Extra, Extra?! A Cautionary Tale...

As a cheap chick I’m always looking for ways to earn a little extra money, so when I saw an ad on Craigslist looking for Law and Order: SVU extras I decided to see what it was all about; a few friends and co-workers of mine had done it before, and it seemed like a fun way to make some extra cash, though I was fully aware before I had even finished reading the ad that it might be a scam to make money by charging me for necessary headshots/classes.

I was quite pleased and surprised when I got a quick response from my initial email that included only the fact that I was female and 31, and took it as a good sign that an appointment was scheduled within the next few days. I arrived at the office early, and barely had the chance to give the receptionist (who was sitting behind a plastic window) my name and appointment time before he buzzed me through the next door. What I found there astounded me-in a space not much bigger than my bathroom were two sets of chairs against the walls with people sitting in each one, and the chairs so close together that in most cases people’s knees were touching quite cozily.

As a disembodied voice from behind a door called “Next” no attention was paid to our given appointment times. We were simply left to keep track of our appointments on our own by using the honor system of who had arrived first and in what order, and sliding over one seat closer to the door. As I waited I noticed out-of-date movie posters (think White Oleander and Goodfellas) lining the black walls (perhaps for inspiration?) and a strange video (yes, a video, not a DVD player that stopped in the middle and had to be re-set by one of the aspiring actresses) showing odd footage of what seemed to be a mix of 900-number commercials and rock videos-again inspiration?

Soon a guy sat next to me and began chatting to the woman he was brushing knees with, and mistook my disbelieving glance at him for admiration that he looked like he could be 21 (no way!), but he had worked as an extra before in such gems as Weekend at Bernie’s and Empire Records, as well as Dawson’s Creek, which he informed us featured most of his former high school classmates. He continued to regale us with stories of his celebrity encounters (MC Hammer once mistook him for another actor) and giving us tips (when you’ve been an extra once, it’s easier to do it again.) Others in the waiting room/closet were just as congenial, one girl telling us she was often told she looked like Oprah (wasn’t sure I saw that…) and another shared a tip with the room-at-large on another audition happening two floors up.

Finally it was my turn inside and... (sorry to ruin the suspense), but it took about five minutes tops for the agent to offer to get me work if I paid for headshots (!) and for me to decline, at which point he escorted me out a different door than the waiting room (we had been speculating that this was done so we couldn’t ask people how their auditions had gone-looks like we were right!) Ah well, back to Craigslist, perhaps I can check out that sperm testing thing!