An extra is an ordinary person, just like you or me, well nearly!! They have an interest in television and films and wants to appear on TV or on a film as a background support artist. There are many motivations for gaining part time work as an acting extra. There is the fame factor so that you can point at the screen and shout “That’s Me!”, I remember doing that (shouting at the screen) upon seeing one of my friends whilst watching Gladiator, only I did it literally every time he appeared on screen, very irritating for the rest of the audience…. oops!
There is also the incentive of earning a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. Equity rates for one day’s work, about nine hours, is about £65. Some television and film companies like BBC, ITV, Cable and Satellite Channels may pay more and overtime and unsocial hour’s rates are available for night and bank holiday work. Acting extra work that require you to perform certain skills like horse riding, skating, etc or have your hair cut really short will usually pay more. If you have to perform a specific action as an acting extra such as lying down then this work will pay more because it is considered a stunt, albeit a safe one.
One other way to get more money from extra work is to try and get some appearances in the same shot as a star or main principal character. Extras call this the money shot because they get an instant bonus payment, even if the shooting is only a few seconds of screen or filming time. The average payment for this form of extra work is an additional £20 on top of the daily wage.
So maybe you’re a little lazy and fancy a more interesting days work, then get into becoming a part time TV star, try here for starters : click here
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