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Commercials often paid a higher base than other types of work. For example, a typical days work for non union extras was $100 for a ten hour day rather than $40 for an eight hour day. There was hardly ever any overtime on a commercial. Just as in entertainment shows, extras are in the background and actors have the speaking role in commercials. The commercials that I worked on were as follows:
For the most part, commercials were boring to work on, but the pay was relatively good.
Super Million Hair Color Infomercial This infomercial was shot at the KTLA Channel 5 studios in Hollywood. As I mentioned in Chapter 3, I was just one of many people in the audience who were there to react to what was happening on the stage. It was interesting for me to learn that when one watches an infomercial, it is not necessarily seen in the same sequence that it was shot. Everything, including audience reaction, is edited and pieced together later. As I mentioned before, ABC's Good Morning America's weatherman Spencer Christian was the emcee, and NFL football coach Buddy Ryan was one of the participants.
We were paid for this job in cash, and no taxes were withheld. An extra whom I had worked with earlier was there on the set selling the little battery operated hand held fans often used to keep actors cool between takes of a scene. I was told that he hadn't been getting much work because of some dispute with the casting companies and was trying to make ends meet by selling various items to extras. I remember during this job a female extra saying to me that I look like Phil Donahue. I don't think I look anything like him, but I guess everybody has their perceptions.
Commercial for Japanese Television I also mentioned this commercial in Chapter 3. The day was spent at the as yet unopened Media City Center Mall in Burbank, as mall patrons. A few stores were opened, and a few customers were asked if they would like to be in a scene or two. They, of course, were not paid. One woman was asked to spend the day and did get paid. She was there on a lunch break from work, and had to call in sick for the afternoon. But she said she had to leave by 5PM and did. As I said in Chapter 3, the crew had cold beer at the end of the day, and I was one of a few extras that stuck around for a beer or two. Again, we were paid in cash for this job with no taxes deducted. There were no principals on this shoot.
Miller Lite Beer Commercial The Miller Lite commercial was shot at a theater in Los Angeles. The extras filled the theater and were the audience listening to what was supposed to be a bad comedian on the stage. We were admonished a few times not to laugh because the comedian was not supposed to be funny and was supposed to bomb. It was a profitable day with a basic rate of $100 and a work day of less than ten hours. Most of the day was spent just sitting around.
Ritz Cracker Commercial I didn't actually work on the Ritz Cracker commercial, but am including it as an example of an audition for a commercial. Candidates for this commercial were scheduled for auditions in an office building in Santa Monica. Every twenty minutes or so, new groups of extras were brought in. We were taped in groups of about 12 in a party scene. Out of the hundreds of extras that auditioned, only a few of them were selected. I was not among those selected, but was paid $15 for the audition.
Budweiser Beer Commercial The Budweiser commercial was shot at Dodger Stadium and took just about all of the daylight hours. The scene was to be a rainstorm at the stadium, so we were all asked to bring umbrellas. The umbrellas came in handy as the day was sunny and hot, and the umbrellas provided the only shade we had for long stretches of time. When the commercial aired, only about 15 seconds of the Dodger Stadium scene were shown, and they were limited to the laying of the tarp over the field. Those of us in the stands wound up not being seen at all. Between lighting techniques and huge amounts of water being sprayed on the field, they did an excellent job of making a sunny day look rainy.
It was a large call, so I saw quite a few extras I knew. One man often worked as a Boris Yeltsin lookalike and had pictures of himself along with other world leader lookalikes such as Gorbachev and others. He lived on his ranch in San Bernardino County, and didn't work too often as an extra. He had made trips to Japan and to Europe playing his Yeltsin role, however. The Budweiser commercial paid only the standard rate for non union extras of $40 for an eight hour day, plus overtime. This call was 10 and a half hours.
Heinz Products Commercial Working on the Heinz commercial was profitable. They paid a base rate of $75 for a ten hour day or less. Our call time was 4PM and they had to be finished by 10PM by and agreement with the city of Long Beach. So the day was only about six hours, and a lunch break was included. The commercial was shot in a residential neighborhood in Long Beach. Part of the scene was shot indoors at a house, and the rest of it was outdoors on the street. We were mostly dressed in pajamas and robes because we were supposed to be neighbors seeing what was going on.
On of the actors in the commercial was an older gentleman with a big nose. To this day I see him in commercials occasionally. When he got to the set, he told the AD that this was the first time he had worked since the death of his wife a couple of months earlier.
I worked on two scenes, one as part of a crowd. The other one was one of those like I've described earlier where I was used to "frame" a scene. Along with another extra, I stood in front of two of the actors and only my shoulder was seen. As is true in many commercials, several hours were spent to film a scene that would last less than a minute. This was the commercial that I enjoyed the most, partly because there were only a couple of dozen extras working.
Summary I didn't work on enough commercials to develop a strong opinion on them as compared to other types of work. For the most part they paid better, were not stressful, but were not particularly fun either. Of the commercials I worked on, the only ones I've seen were the Budweiser and Heinz commercial. I didn't see myself in either of these, except for a very brief view of my shoulder in the Heinz commercial.
Although my personal experience was limited, I have seen extras I know in commercials and political advertisements. Typically they were in a scene such as a conference room table, where the actors talk and the extras nod in agreement. When extras are featured like this, they get a higher rate of base pay.
This page was last updated on September 14, 2003
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