Joss Whedon ~ photo by Gage Skidmore

SUNNYDALE, 2003

Between 2000 and 2004 I was living in Hollywood while working as an extra in film and TV.

This is really easy to do, more so than people would think. You pretty much just need to live in the area, have reliable transportation and be breathing. Gender, age, looks, talent (or lack of) and skill don’t matter. Just twenty-five bucks for the “photo-fee” at Central Casting and you’re in.

(NOTE – That’s what it was then. I have no idea what it is now, so check their website if you’re interested.)

As a Central Casting client you’d check the hotline whenever you want to work to see if there’s anything that fits you. They put all the calls on there and if there’s a bit you want to do, you call up the agent in charge. This is how the call sounded on the hotline on that day in mid-2003..

BEEP.. “Hey guys, this is Allan and we’re casting for townsfolk for the final episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer that will be shooting on Wednesday. I need every ethnicity from black to white, Asian and so on, plus a variety of types from long-haired to buzzed military looks. This is a big call guys, so ring me up at 6159 and book quickly,  this one’s going to go fast.”

I hung-up and dialed the line for agents, then hit 6-1-5-9. Then I did it again. Then again. The hard part about getting these gigs was getting through to the agent because they only put the call on the hotline for the time they’re going to book it, then they’d take it off as soon as they had filled up the slots. If one was serious about working as an extra and getting daily gigs, one had to sometimes check the hotline up to ten times a day and then try for an hour or more to get through to the agent for the gig they wanted.

If you managed that, it was a pretty sure bet you’d get it as long as you were responding to your type. The Buffy call that day was a no-brainer since he needed all types, but often it would be very specific and if you were calling on something that didn’t fit you, they’d just sort of laugh and hang-up. Not cool.

I got through to Allan and he booked me, then gave me the “info number” to call later for details. That’s right, a third phone call. At least at this stage you’ve got the gig and you’re going to work; you’re just calling to find out exactly when and where.

I arrived at a little studio lot in Santa Monica on Wednesday morning that I hadn’t been to in several years of doing these gigs and running all over town. It turned out that’s because they only shot Buffy there, and I hadn’t worked on that show before. I was lucky to get in on the last episode.

Allan had needed all of those types because we were going to be townsfolk fleeing Sunnydale before it implodes and gets sucked down into the hellmouth. Gosh, I hope I’m not spoiling this for anyone!

I followed the show at the time and had no idea that the entire town of Sunnydale was contained on a lot in Santa Monica, with bookstores, surf-shops and condos right across the street on the other side of the large green fence. I bet those people never knew they were next to Sunnydale that whole time, with its vampires and monsters running amok at all hours.

The production assistant in charge of extras got me set-up along with the hundred or so others and told me that when they started rolling I’d be casually strolling down the middle of the street while carrying my suitcase which had been given to me earlier by a prop master.

They mixed it up and gave a lot of people bedrolls, backpacks and bundles of household goods (I remember one girl who had a birdcage with fake parakeets in it) but I got a neatly packed suitcase. I guess I just looked orderly or something.

I’d been shown my “starting point” and told to wait there until they were rolling. It was about twenty feet from the director’s hutch, which is a temporary kiosk they always set-up on shoots that can be easily moved through the day, containing all the monitoring gear and a canopy overhead to keep the sun off. There were also a gaggle of actor’s and producer’s chairs, the canvas kind you see with the names on them.

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anthony Head, Nicholas Brendon and Alyson Hannigan all had name chairs in the area and the actors themselves started showing up after awhile and cutting-up with each other and the crew. There was a palatable excitement with these people on that particular day that wasn’t normally present on TV shoots. They all knew it was the last day of a series they’d been working on for years, and for most of them it had defined their career.

Actors, crew and other extras milled all around me as I stood on that Sunnydale sidewalk and took it all in. I noticed that the guy standing next to me seemed to be feeling as I was.. he watched all of the commotion with a little grin on his face while looking very glad to be there.

“Nice day to be shooting outdoors, huh? Of course, not unusual for LA, haha!”

I was making small-talk. I’d made quite a few friends on sets in my three years of doing extra work and there were as many as ten people I knew well at this particular shoot, but they’d all been assigned to stand in different areas. This guy was the only one in talking distance and I’d never seen him before.

“Yeah, that’s LA for ya!” he said. “This weather makes it really nice for shooting almost any time of the year.”

So here we were talking about the weather, and now it was time to move on to talking about “the biz.” Like I said, small-talk. If you didn’t know someone on a set you’d usually talk about the weather, the entertainment business and your career.

“So, have you worked this show before?”

