The Ins and Outs of Being an Extra

While I was waiting for Bar results and without full-time employment, I picked up odd jobs to replenish my ever-depleting bank account. Being in Austin, there were a ton of opportunities for contract work that still gave me the opportunity to look for a full-time job. I don't know if I just hadn't noticed before or if it's been growing in recent years, but the film and television industry is taking (or has taken?) hold in Austin to the point where it's not impossible to find relatively common odd jobs. Be it crew, cast, or something in between, these film and television companies are waiting with open arms to feed you and pay you.

Over the past few months, I had the chance to get pretty regular work as an extra for ABC's American Crime. I got to meet incredible incredible people who are all out there hustling and making their dreams come true. I got to meet such talented cast and crew who's vision makes this unbelievable thing possible. And mostly, I got to get dolled up as a high school student and do completely random things I wouldn't get to do in normal life.

I know that before I started doing this time of work, I literally never noticed the people in the background. I never wondered how they got there. But it turns out, it's pretty easy. Basically....

You find a casting agency in your area. I think there's like, 4 or 5 in Austin and I know that there's an equally as strong if not stronger market in areas like Atlanta, New York City, LA (obvs), and Nashville. You can find them on Facebook most of the time and they'll post casting notices there. (Just make sure they're legit! Look at what type of projects they've had before and if you can, find people who have worked with them.)

Sample legit casting notice from a casting agency in Austin

If you look like what they're looking for, you submit your picture and contact information and wait. Most of the time, they'll get back to you in a few days and send you the call time, location, and any clothes they might need you to bring.

So you show up and on most major projects, you get a bomb breakfast buffet. Then you get sent to wardrobe. They inspect the outfits you brought and in my case, scrunch their noses and ask if I brought anything else. When I say "no," they roll out these big racks of clothes and I try things on until I/they stumble into the right outfit. Then hair and makeup.

Depending on the project, they might trust you to do your own. But if it's a period piece (Like this one J and I did!), they'll spend hours working on your hair and makeup. If it seems like this would be a super time consuming process, it is. Especially for the larger scenes where maybe 50-100 people are all lined up for their turn.

When you've been satisfactorily spruced up, you get sent to set! Sometimes you get to walk, but most times, you end up riding in unmarked white vans (super alarming the first time).

Set is a very quiet, chaotic place with about a million people trying to get their piece of the project just right. An Assistant Director puts you in a place, gives you an action and sometimes even an entire back story for your character. Again, if this sounds like a ridiculous extent to go to for the people who literally just stand in the background, it is. It is but I guess it works. Extras, as far as I've seen, take their work seriously. Partially because we sign a contract that says we will, partially because some want to become actors, and partially because we don't want to be that one person who messes it all up for everyone.

When "Background" then "Action" is called, we start doing our thing. Sometimes we do our thing for hours and hours and hours. Then we move to another scene. Sometimes we do our thing in buildings without AC or at 1 in the morning while we pretend it's really noon. Sometimes we do our thing bundled in winter clothing when it's 90 degrees outside or alternatively, in summer clothing when it's 30 degrees outside. But each time, it's a blast. It's almost as if that day's wrap makes you forget all of the annoying parts.

A Rainy Weekend Recap

This weekend managed to be a success despite the fact that it started raining Friday night and literally did not stop until Sunday morning. Some of my best friends (and sister) came in from out of town and we hit up the Panic Room (again by popular demand) and it was just as fun as it was the last time. We did the "Bomb Room" this time which meant we had one hour to find the "bomb" and escape the room. Somehow, we managed to do it in 47 minutes. I genuinely have no idea how we got out so fast but it made us feel brainy and successful all at once! 

Plus, finishing a bit early wasn't a problem since we had dinner reservations to get to. Given all of our new free time, we decided to walk the few blocks and rehash our greatest moments. Does anyone else ever do that? Start talking about an experience almost as soon as it's over? I've always been a big "Instant Replay" kind of person and luckily, so were most of us. 

For dinner, we were trying a new (to us) place called Arro. It's on West 6th Street which meant that the white, non-descript building was surrounded by bumping, music-filled places. The energy seemed to transfer inside and it was wonderful. The whole place was filled with great music and conversation, cheeses and tons of wine. 

Arro, which bills itself as a French restaurant, definitely follows the French method of dining. There was a healthy amount of time between the drinks, the cheeses, the entrees, and the dessert and that was just fine by me. It as nice having time to catch up with people I hadn't seen for a while and nibble on different cheeses and a ton of bread. (I have a thing for carbs). Plus, it took us a super long time to decide what we wanted to order. Once we did decide though, it seemed like we all ordered the same thing.

I guess I don't really wonder why. The steak (and fries!) were delicious. It didn't dawn on us until the plates were cleaned that we probably should have ordered different entrees so that we could try more of the menu, but I don't think we had any regrets. 

Finally, we wrapped it up with a tiny profiterole filled with the best (and only) hazelnut ice cream I have ever had.

