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Let’s start at the very beginning…
On November 18th, I signed with a new manager, Divine Talent. I’m still with my old one, as well, but having two gives me more audition opportunities. So two or so weeks after I signed with them, I got a phone call from Divine. The lady on the other end said that they had a job for me on Law and Order: SVU. (Agents get you auditions, while managers help you get an agent or a better agent, and sometimes, they also get you extra jobs.) I was really excited, but my mom wasn’t home, and my dad isn’t much help in these matters. I told them that I’d most likely be able to do it, and they said they’d call back the next day.
When my mom got home, I raced up to her and said, “Please, tell me I’m not doing anything on Friday!” She confirmed that I wasn’t. I was so excited! One of the main reasons I was so elated was because I had gotten two calls for Law and Order from my other manager/agent and couldn’t go to either.
So on December 8th, my mom and I were off to the New York City set of Law and Order: SVU. I was sooo excited, and so were all of my friends, being crazy fans of the show. We left at about 6:30 in the morning and got there around ten o’clock. I brought my acting journal to document my adventure and this is what I wrote:
December 8, 2006
I'm here! I feel so prep-school-y! I'm wearing a blue button-down shirt, a short-ish black skirt, black tights, Allie's shoes that look really cute on her but look awful on me somehow, my green and blue scarf, and my Gilmore Girls coat. They're also having me wear my purple hat, but I'm not putting that on yet. I feel like Sophie Neveu- almost the same outfit! I feel like I should be running through the streets of London any second now.
It was so much easier this time around, wardrobe and form-wise. We knew what to bring this time and we decided on one certain outfit for them to approve, which I ended up wearing. So we got there right on time and went up to the first "holding room" (how frightening does that sound?) It was pretty small, but considering that I was number 69, there really weren't that many people.
Everyone else came in costume, so I scooted over to the bathroom and changed in a stall. The stall was actually pretty roomy for a non-handicapped one. All of my clothes were so static-y. Every piece of clothing I took off literally crackled! The stall was big enough to change in, but I realized that while it was easy to get in, it was easier said than done to get out, as the door opens inward. I almost dropped my coat in the toilet!
Anyway, it only took me about five or six minutes to get dressed, even including the wrestling match I had with my tights (I swear, those things are the devil in material form). I got back to the room and signed in, attempted to fill out the voucher (Mom was so proud of herself, she got to help out a guy the same way we were helped on WA). Then wardrobe came in, as well as catering. Since my number was so high, I got Mom and me some breakfast. When they called numbers 60-70, I was second in line. I brought three hats with me so they could choose. My outfit was approved at once (yeah, I'm improving!) and they picked my "cute" purple hat.
We moved to a bigger room not long after that. The elevators took forever! But finally, we got the room (the college's theatre lobby) and grabbed a seat. We sat around for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes and a guy came in (Robert). He said, "I need twenty people." I raised my hand (like everyone else). Mom muttered, "Higher." I sat up really straight and raised my hand as high as it would go. I was number eighteen picked. So we followed Robert up to the front lobby and waited there for awhile. Then, this guy with a red beard and moustache came over. He said, "Who here has a cell phone?" I had a quick moment of hesitation- 'Why does he want to know? Maybe he wants to make a call. But I'm not allowed to do that.' But then I remembered Keira Knightey said that if there's something there, grab it because it might not come again. All of this took place in my head in about a second, and the next second, I was shooting up my hand and yelling, "I DO!" Now that I think about it, almost all of the people had cell phones. But mine was the only voice that spoke. The guy (I feel bad that I don't know his name, because i really liked him) said, 'What was that?" "Me!" I waved my hand in the air. "Name?" "Rachel." "Okay, Rachel, you're going to be my cell phone person." I was doing a little happy dance in my head as I got out my cell.
It's so weird that I was the cell phone girl because before that, I was wondering what I'd have to do, and I thought, 'What if they have me talk on my cell phone?'
So anyway, the guy said, "I need six people and Rachel to come with me." He picked the six people and we went out. He counted us as we passed him. he was like, "One, two, three- Rachel, you don't have a number, you're special- four, five, six. Come with me!" We went outside into the freezing air. He started placing us. He sent three people down the steps so that they could walk up and told the other three to walk down the steps when the \"action\" call came. There was a lady eating a quesadilla standing there who was on the crew (easily identified by their badges and/or walkie talkies and ear pieces) and he said to her, "These three are going down the steps, but not Rachel; she's got her own little thing." It took all of my self-control not to squeal and jump up and down. So he showed me my blocking. I was to start next to the pillar, walk to the banister and pace back and forth on the landing, talking on my cell about how Mom was late to pick me up from school. So I got in position and got ready for 'action' (or 'background action', whichever came first). Right as they said, "Rolling," I saw the guy trying to get my attention. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he gestured for me to move forward a tad. I did and he nodded just as they said, "And... action!" I walked out onto the platform saying, "Hi, Dad?... No, she's not here... Well, I know she had to work later, but I have a play meeting in, like, fifteen minutes." I was having a grand old time have that fascinating one-way conversation with myself when they shouted, 'Cut!" We did that part several times. I had a lot of fun making up stuff to say. I added a few new things every time.
Between takes, I was watching the quesadilla lady re-direct people down another staircase.
