by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
Andy Warhol once said “In the future everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Well the future is now and my 15 minutes were about to start. Who knew 15 minutes would take so long to produce? With more and more films being shot in Jacksonville, it is becoming increasingly easier to achieve your fame.
Living through the election of 2000 wasn’t enough, we need HBO to make a movie so we can know what really happened. The latest project to be filmed in Jacksonville is HBO’s Recount. It promises to be a riveting, nonpartisan political docudrama that tells the story of the 2000 election fiasco, when we were left without a president for 35 days.
Seven years after that fiasco, there was an open casting call at FCCJ North Campus. Ritia Manyette, owner of Martini Shot Casting, has been trying to draft extras for the HBO project. She had already cast 1500 locals, and she needed 1500 more.
I was curious to know if I could cut it as an extra, so I talked to Manyette about the best way to increase my chances of being cast.
“A lot of people say, ‘I’m too ugly to be in a movie,’” Copeland says, but she assures me that’s not true.
Don’t run out and pay thousands of dollars for professional pictures, they are not looking for models. HBO was looking for real Floridians to recreate the voting debacle that took place in Florida, so you already look the part.
“Setiquette,” as Manyette calls it, consists of a few easy rules. Rule 1 - It’s a long day, 10 to 12 hours at least, so you must clear your schedule and commit to being on set for the entire day. Manyette talked to one woman who thought she only had to be on set for 2 hours, the average length of a movie. She couldn’t be more wrong. Rule 2 - Pay attention. Show some common sense and don’t be obnoxious. Rule 3 - If you should happen to meet a principal actor (like Kevin Spacey), don’t ask for an autograph or a picture. It’s not professional.
Despite the rules, Manyette assures me that the experience is worth that small effort. It looks like we will see, as I was accepted as an extra.
My call time was at 5:30 am. Far too early in the morning for me to make new friends, I started on breakfast. A nice spread of grits, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, eggs, potatoes and more was provided. Before long, the production assistant started calling for pre-assigned groups. Appropriately, I was assigned to “press.” This was it, my 15 minutes were about to go into pre-production.
Everyone was wearing their own clothes but wardrobe made sure that we looked just right. I was asked to bring a bright, salmon-colored shirt. “It’s more Miami,” the wardrobe girl said. She also accessorized me in an ugly scarf with a hole in it, while other women in my group received cute pieces of jewelry. Assuring me that the look was “very Miami,” she wrapped it around my neck like Fred from Scooby-Doo. My new colleagues called me Scarfy.
After wardrobe we were taken through props and then led to the set. I was positioned next to the “Cuban protesters.” The director went over a few directions with us, explaining the scene and what kinds of actions we should do. Protesters pretend to protest; reporters pretend to report. Pretty straightforward.
Warning- if you do not like to stand in one spot all day or cannot stand to do things repetitively, do not be an extra. There is a lot of standing. For the rest of the day, this is all we did. The scene was done over and over from all possible angles. For the first couple of takes I scribbled in my “reporter’s” notepad. But eventually I decided to make it look more realistic and I started writing “blah blah blah” on the page. As boredom took over, I began drawing protesting little stick families.
During a standing break I overheard one of the Cuban protesters tell a guy she is Lebanese and her friends are Filipino and Caucasian. From the rubber guns the cops were carrying to our own antiquated reporting props, I was starting to appreciate the magic of movies.
It was an exhausting day of standing around, but extras were given two short breaks during the course of the day, the meals were great, we made $75 and we were done by 3:40. As I left I was offered the opportunity to come back the next day. Call time for day two was not as early and the day was not as hard or as long, but I had to wear the scarf again, for continuity reasons.
Although it’s too late to get in on this project, you can still send Martini Shot Casting a picture and your contact information at martinishotcasting.com and the next time they are looking for someone that is looking for their 15 minutes of fame, you might get to wear the scarf. Hopefully I will show up in the film, not on the cutting room floor, or I may have to go through the whole ordeal again to be assured my moment in the spotlight.
|
