by Al Porotesano

Three weeks ago, I volunteered to work on location for season 2 of Con Man as a background actor. I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen the show. I’m a fan of comic books and when I got the email from a friend to be a part of the set, I was excited to be a part of being an anonymous donor of Alan Tudyk’s crowdfunded project. I hope Alan can forgive me for not watching Firefly nor Serenity either. You can watch it on their website.

I had some observational experience of show productions before joining Central Casting. I was a web app developer with AdvisorSquare, A Portland-based Smarsh company. We shared the same office building with Marvel Studios at Manhattan Beach 4 years ago. A few months later, I was surprised to see my cousin and a lot of Polynesians working on the set of 90210, one of a few TV shows that were in production at MBS. The camaraderie with my usos and the production crew was one of the best times I’ve had before I walked back to the office in a depressing cubicle shoveling legacy ASP code on a decade-long web app for Financial Advisors and their Broker/Dealers. I’ll always cherish their company as the silver light over the everyday gloomy techbro atmosphere. With that in mind, their insights of the entertainment industry helped me prepare for something like this one day. I’m forever blessed by their blessings.

Con Man Season 2 wrapped up production and some of the crew members encouraged me to give Creative Casting a shot. After some research of the talent agency with the pros and cons of being a background actor, I went to the Central Casting offices in Burbank that Early Monday Morning.

Here’s some thoughts, observations, and considerations before going to Central Casting: Things to Consider

  1. You have to show up to their Burbank office very early, preferably 6AM in the morning. I arrived to Central Casting at 615am and counted 15 people ahead of me in a line. You may have to get used to that routine if you plan to work in production shows.
  2. Have some patience. Read a book. Strike a conversation with a few others in line. This is how I killed 3 hours before I got my voucher.
  3. Print out the following forms from Central Casting’s website:
    • Application form. Measure your clothing sizes ahead of time for this form. If you don’t know how to do it, go to Brooks Brothers or Burlington Coat Factory or some fitting service for your accurate measurements. They’ll do it for free.
    • I-9 form (last 2 pages of the pdf)
    • W-4 form
    • Anti-Harrassment Policy
    • Digial Piracy Policy
    • **Photo Image Release **
    • Pence Form
    • Heat Stress Training Acknowledgement
    • California Paid Sick-leave form
    • Child Entertainment Work Permit (for children & tweens)
    • Preferable Identifications:
      • Passport or Drivers License
      • Social Security Card or workers visa card
  4. Don’t worry about the Head shot photo shoot. I don’t expect mine to be great. You can resubmit a few head shots and studio shots later in Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3pm during re-registration.
  5. While waiting in line, you’ll have a few people peddling for “career building” workshops. It’s completely up to you if you wish to go there. I didn’t because I’m pretty skeptical about the idea of it in a Scientology building. A quick online search reveals they’re scientology recruits.
  6. Need to go to the bathroom? The Downtown Burbank Metrolink station is a 3 minute walk. It’s not that far.
  7. The registration process is going to take all day. I stress this tip to show up early because the doors open at 9:10am and they rejected a large group of people. I counted at least 50 people waiting in line before walking back to the metrolink station at 730. When I turned back at the window, The last rows of chairs were filled up and there was still a line on the sidewalk.
  8. Central Casting will allow a certain number of people in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s quite a range from 75 to 15 entrants only and it all depends on the demand for background actors from Production & Casting Assistants for the next two weeks. Don’t expect a consistent pattern nor setting to get in. I’d have to guess based on yelp reviews, Mondays is your best chance to get in. I’ve overheard some people tried more than twice to get in Central Casting. Just do some research to improve your chances. I hope my post will help yours because this is the first time I’ve ever did this. But, observing this from a network security view of numbers and predictability, I managed to get by the process reducing the reliance of luck.

These observations and tips are based on my experience at Central Casting LA in Burbank. I’d have to guess their New York and New Orleans offices are somewhat similar with different forms to use.

I hope this helps. I know this is one of my non-tech posts outside of my Wilmington posts, but I’d have to anticipate the idea of being a background actor while working on my freelance projects for a while. I’ll maintain this section of experience posting because the fun part of getting paid is to keep calling their hotline number for non-union actors. I’ll have to oil up my VOIP bots and my Social Engineering suit for battle.

  • Al