It would be an understatement to say that TV has a magical draw. How many of us have jumped up and down at a sports game to be on the megatron? While many of us may be able to claim such stardom, few can say they have appeared on hit shows such as Pretty Little Liars or Glee. Her Campus sat down with Palos Verdes Estates native Jessica Singer ’14 to learn what it’s like to be a TV show extra and how her Skidmore business education has shaped her views of the entertainment industry.
Her Campus: How did you start your career as an extra on different shows?
Jessica Singer: One of my friends from L.A. who is a couple years older than me was an extra on Hannah Montana and she goes to LMU, which is a school in L.A. close to a lot of film studios. I wanted to do it really badly, but it’s difficult to find agencies that will accept you when you’re a minor because you have to have your parents on set and they have to pay you more. My parents were not very supportive of it because they thought it would detract from my horseback riding. So they said once you’re 18, and have a car, and can get yourself there, then you can try it. So it kind of started out as a joke and my mom didn’t think I would get any work. The summer after my freshman year I went with my friend to register. It took a while to get jobs, especially because the summer is a hiatus period for most shows. Then once I got into it I started learning from the people around me and my own experiences. I got an agent and began to work consistently all summer.
HC: What are some of the shows you’ve worked on?
JS: Pretty Little Liars was a big one. I worked fairly regularly for them the summer of 2011. Also Glee, NCIS L.A., Switched at Birth, Parenthood, 90210. I worked on a commercial for an online university, which was really weird and a movie that I don’t think has an official title yet but it’s with Ed Helms. I spent a lot of time pretending like I was still in high school and it was funny because a lot of the sets I went to were more stereotypical high schools then the school I actually went to. This past summer I worked on the Nickelodeon show Victorious, which was probably the weirdest experience I’ve had so far because a lot of the other extras were actually in high school and they kept asking me my age and grade and I just thought I am way too old to be here. And it was interesting because their parents had to be on set with them and they had monitors so they could watch their kids. And between takes they would run out and give their kids water and snacks. It was ridiculous, but entertaining.
HC: What’s an average day like as an extra?
JS: Being an extra you basically have to have a completely open schedule. It’s a bit crazy. An average workday is typically 10 to 12 hours. Working with the agency that I went through, they can book you at pretty much any hour of the day. Sometimes you’ll get a call at midnight saying you need to be somewhere at 5 a.m. and you have to do it because the biggest rule of being an extra is you can never cancel. If you cancel one time (even if you get in a car accident) they have no sympathy for you. If you say you have a death in the family you have to show a death certificate.
HC: That’s so crazy! So what is it like once you get to the set?
JS: The night before you’re given details from your agency or through the casting agency that booked you and they normally give you a phone number to call after 9 a.m. for wardrobe and scene information. Generally they don’t tell you how long you’re working, just where to go. You show up, you check in with the assistant director, and you go through wardrobe. They have all these ridiculous rules and regulations about what you can and can’t wear: no patterns, no bright colors, no red, white, or black. It’s very specific and you have to come prepared with three or five complete changes. Wardrobe picks which one you wear. Then the rest of the day is spent on and off set. Sometimes it will be a slow day and you’ll just be used in one scene and then you’re done. Other times you’re up and down all day, they keep re-setting the scene, and making you do it over and over again. And you can’t talk so you’re pretending to talk because they add in background sound later. You have to be completely silent and be consistent so when they do takes there are no continuity issues. Sometimes if there aren’t enough extras they’ll have you make multiple crosses across the set. You have to be really careful to make sure you don’t enter from one direction and then show up somewhere else completely different. It’s funny because now when I watch TV, I notice when this happens.
HC: How has being an extra changed the way you watch TV?
JS: I cannot watch TV shows the way everyone else can anymore. I don’t think I ever will be able to again. One, it’s really fun to be able to watch and see people I know, which happens pretty regularly. In the Grey’s Anatomy season premiere, I saw one of my friends who was an intern on that episode. I find myself looking at the background a lot more and also laughing when I see the continuity issues or when I catch someone looking at the camera (which you’re not supposed to do). But it also just made me think a lot more about how much work goes into TV. When you’re watching you don’t realize there are several dozen people around the actors at all times or on different parts of the set making sure things run smoothly. And it takes so long. We’ll spend four or five hours doing a scene that lasts two minutes. It’s a lot of work and long hours. Everyone is definitely an asset whether they’re in lighting or in charge of the craft services cart. Everyone has a role and works really hard.
HC: How do you like your co-workers?
JS: Even though the days are long and it’s not always fun (especially if it’s a show you’re not interested in at all) you get to meet really interesting people. I’ve met people who I’ve kept in touch with and it’s been interesting to track what they’re doing and see them other places. There are definitely some people I’m watching out for. One of my friends is now on a web series that also features one of the guys that was a guest star on Glee. So there are definitely some people that are moving in the right direction. Some people are an extra fulltime and work really hard so it will be interesting to see if anyone I used to work with becomes famous. Quite a few actors started off doing background before they made it big. But it’s competitive. The agency I work with books 75% of background production throughout L.A. and they have thousands of people registered so that’s why I was surprised to get work. There are just so many people that fit into categories.
HC: Would you say most extras are trying to make it big in the entertainment industry?
