Movie Magic, Nothing BUTT the truth! part 4 of the" Never Ending Story.":

     As an extra I have had an opportunity to see and understand why movie tickets are so expensive , which is one reason ( yes, Dear ) that's my wife and I haven't been out to a movie in quite some time. As a compromise I had her go out to the set of a big budget movie as an extra for a few days, I thought the L O N G days, L O N G waits, waiting on food and drink for long periods, protracted standing, clapping and cheering at the appropriate times, as directed, would cure her.But  NOOOO, She still want's to go sit in a crowded theater and eat overpriced pop corn when we have a box of ACT II, which has been in our cabinet  for months.
     When I was in the Army we were taught that it took 7 support people for every person on the front lines, that number for the production of a major film appears to be multiplied at least three fold. I have seen why it takes so many millions of dollars to make a film, most of the work is done by union people, I understand and generally support unions and what they do. On a movie set, among the crew, the man who carries the ladder does not climb the ladder, someone else does when he has adjusted a light and there is sound cable in the way, someone else ascends the ladder and moves the cable. On the set of my first movie I picked up an over turned trash can out side my "dressing" room. A member of the "transportation workers" union who drove the rig to the set and who was responsible for the truck and trailer and the area around it asked me not to do that  for fear that someone would see me and think he was not doing his job.
    That production was not going to be an Academy Award nominee, nor was it the intention of the Directors or Producers to do so, their plan was to make a movie of a certain genre which makes money by making people laugh.  From what I have seen so far regarding the film it will succeed. This same team has been very successful in the past.
    I had read that movies are not shot in sequence, recently I am learning that first hand. (I think one reason is so the extras will have no idea what the film is really about.) Just weeks ago on the same day, after a wardrobe change (we are always told to bring 3 options, although that have a tractor trailer filled with cloths, and they shop at Goodwill also.) We were instructed to change because the next scene would be three years later in the movie’s time line. We shot scenes weeks ago which will not be used until the last episode of the TV series we are working on. I have a friend who was working as a stand in, his “character” was killed off and now he is working as an extra in scenes which will be shown after his characters demise. In one film we had many changes because the film spans several years, we were often asked to return the next day in the same cloths we had worn for a specific scene that day. I thought I might need to number my garments so I could keep up.(my Mom did that to my underwear when I was in 4th grade so she would know if I changed every day.)
IN THE NEXT EDITION WE WILL BE LEARNING MORE ABOUT HOLLYWOOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD WE LOUISIANA  EXTRA'S, A COMMENT OVER HEARD YESTERDAY "Well she is just one of those dumb Louisiana Extras." [ Note-In Hollywood extras are paid an established minimum hourly rate and benefits.] These Production Companies come here for the Tax Breaks and cheap labor,we are glad to have the work but they need to leave the attitude in "Fantasy Land."