina at hotmail.com> wrote:
From: bob kozlina <bobkozlina at hotmail.com>
Subject: [NEohioPAL] background actor
To: neohiopal at listserve.com
Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 6:04 PM
I live in Mentor, Ohio
How do I become a background actor?
What are the steps?

bob kozlina
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