BackGround Acting

Denny Dormody says NO to Yes Man

DIRECTOR — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:33:07 +0000

Saying No to Yes Men Hollywood Milieu ©2010

Written by Denny Dormody

How many women in the world have seen me totally naked? A couple of delivery nurses. That midwife lady. My mom, of course. That Pakistani doctor at the VA clinic. My ex-wife, maybe once or twice. Now millions of complete strangers have seen me naked. Totally. Whatever. No biggie. It’s OK. I’m a background extra. I’m in the movies.

It’s Friday night. I’m looking over last month’s unpaid bills. On LA Casting on-line, a possible gig surfaces like a drowning swimmer. Sunday morning. A cattle call. 700 people. Yes Men. I’m game. An addendum catches my eye. They’re looking for a few volunteers to ‘appear’ nude. It’s $300 additional bucks for the nude work. I look down at my body. I should say, I look down at what’s left of my body.

My body was in shape, well almost in shape, maybe decades back when the 101st Airborne drill sergeants were beating us draftees into shape. Screaming in our face. Up and over the rope ladders. Low crawling on your elbows under the barbed wire. Live fire overhead. Drop and give me twenty push ups Private Gump. Up at 430am. Physically and emotionally abused from dusk to dawn. Little did I know I was in future training as a background extra in the movies.

Bottom line: I was a typical young soldier. Cut. Ripped. An Adonis. That was then. This is now. Now, physically, things have gone South. The Deep South. Like Selma, Alabama.

I’m lucky now if I can still walk. I’m lucky if I have enough coordination to sign my non union pay vouchers. They have my picture in their digital files. They know my age. They’re never going to choose me. No way. I tempt the movie fates. I casually mouse click that I’m ‘okay’ with nude work.

20 minutes later. My cell rings. “Denny, we have you down for the nude work” the lady’s voice booms. I’m in shock. I hope it will be okay. I don’t want to do anything nasty. The casting lady says in a now-soothing voice:“How bad can it be? Its a Jim Carrey movie?”

Saturday morning. I wake up in a cold sweat. Can I do 4000 crunches and lose 50 pounds overnight? Maybe I can do 2000 push ups and get my pecs back in shape. What’s the big deal Holmes? It’s only a movie. Yeah, maybe I can hide in the background? Yeah, maybe no one will see me? Yeah, maybe pigs can fly?

Sunday morning. Heading to Hollywood & Highland. Heading to set. So I show my derrière? What’s the big deal? It’s 300 extra bucks! Mel Gibson showed his bare butt in Lethal Weapon; Michael Douglas in Basic Instinct, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. Maybe this is my acting rite of passage? If I can do this, will I ever again feel self-conscious in front of a camera? Can my SAG card be far behind, no pun intended?

700 people in line. Chaos. Pay vouchers. Breakfast. Wardrobe. A hot babe I’ve worked with before, walks over. She says “Want to see my costume?” I’m game. She opens her beautiful professional hand-model fingers, revealing a thong and two pasties. Like a loaded gun in the shadows of a film noir cable rerun, I hear that casting lady’s voice again “How bad can it be? Its a Jim Carrey movie?”

It was bad and getting badder. 650 people are given nude-colored slip-overs that look like an old-fashioned Mad Men type of 1950’s girdle. In the long shots, the whole audience will appear to be naked.

Jim Carrey and Terrence Stamp from Yes Man

We, the 50 nude people find out that the casting people literally want their pound of flesh. We, the nude people are given flesh-colored triangles that are glued into place. Sort of a triangular fig leaf. Yes got to be glued. Ouch. The ladies, have pasties. The guys, bare chested. All of us have bare derrières.

We wait in the holding or as some say, the scolding area. Most of us are wearing bathrobes. Adrenalin is pumping. Spirits are high. Three lively ladies want someone to take a cell phone picture of their behinds. A bodybuilder guy, joins them for the shot. Moments later, the whole world is watching on You Tube. You couldn’t buy this entertainment. We are called to set. Lose the bathrobes. It’s show time.

An auditorium. A motivational lecture by Terrence Stamp, a British character actor and veteran of Wall Street and Superman II and many others. I’m hoping to stay in the deep background of the auditorium. No way Jose. I’m moved into the camera foreground. Poetic justice? Instant Karma? Blind luck? Only the Dalia Lama knows for sure.

The front row. I’m facing the Panavision cameras on the left of the aisle. I’m strategically holding a baseball cap. I’m sandwiched between two goddesses. I’ll describe them in three words: Hot, hot, hot. No tan lines. No kidding.

Take one. Take eight. More takes. Between takes, I make small talk with the goddesses. Movies. Carbs. Cell phone minutes. I try not to look and stare too long. Really. As a guy, I don’t want to awaken my 21st digit, if you catch my drift. Let sleeping digits lie, I always say. My most uncomfortable moment, a set photographer is wandering around shooting her Nikon still camera. I want this to end. I suddenly feel naked. I feel exploited. More takes. Finally. We wrap and head home.

