Extra, Extra, EXTRA: Busy, BG-ing!

Jonathan Williams
Apr 6, 2016
3 min read

Click HERE And Have A Look At The List Of All The New Roles Associated With This Post I've Done!

It's really unusual that by now I haven't already scored a few roles by now. But I know this racket pretty well - Roles come and go, ebbs and flow: When the good times are rolling, the auditions and roles fall like the hard rain Dylan wrote about. And when the roles dry up, there's nothing around - You feel like a loser, you made the biggest mistake in your life and you wished you took that awful $25,000 a-year job working in Herbalife because you're wondering how on earth you'll ever going to pay the February rent in April, all because you followed your instinct that being a performer was what would make you feel like a whole human being. But alas, you don't - You feel like an ass-whole. My God: What Have I Done??!!

However, I must remind myself that this is what I signed up for back in June of 2004 and despite the ups and downs, I really enjoy what I do. I made the right decision. Doesn't mean that I won't go back to doing the 9-5 thing again, but for now, I'm digging the ride. And I've caught some big breaks, living-wise. So while the roles haven't been there yet: I've been doing pretty damn good scoring a ton of work doing background gigs. And 2016 has been the gift that keeps on giving. Bottom line: I've worked every month since the year began - All of it on the background circuit. Now I didn't set out to do this: In fact: the last time I worked as an extra: It was in 2007 and it was for the final episode of "The Sopranos" (S6 Ep21: "Made In America"). After that, nothing. I had pretty much stopped doing background work altogether for years. I had pretty much moved on from that, or so I thought. However, I got an email in October, 2015 from a well-known casting group that wanted to know if I wanted to do a day gig on the Good Wife. I said sure - what's the role? They said, "we need people to sit in the courtroom gallery, no lines."

"Oh, so this is just for a being an extra . . ."

"Right. This'll be for a 10-hour day and you'll get breakfast and lunch. And bring two changes of clothes."

<Sigh>. Ah, yes: How I remember when I first started doing extra work. Long days, walking around in the same position over and over, like the nameless, unknown drone I was. It was exciting to be on the set those days, because I had never done it before and it was great to be in an environment where something creative was being . . . created! This Is what I wanted to do, and here I am, doing it . . . well, kind of . . .

See, the thing is, you supposed to move up from that background status and start getting bigger and better roles: Under-five, then supporting then a few leads, until you finally get the ball rolling so that you can becoming that working actor with the good reputation for talent and being on time. Only this time, the roles haven't been there in the past six months. Now I know just coming off knee surgery in June didn't help matters, but for me, that's no excuse. So when I I was offered a place as an extra on "The Good Wife," I took it. And the gigs have been coming in since. The landscape has changed significantly in the just six years. Back in the day, you could only find work as an extra in film or the big three television networks (NBC, ABC and CBS). Thanks to technology, an actor now has options. REAL OPTIONS. Network TV now has NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox; There's PBS; Also we have cable and the premium channels; And with the advances in computer, internet and digital advancements, there's Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Crackle, You Tube and other web series programming, there's so much work just to walk around in the same position over and over, like the nameless, unknown drone that's getting fed really well as well as a semi-regular paycheck!

So who the hell am I to bitch and moan? I will get my roles, I always do. But I'm also a professional. Work is work and I'm going to ride this train, 'cause the train keeps a-rollin' all night long!