He looked at me and nodded. “Yeah, you could say that.” His semi-smile mixed with a knowing glance was a giveaway that I wasn’t talking to another extra, which the director confirmed a moment later when he looked over in our direction.

“Hey Joss! We’re just about ready, good to see you!”

Joss Whedon turned to me and said, “Nice talking to you, uh..”

I forgot my name for a second. Oh yeah, I got it..

“Dave” I stammered.

“Dave, right.. well have fun today!”

“Thanks man, you too.”

I ended up in that final episode, but barely. A wistful-looking Buffy (Sarah-Michelle Gellar) walks against the crowd as they exodus and at one point I walk past her. That’s it. Just me and my neatly packed suitcase bidding Buffy adieu, for a split-second in time. Maybe a hundred frames of film at the most.

But I remember it well, and I remember Joss and his smile, both of which have since gone on to lots of other cool, magical things.

Me, I’m sitting here in a cheap hotel room in San Francisco, writing about it. Someday I’ll unpack that suitcase and make a life.

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DEAR RHODESTER,

The evacuation of Sunnydale because of the widening hellmouth takes place in episode #19 of the seventh season (Empty Places) and not the final episode, #22 (Chosen) as you’ve suggested. What do you have to say for yourself?

~ a Buffy fan

Dear Buffy fan,

I’ve forgotten what I had for breakfast this morning. I think it was pancakes. In my defense they frequently shoot things out of sequence and that may have very well been the final scene shot for that entire series (although I’m guessing), because I do remember that being mentioned.

I saw the exodus scene some time later but didn’t remember what episode it was in so I just assumed it was the final one.

Thanks for letting me know,  Sarah.

~ Rhodester

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ADDITIONAL NOTE ~ A little research goes a long way. I found the episode on HULU but you need to be a HULU PLUS subscriber to see it. Here is a screencap from my big moment with Sarah Michelle Gellar at 1:12 into the opening scene..

Rhodester and Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. For like, two seconds. Or less.

I saw myself on TV again last night.

It’s been years.

I once worked as an extra in the film and television industry, when we lived down in LA. I was registered with an outfit called Central Casting, which has been around almost as long as movies have, and supplies something like eighty percent of the extras used in movies and TV shows when they shoot in southern California.

There was a time I’d see myself pop-up fairly often. One night I was on all three major networks – ABC, NBC and CBS – in the same evening. This wasn’t really a big deal, since I was never an actor. When you’re an extra, you’re just standing around in a scene or walking by – usually you’re seen for anywhere from ten seconds to a couple of minutes if you’re lucky, and you never, EVER get to talk.

There’s absolutely no creativity involved in this gig, so I didn’t continue with it beyond a couple of years. They tell you where to stand, what to do and what to wear, and you can’t deviate or add anything to what you’re doing. You can’t be expressive and draw any focus away from the main actors in a scene or you get into trouble. You’re basically human furniture. Personally, I liked to visualize myself as a coffee table.

At least actors get to do a character, and they bring their own interpretation to it. They may have to do it a certain way and wear the clothes that are dictated by the scene, but no two actors will do any character exactly the same way, whereas extras are interchangeable and expendable. You want a 30-40 year old clean-cut white guy to wear a suit, carry a briefcase and look like a lawyer? There are a thousand plus to choose from.

I said I was on TV last night, but that’s not really the case. I was on MACBOOK, because coffeesister and I don’t have a TV at the moment and have been catching up on DVD shows and movies using her trusty computer. Carnivàle is an HBO series that I got to be a part of in the first season, but never got to see the episode because we didn’t have HBO.

It shot in either late 2002 or early ‘o3, I really can’t remember. We were all at a tent revival meeting and then later at the set of a dilapidated old town.

Coffeesister and I checked-out the series on DVD after finding it at the library, and I had no idea where I’d show up or IF I’d show up at all. Last night we got to episode three in the first season, which had an old-fashioned tent revival scene, and there I was, standing near the entrance looking like a dustbowl farmer from a small town who was mesmerized by the events taking place.

Memories flooded back.. I’d spent half a day with the cast, crew and other extras when they filmed it back then but I’d forgotten what happened in the scene. As it unfolded I started to think, “Oh, this is where HE comes in, and then the faith-healer does THIS!” and so on. I found myself predicting what was going to happen about five seconds before it actually did.

It was weird seeing myself eight years younger and looking so dusty, disheveled and downtrodden. As I look in the mirror now, I’m still downtrodden but look at least ten years older.

I occasionally miss those couple of years of hanging out on sets, schmoozing around with famous actors and later seeing myself in something, even if it’s just for a few seconds.

But I don’t miss being a coffee table.

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Carnivale: The Complete
First Two Seasons at AMAZON.