(stands for) Other People's Film Sets.
I write to you now as a warning for the future. I write to you so you don't make this mistake, or make it ever again.
Saturday I went to be an extra for my friend Cyndi's short film. Cyndi was acting as production manager/producer. She called me up the night before and asked if I would help out. She said I had to dress for a cocktail party or semi-formal. "I can do that," I thought. I asked Butch if he would join me but he had to work. I agreed to go anyway. I knew it was gonna be odd because I probably wouldn't know anybody except Cyndi and she'll be too busy working. But I'd be a background actor, how hard could it be...
Ominous questions lead to ominous answers.
I get to the house/set promptly at 5pm because I don't want to hold up production. I'm, of course, the first one to arrive. In fact, Cyndi's in the shower (grrrowwlll). So I stand around and meet most of the crew. They seem to know what they're doing, so that's good. The director, nowhere to be found. I wait around and some people show up. I introduce myself as they come through the door. I now add a feeling of being over-dressed to being the first to show up. I'm wearing (literally) the same shirt and tie combo as in my profile picture. They're wearing stuff you might wear to a club or a classy barbeque. They seem cool and two of the dudes look fimiliar but I can't place them.
Anyway, I'll get on with it. So it gets to be around 7pm and there's a good sized group when the director shows up with food and tables. Great, let's get to filming. Nope, they want to wait for more people and for the sun to go down. Another hour passes. Nobody's come, nobody's left. There are about 12-18 extras at this point. Great, let's get to filming.
Okay, they want to film the bartender and the male lead talking before the party and wait for more people to show up. Okay... So they do that. Great, let's get to filming. They want to shoot the female lead driving up to the house. Okay... As the crew tries to figure out how to light it without blowing the circuit breaker, I sit and wait, as does everyone else. Another hour passes.
By the way, everyone with little exceptions (me), is drinking at this point. Everyone, crew included. That's right, the folks who need to think straight and be quick and decisive are impairing themselves. Yep...
The food is served. It's about 9 or 10 at this point.
Number of frames I or and any other extra has been exposed on: Zero.
I'm gonna cut this story short cause the details of the filming are getting fuzzy. It gets to be around 11:30 and still no filming of the party scene and at this point I'm quietly getting pissed. This waiting thing is only made worse by the fact that I've made films, with extras, and we would have never even thought of making them wait this long. Any of them, not just me.
The crew shoots some interiors and various crew members disappear from time to time. Some of the extras are getting belligerant. One in particular keeps touching Cyndi's ass as she passes by and then he talks about being disrespected at work. The pressure within me to leave boils. Consider as well that I've gotten other offers to be other places, at this point in the evening, but I'm staying to fulfill my favor and help out fellow filmmakers.
Extras are getting tired and some are even leaving as midnight rolls around. And still no party scene filmed. "I wouldn't have done it this way", "This is ridiculus", "Shoot the extras while they're here" travel through my head.
Then everything stops. Is there a problem? I see one crew member doing all the work and what's the rest of the crew doing while the extras sit around and wait? Taking bong hits!!!
Goddammit! I am as pissed as I get without showing it outwardly. What are they thinking? "We have time for this"?! Honestly, you gotta ask yourself, what are you doing instead of shooting?
People are definitely bailing as the clock strikes 12:30am. I'm seroiusly contemplating leaving too. This is stupid. We should revolt. Mutiny! Goddamn, if I was as big as prick as I'm capable of, I would have left. I literally have conversations with people about how this is ridiculous and how they should have shot us first. It's in the air!
1 am: I'm pretty dead tired of it all. And of course they say, "Alright, we ready to shoot the party scene!" Bullshit, man, bullshit. They argue about how to shoot us extras for a half hour and finally we pile into the living room. There's 8 of us by now out of a peak of 20 maybe. To add insult to injury, on the first rehearsal take a girl bumps into me and spills (what I later found out was) soda on my silk shirt and silk tie. Great... Add to that, when I tell the girl what she did, she laughs. Dumb bitch. We shoot the shot and that's done.
Next, after another half hour of arguing and shuffling, they decide to shoot the same shot from a different angle. One problem: People from the first shot left because: a) nobody kept an eye on them b) it had already taken so long and c) nobody wanted to stay any longer.
So they can't shoot that. So they shoot something else, in close-up so they can hide the fact that nobody's left but a handful. The lead actress really impresses me with her ability in this shot and I clap for her afterwards, alone.
Then, all of a sudden, at 3am, "That's a wrap!" Wrap he says?! They got zero of what they wanted and they're finally done. You don't have to tell me to leave twice.
Big Lesson in all of this: When you have people, shoot them before they get tired and leave. Keep them aspeed of everything that's happening. Shoot all scenes without extras, LATER. Don't make your extras wait while you shoot, "Girl drives up to house." Assess the situation on set. "Extras are getting restless, let's shoot them now." One crew member did mention this. He was shot down by the director who said, "Films take a long time to shoot." Not if you plan well. Not if you assess the situation on set.
Your lead actors are committed to the film. The extras aren't. You can film the leads anytime. The extras you cannot. This is all very logical, filmmaking 101.
I really don't mean this as a bash on the filmmakers because they seemed like talented people. I just consider it constructive criticism. One filmmaker to another. Do it better next time. Have common sense the first time. Oh yeah.
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