<story><title>The Curious Life of an Extra</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/my-life-as-an-extra/541212/?utm_source=atlfb&amp;amp;single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>stult</author><text>At age 55 after raising three kids and being out of the job market for two decades, my mom randomly decided to get into acting. At the time, tons of movies were filming in Boston where she lives. She was quickly able to land lots of extra work, especially because the city lacks the constant supply of aspiring actors living in NY or LA.&lt;p&gt;It was a perfect cure for empty nest syndrome. She eventually landed a speaking role in a major film, though tragically her speaking scenes got cut and only the scenes where she played a corpse made the final cut. But, she got the opportunity to act opposite Robert Duvall! And she played Robert Downey Jr&amp;#x27;s mother, which by the transitive property of fraternal handsomeness makes me as good looking as he is (hint: I&amp;#x27;m not).&lt;p&gt;Sadly, she gave up on it after receiving some harsh feedback from a talent agent. It can be a fun, carefree way to earn some extra cash if you have the stability not to have to worry about a volatile income stream. But once you get into the more serious levels of the business, the competition can be brutal and the industry insiders vile. C&amp;#x27;est la vie, I suppose.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Curious Life of an Extra</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/my-life-as-an-extra/541212/?utm_source=atlfb&amp;amp;single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>dizzystar</author><text>I think it&amp;#x27;s pretty cool that she made a go of it, managed to step up, and found a new passion.&lt;p&gt;I did extra work in the mid 00&amp;#x27;s, and it was an interesting and highly unstable way of making a living. It was mostly actors and musicians at the time, as the money was just good enough (for some) to make time for auditions and workshops.&lt;p&gt;The rest were people like the author: people who just couldn&amp;#x27;t find a job and make ends meet.&lt;p&gt;I think that extra work in LA is possibly more fickle than out east, mainly because there are a few thousand people who move out here to become an actor every week, and the first place they find themselves at is Central Casting. Being too (fill in the blank) was the difference between working all the time and working just enough to pay for a calling service. It seemed that the next step for many was use the free time to launch their own business. It&amp;#x27;s very difficult to find a job if your resume says &amp;quot;extra work&amp;quot; for the prior two years.</text></comment>