For the most part extras are fed well while working on a production. Meals are provided in some circumstances, and nearly every production has a craft service table.
As a general rule meals are provided for the cast and crew and for extras when a production is on location. Lunch breaks on location are usually half an hour and the meals are catered. The catered meals are almost always nutritious, hot, and tasty.
Extras usually have the same meals as the cast and crew, but not always. In Chapter 4, I mentioned working on "In the Line of Fire" on location at the Bonaventure hotel in downtown Los Angeles. As far as providing meals, they were by far the cheapest production company I worked for. The non union extras were provided cold box lunches consisting of sandwiches, fruit, chips, dessert, and a drink. While this may not seem too bad, compared to the hot meals provided cast, crew and SAG extras, it was pretty bad, especially day after day.
On large calls, when there are many extras, the non union extras get their meals from a separate catering truck. Sometimes the food is identical and other times the food may be somewhat different, usually not quite as good. But with the exception of "In the Line of Fire", meals served on location have always been hot, nutritious, and tasty.
On smaller calls there is usually only one catering truck and cast, crew, and all extras get their meals from this truck. The cast, crew, and SAG extras are usually served first, though this may vary depending on the scheduling requirements of everyone concerned. The non union extras wait until everyone else has been served and then they are served. There are good reasons for this in addition to "pecking order" considerations. The crew needs to be served early because they have to get right back to work to prepare for the next scene. Actors and directors also have preparatory work to do. Extras are going to be doing a lot of sitting around anyway so it is reasonable for them to be served last.
When most of the cast and crew have been served and extras are in line, it is common for an actor or crew member who hasn't eaten to cut ahead in line. This brings to mind an incident that happened on location for the TV show "Reasonable Doubts". Cast, crew, and extras were all in line for lunch, and Mark Harmon, the star of the show, was somewhat to the rear of the line. When one of the AD's tried to get him to move to the front of the line, Harmon declined, remarking that he could wait in line like everyone else.
When scenes are being shot at the studio, catered meals are usually not served. The one exception is on sitcoms, which I'll discuss later in this chapter. Meal periods are one hour as opposed to the half hour on location. Every studio has a commissary and/or coffee shop where a variety of food can be purchased. Warner Brothers also has outdoor stands that sell things such as hot dogs and ice cream. Most of the studios are also in close proximity to restaurants and fast food places.
The exception to meals not being provided at the studio is on sitcoms. Sitcoms are filmed once a week before a live audience. Most of the cast and crew on a sitcom work throughout a typical week rehearsing the scenes and blocking the cameras. Extras are usually there only on the day of the live taping, but sometimes can be there on other days if they're an integral part of a scene and need some rehearsing also. A hot meal is catered and served to the cast, crew, and extras on the day of the live taping within an hour or two of when the show is to begin.
Meal breaks are to be provided after a maximum of each six hours of work. Usually they go the maximum six hours before breaking for a meal. On particularly long days of shooting, there may be two meal breaks. Such was the case when I worked on the feature film "Ed Wood". On the day I worked from 5AM till 1 AM the next morning there were two scheduled catered meals, an NDM breakfast and lunch. (I'll explain NDM below). When the day ran so long that they needed a third meal break and no caterer had been scheduled, meals were purchased at a nearby fast food chicken place. On other shows that ran longer than scheduled, food such as pizza and Subway sandwiches were provided.
If more than six hours go by without a meal break, meal penalties are imposed. Each person is supposed to get a predetermined financial payment to compensate for the six hour maximum to be exceeded. Although it is rare that meal penalties are imposed, as usual the non union extras are at the mercy of the production company as far as receiving a meal penalty payment. On the feature film "Dave", to which I'll devote an entire chapter, one day we were four hours late receiving lunch, yet the non union extras were not paid meal penalties.
One way production companies can avoid meal penalties is by the use of a "non deductible meal" or NDM. This is where food is provided, usually early in the day, but no break is given and the lunch time is not deducted from paid hours. This is typically used when the catered lunch is scheduled for more than six hours after the call time. People are provided the meal, usually a breakfast, and eat it while they're waiting around. The six hour count begins after the NDM has been served. Usually the NDM is catered, but not always. While working on the feature film "Born Yesterday" we were provided McDonald's Egg McMuffins and Bacon, Egg, and Cheese biscuits.
Many shows also cater hot breakfasts eaten before the work day starts. Such things as bacon, eggs, potatoes, sausage, toast, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast burritos, hot and cold cereal, coffee, milk, juice, fruit, bagels, donuts etc. Once again, non union extras may or may not get the best breakfasts. Some will allow non union extras cereal, bagels and the like, but not bacon, eggs etc. One day on the feature film "Dave", full breakfasts were provided to the cast, crew, and SAG extras, but only cereal, donuts, juice etc. to the non union extras. The difference here was that non union extras were offered the full breakfast menu if they would pay a couple of dollars. To me that was the ultimate of chintziness.
In addition to meals most production companies provide craft services. Craft services basically provides snacks between meals for cast, crew, and extras. The quality of craft service tables varies widely. One of the skimpiest was on the TV series "Homefront", where the craft service table was limited to a few bagels and some chips. Even the cast and crew got nothing better and the reason given was that their budget was very tight.
Craft service tables have a selection of donuts, chips and other "junk" food, but also have a selection of "healthy" foods. Sitcoms generally have good craft service tables, but the best that I've encountered was on the TV series "Murder, She Wrote". The craft service man took pride in his work, and provided a variety of food that was healthy, tasty, and in some cases, unique. On different days, on might find cooked rice, chili dogs, sandwiches, soup, and other food that could be made into a meal. When at the studio working on "Murder, She Wrote" one could make a meal from the food on the craft service table.
One incident that occurred at the craft service table of "Murder, She Wrote" taught me something that I had never thought about. I was fixing myself a chili dog and William Windom, who plays the town doctor on the show, was in line behind me and said "No, no, no - put the chili, cheese, and mustard on the bun first, then the hot dog". He explained to me that putting the other stuff in first allows one to get more in and is less likely to spill all over with the wiener on top. He had a point, and I've done it his way ever since. I always notice when a fast food place or coffee shop does it the old way.
On feature films, which usually have a lot more extras, extras have their own craft service table, usually with inferior snacks. Most TV shows have the same craft service table for use by everyone.
To summarize, in spite of some negative thoughts I have expressed about the differences that non union extras occasionally encounter, between catered meals and craft services, extras are pretty well fed while on the set.
This page was last updated on September 13, 2003
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