I think I’ve mentioned before that SB owns an extras casting agency. I’m no actress, but as I’ve been sort of, how do you say, unemployed lately, I’ve asked him to send me on a few jobs. Extras are actually just paid scenery, and since SB’s job is to provide the required number of warm bodies, not make anyone a star, it’s okay that he sends me, and not a real actress.
The kind of thing he usually does is provide say, 25 people to be in the background of a Taco Time commercial. Sometimes it’s something cool like providing 50 people to ride the “ferryboat” in the background of a scene for Grey’s Anatomy.
Last week, he was asked to find 25 people to act as sports fans for four hours, for $120. I was all over that one.
The shocking/funny/ironic part of this whole thing is that this turned out to be for a REALITY SHOW. Myself and 24 others were paid to go batshit crazy when a retired NBA star and his glamorous wife walked into a room OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Not only that, there were several principal actors there playing fans who actually got to ask him for his autograph. There was the model-y hot chick, the sassy black woman, the flaming gay dude, and my favorite, a cute little boy who got to say,
“I made this for you Mr. FamousBasketballPlayer,”
Mr. FBP: “Oh wow, thanks man.”
Cute little boy: “I still like Kobe better, though”
Mr. FBP: Man! That’s cold! Did you hear what he said?
Mr. FBP’s entourage: Ha Ha Ha! Ha ha ha!
OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
Isn’t that nuts? How hilarious is it that they had to pay people to be his fans? How crazy is it that the people who actually got to interact with him were ACTORS? Reality schmeality.
Below is a picture of the card I was given to pretend I wanted him to sign. Others were given shoes or jerseys, and they even handed out a bunch of disposable cameras for the crazed fans to snap away with.
(So, I sort of signed a non disclosure agreement that said I wasn’t going to tell anyone about this, hence the cover up. Shh. Don’t tell.)
Reality TV is one of those love it or hate it kind of things. I mostly hate it, though I did enjoy the first season of Survivor, and I’ve been known to indulge in a Real World marathon or two. While I knew that they cut and paste “reality” to tell whatever story they’re going for, I didn’t realize it could be THIS contrived. I guess I should just be happy that actors are still getting work out of the deal.
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The actors are getting paid, but the writers’ aren’t. One of my biggest disappointments in the resolution of the WGA strike is that reality writers and animation writers are still not covered by the WGA agreements.