Good morning guys, I have been offered a role in an independent feature film as a "principal extra" I never heared this term before and common scence tells me is probaly an extra with a few seconds and a line or 2 on camera. Is this acurate ? or can anyone tell me if is not, then what does it mean ??.

Thank you once again.
Arti

heck, in the non-union world, anything goes. I have seen AGENT-EXTRA, where the non-union agent shows up to do extra work for 40 bucks.

Arti, Its just an extra!!!! No--- still no lines. Even one line would push you up to under 5 /dayplayer role --

Sounds like a featured extra, where you would get more screen time than a reg. extra or you get the scene solo w/the principle actor(s).

I HIGHLY doubt there are any lines. In "Titanic" some were called "core" extras, meaning featured but that is about it.

"Principal extra" is an oxymoron. So is "featured extra," for that matter. These non-existent terms are thrown around to make extra work sound more attractive. An extra is an extra-period. The only thing that would make extra work more attractive to me is more cash-because it certainly will not help your career. Higher-based extra work or commercial bg are worth doing. But if it pays $64/8 or $75/10 you are nothing but cheap labor to the production. Regardless of how much you are "featured."

You're seen more when you're a featured extra than an extra. You're also in more scenes (than reg. extra). You also get a name for your charcter and you get to do more things than the reg. extra.

quote:

Originally posted by skeeterkitty2004:
You're seen more when you're a featured extra than an extra. You're also in more scenes (than reg. extra). You also get a name for your charcter and you get to do more things than the reg. extra.

Unfortunately, this is all bunk. As an extra you are at the mercy of the editor as well as the PAs/ADs who place you-none of those terms mean anything. A few years ago I worked a for 3 weeks on a film as a "core," featured, regular,(all of these terms were thrown out there) whatever you want to call it, extra. In the final edited version I was never seen. On another film, I worked one day as nobody special and sat in holding for 10 hours, then did one scene at the end of the day. I was clearly recognizable on screen for several shots.

If your "character" has an actual name(like Joe Smith), it probably means you were upgraded. "Office worker," "pedestrian," etc. are not character names. They're descriptions for extras.

The only things you can get out of straight extra work are money, SAG eligibility if you get vouchers and perhaps intrinsical things like seeing yourself on screen. You can't put it on a resume regardless of it's "featured" status.

It's not acting, so it doesn't hep your resume.

Some of it can be be considered acing. Directors (in casting calls) want actors that have acting experience to do them (featured extras). the first day that I did this one film they only wanted actors that had acting experience (on camera) for the first day. We had to sing one word (like we're) doing a song and some other things the first day. The next couple of days, it didn't matter if you hadacting experience or not. I ended up saying one word and shown in about 5-7 scenes.