extra, extra!!!!

So, when you are not working consistently you are always open to making money whenever you can and to use the down time to try new things. Well, a few weeks back I got an e-mail from an FSU alum seeking extras for TV show called 'Drop Dead Diva' that was taping in Atlanta. I figured it might be fun to do and certainly be different so I signed Mauri and I up as being interested. Well, over the weekend I got a call from the casting person saying that they need us as extras Monday and Tuesday. I was able to do both days while Mauri could only do Monday since she had to work on Tuesday.

Neither of us had ever done anything like this so we did not know what to expect. All we were told was to bring several types of clothes for a court scene and to bring a book as we would be sitting... alot.

While in the holding room we were cast into our roles. I was chosen to be a juror while Mauri was to sit in the gallery. Mauri was going to be a juror too, but when they found out she could only do it on Monday they had to put her in the gallery.

That proved to be a tough decision because while I was on set most of the time, Mauri was stuck in a small room sitting for most of the day. She was about ready to crawl out of her skin! Needless to say, she did not think it was worth the $7 an hour she earned. :-)

Day 1 was a 13.5 hour day while day 2 was an 11.5 hour day. Despite the lack of effort, it was exhausting to just sit.

I am not sure when the show airs... it is supposed to be on Lifetime, but I will try and let you know. You will probably see Mauri a couple times (shoulder, back or head, etc). I will probably be in a good bit more since I was front row of the jury and they got a lot of shots of us. The only bad thing is that on Tuesday they chose my wardrobe of khaki's and a nice shirt. They later added a tie to the shirt that DID NOT MATCH!!! I had a nice, cool outfit on Monday for day 1 of the trial, but on day 2 I look like a tool!!!! See for yourself...


The one thing that was interesting was that while Mauri and I were there for fun, we were in the minority in that we did not have agents and do this regularly. One kid who was the court clerk drove from Lake Hartwell (2 hrs) to be in the show. He is an actor and probably spent more in gas/hotel than he made in the 2 days. The sad part is he was hardly on set. Also, apparently Atlanta is behind on NY and LA for places to shoot stuff in the U.S. which I found interesting.

Anyway, not sure I would do it again, but it was a fun experience to watch and I will never watch a TV show the same way again after seeing how they do everything.

Here is an article that was written about it in the AJC on Tuesday.


--Chris