I can’t wait to put on my jeans and get back to the parking lot. On the way out, another insult. I notice an old flame’s brother is working as a crew member. Will she be at the screening? What was I thinking? I had bills to pay. Did I sell out? Was it courage? Was it stupidity? What a day!

Yes men, the check did arrive. My one-day gross: $425.00. A great one-day paycheck.

The nude pick up shot was in October. The Thanksgiving trailer teases “Christmas 2008.”

Late November. Late one rainy night. An early industry sneak preview. An anonymous cell phone call. Heavy breathing. “You’re in the final cut.” The phone goes dead.

Do I leave the country and live anonymously in Uruguay? Can I get into the witness protection plan? How dare I tempt the fates and come to Hollywood to write comedy screenplays?

The midnight sweats begin. Nightmares of biblical proportions. Frogs. Locusts. You know that dream where you are naked? I really am. I’m parading around and Federico Fellini is directing me. I’m wearing a toga-style white bed sheet and a black cowboy hat. Someone hands me a non union pay voucher. Someone hands me a whip. Podcast News at Eleven: I’m disowned by everyone I have ever met.

December 19th. Yes Men hits 3500 screens across America. No relatives back East see the movie. No former high school teachers see the movie. No former college professors see the movie. No former prison wardens see the movie. Seven good-cheer local phone calls. There is a God. She was watching over me. Again.

Christmas holidays. Big movie time. Yes Men has dropped off the radar screens.

It’s over now. The midnight demons don’t come as often anymore. The long talks in therapy have helped. I don’t own a copy of the DVD. But, if I were offered $1,000 to do it again, what would I say? I would say an emphatic no to Yes Men.

Denny Dormody is a Los Angeles Times Magazine published comedy writer and author of Riding the Hollywood Glacier. dennydormody@gmail.com

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America, Here I Come needs Audience / Background Thursday 02/18/2010

DIRECTOR — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:44:27 +0000

America, Here I Come

Breakdown:

Looking for African-American males and females Age 21 years old and up for a mini-pilot.

Date of Work:

THURSDAY – 2/18/2010

Location:

Scene will be filmed at The Comedy Union.

Submissions:

Please email head shots and contact information.

sylviabush@gmail.com

Type of Call:

Background, Audience

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Denny Dormody on the Mean Streets of Burbank, California

DIRECTOR — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:07:52 +0000

Mean Streets Hollywood Milieu ©2010

Written by Denny Dormody

I’ve walked these mean streets many times. I’ve walked these mean streets with a gun in my hand. I’ve walked these mean streets without a gun in my hand.

I’ve walked through snow on these streets. I’ve actually slept on these streets. These aren’t the mean streets on the wrong-side of Crenshaw Boulevard here in LA. These are the New York mean streets here in Burbank. The mean streets on the back lot at Warner Brothers.

How many times have I walked these streets? Let me count the ways. As a cop on ER I’ve wandered the store fronts, armed with a plastic weapon. I’ve played a high school principal visiting with grieving students on the Midwest street after one of their own was killed in a freak accident on The Ghost Whisperer. I know these back lot streets, like the back of my hand. When I walk these streets I feel calm and at peace. Like when a babe loves only you and your six-pack. Only you and your six-pack of Bud Light.

Image by HeliPhoto.net

I’ve sat at a fancy restaurant on Embassy Row nursing a glass of phony red wine on the now-gone short-lived vampire show Midnight. Nearby on French Street, I shook hands with singer-songwriter Dave Mathews, after his make-up call on Zohan.

I’ve had a few fake brewskies inside Ike Ryan’s Irish Pub. Once, while sitting across the street from Ike Ryan’s, I fell asleep. I’m dozing off on the curb in front of the famous theater facade. Imagine me, dozing off! It was a 14 hour day on ER, an almost all-niter and at 330 am on a Saturday morning, I took a quick cat nap to recharge the acting batteries.

The parking lot. Near Gate 7. Off Forest Lawn Drive. I played a UFO Roswell geek convention fan. A convention of geeks with pen protectors big and small, complete with alien autopsies on The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

For TV’s Without a Trace, I’ve driven my car in a twenty-car traffic loop on Warner Brother’s Hennesy Street around the corner from ER’s Chicago Jumbo Mart.

Stage 23. The West Wing’s Requiem for John Spencer. President Martin Sheen shakes hands with all the background extras. What a guy. A few seasons earlier. Stage 18. The West Wing had been ‘picked up’ for a second season. Actors and extras all toasted with bubbly champagne in Dixie cups.

