If you don t have much experience, don t worry. Everyone starts somewhere and extra work requires more of the right look rather than acting experience. Once you have established your name with the talent agency, check back periodically for upcoming projects. If the talent agent is familiar with you and your desire to work, you are more likely to get a call than if you just sit and wait while your picture sits on someone s desk in a large pile. Some talent agencies even have what they call an extras hot-line where a recording is played with information about current needs on projects, upcoming films or whether or not there is any work available.
Extra work is paid.
However, most extra work is paid. A background extra is anyone who is not a part of the scene, but behind the action, and is probably not in focus, full view or recognizable. An extra is featured when they become part of the scene. This means they are in focus, their face is seen clearly and may be the result of a cut-away or reaction shot. Featured extras do not have lines.