JS: A lot of the people I was working with and got to know were aspiring actors and actresses or wanted to be part of show business (Broadway, becoming a singer etc.). So the reason a lot of people do background acting is because it’s a way you can get your SAG membership so you can join the union. And it’s hard to get. Someone I know that wasn’t even trying to get a membership (and like me was working as an extra for fun) got a SAG voucher within a week. Some people that I know worked for five years before they got their first voucher and became SAG eligible. So it was funny because when I was there over the summer people would ask me “What are you?” “Do you sing? Do you dance?” “What’s your talent?”
HC: Do you see yourself pursuing a career in TV after college?
JS: The reason I decided to do background work is because I’m really interested in the entertainment industry. So I thought it would give me an interesting ground-up perspective on what kind of work goes into it. While I was there I wasn’t just being an idle bystander. I pay attention to the different sets and how everyone interacts. Each set had a different vibe. Some were really strict; others laid back. Some of the cast and crew are really connected and have a great relationship. Other people immediately run to their trailers during each break. It’s interesting to see how they feed off each other’s energy and how that contributes to performance. After experiencing it I’m not sure I want to work in production because it takes over your life even though some shows only shoot for a certain portion of the year. But I definitely am still interested in the entertainment industry and it was cool to have that exposure from such a unique perspective.
HC: Tell us about your current internship with Artist & Athlete & Co.?
JS: I’m working with an agent who used to work for some bigger, well-known agencies in L.A. But he decided to start his own smaller agency to allow him to spend more time with each of his clients. He and his partner have a combination of clients both partially or fully managed. For some clients they do music management, for others commercial marketing (basically finding celebrity endorsement deals). For example, my boss has done some things for Nicki Minaj. For some clients they manage their entire careers. It’s neat because even though it’s a small company I get a lot of firsthand experience: sitting in on calls, going to meetings, preparing marketing materials to send to brands, contacting brands on behalf of the clients. I also update our social media so I normally receive between ten and thirty emails a day letting me know what all the clients are doing. It’s interesting to track their progress and what they’re involved in. Additionally, I have to look at competitors. At the moment we represent a fairly major DJ and that’s a growing movement so there are all these DJs I have to follow to see what areas they’re going into. I’ve learned a lot about what goes into matching a celebrity with a brand. It’s also amazing how far in advance deals are made. Some of the ads we are considering for clients won’t air until 2015. There’s a lot of planning within the brand regarding which celebrity they’re going to use, which is interesting because you have no idea how a celebrity is going to develop or what could happen.
HC: How has your Skidmore business education shaped your internship and vice versa?
JS: I’m only a small part of the way through the major because I declared so late, but I definitely benefited from the experience of my foundations of marketing class, which gave me background information for my internship. But also the existing knowledge and what I learned in my internship now influences how I look at the marketing research class I’m in because I have actual experience working with clients and needing to make adjustments to really sell someone to a brand. Looking at how I did research over the summer and learning proper ways to do it has been interesting and I already have new ideas of how I would change things for future work in my internship.
HC: And you also have another internship with one of the stars of The Real Housewives of New York?
JS: My boss took her on as a client that he is going to be fully managing. One of her requests was that she wanted interns to help her during production of The Real Housewives of New York. My boss is in L.A. but he thought of me because he knows I’m out here and wanted to go into the city so he asked me if I’d be interested. I’m just going to go down there as often as I can (probably on weekends) helping her keep things organized and doing basic tasks for her. I’m honestly not sure what it entails yet. I have no idea when I’m even going to start because we’re just waiting to hear from Bravo since the season finale recently aired. Everyone is decompressing and taking some time off.
HC: Will you be on the show as her intern?
JS: That is a strong possibility. I’m not positive how everything is going to go, but my boss did make me think about it before I agreed to take the job. The cameras are around all the time so if I’m there it’s kind of inevitable that I would end up on camera. One of the other women on the show has interns that regularly appear on the show. It’s pretty comical because when she first introduced them she said, “I don’t pay them anything, but they just get such invaluable life experience.” Then the next scene shows them sorting her pills and syncing her Blackberry and doing stupid things. So it’ll be interesting if I end up on camera, but hopefully it will look like I’m learning something legitimate as opposed to how to do daily tasks.
HC: When you graduate do you want to pursue a career in an entertainment agency?
JS: I never thought about working with an agency before now. I was more focused on production, but being an agent seems pretty cool. My boss has offered to train me as his mentee and share what he’s learned, which is really generous of him because he’s super busy. It’s definitely something I’m considering, but I’m hoping to go to graduate school for communications since Skidmore doesn’t have pre-professional programs like that. I’d like to go to a school in a major city (I’m already thinking USC or NYU) and get a masters in communications. I’m still not sure what area of the industry I’m going to enter.
HC: How do you manage school and riding team responsibilities with your internships?
JS: Luckily my boss is very understanding and he knows how serious I am about school. School is the most important thing to me and obviously I have riding too and I’ve made the commitment to the team. But he’s really understanding of that and doesn’t want the internship to get in the way. He’s been pretty easy on me since school just started, giving me things with longer deadlines. He’s really flexible and understands that I am a college student and this is an unpaid internship.
Jessica proves that while TV may have a magical draw, it’s also a lot of work. We look forward to see what this Skiddie accomplishes in the next few years and as a post-grad. Make sure to keep an eye out for her in the background of your favorite shows!