Batman Returns. Early background work. I needed to cauterize my cash flow. Gotham City. It’s winter. Overcoats. Scarfs. The air conditioning is on so high, you can see your breath. Nasty shape-shifter Christopher Walken speaks to the citizens. Friends. Romans. Machine-gun toting Harlequin clowns arrive on bicycles and add madness to the mayhem. The stunt guys told us to let them do the heavy lifting in the scene. We did.

Lately, on these streets and all across this cool lot I’ve worked as a background extra on Aussie Simon Baker’s detective TV show The Mentalist.

From James Cagney’s The Public Enemy to Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca to Bette Davis’s Now Voyager to Jame Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause to Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby to George Clooney playing Danny Ocean in Ocean’s 11, the Warner Brothers back lot glows with the magic of stories well told. This is one cool place.

Another cool place or places: The screening room in the shadows of the WB water tower where I saw Invictus weeks before anyone else. The commissary with lunch time computer and wi-fi access. A great place to g-mail acting submissions to LA Casting. The WB museum with memorabilia, like scripts from The Departed and props from the Harry Potter movie franchise. The WB Mill store with DVD discounts. The Brooklyn brown stones on Ashley Avenue. Phony streets. Phony store fronts. I feel right at home.

I’m going to keep acting. To pay my bills. To put food on the table. You know, I’m going to keep walking these mean streets. You know these mean streets, aren’t so mean after all.

Denny Dormody is a Los Angeles Times Magazine published comedy writer and author of Riding the Hollywood Glacier. dennydormody@gmail.com

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Casting Notice Extras Needed for Shoot 02-11-2010 Paid

DIRECTOR — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:35:09 +0000

Production: Going Down in La-La Land

Breakdown:

Need 10 Extras for a Hollywood Party

Need 15 Male Extras for Gay Club Scene

THURSDAY 2/11/2010 for a night shoot. Pay is $30

To be considered please contact: mmckerall@gmail.com

Type of job:

Background Acting

This is a Non Union job.

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Speak Your Voice as a Background Actor!

DIRECTOR — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:39:46 +0000

By nature of the job, Background Actors have a voice that rarely gets heard. But that does not mean that your opinion does not have great importance, much like your job.

Express your opinion now on some important issues that affect the every day lives of thousands of Background Actors in motion picture and television productions not just in Hollywood but all over the world. Your opinion matters, but if you don’t speak up, it will not be heard!

SAG VOUCHER SYSTEM
The Screen Actors Guild requires background actors who receive 3 Days of Union Work on SAG Vouchers to join the Union within 30 Days or they are no longer allowed to receive Union Scale Pay.Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

UNION V/S NON-UNION PAY
Although the job requirement are most often precisely the same and Union jobs are limited in number by contract with producers, Non Union workers are paid much less than HALF the PAY than Union workers. In the AFTRA Union, there are no professional requirements to join other than pay the initiation fee.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

A SEPARATE UNION FOR BACKGROUND ACTORS?
Background Actors had there own Union until it was taken over by the Screen Actors Guild. Many have said that Extras would receive more respect and fairness in pay if their Union’s primary concern was the treatment of Background Performers rather than a tertiary benefit from the Actors Union.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

WHO’S THE BEST CASTING AGENCY?
There are so many Background Actor Casting Agencies it is hard to know which one is the best. But you probably have a favorite, who is it?
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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Face2Face Management- Calling Service

DIRECTOR — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:43:12 +0000

Face2Face Management

Please see our website for a description of what we do as well how to submit for consideration.

Website: face2facemgmt.com

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Happy Happy Joy Joy by Denny Dormody

DIRECTOR — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:27:21 +0000

Happy Happy Joy Joy Hollywood Milieu ©2010

Written by Denny Dormody

I’m finally working on a feature directed by Garry Marshall. This guy is the man as far as romantic comedies go. Pretty Woman, Beaches, The Princess Diaries, and soon, State of the Union with Richard Gere. All crafted by comedy curmudgeon Garry Marshall. This is Valentine’s Day. He sure has stacked the deck with some A-list, rocket-fuel talent: Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Anne Hathaway, Shirley McClaine, Jamie Foxx, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo. Me.

I’ve been trying to get on this show for eons. A surge in unemployment has flooded Central Casting’s inbound phone job-lines. If you can’t get through, you can’t get a job. Smiling. Dialing. One hour. Finally, I’m through. I’m on the call. Downtown LA.

Downtown LA’s Flower Mart. Years earlier Garry Marshall was here shooting Frankie & Johnny, a sweet story with short-order cook Al Pacino and lonely waitress Michelle Pfeiffer. One of my favorite movies ever. One of Garry’s best and least appreciated movies ever. A comedy screenplay by playwright Terrence McNally. Heart tugging. Sensitive. What great art is all about. That was then; this is now. This is today. Garry Marshall is channeling director Frank Capra. Again. It’s a joy to be here.

