Extras Casting Call!!!!

Never thought that I would be doing what I did... I have always dreamt of being an extra on a TV series or movie and last night my dreams came true.

It all started when I saw the below on Face Book.



EXTRAS CASTING CALL!!!

Pot Luck Webseries with Tess Jamieson-karaha and Nikki Si'ulepa.

Have you always wanted to see what it's like being on a film set? Want to be a part of one of the coolest projects in Wellington right now? Then look no further! The Pot Luck team need a bunch of wonderful women to help fill out a nightclub scene in one of our upcoming episodes - we need YOU to help create a bubble of lesbian life here in Wellington. If you'd like the chance to be a part of this funky, fresh new webseries then grab your mates and come and spend the day with us! We have a lot of ducks to line up for this scene so if you're available on Monday the 8th of February (Waitangi Day), over the age of 18, and keen to be part of the action please email your name, a photo, and contact details to potluckpartytime@gmail.com and we'll get in touch. Cos seriously, what better way to celebrate Aotearoa's National Day than by being a part of making history with New Zealand's first lesbian webseries?” ‪#‎extrascasting‬ ‪#‎webseries‬ ‪#‎castingcalls‬ ‪#‎potluckwebseries‬ ‪#‎comepartywithus‬


I decided what the hell, I like dancing and even thou I'm not a lesbian, it was still going to be a great experience and I was finally going to be able to scratch this off my bucket list.  So I emailed all the details they required and attached these pictures.

 
A few days later I received an email asking me to keep Monday 8th of Feb free and that a further email with all the required details would follow closer to shooting time, which it did three days before shooting.

Hi there,

We are really looking forward to having you on set! 
Below is some information regarding the shoot day: 
We are filming our Bar scenes on Monday 8th of Feb - thank you for keeping this date free thus far! 
Your call time (when we need you to be on site) is 16:15(4:15pm) with an estimated wrap time (when we will finish for the day) being 22:30 (10:30PM). 
Our bar location is the Good Luck Bar, 126 Cuba Street, Wellington. Please note this is a Yellow-stickered building, if you are concerned about this - we completely understand. 
Please come dressed and made up as though you are ready for a night out on the town! Bringing a couple of alternate options eg: a different jacket, scarf, or top etc. in a handbag (or the sort of bag you may carry on a night out in town) would be greatly appreciated. 
We are hoping to keep things moving fairly quickly, however there may be a bit of down time between takes. Because of this, we would advise you bring something to read and a bottle of water. 
We are a low-budget project so unfortunately we cannot offer anything in the form of payment. However, there will be refreshments on set and Hell's Pizza are catering us for the day! 
Please respond to this email confirming you are still available. 
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us.

Cheers,
The Pot Luck Team

So what to wear was my next dilemma and what extra stuff should I take just in case!!!

Nervous, but very excited, I arrived and signed the paperwork, then waited for my turn in make-up.  Seeing as we already had to be ready for a night out, they only needed to add foundation to take the sheen off and just touch the hair up a little.  Then it was just a matter of waiting around; as the crew were still filming their earlier scenes and they also needed to stop for what they called a lunch break at 5pm

I was surprised to see how many people came with a friend or as I found out later, their girlfriends.  Nearly all the girls that were there, were lesbians and they seemed to know a lot of the crew.  So it definitely is a business of having connections.


There of course were a few ladies there, that are trying to break out into the acting industry and have agents, so I was really proud of myself for being a virgin so to speak.  One lady who was from New York and has auditioned for a few shows, was surprised at how good I was.

When it was time to go down into the night club and start filming; OMG...It's was like a sauna, if you think dancing at the clubs is hot...Wow, this was way hotter.  But in the end I didn't care, I got an awesome walk on scene.  As one of the main characters leaves the bar to take the drinks to her friends, I come in and go up to the bar and stand next to one of the other main characters and order myself a drink while grooving to the so called music that will be playing once they edit.  And while I'm waiting for my drink, the main character I'm standing next to leaves the bar and another walk in comes in and we start pretending to chat and dance.  While we are doing this; one of the main characters points out to the other walk in and says 'see that lady in the blue top' so they the quickly show her and I dancing and chatting. After they did this scene from various angles, it was time for a break while they changed the set for the dance scene.

After another hour of waiting, off we went down stairs again.  We get down there and they say, just head to the dance floor area and we'll position you from there.  So we are standing around and I end up being positioned to dance right behind one of the characters that one of the main characters point out as a possible love interest.  Now, if I thought earlier was hot, being right down in the corner with all the lights and continuously dancing non stop, now that was nearly unbearable, I had sweat dripping off of every part of my body.  But it just felt like a really night at a dance party, so I just kept on going as you would. 

I had my iPhone in my purse the whole time I was doing my scenes, so it was recording the steps I was doing.  I ended up doing over 8,000 steps, which equals roughly over 7km's worth of dancing while filming these scenes.

What a great buzz last night was and the experience was also amazing, I got home and went off to bed...But I couldn't  go to sleep!!!  Well of course not, the brain was in over drive. So anyway, I can't believe that I even did it and I will be really excited when I see the final edited edition.  Even thou it appeared that I could be seen in some of this, I may also be cut out...And I realise that could be a possibility and I will deal with that when the time comes.  But at least I can still say I was on a TV Series film set.

Thanks to Pot Luck for choosing me as an extra and a big thanks to my Mum, who babysat my beautiful kids, so I could go out and enjoy this experience.

If you want to find out more about it, see the links below:

http://www.potluckwebseries.com

or

https://www.facebook.com/PotLuckWebseries