(extra)ordinary

a day in the life of a “friday night lights” extra

i don’t know about you guys, but when i’m watching one of my favorite shows (or movies), i feel like i really *know* the characters. like, they become real to me, in a way that is probably pathetic but i don’t care cos FELICITY IS MY FRIEND. and the shop around the corner is the best bookstore in the world! and yeah!

with that said, picture my EXTREME EXCITEMENT when i got the opportunity to actually BE IN ONE OF MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS EVER. like, for real, not just in my imagination!!! sweet cracker sandwich!

that’s right, i got to be an extra on “friday night lights,” aka the best show on television right now, aka DILLON PANTHERS LIONS RULE!

see, they film the show here in austin, and yes, i’ve seen a few of the actors around town (sighting #3 of tim riggins, i mean, taylor kitsch, actually occurred this weekend, although i’m sad to report that Operation Touch His Arm was a huge fail). and now that the show is in its fourth season, two of my fellow FNL fans and i decided that it was high time we got ourselves into an episode before a) the show ends b) we become too old to pass as high schoolers.

so, along with selina and erica g., i signed up with the casting agency that manages extras for the show, and lo and behold, a week later, i got an email recruiting extras to play “college students.” um, the fact that i could’ve passed for a middle schooler when i was actually IN college means that, at age 30, i look EXACTLY like a college student. PERFECT!

so, after a series of frenzied, OMGGGG phone calls with selina and erica, we signed up! and, a few days later, WE WERE ON SET. OH SNAP!!!

if you talk to anyone that’s been an extra, they’ll tell you that it’s actually pretty boring. and they would be right except for the fact that OMG WE WERE ON THE SET OF FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. FOR REAL. HOLY PANTS!!!!!!

and so now, dear pantsers, i proudly present to you:

A Day In the Life of a “Friday Night Lights” Extra

at precisely 1 PM, selina, erica and i arrive at the shuttle pick-up location, near a church in hyde park. a van picks us up and takes us exactly two blocks down the road, where it deposits us at another section of the church. this is the first example, to be followed by many others, of the inefficiency inherent in filming a show.

we check in, fill out some paperwork (that’s right, we got PAID! holla!) and then wait around to be taken to wardrobe, which is this trailer:

see, we were supposed to be “boston college students,” so we all had to dress warmly. even though we were standing in line in the hot texas sun. i guess that’s what you’d call the price of fame, or why celebrities complain even though their lives are actually awesome.

check out erica and selina, pretending to be in boston:

that is some serious acting shizz!

after the wardrobe lady ok-ed our outfits (yes, she had to personally approve every extra’s ensemble), we went back to the church and waited for another hour. while siting in pews, we befriended a dude who has already been an extra three times in this season alone! DANG! it was then that i discovered the secret underground world of Austin extras. like, people were comparing movie experiences like they were battle wounds. “well, when i was filming ‘machete’…” and “dude! i haven’t seen you since ‘bandslam’! how’s it going?”etc. etc. honestly i had no idea that people could support themselves just by being extras in austin (psst! they can’t!).

finally, around 3 PM, we walked a few blocks over to the old school they’re using for east dillon high. the fact that we’d done pretty much nothing all day made the three of us v. v. excited to be entering the hallowed halls where COACH TAYLOR ACTUALLY WORKS OMG!!!!!!

we got even more spastic when we spotted these signs on the side of one of the trucks in the parking lot:

RIGGINS RIGS!! OMG THAT IS WHERE TIM AND HIS BROTHER WORK!!

the signs are obviously magnetic so they can slap them on the side of a pick-up truck (or news van) depending on the shot. ahh hollywood magic!

for some highly money-wasting reason, the company decided to feed us all lunch. the food was actually kind of gross (i ate a bar instead) but i didn’t care cos WE WERE EATING IN THE EAST DILLON CAFETERIA!!!!! LOOK HERE’S THE RULES!!!!!!

east dillon means serious business, y’all.

we also got to watch the first ep of the show, which i hadn’t yet seen, and it was AWESOME. OF COURSE. plus it was a treat to watch it with members of the crew, cos they would applaud and yell at random points, which i’m guessing were either scenes they enjoyed working on and/or scenes that were frustratingly long or difficult to shoot.

as we filed out of the cafeteria, i saw LANDRY!!!! just hanging out and being all cute and nerdy and landry, no big deal!

i really don’t like asking famous people to take photos with me, esp. when i’m a Working Professional On Set, so you’ll have to make do with the above photo. i really wish we’d seen devin [stephanie hunt] too (LOVE HER), but we did spot two new cast members, matt lauria (who i initially mistook for saracen) and jurnee smollet (super pretty!).

