Making "Extra" Cash On Set

One of the pursuits the newly unemployed have turned to is being a film or TV extra. The NY Times speaks with the folks seen milling in the background—one, laid off from a private equity firm, put the $8/hour pay in perspective: "I’ve gotten a few paychecks as an extra, but I haven’t even looked at them yet. My intention is to get back into finance, and in the interim, I’m going to keep doing these fun little side jobs." Casting agencies are recently flooded with many more potential extras some of whom are really into it: Another person explained, "There’s a whole subculture of people in the city who make their living as extras. Many extras are like the Lost Boys — outside-of-the-box individuals who come from inside-the-box places, like the suburbs. When they get on set, they find a family of eclectic, creative types, and it’s like, ‘Welcome to the crew.’" (We think he means the Lost Boys of Peter Pan, though these Lost Boys would be cool, too.) And the Times reporter tried out as an extra and found herself, along with 100 other extras, "herded up the backstairs of a dilapidated studio that surely had not passed fire inspection since the late 1980."