Work in the crowd: who is hired, how much is paid and what can be blacklisted for?

Few viewers pay attention to the extras: often it works as a backdrop for the main events in the cinema. And, as a rule, the work of these people goes unnoticed. Although there are exceptions. Some famous show business stars started their careers in extras. For example, Sylvester Stallone first starred in Woody Allen's Bananas, but his last name was not even included in the credits. Kristen Stewart played as an extra for 9 years. Mila Jovovich and Charlize Theron even started with general plans and tiny roles in horror films. Any types can be needed. You don't need to have an acting background. Enough of your desire and the type needed by the directors. By the way, he also started with filming in crowd scenes. For example, he played in the first season of the TV series Sklifosovsky. For more than 10 years, Yuri has been selecting actors for mass scenes for Belarusian and Russian cinema, advertising and various TV shows.
- There are no selection criteria as such. In cinema, absolutely any type is needed. In Belarus, war films are often made, which require, for example, people with scars, thin build. We welcome people with disabilities. In the cinema, it’s not like in life – there are no restrictions here. It doesn’t matter what color your eyes, hair, height and weight are.
Recruitment work is usually carried out on social networks. A community is created for a specific film project, and every day invitations to shoot appear in it, where all the types that are required are described. For example, men and women of different ages and builds, who will play passers-by, or medical workers, or police officers.
- The person himself chooses the role that, in his opinion, is most suitable, and sends us an application along with a photo. If we see that this is our character, we invite you to shoot. Of course, a lot depends on the picture. If the film is military, then men playing soldiers are needed more. For a modern film, we will call youth, children. Even a baby will be paid - By the way, are children difficult to find?
- It's not difficult at all. As for children aged three years and older, we cooperate with many acting schools in the country. We give an application - and young actors from all over Belarus come to us. In the case of newborns, word of mouth is triggered. Someone from acquaintances or relatives recently had a baby, and mommy does not mind her child becoming a movie star at such an early age. So one invitation usually receives about 20-30 applications.
The working conditions of extras actors are prescribed at the legislative level. For example, a shooting day for babies lasts no more than three hours. At the same time, the inviting party undertakes to pick up the mother with the child by car from home and bring it back. Children under 18 can work on the site for no more than 8 hours, and for adults, the time is increased by another 4 hours.
- We have real veterans of extras who have been in this business for 10-15 years, moving from film to film. We know them very well. Attentive viewers of Russian TV series probably noticed the same characters in completely different pictures. This is our backbone, call them at any time, invite them to urgently shoot - and they will come. We have such people in our acting base, we are confident in them. What can be blacklisted for? From the actor of mass scenes, a lot of patience is required. A shooting day usually lasts 12 hours, and you need to be on set from the very beginning, despite the fact that the scene may be filmed in the last 10 to 15 minutes.
– The process is very unpredictable: right now the actors are not needed, and in five minutes the director suddenly needs their presence on the set. There are no people: one ran to call, the second - to drink tea. Then they begin to resent that they are being pulled. Sometimes they quarrel among themselves, they have some kind of discussion. All this greatly interferes with the filming process. 
- Do you send such people to the ban?
- Rather, in the black list, and then after three warnings. It happens that a person sent us an application, we chose him, invited him to act, but he didn’t come the first time, the second, the third ... and all without warning, without a good reason. Can you trust him then? We're not playing games here, as many might think. Immediately blacklisted without any warnings are those who apply for filming while intoxicated. How much can you earn? For people who are interested in cinema, shooting in extras is a great opportunity to feel like an actor at least for a day. And also earn! The rates are different. It is important to distinguish between extras, groupings and episodes. Actors of mass scenes can walk back and forth, portray the crowd, but the episode is already a certain role.

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- Now we are shooting a joint Belarusian-Russian film "Olivier". The official rate for extras is 25 rubles per hand per shift. For grouping, the rate is higher by 5 - 10 rubles. There are types that pay even more. For example, you need to find a man 50 years old with long hair or a foreigner.
For understudies, the amount is even higher, depending on the resemblance to the main actor. What happens if the episodic outplayed the actor? - We have been looking for an understudy for Maxim Averin for a long time. It seems, well, what to look for, a bald head is not so rare in men. But in the face, physique, it turned out not everything is simple. It happens that a special type is even easier to find. By the way, very often people come to play extras, and we notice their charisma, openness and give words. Thus, they pass into the category of the episode. Work with text, express emotions.
At the same time, Yuri admits that there are times when episodic actors outplay actors with just a few lines. Such frames are simply cut out.
Extras, which anyone can get into, usually play passers-by, service personnel in shops and restaurants, taxi drivers and other characters surrounding the main characters. A full shooting day lasts up to 12 hours. If you are invited to shoot, be prepared to spend half a day on set, if not more. After all, we all know that it is impossible to make a film from the first take.

| Marina VALAKH. | Photo from the main character's archive.

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