after lunch, we were FINALLY taken to our set for the day by way of hollywood’s finest transportation, a school bus. that’s right, extras roll in a school bus, yo!

it says a lot that erica and selina (and i) were STILL brimming with excitement, even after several hours of nothing AND getting crammed into a bus meant for small children (seriously, have school bus seats gotten smaller?).

since we were playing college students, we ended up at, you guessed it, the UT campus! where i work every day! incredible!

all of the extras were led into a lecture hall, where we learned that we’d be filming a scene with julie (yay!) and TAMI TAYLOR LIGHT OF MY LIFE!!!!! apparently, julie is doing the whole college search thing, so (v. v. light spoiler alert) her mom takes her to visit boston university, and they sit in on a lecture.

i am not exaggerating when i say that one of the assistant directors spent an HOUR shuffling us around the lecture hall. he would point and be like, “you, the blonde. move up two rows” or “hey, guy in the argyle sweater, scoot over one seat.” i guess he just really had a v. specific vision for how a boston university lecture hall should look.

once he had moved all of us about eighty times, we filed back out of the lecture hall so they could set up the cameras. it was actually really cool to see the lights positioned outside of the window to make it look like it was the middle of the day instead of early evening. in fact, by the time the shooting ended, it was kind of shocking to walk outside and discover that it was really 7 PM instead of two in the afternoon! oh hollywood you fool me every time!

after a little bit, they led us back into the lecture hall, which was now full of equipment and an actress playing the role of the professor:

that guy standing next to the actress was the director of the episode, and he ended up engaging in a totally random conversation with me about college admissions (his daughter is a high school senior, and that shizz is stressful, y’all).

he also apparently believes that college students never pay attention in class. we did about ten takes of the scene (maybe more?) and after each time, he was like, “I WANT MORE TEXTING! MORE LAPTOP TYPING! NO ONE SHOULD ACTUALLY BE LISTENING TO THE PROFESSOR!!! STOP PAYING ATTENTION!” wow, dude, you really have no faith in higher education, do you? no wonder you’re worried about yr daughter!

fortunately for him, erica is v. skilled at typing on her laptop while looking extremely boston university-ish:

so we did a few practice rounds of the scene before aimee teegarden (julie) and connie britton (TAMI I LOVE YOU) actually came in. obvs all three of us acted like the totally professional extras we are but OMG CONNIE BRITTON’S HAIR IS AMAZING IN PERSON. and aimee is so cute! she actually tripped as she walked down the stairs, and the poor thing was so embarrassed, i wanted to hug her! but then i probably would’ve been kicked off of the set, so, no.

LUCKY DUCK SELINA eventually got moved to the row right in front of connie, so not only did she get some quality time basking in the tami taylor glow, she is also totally gonna be in the shot when this episode finally airs (we heard nov 25th?!!). i did have one brief shining moment when the assistant director (AD in hollywood speak WHAT WHAT) ordered me to sit in connie’s chair while she was talking to the director, aka I WAS TOTALLY TAMI TAYLOR’S STAND-IN!!!!!!! CLAIM TO FAME 2009!!!!!

the scene itself consisted of the professor talking about the canterbury tales and then asking the class a question, which no one answered (we were all too busy texting, per the director) until the professor notices tami, who is apparently trying to get julie to answer the question (julie is obvs pissed and trying to ignore her mother). the prof asks tami to answer, and after initially protesting (“oh no, i’m just an observer!”), tami finally answers. END SCENE.

that’s right, “friday night lights” hired 60 extras, fed them lunch, drove them around in a schoolbus and paid them for 6 hours of work for A ONE MINUTE SCENE.

hollywood is crazy pants, y’all!!!

in spite of all of the waiting and the cray cray inefficiency, i truly enjoyed being a lowly extra. now i can say that, for once, i actually entered a world that normally exists only in my television (and in my mind. i’m looking at you, tim riggins!). on that day, dillon was actually a real place, and i went there! I WENT THERE!!!!

so if you watch the show, keep an eye out for erica, selina and me during the boston university trip! we’ll be the ones doing an amazing job at looking like super bored college students.

and, if you’ve never seen the show before, YOU NEED TO START IMMEDIATELY. otherwise i may need to end our friendship. i’m sorry but that’s how strongly i feel about the incredibleness of this series. it’s so good, i even like the football parts. now THAT is some real hollywood magic.

GO EAST DILLON LIONS!!!!!

© 2009 Poshdeluxe.