Before I go any further, I have to explain how the front of the building was laid out. If you were standing facing the college, there was a short staircase on the far left, a ramp on the far right, and a huge, wide staircase taking up most of the front of the building. We were only using the side left on, so the lady asked people to use the other two. Most people were obliging, but a few were highly annoyed. Either they were used to filming and it annoyed them or they weren't used to filming and it annoyed them. One lady with purple lipstick (?!) was like, "You're filming here, you're filming in my office- where can I go?" Another guy completely blew the poor lady off, pushed past me, uttering explatives all the way, and almost knocked over the camera and a few screens. The lady yelled, "Okay, that's very rude, sir!" "Such pleasent people," I remarked. The lady concurred.
We were told to go back in to warm up- it was so cold outside. My nose was freezing off!
I kind of wish Mom had come out with me, because there were some good photo opps of us all onset, but oh, well.
The next scene we shot was walking up the steps. We were placed and got directions. My group was to go up the steps and go to the right. We figured we'd just go down the ramp and back for the next take. What we didn't know was that the ramp was about fifteen miles long! So by the time we had run down the ramp and back to our places, they were already calling "Rolling" for the next take! We didn't shoot that one a lot.
I only did one and a half more takes after that. Robert called all the odd numbers and that was me. I was once again placed on the steps. They wanted a steady flow of students on the steps, so after we went up the first time, we had to group again, So we'd walk casually up the steps and, after we'd get past the one pillar, we'd run the rest of the porch thing, down the steps and the sidewalk and then we'd be ushered to our next spot and go up the steps again. We did this quite a lot. I think it was a flashback, perhaps a spring one, because in all the other takes, the actors were dressed up in wonder wear, but the girl in this one was in more spring-y type clothing and at the end of that scene, they were like, "That looked great, everyone, very warm." Which was also funny because the next scene we did, it started snowing. I wonder how they'll explain her fogging breath?
The last scene I did was a walking-down-the-street one. We walked past the camera, then turned around and walked past it again, taking off our backpacks and holding them out of the camera's view and pretending to be completely different people. Only about two or three takes of that one.
We were wrapped after that, but it was about an hour and a half before they told us that.
We had some problems with my voucher- signed or not signed in the wrong places.
So I was there from 10:15 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. I made $75 (whoo-hoo, I\'ll get to keep a whole $4, LOL).
This was definitely my favorite shoot so far. A few of the things I liked best were that they were all very very nice, they let you ask questions, they told you if you’d be out of frame so that if you had blocking, like I did, you'd know where not to go, they made sure that everyone had camera time- for the last (and longest) shoot, they originally chose me, but red beard guy said, "I've used you a lot, Rachel, so you'll sit this one out." Branching off of that one, they remembered your name. I think I was the only one whose name they asked, so rather than being "girl with the green scarf", I was "Rachel". That was cool.
I also think this was a good experience because, as my friend Megan pointed out, you get on-camera experience without having to worry about getting lines (at least, specific lines) wrong. You learn in little strokes, rather than being dropped in the deep end of filmmaking. Hopefully, this will be helpful in the future career I hope to have.
Tips For Doing Extra Work
- Don’t try to talk to the stars, especially if they’re working. Calling out their name and snapping pictures while they’re trying to work is not flattering- it’s annoying. This may seem obvious, but there were a few people- actors and parents alike- who were doing this on the set.
- It’s okay to ask questions. All the acting books I’ve read had prepared me for really mean people who won’t help you if you ask for it, but I can say that on the three sets I’ve worked on, every single person has been very nice and extremely helpful. This goes for actors, crew members, caterers, and fellow extras. If you don’t know what you’re supposed to do, ask. Chances are, they prefer telling you now than after you’ve done a take incorrectly.
- Don’t hold things up. This is another one that may seem obvious, but you’ll always have a few people who are determined to make things difficult for everyone, thinking it will make them the center of attention. Well, they’re right- they will be the center of attention, but not in a good way. No one likes an obnoxious person. As I said before, it’s okay to ask questions, but make sure your questions are vital.
- Be grateful. This is one of the most important rules for me, personally. In my opinion, if you’re not happy to be on set, you don’t belong there. There are probably several hundred people who would give anything to be in your position, especially if you’re working on a popular show like SVU. You’re being given a chance many people will never get, and you should appreciate it. We had a few people on the SVU set who made it clear that they’d much rather be at home watching the show than being in it.
It’s very interesting that the more experienced people tend to complain more. Perhaps it’s because they have had better experiences, I don’t know. But when I did The Wedding Album, the SAG actors were the ones complaining while us non-SAG extras were just happy to be there. When I did Home, on which all of the extras were volunteers from my area, there were only two people who had done any film work before, including myself. The others were the most patient I had seen. They were just happy to be there; they were all film buffs and were excited to see what went on behind the scenes. That was an awesome atmosphere to be in.
- As for getting jobs like this, sometimes you don’t even need an agent. Our local paper prints calls, stating what it’s for, when, and if you’ll get paid. You need to be brave, pick up the phone, and call (this, at least for me, is quite a challenge. I’m very shy talking to people I don’t know, and it gets worse on the phone). Usually, the people will be friendly enough and give you the facts.
- If you’re calling for an extra part that you’ve already been given, they’ll tell you to call back at a late hour, such as ten thirty p.m., or whenever they think they will be done filming for the day. However, if they’re not, they’ll keep giving you a later and later time. For SVU, my mom finally got our call time at one o’clock in the morning!
- Last thing: be on time, follow directions, and be prepared for a long but very enjoyable day!
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)) That's awesome for you, by the way! Let us know if you figure out when! 