Extra for a day

The day starts at 5:00 AM. Fill out some paperwork and sign-in. Wait for your group or name to be called to the set. Have some coffee, sorry no cream available, and a danish and wait.

Then the announcement comes...

"Drivers, go get your cars from the employee lot and meet in front of the holding area. Keep your hazard lights on while you maneuver through the detours and you will be directed into the staging area for your scene."

There are five of us in the first group and we all go get our cars and pull into the area as directed. We are directed by several different people as our vehicles are positioned to represent a traffic jam. After this maneuvering, which takes about an hour, we are asked to leave our keys in the visor and head back to the holding area until we are called on again.

"Drivers, head back up to set and wait by your vehicle for the directors to give you additional instructions"

I notice, as do all of us, that our vehicles have all been moved. I am in the front left of a two lane road and there is a an extremely expensive piece of camera equipment mounted on a large golf cart kind of thing right in front of me. There are cars and trucks next to and behind me. And a police motorcycle in front of the car on my right.

A lot of focusing on each vehicle and driver and our expressions is discussed as we all prepare for our moment on camera. Then we are sent back to holding. We are offered water and coffee and there are still remnants of the breakfast foods on the table when we get back to holding area.

Around 8:00 AM, we are summoned back to set. After about two hours of prepping and maneuvering the cars and the camera so everything is perfect, the directors tell us, "Remember, you are frustrated because you can't see the cause of the traffic delay in front of you." Frustrated looks come easy as the sun is beating down on us and our cars that have not been running are very hot inside.

At one point, a traffic cop on a motorcycle has to swiftly pass between two rows of frustrated drivers as we wait to see what is causing the delay. At the same time we are inching slowly forward, maybe two or three feet total, and then we reset. We do this so many times I honestly have no idea how many but I know it was a lot and it took a few hours before the directors agreed to move to next scene. This time instead of the holding area we are brought to base camp, and immediately instructed by a different set of directors to look like we are curious spectators trying to see the production in front of us. Not long after this, we are instructed to go back to the holding area.

Now it's 11:00 AM. "Where are my drivers?, I need all of you to head back to the set, you are now going to be pedestrians." So we are ushered back to the set and are positioned in various spots around a closed set and asked to walk from one side to the other repeatedly in different patterns and timing. We are known as background and every time we hear that word it is our cue to start our movements. Every time we here cut and reset we start over. And I did this until lunch break was announced at 1:30 PM.

Lunch

They serve a full buffet with pasta, vegetables, and salad, and plenty of bottled water.

After lunch, we are rushed back to the set. Our cars are once again in a completely different configuration. Only this time they are facing the other direction. Instead of being used as the focus for the scene, we are the background of a much bigger scene with one of the lead actors which involves dialogue in the vehicle. You know the scene; two or more people in a vehicle that appears to be moving, in this case though, their vehicle was moving and we were all stationary. 

We sat in our cars for close to three hours while the scene took shape. After the directors are satisfied, we are told to leave the keys and we can head over to the base camp area where they are offering all kinds of snacks and fluids to help us prevent heat exhaustion, which unfortunately some of the other extras did suffer from. I was one of the smarter ones because I had been drinking water throughout the day. They served Popsicles, bottled water, Gatorade, and orange slices. There were also several chips and crackers for us.

The remainder of the day was fairly uneventful except that I was able to watch a few other key scenes take shape that involved the lead actors.

Of course this whole experience was amazing and it lasted 15 1/2 hours. If you are wondering why the pictures show nothing specific, it is because we were not allowed to take pictures. I am simply showing you the where so when you see the show on TV, you will know where I was.

Lastly, I should note that all this was possible because Laura convinced me to drive the night before. We took a carload and stayed at a hotel that was so close to the set that we were able to walk back and forth.

  that's the Brick Way...