Back in 2018, I had the opportunity to be an extra for Netflix’s American Vandal: Season 2. I had never been an extra before, but thought it could be fun, and it was a way to earn some money as well. They filmed not far from where I live, so it seemed like a no brainer to at least try for it. I had auditioned to be one of the speaking characters a few months prior, but obviously, nothing came of that. In February, I received an email stating that they were looking to cast extras, so without hesitation, I submitted all of my information. I didn’t hear anything else until a month later, when I received an email with a week of dates, asking for our availabilities. I promptly responded, and here begins the extra adventure.

I got an email a couple of days before I was set to be an extra confirming my booking for day one (I did two days on set). I was only given a date, and some vague information about what clothing to bring to set. The next day, they sent me another email with my call time of 5:30am, telling me where to go, and what to bring. As an extra, they ask you to bring clothing that fits the aesthetic of what they’re shooting. Sometimes it’s just colors, sometimes it’s a decade they’re trying to replicate, or sometimes it’s generic “wear something you’d wear if you were in high school.” This particular email asked us to bring clothes that were befitting of a uniform like a white collared shirt, khaki pants/skirt, dress shoes in brown or black, etc… Other than that, I was given no information about what my day would entail or what I would be doing.

My first day, I arrived at 5:30am, and walked to set in the dark (this was March so no early sun rise) after having driven almost an hour to the shooting location (it was a VERY early morning for me that day). As a side note, in all the times I’ve been an extra, I’ve never been given a location until after I’ve confirmed that I will do it, so sometimes you end up schlepping a little. I arrived and was ushered into “holding,” which is the area where all the extras wait during the day to be called and/or used. You sign in by presenting ID and are given a form that you hold onto for the whole day that will be used to clock your hours. I presented what I had brought to the costume people, and was then given a Saint Bernadine uniform to wear for the day. It consisted of a khaki skirt, button up shirt (the only thing I wore that I had brought myself besides my shoes), pullover vest, a clasped plaid tie, and knee high socks. Peep the photo below for the top half of my look. Sometimes when you’re an extra, you provide your entire wardrobe, but in this case, since we all had to play students who wore uniforms at school, they provided most of the attire (I truly had a very lucky first extra experience).

After getting dressed, we were allowed to eat a catered breakfast. I can’t really remember what we were fed, but I remember being pleasantly surprised, and I certainly couldn’t complain about it! Around 7:00am, more extras arrived who had had a later call time, and they filed in for at least another hour. Ironically, those of us who had been called early hadn’t done anything at that point other than eat. A lot of extra work is just sitting around and waiting.

At around 9:00am, we were ushered into the gymnasium (set was at a community college), where we sat in another holding room for probably around 90 minutes (again, a lot of hurry up and wait). Luckily, there were snacks! I spent my entire first day of shooting sitting in basketball bleachers, and the first scene we shot was one where all the students were present at an assembly, and then while cheerleaders fired T-shirt cannons, we were rained on by cat litter (which in reality was film dust, fear not). If you haven’t seen the show, I promise it makes sense in context. We rehearsed the scene several times without anything, and then filmed it probably three or four times while getting dusted. After each shot, makeup artists had to run in to clean us up so we didn’t look like we were already dusty when the scene started. I was lucky to be placed in the front row, so I could find myself pretty easily when the episodes aired on Netflix!

I can’t really remember what came next exactly, but I do know that we took lunch after they filmed this scene. It took a while to get everything filmed because there were so many extras to place, and the clean up between takes wasn’t quick. We went back to our initial holding area and ate the catered meal there. They dock you one hour for lunch, but in this case, it was a good lunch, and we were indoors so I couldn’t really complain (I’ve done extra work where I’ve been outside ALL day). I do remember sitting in holding after lunch for a while, and trying to study for the GRE (something I don’t recommend trying to do while being an extra). We were then instructed to change our clothes into our “day time” apparel, as we would be filming a basketball game next. Ironically, I hadn’t been informed that we needed to bring a change of clothes, but luckily I had come in my jeans and a sweater so I was able to make it work. Always smart to bring more than what you think you need, just in case.

After changing, we went right back to our seats in the basketball bleachers. I honestly couldn’t feel my lower half after that day, I spent SO many hours sitting in hard bleachers, yikes. Since we were playing students, we didn’t have to do too much, but we did watch the game (when they were filming), and were told when to cheer/react. I remember doing multiple takes of us having to cheer after the star player scored a free throw, because if he missed, we had to redo it. We were all assigned sections of the bleachers, and then periodically would be moved to try and make it look like we were attending multiple games. Since we were playing high schoolers, we were allowed our phones during this shooting, which isn’t common, but was very lucky as it passed the time a little more quickly (don’t worry, I talked to the people around me as well)! We were given props and occasionally crew would come up to us and ask us to pose for photos/videos that could potentially be incorporated into the show since they use Instagram posts as evidence in their investigation. None of the ones I was in ended up in the show, but some that were taken in my section, did! I was, however, by the basket so again, I ended up in the final shot! While filming this, I received the email confirming that I would be coming back the next day for a second day of filming. That was the last thing I filmed for that day, and I finally went home around 8:00pm, making for a 15 hour day. You do get paid overtime for anything over 8 hours, though.

Checking out involved giving our costume pieces back, and then lining up to be signed out so they can check your hours. The costume people also took a photo of every person in their costume before we had changed out of it earlier.

Luckily, I had a 7:00am call for day two, so I didn’t have to get up nearly as early as I had for day one. I was outfitted in the same uniform I had worn the day before, and waited in holding again for some time. They called several of us up to the cafeteria upstairs where we started our morning. I didn’t spend a ton of time up there as I exited the scene fairly quickly, but I know that they were up there for a while after I had gone back down to holding. A lot of whether you’re used for extra work can just be luck of whether you’re sitting in the right place, or placed just right.

After lunch, they had us do some more scenes in the cafeteria, and more Instagram photos upstairs as well. I know none of those made it into the final cut, but the story line did. Oh well! We had a fun time doing those little bits anyway since only a handful of us were doing it. I do remember being told when we were filming “snapchat” videos not to say anything, as if you’re given lines as an extra, they have to pay you more!

Surprise, surprise, we ended up back in the gymnasium for the rest of the day. I really don’t remember what was being filmed, apart from the fact that they sent a large number of minors home (they have limits on working hours), and then a small chunk of us were asked to do another shot of being sprayed with the cat litter. We were positioned, and were told we had one shot at this one, as the cannons would be firing at us from quite a close distance. I, unfortunately, ended up holding a sign so my face can’t be seen in this shot, but you can see my arm and watch! Regardless, after they fired the dust at us, we all had white hair and were completely covered. They didn’t even try to clean us up, but luckily, that was the end of the night so we were free to go. One perk of being that dusted up, was we all got a slight pay bump for the “inconvenience,” of it, which was a nice little bonus.

Much like the first day, my second day was a long one, albeit only 13 hours. Being an extra can be such a grab bag for what hours you get, what the set/holding areas are like, and how good the experience can be. I had a great time being an extra on American Vandal: Season 2, and I’ve gone on to be an extra for other productions as well, although I’ve never returned for a second day, again (not usually a personal choice, by the way). It definitely set the bar high for extra experience. Plus, it’s always a fun thing to be able to say you’re on Netflix, even if your name doesn’t appear anywhere!

Anyway, that’s my tale! I know it’s old, but I’m revisiting old memories at the moment, and this made for a good one. Hope you enjoyed my retelling of being an extra, and honestly, if you haven’t watched either season of American Vandal, I highly recommend it (and not just because I’m in it)!