This is the money shot. A cast of thousands. We, the background extras are here. All 425 of us. Claustrophobia City. This is like Ellis Island on a bad day. It’s early. Like 5am. The porta-johns are in place. A damp circus tent is our home for the day. I can see the beads of sweat on the scarred canvas as the July LA sun slowly rises. It’s going to be a scorcher.
I follow my golden rules of acting, as chronicled in my first book Riding The HOLLYWOOD GLACIER
Glacier, write this down: Get your pay voucher. Eat. Act. I inhale some scrambled eggs. Wardrobe okay’s my ‘look’ as a flower mart shopper. I shake hands with the flotsam of perspiring, I mean aspiring actors. I’m proud to work with my fellow Background or B.G. actors. It’s early. As always, I bring my own cup of Java. It’s how I roll.

Winchell’s Donuts. Most mornings. 4-5am. The night-guy is usually knee-deep in flour, like a Midnight kabuki and wipes down his apron and pours me some wake-up juice. I’m a movie star. Er, movie extra. I don’t have a trailer today? I’m so, so sick of living in that van down by the river. Didn’t they get the memo? OMG. It’s lonely at the top.

Military intelligence via my iPhone reveals on IMDB that Valentine’s Day is a series of intersecting characters that show the obsession of love lost and love found, every February 14^th. The crew is finished rigging the lights. Film is being loaded into “A”, “B” and “C” cameras. I’m ready for my close up Mr. Marshall. This flower mart is huge. I mean huge like a Howard Hughes airplane hanger.

First the Master Shot: The crush of Valentine’s day. Frantic shoppers are buying up every flower left in LA. A cast of thousands is milling in front of the Flower Mart. As we are placed, I instinctively move inside the building. I’d rather work inside on this hot sunny day in Southern California. Inside means I won’t have to worry about sunscreen and hoping that the medic has brought some. This is big budget so there there should be no sunburn worries, if we work outside.

However, I’ve worked on shoots where there is no medic and certainly no sunscreen and you can look forward to a painful red ‘look’ at the end of the day. This is different. This is a Garry Marshall movie and an ocean of sunscreen is in the budget.

I see the action. I’ll be crossing and looking at all the flowers as a Stedi-Cam operator follows actor Ashton Kutcher as he enters the flower mart. Rehearsals are up. I’m about ten feet from Video Village, the location of the camera monitors. The Red Sea of background extras respectfully part the waves as Garry Marshall walks and talks with his crew members and heads back to his director’s chair.

Rehearsal is up. Rolling. Cut. Going again. We are reset. It must look real. It must look natural. Too many people in the back. Too many people in the front. Too many women. Too many men. Seven takes. We nail it. Field marshal, Marshal, smiles. He likes the last take. He and his 1^st AD sing out “Good work everybody.” We all smile. Thanks boss. You couldn’t buy this education.

Lunch. One hour. We are back. Rolling again. Ashton Kutcher is walking through the back entrance to the flower mart and jumps on board a metal flower dolly and sings at the top of his lungs. I pretend to be looking for flowers and cross just behind the dolly. I hope I make the final cut on this shot. It looks like some fun business. Here’s hoping.

New deal. More milling and crossing as we shop for Valentine’s Day. We background actors are now going into overtime hours. It’s been two hours, heading into three hours of double time. Suddenly, it’s over. Our shots are finished. A day of working under the watchful eye of the top romantic comedy director on the planet is over. You really couldn’t buy this education.

We are wrapped. We slump into the shuttle bus seats. Back to the parking lot. A hot day in LA. Long hours. Long takes. Just another day at the office? Well, better than that. Another day at the office, working for Garry Marshall, here in Hollywood. By the way, Happy Valentine’s Day.

Denny Dormody is a Los Angeles Times Magazine published comedy writer and author of Riding the Hollywood Glacier. dennydormody@gmail.com

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Last Comic Standing Open Calls Los Angeles / New York

DIRECTOR — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:14:37 +0000

I know that some of you guys are really funny out there in Extra’s Holding so maybe “YOU” could be the next LAST COMIC STANDING!

LAST COMIC STANDING SEASON 7 OPEN CALL INFORMATION

Last Comic Standing is back with lucky Season 7! This season they’re bigger, better and more competitive than ever!

This season they’ll be holding east coast auditions in New York and west coast auditions in Los Angeles. If you think you have what it takes to be the next Last Comic Standing, show them your best two minute set at either of the open calls.

OPEN CALL AUDITION INFORMATION:

MARCH 6th or 7th (TBD), 2010
IMPROV COMEDY CLUB
8162 MELROSE AVE.
LOS ANGELES, CA 90046

MARCH 14, 2010
GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB
208 W. 23RD ST.
NEW YORK, NY 10011

If you want to stand out from the crowd, you can submit your act electronically to lcs7submissions@gmail.com. You still must attend one of the auditions for the chance to appear on the show.

Please include name, contact info, and which city you will audition in.
Please email any questions as well.

