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sounds_sound  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What is your lame claim to fame?
Simple really. There are a handful of casting companies around. Just google 'extras casting in vancouver' and you'll be on your way. My casting company was 'Hollywood North Extras' and it's apparently the big corporate agency in town. I went with them because it was free. Every Thursday between 11 and 3, they open their doors for people who want to work. You just go to the office, fill out a questionnaire (like 'what is your waist size', 'do you own a suit', 'do you have any special talents'), and then they take your picture and say - we'll call you if you fit something. Funny, they told me "You have a real commercial look. We'll call you very soon." I got a kick outta that and thought - what the fuck does commercial even mean? I could have equally been offended or complimented by that :) I guess there are a lot of agents in town but most places charge around $40 for you to start an account with them and I didn't have $40 to my name so I was all about the free.

The thing is, they need you to be available on short notice for long hours usually during the week. If you have a consistent day job then basically forget it. They'll give you an online account that is essentially a calender. It'll be your job to update each day with either a green or red square meaning available or not available respectively. I finally got a salaried job in my trained field last week so I won't be an extra any longer.

It's interesting though because you never know where it will go. I was only getting $10 an hour so it kinda sucked. A friend of mine in the city had better luck. On her 'things you can do' portion of the questionnaire, she put 'kayaking'. They called her and her husband in to do a car commercial which in turn aired during the last Superbowl and they made roughly $25,000 for literally 1 second of airtime! She showed me the commercial and was like 'There! Did you see me? That was my foot!' Ha! And she was paid each time it aired. Crazy business...