Definition of an 'extra' or 'SA'
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking or non singing (silent) capacity, usually in the background.
(for example, in an audience or busy street scene).
The definition of 'Stigma' in the Oxford Dictionary:
Stigma - a strong feeling of disapproval that most people in a society have about something, especially when this is unfair:
There is no longer any stigma to being divorced.
Being an unmarried mother no longer carries the social stigma that it used to.
I first came across extra work when chatting to a friend who was filming on the latest Bridget Jones as a lesbian protester (if you haven't seen it, you must... HILARIOUS!) and after a brief discussion on how you sign up and the sort of money you get for a days work, I thought, why not? I was teaching all hours of the day to pay my rent, and while auditioning for theatre jobs, wasn't doing anything for myself performance wise, so I figured at least this way I would be making some extra money doing something in the industry I trained to be in, rather than stacking shelves.
Having worked for a year or so now doing various extra jobs I feel that there is definitely a stigma that surrounds paid SA work within the industry. People often question my decision to play nurse number 7, or working class number 111 suggesting that as someone who has trained, it is below me, and whats even more interesting is that in America the stigma is completely reversed as you are expected to do an amount of extra work to earn your stripes as an actor. So where did this stigma come from?
I have started a SIG group via facebook in regards to this general subject, with people who I have met and become friends with via extra jobs and also other actor friends. Their opinions have allowed me to develop my original mind map.
The original...
latest version...
The response from my SIG was yes, there is definitely a stigma in the uk surrounding actors who take on SA work, but the reasons why varied from person to person massively. Many felt that it was a good experience as much as you were still working within the industry, but that networking or meeting other actors for the first time as an SA, may lead to you being recognised as an extra and never an actor, which is something I hadn't thought of. Others said that because anyone can be an extra, it means people on set assume you have no training and you could be tarnished with an 'amateur' judgement. It was very clear even within my select group that there was quite a 'British snobbery' present within the discussion, and that some of my actor friends felt that extra work was somewhat beneath them (Which I will remind them of when their current contract ends and they are stood back in the queue at pineapple).
I have also witnessed enough awkward extra moments when on set to add to this that I think extras can only blame themselves, or certain extras anyway. Last week for example, I was doing an SA job for a comedy on BB3, and one of the other SA's who must have been 60 plus, and had told me prior to this incident that she did a lot of amateur dramatics and was heavily involved with her local Gilbert and Sullivan society, was directed to simply bump into the lead character as he ran through the corridor we were filming in. she then went on to tell the actor quite specifically how he should bump into her and went as far as to disagree with the director and attempted to over rule what he said. I obviously sat there silently in the background cringing that I was on the same level as this woman, but situations like that happen at least once on every job I do. Actors don't respect SA's because lots of SA's are untrained and don't understand the hierarchy.
Another aspect of this that interests me is the difference between America and the UK in their opinion of SA's, and the rules that have been put in place by BECTU, Equity and the screen Extras Guild. America has a much more positive attitude towards extras, suggesting that all actors should earn their stripes through some sort of extra work. Below is an interesting link i've found of some of Hollywoods most famous actors, all of whom did some extra work before making it big.
having started to do a bit of research into the stigma I came across an interesting forum chat on casting call pro discussing the topic openly with members, which identified lots of the points i have already made and definitely highlighted the snobbery involved! this forum chat also questioned whether certain extra work should be included on a CV, which also divided opinion, depending on wether you had any lines and if so how many (into the BECTU/Equity rule book you have to have had more than 13 lines to be considered an actor rather than an extra), whether you auditioned for an upgraded role, and whether you would be considered a time waster by a casting director looking at your cv.
http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/forum/topic/80358/stigma-surrounding-sa-work
and another interesting article highlighting many of the same topics of discussion.
http://www.backstage.com/news/background-check_3/
These are just some of my initial thoughts, and I would love to hear some more opinions!
yes we had one other person look at the positions of extras - I think before the blogs - something to consider - I love David Niven's Bring on the Empty Horses experience as a Hollywood extra in the 30's - you use the word stigma in the first instance - is there a more neutral way of exploring the topic?
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