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Americas Got Talent Open Calls Early 2010 Los Angeles New York

DIRECTOR — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:54:55 +0000

In October Americas Got Talent will be kicking off the auditions for the new season.

They’re heading to New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, along with a ton of other cities to be announced soon. Go to the America’s Got Talent page to pre-register for YOUR chance to be next summer’s million-dollar winner. Show America what you’ve got! And remember, all America’s Got Talent acts start with an audition.

Pre-register today, click here!

America’s Got Talent will be visiting the following cities in early 2010!

Los Angeles, California
January 23 -24
Los Angeles Convention Center
1201 S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Dallas, Texas
January 30-31
Dallas Convention Center
650 S. Griffin Street
Dallas, TX 75202

Orlando, Florida
February 13 -14

Atlanta, Georgia
February 20-21
America’s Mart
240 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30303
Building 2 West

Portland, Oregon
February 28th and March 1st
Oregon Convention Center
777 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
Portland Or 97232
Exhibit Hall D

More cities to be announced soon!

*All venues and dates subject to change.

SEASON 5 AUDITION CITIES - (More Cities to be Announced)

CHICAGO, IL
October 17th and 18th
McCormick Place
2301 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60616

PHILADELPHIA, PA
October 25th and 26th
Pennsylvania Convention Center
1101 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA

NEW JERSEY
TBD

NEW YORK CITY, NY
October 31st and November 1st
The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center of New York
655 West 34th Street
New York City, NY 10001

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Famous Background Actors who succeeded, it happens!

DIRECTOR — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:17:23 +0000

So you think that you can become a famous actor through work as a background actor. What are you crazy?

Well crazy or not some really famous stars appeared on camera as an extra before going on to stardom. It is a low paying and sometimes terribly boring job but for some the experience has been very rewarding in the end. A recent television show interviewed employees of Central Casting in Los Angeles. The Casting Director listed some of the famous people who belonged to Central Casting at one time. Those famous people include: Clint Eastwood, Casey Affleck and Eva Longoria. That’s right, Dirty Harry himself struggled to make it and was a background actor (uncredited, as all background actors are) in the 1950’s before finding success in the 1960’s. Below is a list of more famous celebrities who worked in the background before being put into the spotlight.

Many actors who became celebrities began their careers as extras in other productions*. For examples check out these famous former extras:

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon served as extras during the Fenway Park scenes in Field of Dreams.
Brad Pitt was an extra in Less Than Zero.
Rudolph Valentino appeared as an extra in several films.
Gloria Swanson was an extra in The Song of Soul in 1914 before featuring in many Charlie Chaplin films.
Noel Coward appeared as an extra in Hearts of the World.
Shirley Temple appeared as an extra in several films before she was signed to a long-term contract with Fox Studios.
Bruce Willis appeared as an extra in the final courtroom scene in the film The Verdict.
John Wayne appeared as an extra in a number of silent films during the 1920s.
Brian Cox was an extra in various episodes of The Prisoner.
Clint Eastwood worked as an uncredited extra in a number of movies in the 1950s before becoming a star in the late 60s.
Dennis Hopper used to work as an extra before starring in Rebel Without A Cause.
Fred Zinnemann was an extra in All Quiet on the Western Front before he became a film director.
David Niven appeared as a Central Casting extra in many Hollywood films before going on to become a leading man.
Patrick Macnee was an extra in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.
Terry-Thomas was an extra in many British films before becoming a star.
Trevor Bannister was an extra in Reach for the Sky.
Michael Caine and Oliver Reed both acted as extras in British films of the late 1950s.
Dave Clark was an extra in the Judy Garland film I Could Go On Singing.
Pattie Boyd appeared as an extra in The Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night.
Phil Collins was an extra in A Hard Day’s Night.
David Bowie was an extra in The Virgin Soldiers.
Bob Hoskins was an extra in the Frankie Howerd film Up the Front.
Robin Askwith was an extra in an episode of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
Dick Cavett was an extra in The Phil Silvers Show Bilko.
Julian Sands appeared as an extra in an episode of the British TV series Minder.
Kara Tointon was once an extra in EastEnders before later creating the character of Dawn Swann in the soap.
Adam Brody was an extra in American Pie 2 before gaining a long-term role as Seth Cohen on The O. C..
Jackie Chan was an extra in Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon. Jackie Chan was still a teenager at the time of filming.
Sylvester Stallone was an extra in Woody Allen’s Bananas (1971) as a subway thug, in the Jane Fonda psychological thriller Klute (1971) as an extra dancer in a club, and in the Jack Lemmon vehicle The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) as a youth.
James Michael Tyler began his career in the TV sit-com Friends as an extra behind the bar at Central Perk. His role then grew into the character ‘Gunther’.
Heath Ledger was an extra in the Australian film, Clowning Around.
Cuba Gooding Jr. was an extra in Coming to America as a customer in the barber shop.
Jean Harlow was an extra, along with her mother, in several silent films during the late 1920’s.
Norma Shearer worked as an extra in New York during 1919 and 1920, as did her mother Edith and sister Athole.
Mary Astor was an extra in several silent films in the early 1920s, mostly westerns.
Renee Zellweger was an extra on Dazed and Confused. She played one of the hazed freshmen girls.
Robbie Williams was an extra in Eastenders.
Megan Fox was an extra in Bad Boys 2. She was a dancer in an early club scene.

