As an ”extra” in more than four Chicago-based movie productions, I think it`s time to expose the deplorable conditions extras sometimes endure. I recently had an 8:30 a.m. call. I was told to report to the new NBC building. Once there, I was shuffled through a makeshift, five-foot high, two-foot wide aperture.
It opened to a dark, unfin-ished, concrete and cinder-block room, wall to wall with 200-300 people, void of fire exits, windows, proper lighting or much else in the way of safety and comfort. No one in charge had the slightest idea of crowd control. And the only apparent way out was the way in.
It was there I was to spend the day. I left. Some people will do anything for 50 bucks, and Hollywood knows it. Perhaps these high-minded actors who aim to be so fashionably and politically correct might look no farther than a hundred feet from their plush trailers, to the huddled masses, yearning to be seen.
