Since we have all had a month down, this led for me to an amount of reflection in my quiet times. So i have now gathered my thoughts and I would like to describe what it was like for me to work as an extra in film and television since I was a child. I'd like to ideally impart some experience to you about it. There are good points or high points, bad points or low points, qualities and professional evaluations to live through and lastly politics in the job.    I don't remember what the name of my first agent was. But I have had five of them, that is for my being represented by , and I remember the latest four. An agent is necessary for you if you intend to get the work, it is the way the film business operates. Producers go to the directors who go to their employee the casting directors, who go out to the agents for the cast. I will have a word about what cast is a bit later. There's a line of order in the employment which leads, through much effort, to a filmic product which is the result of the job.  Extras are not cast. Word goes that they never will be. Extra are fillers, warm props , dressed mannequins on the job there to give the film a certain feeling and ambience. Sounds hard and discriminatory , but that is one of the annoying features of the business. I wasn't employed for my personality or wisdom or assumed eloquence of speech. I never made a speech beyond cheering, screaming, shouting. We are there as support to the key players, so have respect for their talents and personalities.   Because of this aspect of the work, there is a code of conduct on the job. If an extra breaks that code of conduct then they will lose their job. Don't worry, the casting directors were always looking and you would get another one. *That's the way it was before the lock- down. *I don't know and we shall see what the film casting business will look like in the future. * I have heard that some new work has been booked.     Working as an extra is for most a thrill. And for me on many days it was. It provided me the rare opportunity to step out of my usual persona and be someone else for 12 hours. Most people do the job as a special and do not continue it. In the years 1995-1998 and from 2015-2019, I took it on with some ambition in mind. I hoped to become known for it and to earn some kudos- respects. The industry and public perception is not like this and didn't allow me the pleasure of satisfaction to my ambition. In the film business, extras are not promoted. In fact around the coffee table when I was waiting with my colleague extras, we often said to each other that we do not have rights, we were there at the whimsy of the director. We'll stay extras and unknowns. In the public domain, that is to say the sphere of society at large, and people scorned me for the telling to them that I was a background actor. They told me to get a real job and get a leading role. They did not know how strict and demanding the industry is, and how badly their reaction affected me. I persisted because it was the right work for me. At the end of my work shifts, I would drive home in a trance- like state of exhaustion to drink back a couple of bourbons and sleep it off. My emotions were plumbed by the alter- ego nature of the work and also by the drudgery routine of the job.     We are all mental health service users or consumers. I foresaw a tragic possibility in this, that in the description to a psychiatrist about my working day requirements, that the specialist psychiatrist may compound my diagnostic description to something even rarer that I already have and make my life condition considerably worse. One in fifteen- to twenty- five million persons have multiple personality disorder, while one in a hundred have schizophrenia. I had seen psychiatrists make fairly stupid and arbitrary decision with their people before, and I dreaded this happening and I could see the doom of their mistakes approaching. If it had happened, it would have been artificial and false, but they are actually that stupid.         There are no profound conclusions with pithy quotes that I can come to after working in background for so long, and so many times that I did. Apart from saying here that a man or a woman can be anything. But this Anything was not of my choice. It was by the demand of the directors. We do not decide to be somebody and go to work all prepared to be that sort. I was told, and So I did.      There is an incredible amount of waiting in the working day. But to get there first you must go through a three- part process.- You arrive at the studio or the location or at the car park at the right time and you sign in with your name and your agents company name. Then you see costume, dress and go to makeup and hair. Makeup and hair and the costumerie are different department though linked. You have to pass the art directors inspections. Then you wait. You are meant to wait quietly and in a sane manner, forget about all of the self- adulating lust for fame that brought you to the job. When the director and the crew have done everything they need to to shoot, then you might be called. That is a might be, because they are always busy with the cast or stars performances. They are also busy with the technical aspect. Bring something with you to interest your self for all the waiting time. For me it was an instant coffee and a cigarette, for others, weekly magazines or harmless card games- not for gambling though, for fun. Most 52 card packs are banned but gift shop level games can be accepted - it all depends on the theme of what the show is for and what it presents. Remember to keep your costume in perfect order, or else you would raise the annoyances of the art department for a second time. This may not be easy if you are like me and smoke 'em. Vapes are okay as long as you don't bring them to set with you, because they have a light on them. Many times I smuggled a pouch of tobacco in my costume for the real risk of losing it to some sharp- eyed crew member.    