* This list is compiled from Wikipedia (Some errors may or may not present)

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Comedy Writer Denny Dormody Tackles Audience Work

DIRECTOR — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:51:32 +0000

We the Applauding

Hollywood Milieu ©2009

Written by Denny Dormody

This is the lowest of the low. This is not a hardware-tools industrial. This is not a small feature. This is not a short subject. This is not even what a buddy called “the lowest form of show business, a funeral.” This is worse. Sitting in a game show and applauding.

The Writer’s strike. No one is working. Things are desperate and getting more desperate. Working a game show is not my idea of acting nirvana. There is one redeeming factor. You are paid in cold hard cash.

If they were paying cash, I’d watch an autopsy. I’m sure watching an autopsy would be more fun then some of the no-brainer game show tripe that I have suffered through to pay the rent. Horror stories. No food. No bathroom breaks. No kidding. I know these working conditions are against the Geneva Convention guidelines for prisoners of war. You would probably have a better day as an inmate at GITMO. Still cash is cash.

Worse case scenario: Sony Pictures. Hulk Hogan is a referee as a bunch of Neanderthals are beating the life out of each other in some type of ’sports’ competition. American Gladiator. It should have been called American Slaughter. If this is sports than I’m glad I’m not a sports fan. There’s one thing worse than competing in this glorified reality TV bloodsport and that is sitting in the audience watching the carnage.

An acting buddy and I are told that the gig will only be four hours. Four hours and someone in the shadows hands us $45 in cash. I’m broke; I’m game. My baloney radar is usually running at a high rate of steam when I am working these train wrecks. I hear a couple of crew guys saying that we are going to have to work another four hours. To soothe the pain, the producers are bringing in pizza to keep the knuckle-walking audience at bay. There must be a way out. I know violence in not the way, but tonight I’ll consider it. Besides I left my AK-47 assault rifle in my locker at that storage place next to the railroad tracks near home. If there is a way out, we’re taking it.

45 people are standing in line to be wrapped as per the original Craig’s List invitation to “Work on an exciting TV show with celebrities.” Hulk Hogan is not my idea of a celebrity. Jeffrey Dahmer may be, but not Hulk Hogan. We are 44 and 45^th in line. I hear a lady complaining that her babysitter has be go home after four hours. I’ll use the same ploy if push comes to shove it. The line shuffles along. Almost there. Cash is king.

We get to the guy with the clip-board. He hands us cash. We run like scalded dogs back to the parking structure. Our nightmare is over. For the other 150 audience members, the nightmare is just beginning.

The next morning. We get a call from another actor buddy, forced to stay for the full eight hours. Not everyone got paid. They ran out of money! Can you imagine the bedlam when they announced they were out of cash. Soccer riots in Uruguay comes to mind.

I’m surprised the angry mob didn’t burn down the studios on the way to the parking structure at 2:30am. They waited four weeks for their check in the mail. There are game show horror stories all over town. It gets worse.

The Price is Right with Drew Carey and the "Audience"

The ultimate horror story: An older lady is working as an audience member. They would not let anyone go to the toilets. No bathroom breaks. Finally a bathroom break. This older lady is waiting in line with the rest of the younger ladies. She tells them to “Move back!” and she relieves herself standing there in line. A puddle at her feet told the story.

These are hard working people. The working poor trying to make some money to pay some bills. I’m sure most of the actors in town worked a game show audience or two in their early days. How many would admit it, however, is anyone’s guess.

I once fell asleep while suffering through The Price is Right early one morning. Let’s say its not my favorite cerebral show. Not exactly intellectually riveting. It also didn’t help that the night before I had worked Eli Stone at Disney and we wrapped at 2:30am. I had only about 4 hours sleep. A surly production gestapo lady dressed in a security uniform watches me doze off on the TV monitor. She confronts me. She escorts me down the hallway. I’m banished off the lot like trash in a dumpster.

I went home without the $75 cash. In my case, The Price was Wrong.

Denny Dormody is a Los Angeles Times Magazine published comedy writer and author of Riding the Hollywood Glacier. dennydormody@gmail.com

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Open Call Auditions for Sing Off on NBC Television

DIRECTOR — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:48:07 +0000

Open Call Auditions for Sing Off on NBC Television in September 2009

The ultimate A Cappella Competition

Seeking a cappella groups for new prime time competition show! Each week, a cappella groups from around the country will compete for a Sony Recording Contract and national acclaim! Groups will rehearse and sing the world’s most popular songs, arranged and performed like you’ve never heard them…no lip-synching, no back-up bands, no safety net. They will compete in front of the show’s panel of professional experts. One group will be eliminated each episode and America will decide in our live finale who will be the nation’s best a cappella group and will walk away with the ultimate prize.

