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comment by briandmyers
briandmyers  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What is your lame claim to fame?
Details! I watch Fringe - can you tell us about your role?




sounds_sound  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Role? I think my official title was 'passerbyer'. It wasn't really anything I would call a role :) The Fringe is filmed in Vancouver. In fact a lot of things are filmed here so there is a huge culture of actors and screenwriters in the city. There is also a ton of background work to be done, with no skill required. I had some time and needed money so I thought I would give it a shot. I was just in one of the latest episodes where the dude with a scar around his eye is walking around with a map. There is a scene where he gets plugged into a matrix style chair and has a flashback. I was in his flashback. But like flashbacks, almost everything is filmed ghosted and blurry so you can't really make anyone out in the background. I can only point to a blurry blob of people and say 'I'm in there.' Oh well. It was an interesting experience. I think I was the only one there NOT trying to be an actor. I did see Joshua Jackson however. Even hung out with him a bit in craft services. I use the word 'hung out' loosely because we didn't share words, we were just in the same room for an extended length of time. They are pretty specific about you not bothering the cast. Craft services is great though. They give you free sandwiches and stuff there. Lance Reddick is on the Fringe too. Would have loved to see him cause I'm a big fan of the Wire, but he wasn't there. Did I mention free sandwiches?
forwardslash  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·  
That's really cool! Just curious, how do you get to be an extra? My fiancée and I are looking at maybe looking closer to Vancouver after the wedding (wooo fraser valley) and I think being extras together could be a fun thing to do.
sounds_sound  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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...

forwardslash  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Huh, well it couldn't hurt to try it out, doubt I have 'commercial appeal', but what the heck. Thanks for the info, and kudos on the salaried job.
briandmyers  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Cool story. Free sandwiches are always good. The Walter Bishop character (John Noble) gets some great lines on that show.
sounds_sound  ·  4569 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I've only casually perused the show. Seems to have a decent following. If you ask me, any show with parallel universes can't be that bad. That guy is definitely intense. Even downright scary at times.
briandmyers  ·  4568 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Astrid Farnsworth: Walter, what's wrong?

Dr. Walter Bishop: Either a green unicorn just raced across the lab, or I accidentally took some LSD.