What does an extra do?
A background actor or extra, is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background (for example, in an audience or busy street scene).
How much does a SAG extra get paid?
SAG-AFTRA indicates that special ability actors can expect to make $180 per day to perform in the background of a scene. Hazard pay is another type of bump in the daily rate.
Do you have to be a member of SAG to be an extra?
To become an extra, you don’t need a SAG card, either. Even if the project itself is SAG-AFTRA, you are not required to be a dues-paying member of SAG-AFTRA in order to get hired as a background actor.
Are extras covered by SAG?
However, once you have a SAG card, you are not allowed to work nonunion acting jobs. Lower paid nonunion extra work is often more plentiful than unionized jobs, especially in cities where few SAG-AFTRA productions are made. Joining SAG-AFTRA also involves paying a high initiation fee and sliding scale annual dues.
Can anyone be an extra?
Extras are required to perform, at times, demanding work that entails repeating the same movement or action over and over, for long periods of hours. No skill in particular is required, and anyone can become an extra. All it takes is a few simple steps and you’re ready to embark on this career.
Do stand ins get paid more than extras?
Productions pay Union background actors more money than non-union. Stand-ins make $160 a day, and actors with unique talents such as dancing, playing golf or driving a car, earn $155 a day. But, anyone that has worked as a background extra in California will tell you, extras make the most money in pay bumps.
Do extras in commercials get paid?
Commercial extras earn $45.80 an hour for the first eight hours that they work. Extras who must work more than eight hours are entitled to overtime pay. Extras receive time-and-a-half for the ninth and tenth hours that they work, and double-time for all hours they work after.
Do extras get paid residuals?
That’s because extras get no residuals. If you get a line of dialogue in a show or have a scripted physical interaction with a character (called “special business”), you qualify for residuals.
Who are the members of the Screen Actors Guild?
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide.
Is the Screen Actors Guild the same as the AFTRA?
Since 2012, in the US, most major film and television productions fall under the jurisdiction of the SAG-AFTRA union, previously before SAG-AFTRA was AFL-CIO’s affiliate, the two unions were separately named as: Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
How does the Screen Actors Guild determine rates?
Rates are the minimum amounts of money talent must make for a given production. For union projects, the Screen Actors Guild determines the rate. For non-union projects the rate is determined by the State’s minimum wage in which the production is filming. A rate sheet is a centralized document that lists what the appropriate rates are.
What’s the difference between extras and background actors?
Many felt the term “Background Actor” encompassed more of their responsibilities on set than just being the “extras” who filled out a scene. If you’re cast as a Background Actor, you may hear other names like atmosphere, background artist, background talent, BG, and background.