Being an extra on a Hollywood set

I got a call about 2 hours ago from the casting director to be an extra once again in a period “Hollywood” production. Each time I need to travel to the production I need to take one vacation day from my dayjob. The pay is decent, but I make more on my day job so I lose money each time I go. I’ve lost 3 days already: 1 for wardrobe fitting, 1 for rehearsal, 1 for filming. I enjoyed myself on set but was frustrated by the fact that I could hardly talk to anyone on the crew. Everyone is always so busy. I did the extra thing because I wanted to see a set and get to know people in the industry, not the big players, just the crew. Everyone just seemed so damn unreachable. Being an extra feels kind of like being an indentured servant. You are very much still on the outside looking in. I was very far from the set so I was not able to see that much of the processes on set. Except on a couple of scenes. Anyway I sacrificed those 3 days because I had never been on a set in my life so I knew it would do me good. I’m thinking if I go again I’ll lose out on vacation time with my family (my wife isn’t crazy about the idea) and in exchange I will probably not get much out of it. There’s no guarantee my mark will be closer to the director and actors this time.

I’m a one-man-band-filmmaker wannabe. I don’t have any acting aspirations, but my dream is to write-direct-produce films. Being the head of a family and full time employee, my free time is extremely limited. So my question is: Where is my time better spent? Spending an entire day as an extra in a professional set, keeping in mind I can only watch (likely from afar) and barely ask questions.

OR

Working an entire day on my personal video project.


Which is it: Watching the pros shoot OR editing and shooting my own stuff.

Specifically I would love to hear from people who have served as extras and see what they have gotten out of it.

Feature film sets here in Louisiana are a very different story than that same crew shooting in CA. I get the very opposite reports from friends and colleagues who work as extras here in "Hollywood South".

That said, I'd not take time away from my family for anything, period. My advice is to produce your own indie stuff. You will learn a great deal more form that. It is hands on with everything, you get more practical experience. "Extra" on a resume isn't really much, unless you want to be an Extra again.

Look for local filmmaker meetup groups, the local user groups, hook up with folks, write, shoot, edit, get your hands dirty. Folks doing indie films on their own are as pro as anyone, in my opinion. They work hard, they put a lot of time and sweat and tears into their work. It is as creative, and in many cases much more so, than anything I've seen come out of Hollywood studios.

Extras watch from the sideilnes and have a resume for such.
Indie filmmakers get their hands dirty and have ad killer show reel.

I'm sure opinions will vary here, with different film companies and projects having different experiences. But a very good question, and I'm very interested to see what others have to say about this.

I was leaning more towards passing on this and your message was all I needed to hear. Thanks. I don’t even have a resume for film, since this is a side thing for me. Like I said I want to produce my own stuff. I did have some good takeaways from the experience. I was crazy enough to think I could try a film solo. I’m thinking I will need at least one assistant, most likely two. Of course everything would be scaled down drastically when I finally feel confident to try a feature. I still think I can do pre and post-production solo, but shooting solo would simply produce crap and I would probably lose my mind in the process.

1. Keeping everyone fed on set is very important. (I would have an assistant to take care of this)
2. Having a makeup/wardrobe person on set is important. (Ideally this function would be done by the same person above).
3. I got the impression the director had a very loose plan as to what and how he was going to shoot. (Not sure how I feel about this one. It’s true you don’t know how it’s going to look until you get there, especially with a lot of extras. But in my case I better have a good plan since I don’t have experience).
4. I need to get a field monitor, and if possible someone to operate my camera. That way I can focus on the performances rather than on framing, focus, etc. (I bet this one is painfully obvious to anyone who’s tried making a film before.)
5. Professional actors are freaking awesome at their job. (I’ve always believed this to be the weakest link for producing a film myself, and seeing pro actors confirmed my suspicion).