I’m going to start pointing them to this Dave Barry column, in which he recounts his experiences being an extra in a Jennifer Aniston-Owen Wilson comedy:
As an extra, you do a lot of standing around. First you stand around waiting for the set to be prepared. Then you stand around on the set while they rehearse the scene. Then you stand around being the background while they shoot the scene. Then you stand around waiting while they look at the scene to see if anything went wrong, which something always does. Then you stand around while they shoot the scene again. It goes on for hours and hours, the standing. But it’s worth it, because the money is huge.
I am, of course, kidding. For a day’s work — and it can be a long day’s work — they pay you $100, or what one of the extras, Joyce Newman of Miami, described as “one-third of a good pair of shoes.’
This, really, sums up what a lot of working in the entertainment industry (especially on set) is like: Run around like a fucking crazy person for a little while, then wait while other people run around like fucking crazy people. Repeat, repeat, and then repeat again.
It’s a sexy business, I tell you.