Boston Movie Extra

I get this question a lot the truth is it depends on you. I would say if you want to get a lot of experience with non union work and not get paid that well, that should be step one. Once you feel that you are ready and you become a "must join" for the union, go for it! Remeber once you are union, no more non union jobs.. It's not allowed. Being union has it's perks better money, possibility of insurance and pension, etc. But....don't think you will be raking in the big bucks at the start unless you are really lucky, most actors making some great money in the union body here in New England is 2 percent. Take your time and enjoy:)

Now camera dodgeing has been going around for years, but I think it should be looked at pretty closely. What is camera dodgeing you may ask? It's when during the scene of a movie while filming some background actors dodge the camera so they are not established in the scene just to earn another day on the set. Now that is not right by any means, because you are taking someone else's spot that has not yet worked on the project and I really find that no fair to your co-workers. If you are established in a scene that's it..unless less the casting director, director says otherwise. Look I know to a few of you this is your full time job doing extra work on many projects and that's great but when your time is up on a project..your time is up. When that happens your are giving another person a chance to work, and that's the bottom line. Happy Mother's Day Everyone!!!

I had a recent email asking me my thoughts on dropping their AFTRA membership, my answer is don't. I have been a proud member of both sag and aftra for the past 20 years and let me tell you I wouldn't dump my aftra membership at all especially now and I will tell you why. First yes I do use my sag card more than my aftra but as you might have noticed their have been some recent pilots that have come by that have been "aftra only" Second with the new studio coming in Sept 2010 and is estimaing around 900 comercials a year, I wouldn't dump it for anything. To some people the AFTRA card might be meaningless but I don't think that will be the case in the next 24 months..

For those that may remember back in the early 90's there was a tradeshow specifically geared to the film / theater industry this time of year. It was a fantastic 3 hour show that consisited of casting directors, classes, photographers, unions, and so much more! It was such a great resource for everyone involved from the businesses to the talent and I think it should be something that should be brought back. Unfortuneately it died with everything else in the late 90's and has yet to resurface. So to the MFO and SAG/AFTRA let's try to bring it back this trade show in this really hot market.

The golden rule I would say to one's self is don't say that you are in a movie until you see the final cut. You can say you worked on a movie that's fine, but unless you see yourself in the film don't say a word. I once knew this guy that I worked with last year for 3 days straight and would constantly talk about this particular film he was in and worked on it for a long time, and stood next to such and such, and he was featured etc, etc you know the drill.. Well after talking about this for hours to more than a dozen people, he was becoming annoying. Well low and behold I watched this film a couple of months ago and he was NO WHERE! A couple of days ago I worked with him again along with a couple of people that were there (at the other set last year). Once he saw us he just came up and said "You can't say your in the movie if your not in it" All we said was "exactly" Hey we have our good days where we have face time and there other times ...

From what I am hearing and the talk on a couple of sets lately is there will be a couple of new networking get togethers for all things movies in New England. The one that everyone knows about is the successful Shindigs that happen monthly but I guess the more the better. If you have not attended one of these network get togethers you should, it does bring the film community together.

It's getting exciting around here folks, starting with "The Company Men". So if you have worked on this project share your experiences on the film. Have a great time my fellow boston actors!