Star search: Inside a casting call for extras
In these stacks of paper work are the forms potential extras must fill out to be a part of Central Casting. Photos by Stephanie Landry
Around 2 p.m. on a rainy March weekday, Tiffany Gibson, 19, and Brianna Beeson, 21, head to one of Celtic Media Centre’s back buildings.
There, the massage therapy students are smiling, nervously filling out paperwork during an open casting call for extras and background actors.
“I’ve been acting since I was 3 years old,” Beeson says. “I was in theater in high school, but I felt like I never really got an opportunity to do it. When I saw this on the news this morning, I was like, ‘Yes, I’m going.’”
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The room is full of people—from children to college students to middle-aged moms to retirees to grandparents. And they all want to be in a movie, even if it’s just for a second.
“A lot of people will be an extra for the fun of it,” casting director Adam Hochfeld says. “You’re entering this fantasy land, and you get to be part of something bigger.”
Hochfeld works with Central Casting, a background actors casting company that opened its first office in Los Angeles in 1925. It opened a second office in New York eight years ago. Late last year, it opened another office in New Orleans.
The day’s call is to fill the company’s database with local talent for upcoming productions that might take place in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and other areas in south Louisiana. There are no specific roles or films the company has in mind.
“Basically, we’re looking for every type of person,” Hochfeld says. “That’s the great thing about background work. I’ve never come across a category or a look that we couldn’t book. It’s the one job out there that’s for everyone.”
Hochfeld and his team will meet and get information and pictures from hundreds of people throughout the day, like Manning Lee, a 22-year-old from Walker, or Laura Guzman, a 60-year-old part-time photographer who already has quite the résumé.
“I’ve been in several movies,” Guzman says, listing off a number of projects such as Parker, Pitch Perfect and Fantastic Four. “It’s interesting because you meet a lot of people, and you make connections. But, you have to be patient to do this type of work.”
She’s hoping her next role will be a speaking part. With lines come a title change—from extra to featured extra—and a considerable change in pay, considering most extras don’t have audible dialogue.
“I hope I can get a line because then you make more money,” she says, laughing.
That enthusiasm and interest to be part of a film is one reason Central Casting expanded into Louisiana, according to Hochfeld.
“We kept coming back to Louisiana, and we just felt like they had the infrastructure in place and the desire to work,” he says. “I love working with background talent out here. They want to be a part of it and want to contribute. It’s refreshing.” centralcasting.com
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