They wait for hours just to walk across the street. They earn meager wages and struggle to pay the bills. They get treated like the pariahs of the entertainment industry -- and yet they have a passion for their craft that often surpasses that of individuals in many high-paying professions.
They're film and television background artists, aka extras, and they finally get a taste of justice in Strictly Background, the comical and at times moving documentary by Jason Connell that celebrates these industry underdogs. Connell followed 13 Los Angeles extras for a year to produce his first documentary, which was inspired by a month he spent as a background artist. "I just fell in love with the personalities," said Connell. "I never even really thought about extras before." But his exposure to the subculture and experiences hanging out with extras on sets led him to watch movies differently, gaining a newfound respect for these artists who, if they do their job right, go entirely unnoticed.
Though the film pokes a little fun at the typical background artist's tendency to drop celebrity names as co-workers, Connell frames the extras through a lens of genuine respect. "I have a lot of respect for them and what they're doing," said Connell. "If you really stop to think about it, it is an important part [of film and television production]."
Finally in the Spotlight
Tafan Nieves, one of the extras followed in the film, said watching himself in the film helped inspire him not to quit the entertainment business. The life of background artists "is something that should have been revealed a long time ago about the people that do this work so they can get some justice," said Tafan, who has been threatened on sets by crew members. He hopes the film will raise awareness about the hard work extras do and impact the way crew members treat background artists.
Background effectively re-frames the perception of background artists as lazy by showing how diligently they pursue getting booked in films and on television -- sometimes waking at 4:30 a.m. to take the bus to a set to try to "spec" for jobs they haven't landed. They also endure less-than-ideal living conditions because of the inconsistency of the low-paying work. Nieves said that at one point he lived with eight other background artists in a two-bedroom apartment and that the difficulty of the business at times drags him down. In one of the most revelatory moments of the film, Nieves admits he has pondered suicide. "It just took me back to certain things, and things I was going through," said Nieves of the conversation he had with Connell that led to the admission.
Connell doesn't shy away from portraying extras' lives as challenging. "Some of these people are barely getting by while others have made it in life, and [the background artists] are just doing it for the love," said Connell. For this reason, the filmmaker chose to only include veteran background artists in his film and edited out the three 20-something background artists before the editing process. The film also covers the ageism against older background artists, who generally have a more difficult time landing work.
Through a Pleasantville-style special effect, Connell includes scenes from major motion pictures the extras have appeared in, such as Million Dollar Baby and Pee-wee's Big Adventure, showing the clips with the major stars in black-and-white and the background artist in color. To illustrate how movies would look without extras, the film also shows a scene from Airplane!, which featured Strictly Background extra Terry Bolo, and edited out all the passengers to reveal a stewardess walking up an empty aisle.
Strictly Background has already debuted at film festivals across the country and will make its L.A. debut April 19 at the Los Angeles United Film Festival taking place at Beverly Hills' Fine Arts Theatre.
Not surprisingly, the background artists in the film have gained some celebrity from the screenings. Connell said, "These extras have become like little minicelebrities at our screenings, which is, like, endearing in itself, you know? It's like, 'Wow, here they are now!' They have, like this different walk about them, and they're giving autographs, and it's only just begun."
As for Nieves, the film has yet to change his financial situation. He spoke to Back Stage from a Taco Bell while waiting to see if he could get hired on as a spec for American Gladiators. "We just got to wait," he said of the situation. "But I'm surviving. I'm a warrior. I won't quit."
For more information or to view clips, visit www.strictlybackground.com. To purchase tickets for the LAUFF screening, with includes a Q&A with cast and filmmakers, visit http://launitedfest.com/. Tickets are $10 and the screening starts at 6:50 p.m. The Fine Arts Theatre is located at 8556 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, Calif.