T.V and movies in the ATL

I finally caught an episode of Single Ladies, on Vh1. Ok, so the acting is terrible, the writing is cheesy as hell, but it's nice to finally see a show about Atlanta where you actually see people doing things IN the city of Atlanta, even if it's all fictional. As opposed to the "Real" Housewives of Atlanta, where they spend 80% of the filming their homes way out in the burbs, (or restaurants/bars that most citizens who live inside the perimeter don't even recognize).

I've noticed in recent years, the number of movies and tv shows that use Atlanta for filming has picked up. No doubt due to cheaper location shoots. Drop Dead Diva shoots here five months a year, and I read that the main cast member stays in Peachtree City the entire time, (the area south of the city where they shoot). Margaret Cho and the other recurring stars come back and forth from L.A., as needed.

As a result, many of these shows need extras. Having done it once for a different show that filmed here in Atlanta, it's not something I can see doing again.

You have to commit to a 12 hour day, and they pay is usually $7.50 per hour. We had to be there by 7:30am, to check in. They told use there would be breakfast, but what they really meant was that there might be leftovers on the catering table, *after* the cast and crew of the show ate first. Same for lunch. So you spend most of the day sitting around, starving, thirsty or both.

I did find the shooting process itself pretty amusing. We were to be used on a bus scene, (supposedly this was a bus driving people around downtown L.A). When I got on the bus with everyone one, the director said I looked too nice to be a real bus rider in L.A., and that I looked like I was taking a bus to Beverly  Hills.

I got off the bus, then another director told me to get back on. The same director was inside the bus, (we rode around a real bus, this wasn't a prop), and the same director was there. He sees me and goes, "Oh great, Beverly Hills is back!". WTF? I guess they just needed bodies in there to fill up the scene, whether I looked too clean to be an L.A bus rider or not.

We eventually finished up the day, (after randomly being driven around midtown in a bus for a few hours, with a police escort, while everyone on the streets stared at us), and we got to go home. A couple of months later, I got a check for the day, which I think came to like, $60.00 or so. 

It was an interesting experience, and something to do for a little extra money since I wasn't working at the time, but I don't know if I would do it again. There are more profitable ways to "temp", and I think some of the people working as extras truly think it will be their break into show business. The directors are incredibly bossy and don't care that you're there all day making minimum wage.

I don't know how people pursue careers in acting for years and years, trying to get a break. It clearly requires a very thick skin, and an ability to not get frustrated with being treated like a commodity, both of which I do not have in ample supply.