REQUIREMENTS:

Groups must consist of four (4) to ten (10) members, made up of any combination of males and females.
Applicants must be 18 years and older
Please prepare two (2) vocal performances – each no longer than three (3) minutes. Groups might not perform both songs but be prepared. One piece must be a recognizable cover song.
Medleys are allowed but must be no longer than three (3) minutes.
Any musical styles are accepted.
Choreography, creativity, and dress are encouraged to enhance your performance.
No Instruments of any kind allowed.
Microphones will be provided at open call auditions.

Each member must bring a copy of valid ID to audition.
Each member must bring a completed application to audition. Download application here

To visit the official casting page at NBC: Click Here

OPEN CALL AUDITIONS

NEW YORK, NY
Saturday September 12th 2009
SIR
520 W. 25th St
(Between 10th & 11th)
New York, NY 10001
www.sirny.com
Line Starts at 8am • Doors Open at 9am

CHICAGO, IL
Monday September 14th 2009
Superior Street
2744 W. Superior St.
Chicago, IL 60612
www.superiorst.com
Line Starts at 8am • Doors Open at 9am

ATLANTA, GA
Wednesday September 16th 2009
Avatar Events Group
471 Glen Iris Drive NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
www.avatareventsgroup.com
Line Starts at 8am • Doors Open at 9am

LOS ANGELES, CA
Saturday September 19th 2009
Musicians Institute
1655 N. McCadden Place
Hollywood, CA 90028
www.mi.edu
Line Starts at 8am • Doors Open at 9am

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Open Calls for ABC Television Show WipeOut

DIRECTOR — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:35:36 +0000

Open Calls for ABC Television Show WipeOut

World famous reality television producer Endemol USA (that brought you Fear Factor, and Deal or No Deal,) is casting more episodes of the television hit WIPEOUT. In each episode, 24 contestants compete to win $50,000 while conquering the world’s largest obstacle course.

You don’t need to be an athlete to participate.

SEEKING:
• MEN AND WOMEN over 18 years of age.
• Legal residents of the U.S.
• Must be able to swim.
• Fun, strong-willed, outgoing, and have a great sense of humor.

OPEN CALLS:

Date:
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
Time:
11am-2pm
Location:
ESPN ZONE – Downtown Disney
1545 Disneyland Dr.
Anaheim, CA 92802

Date:
Saturday, September 26th, 2009
Time:
11am-2pm
Location:
ESPN ZONE – Downtown Disney
1545 Disneyland Dr.
Anaheim, CA 92802

Date:
Saturday, October 10th, 2009 & Sunday, October 11th, 2009
Time:
11am-2pm
Location:
Seau’s The Resturant – Westfield Shopping Town
1640 Camino Del Rio North, #1376
San Diego, CA 92108

CASTING CONTACT:
For inquiries regarding casting, please email wipeoutcasting@gmail.com.

For more information, please visit: www.MysticArtPictures.com

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Background Actor Denny Dormody describes the madness and confusion that is a TV Pilot

DIRECTOR — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:36:17 +0000

Out of the Orbit

Written by Denny Dormody

It’s Sunday about 545 am. It’s early. I heading down 6^th Street in downtown LA. These streets are nothing to write home about, especially at this time of day. As the song says, the darkest hour is always just before the dawn. This is early morning LA and it’s dark. Dark and nasty. Homeless. Broken glass. Debris in the streets. An empty MTA bus passes in the night like a ghost ship disappearing into the fog. It’s pilot season.

A pilot is a new TV show. Producers pitch them. Networks bankroll them. I act in them.

I’m a background actor and this is yet another pilot. I have no complaints. I’m happy to have work. Especially, on the weekend which is normally two days of acting down time.

6^th Street runs perpendicular into Los Angeles Street. I’ll hang a left and a sharp right into the production base camp. I look forward to ordering an omelet, picking up a cup of coffee off the catering truck and hanging out with other fellow actors, writers and film maker as we all ride the Hollywood glacier, working as background extras.

I especially look forward to hooking up with the PA or production assistant handing out pay vouchers. I turn the corner. There is no base camp. This is not my beautiful home. This is not my beautiful wife. This is desolation row in the dark shadows. This sucks.

I see a lone shrouded figure with a clipboard and a flashlight. Other background actors are briefly stopping their cars, being given a map and directed to another parking location. Again. I pull a semi u-turn and pull up and receive the map to the new location. I half-smile. Same old; same old. It’s pilot season.