One of the features of the work is that Assistant Directors can be remarkably short- tempered. They are a generous step away in attitude from your nurses.    There is security employed at these sets and they will mind after your bags. You will have changed out of your civilian every day dress. Leave it all in a bag until the end of the day. The end of the day is called a wrap, and you are not free to leave until the director calls Wrap. If you want to get paid for it then remember to sign out before leaving the studio. After that you are not their business. The start of the day is called your Call Time, be there then and not later. Your agent will tell you what your call time is. You won't know the wrap time until it happens, and 12 hour days are common, so have stamina. A half day is 9 hours, while the longest shoot I have been on was 13.25 hours. Medicine is not their concern, nor is your mental health. Although the health and safety officers will visit and speak to you as in a group of working employees.     If there are any pressing issues in the day's work that are directly associated with the show, and the cannot be answered by your assistant director on the job, then call your agent. They are the profession's intermediary between people and product. If you are required to speak in words beyond meaningless sounds , then the show employer should pay you for this. Sometimes I was caught in a lose -lose game of my director telling me to call my agent and so I did, to be told by the agent to speak with my director. There are some relaxed easy going days on the job when all those involved know what they're doing and in these I have seen cash exchanged for rental of personal rare property.      There is a clear line of distinction between crew and extras. They do not communicate across. All your communication will be only done through an assistant director, and not to the director himself. Maybe you can talk to props. Maybe you don't have props. If you do, keep them with you until told. The crew are most intolerant of a talkative extra. Quiet when this is instructed and mostly say nothing. The crew are busy making the practical things about film work, this ranges from landscape to lighting to set setting to sound to timing. Lighting is a huge concern, but sound is a huge bother. Cameras and microphones are like magnifying lenses to things our eyes and ears otherwise miss. Maybe you will wait for 10 hours before called, This is because you are not a star.  Move to set when told by walking. The waiting area is invisible to the set, that is in a different place. Enjoy your lunch, it takes 45 minutes and usually nice. Keep your smoking habit well away from sight .Sometimes I had time for three instant coffees during my wait. But please don't try to add anything to the show, or bring in your own original ideas. They have it all planned and it is a creative process by dissected examination. They didn't employ your for your thoughts.     This trend of it being a restricted job in a creative workplace brings me to the subject of politics of the extra work in film and television. One off that it is not your work, The director owns you. The producer demands his profit from the production. But for myself, having reserved the right to realise ideals, I wanted to own the work several times. If you have this attitude then that is up to you, but be advised to be disillusioned. If you earn enough and can work frequently enough to justify an Actors Equity union fee paid membership, then consider it if you are like me. Otherwise there is a private guild, both for artists and producers/manufacturers of the shows. Apparently joining one of these is by invitation only, in fact forget it you are not that important and at work sometimes we complained about the conditions. Don't let a person pester you about not liking the job or not being talented enough. The work schedule is hard enough to complete without this sort of negative banter.  Many people, and I admire this attitude, walk through their work by a relaxed cheerful cruise and take it as it comes. This is an attitude of a true survivor in a mean world. If you wanted to own the work you do, then become a producer, for example borrow 20 million at a time and pay back the loan. I was paid enough to be happy enough, even though this was frequently a small amount. The contracts you agree to do not involve a minimum wage, they are a lump sum and finishing the shooting for the day or the night is the crew's only ambition. They don't actually pretend to be political, and a socialist speech on the job sticks out like a bleeding thumb.   After four years of work in my most recent agent, I did a small audit of my payslips and I was pleasantly surprised.    I heard a specialist news broadcast on National radio that said that many of the male directors, who were known as the old guard of Hollywood, have either retired or been fired and that a significant proportion of the new employees now will be women. So here's your chance for a new gender balance.    In contrast to all of this is my work at Toi Ora live arts, which is markedly different from the job as an extra. We are a community- oriented organisation and so by nature of a charitable creed we do own our work there. This is a privilege to be enjoyed.   I am sure that of those of you who have already done the jobs I described, would disagree with some sentiment I expressed. You have your credo and experience which is valid. For those who have not made a committed or impassioned goal to get this as a job, take this as advance advice or a description and a warning from the learned. It is known as a second job, so don't try to make it your first, just keep it on the back- burner as a side project. I do love the work. Sometimes love can be thrashed around and worn out, and this is where I'm at at the present time.    Nga mihi/  Kia kite koe i muru