J and I slept in the next morning then eventually ventured out to see The Martian. It was so good! Even though I'm starting to think more and more that space movies stress me out. 

Have any of you guys see it? Any thoughts? I've been meaning to read the book so hopefully I'll get back to you guys about that soon! How were your weekends? Hopefully the weather was a little more cooperative!

Linking up with Her Heartland Soul for the weekend roundup!

The Weekly Happy Hour: Parkside

I just wanted to thank you guys for your supportive comments on the 'What's the Point of Blogging?' post. Like a lot of you guys, I resist the idea of blogging being 'dead' because I resist the idea of losing this space where I can talk about important things and also, fun but probably less important things (in the grand scheme of the world). Even though, I'm not sure that spending time with friends is ever unimportant. Goodness knows I would go crazy without midweek socialization.

This week, it was my turn to pick the happy hour and because I missed last week, I was eager to hit the ground running. The website for Parkside immediately drew me in. Fries? Cheeseburger? Mac and Cheese?? It seems like the perfect, warm place to take refuge on this dreary, almost rainy day.

Park side is on Dirty 6th, a place I'd been a thousand times before but I'd never noticed the little restaurant tucked away on the corner. At 5:30, the place was already popping and the atmosphere was fun and Friday-esque.

I got a drink that was part strawberry Stoli, part champagne and part sugar and it was so, so good. For most of my of-drinking-age life, I've tended to stick with the same things so it's a nice change of pace trying drinks I wouldn't have otherwise tried.

Having been put on notice that there would be cheeseburgers, I tried to eat healthy during the day which meant I was starving when I got there. I got the cheeseburger, Karlz got the fried egg sandwich and Ferj got the ceviche and it was all so tasty. The fries were those crispy, wonderfully salty kind and were served with a garlic aioli. It was the perfect offset to the sweetness of the drink. Like, I'll be honest, I wish I was eating it right now.

We were tucked in a corner booth and it was the perfect place to talk about our jobs, the holidays and the very real stress of waiting for Bar results. 

I'd definitely come back with friends, with J, or even with a good book. Such a delicious, well-priced and centrally located place! Plus happy hour, which runs till 6:30 is half price off of cocktails, beer and the bar menu! 

Like with all happy hours, I was sad to see it end but I did see this really strange thing outside of Roppollo's, a drunken night out institution on 6th. Not surprisingly, there was a massive line of people waiting to take a picture with it. Oh, Austin. 

Here's to hoping the rest of the week flies by! 

Overall rating: 4/5

The Weekly Happy Hour: Italic

This week found us all a collectively cranky, tired mess. You guys already know how I feel about Wednesdays in general but today was especially bad. After a 3 1/2 hearing that got out late, a terrible headache and backache, and the knowledge that I have a ton of packing to do tonight, I was worn down. Weirdly enough, Nat, Karls, and Ferj all felt the same way. So "Happy Hour" became the Complaining Hour and you know what? It was just what the doctor ordered.

This week, we went to a relatively new haunt called Italic. Due to said tiredness, I didn't get too many good pictures but they had a giant, suspended glass case of wine so that was pretty cool.

They had $4 glasses of wine and happy hour cocktails (I got the wine if you couldn't tell) as well as a few starters including a giant ball of cheese for $8. Yes please!

They also give some free sandwiches with the purchase of a drink so that's definitely a selling point! Overall, it was a decent happy hour. I particularly loved the part about the wine and cheese. Like most places downtown though, parking was terrible. Foodwise, they had some olives and prosciutto (pictured above), for $8ish and $10 respectively. Besides that, they had some $17 pizza which is just a little bit more than I was prepared to pay for pizza so I filled up on bread.

If you're really into Italian food or you're looking for a glass of cheap wine, I'd suggest it! Otherwise, you might want to have a quick peek at the surrounding blocks that are filled to the brim with restaurants.

Overall rating: 3/5

The Weekly Happy Hour: Peche

For happy hour this week, we continued making our way down that 'Best Austin Happy Hour' list and ended up at Peche! It's such a weirdly shaped place (long and narrow), that it's super easy to just walk right past. The trick is to look for the giant sign shaped like a wine bottle (these people clearly speak my language).

The restaurant is decorated like the set of a fancy version of Series of Unfortunate Events, with antique pieces punctuated by the occasional, extremely strange artwork. 

Their happy hour consists of $5 cocktails (eligible ones have astericks next to them) and half priced appetizers (also marked with astericks) and everything is i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e. Karls and Nat got the Royal Bee's Knees which is gin, honey, and lemon and oh my goodness, it tastes like honey-sweetened lemonade and packs the punch of straight gin. Not ordering that drink has become one of my life's regrets (though the French75 was pretty killer, too). 

The appetizers are huge and perfect for sharing! The size of the fry boat itself is overwhelming (in a good way). 