Pilots are the most disorganized shoots ever. The wrong location directions are given. Somebody forgets to pack the coffee pots in the catering van. There are no chairs for the background actors to sit on. The PA in charge of background has no idea what the rules for overtime are and how we extras are to be paid.

I’m dead reckoning through the back streets of downtown LA. I jump on the 101 on-ramp and head to Hollywood and Vine, the site of our actual location shoot. Minutes pass. I’m heading down Vine Street and past the fabled Capitol Records building, featured in the opening sequence of Ocean’s 11. The shining stars on the Hollywood walk of fame are wet. Wet with the morning dew. This is a heck of a way to start a shoot.

Finally, the base camp comes into focus. We park. Inside a large ‘lunch box’ trailer our pay vouchers are handed out. We inhale our breakfast. We head to set.

A street scene. Two principal actors are standing on the corner in conversation. We are crossing behind them. Some background are driving their cars in a traffic loop. Some one forgot to bring Walkie Talkie’s for the car drivers. ‘Rolling, Speed, background, Action and Cut” will now all have to be screamed up and down the streets, adding to the mayhem and general confusion. Some of the confusion can’t be helped.

Most of these crew people have not worked together. Everyone has to be introduced and get in sync with each other. Everyone is trying to get along. Everyone is trying to get a bong. Everyone is trying to stay employed. We extras have an edge in this business. Our edge is something that keeps us going shoot after shoot.

We work almost every day. We are in the orbit. I’m lucky, I can walk on a movie or TV set and I know people. I’m blessed that now I get hello’s from Make-up people and Wardrobe people and 1^st and 2^nd AD’s and PA’s and even crew. I hope this means that my glacier is melting and I’m moving slowly but surely up the Hollywood food chain.

Some crew and some PA’s working on sets, don’t work every day. They hardly know anyone. They are so glad to have a gig, they are afraid to rock the boat. They flounder. They make mistakes. You can sense when a director and crew are in not in sync with each other.

Learn more and purchase Denny's book at Amazon. Click the image.

I’m working License to Wed in Long Beach. This is day 1 of 38 shooting days. I can see how the cast and crew are not picking up their cues. Takes turn into Going again, second takes and third takes. The coordination between departments and duties is strained. You would expect it to be. This is only day 1. I saw this being out of orbit syndrome during the last season of ER. This time with not a crew member , but with an actor.

We are working ER. A patient turned crazed gunman is spraying bullets in the hallway. A SAG day-player is an FBI agent. He’s talking to the chief hospital boss. His line is something like: “I’m Bill Clinton, I’m with the FBI and I’m in charge now.” That’s it.

Not Shakespeare. A sentence or two. He keeps blowing the lines. After three muffled takes the director is getting let’s say anxious. Veins are beginning to appear on the director’s forehead. Things start to get ugly. My theory, not to be confused with My space: The day player is not working a lot. He is out of sync with the industry and out of sync with set protocol.

Ask this guy where Crafty (coffee and snacks) or where the Honey Wagon (the john) is, he probably couldn’t tell you. This guy is not in the employment orbit, because he works so few days. I imagine he works about every 3 months or so. We extras work every day.

The profound question is asked: Is it better to work one SAG day and make more money or make less money working non union and work a lot and stay in the active job networking orbit? Only the Dalia Lama and Richard Gere know for sure. I prefer to work a lot. Movies. TV. Commercial shoots. Autopsies.

Work is work. If you get a gig on a pilot, work it. Stay in the Hollywood working orbit. Expect to be sitting around. Expect to run out of coffee. Expect the unexpected. To paraphrase our old buddy Forrest Gump, Pilot is as Pilot does.

Denny Dormody is a Los Angeles Times Magazine published comedy writer and author of Riding the Hollywood Glacier. dennydormody@gmail.com

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Amazing Race Open Call Auditions Summer 2009

DIRECTOR — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:40:21 +0000

Amazing Race Open Calls Summer 2009

Open call auditions for the Amazing Race have begun.

If you want to download the Application: Click Here

To see the eligibility requirements: Click Here

To visit the official Casting page at CBS.com: Click Here

Open call dates and locations.

CBS 2 Chicago/WBBM-TV
Sunday, August 16, 2009, -6PM
Horseshoe Casino Hammond, 777 Casino Center Drive
Hammond, IN 46320

WLNS
Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 5pm-8PM
Somerset Park Apartments – 14690 Abbey Ln
Bath, MI 10065
517-712-9514

CBS 2 New York/WCBS-TV
Monday, August 24, 2009, 9am-2PM
Victorian Gardens Amusement Park, Located at Wollman Rink in Central Park
830 5th Ave NY, NY 10065
212-982-2229

KDBC
Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 10am-2PM
NMSU Bookstore
El Paso, TX 46320
915/496.4470

WLKY
Thursday, August 27, 2009, 2-6PM
Kentucky State Fair, 937 Phillips Lane
Louisville, KY 40209