All in all, it was the perfect place coming off of a less-than-perfect week. Stressful weekends, never ending doc review, and the looming rainclouds that are the pending bar results were weighing heavily on my mind and it was nice to be able to vent about it. Plus, since we've all started working, it's been hard finding times that our schedules align. All of this work-life balance people talk about is no joke.

What are some ways that you all keep in touch with friends during the week? I'm excited to hear how other people handle the mid-week slump!

Overall rating: 4.5/5

The Panic Room

This past weekend, my best friend from undergrad, Meelz, and her husband came down to Austin to drink autumnal-themed coffee drinks and visit the Austin Panic Room. 

When I first heard about panic rooms my first thought was 'That movie with Jodie Foster? Why would I want to reenact that movie with Jodie Foster?' Thankfully (or not, depending on your views of that movie), that's not what this was. The Panic Room would be more aptly called the Puzzle Room because basically, you're locked in a set of rooms for one hour and you have to solve puzzles, find clues, and break codes in order to get out.

We chose the Museum Room (arbitrarily, because we are bad decision makers) and when we got there, found out it had a 33% success rate. Properly encouraged, we were the brief by our "contact on the outside." She explained that we had one hour to find the most priceless artifact then unlock the doors to escape.

While it didn't seem that difficult in theory, 30 minutes in, we had two locks undone (and that was because one was unlocked when we got in there). What makes the room so tricky is that some clues are hidden behind locks so you don't have all of the necessary information right off the bat. And some of the clues you do get off the bat can't be understood without the help of clues to be uncovered later.

Minutes 30-45, we got the majority of the locks and it seemed like we were definitely going to escape when we hit the last lock. We were allowed to ask our "contact on the outside" 7 questions and we used our last one on figuring out how to bust this lock. I'm pretty sure we asked 10 questions disguised as one and even then, we were struggling.

With 2 minutes to go, we all collectively lost our cool and fought the urge to turn over furniture and barrel through the door. Luckily, Meelz kept her wits about her and figured out the final code. With 56 seconds, we escaped.

It took about an hour for the adrenaline to die down and after a meal at Hopdoddy's (where we were too busy singing angsty songs from the early 2000s to take pictures), she and her husband shipped off but not before asking when we could go back.

The Panic Room is definitely a fun, super unconventional way to spend an afternoon, whether it be with friends, family, or a group of strangers. So what are you waiting for? Brush up on your code-breaking skills and book your tickets!

The Weekly Happy Hour: Malaga

Like every Wednesday before it, I was really looking forward to tasty drinks and snacks by the time I got off work. This time, we tried a place downtown called Malaga. It's a tapas place and I'm not typically a big fan of tapas, so I was a bit wary. First, like most places downtown, parking is awful. I was lucky enough to get a close spot but it was only after 15 minutes of driving in big circles. Make sure to stock up on your patience before heading out to this locale.

Snapped this on my 5th go round past this light 

The restaurant itself was nice though. There were tons of people sitting out on the patio and it's on twinkle light-lit 2nd St. so why not? They have $5 sangria (4 different flavors!) and $6 white and red white. There were beer specials too, but I'll be honest, I was too distracted by the sangrias to check their price!

Malaga also has certain tapas on happy hour so we got the cheese plate to split with the table, some calamari and bread with some kind of tomato spread on top. Everything was good but the real standouts are: the free, warm, continuously reappearing bread and the sauce that came with the calamari. Still thinking about it.

See the sauce hiding on the back of the calamari plate? Total game changer.

I'm not sure that I'd go here if it was full price but it's definitely a happy hour worth checking out, especially if you're in the area (and don't have to drive!). Specials are till 7, which is great if you're having to work late.

Overall rating: 3.5/5

The Weekly Happy Hour: Contigo

I've been lucky enough that 4 out of my 5 good friends have stayed in the same city as me after graduation. I've been even luckier to have made some new friends since. But perhaps the best luck of all comes in this tradition we've adopted: the weekly happy hour. I know we're far from the only people to do this, but my goodness, am I glad we do.

Typically, it's on Wednesday which is the perfect day in my opinion. The novelty of the week has worn off and you've probably already spent all day thinking it was Thursday, only to be disappointed each and every time you're reminded it's Wednesday. No matter how much you love your job (and I do, so I can say this with certainty), Wednesdays are the worst. See also NeverShoutNever (verifying that Wednesdays are indeed the worst).

It's on these plateaus of days that we've decided to do our Happy Hour and I'll tell you friends, it is worth it. Not so much for the drinks or the delicious snacks, but for the company and commiseration that you get during the consumption process. It's a perfect de-stresser. A power-up for the rest of the week, if you will.

Right now, we choose our locales based on their food specials and we're using this list as our guide. If you're in Austin, I highly recommend it. It takes the stress out of picking a place.

The key to a successful happy hour though? Try to avoid a Thursday hangover. There's still two more days in the week to go!


Happy Friday!

PS- If you're in Austin, Contigo has a happy hour worth checking out. $1 fried chicken until it runs out!

Rating: 3/5