Speculating

Speculating

     Speculating, or “specking,” is another aspect of extra work. I spelled it with a K, to show the correct pronunciation. In order to spec, you must find out where a shoot is, and what kind of extras, production is looking for. Then you just go to the location, and submit yourself, for work, and bypass the casting company. Someone from casting is usually on set, to sign people in, but production oversees this process, as well as everything else that happens, on set. I once had production say to casting, on my behalf, “Put him to work, and give him union money.” Casting did not like it. I did not care, because it sent a message to casting, that maybe I didn’t need them as much as they thought. 

     Don’t get me wrong. Specing is a roll of the dice. A lot of the time, you will not get hired. Especially on small calls. So you better look like what production wants. Additionally if everyone who was originally booked, shows up, for work, you better hope that production is taking specs. If not, home you go. Your best odds, for getting hired, were on cattle calls. It is not so easy to get 1000 extras to suit up and show up, every day, as you think. So they often take specs. I have had production, ask me personally, if I knew anyone, looking for work. I have also seen crew members, walking around on set, with a loudspeaker, announcing that they needed more people. “Anymore specs? Looking for more specs.” 

     Getting the information you need to be a successful spec, can be done, 2 ways, that I know of. You can pay a company, politely referred to as a “spec line,” to gather the information, for you, and then allow you access to a recorded message containing this information. Or you could call one of your show business friends, and ask who is hiring, and where. When you are on set, you can talk to your show business friends too. Most of the extras, I encountered, did not mind, passing this information along. Sometimes they just volunteer information. “Hey guys, Clusterfuck Productions is looking for people with 70’s cars.” So I spec’d a job, in a 1979 Ford Thunderbird, and that is how I met John. 

     Specing is ok for some people, and some people prefer it. I preferred to get booked by casting, and let my calling service handle everything. I did not want to deal with casting, because I was trying to get noticed, by production. Casting helped me get my foot in the door, and some casting directors were pretty good to me. Most extras do not consider extra work, to be something they wish to do, until they retire. Others are here today, and gone tomorrow. Then there are those who think they are “stars,” and they are just waiting for someone like Martin Scorsese, to notice how talented they are. The rest are lifers. Not easy to be a lifer, when you consider Hollywood’s obsession with youth.

Specing turned out to be the method by which I became SAG eligible. I heard about a job, on set, and I was able to listen for the details, on the spec line, because one of my co-workers gave me the pass code, for it. If you are an extra, and you don’t have any friends, in show business, that can help you find work, perhaps you should be doing something else. In show business, you need a lot of friends to be successful. It truly is “who you know.” I made some really good friends, in show business, and I am still in touch with some of them. They did not help me become a star. They helped me earn a living. Thanks to all of them.

     A guy I know, who is from Austria, called casting, one day, to submit, for work, as a German. Casting told him, “We can’t use you, because you have dark hair, and dark eyes.” He replied, “So did most of Hitler’s cabinet.” Casting said, “We are looking for the stereotypical blonde hair, blue eyes, etc.” To which my colleague exclaimed, “You are not looking for Germans. You are looking for Norwegians.” He hung up, before casting could respond. Then he found out where the shoot was. Went down to set, and production hired him anyway. He was the only professional spec, I will mention. He got all kinds of work without using a casting company, to do it.  There are many times, when extras, casting, and production are not on the same page, and it is not always the fault, of the extras. Sometimes it is casting, who has their head up their a*s. There are many ways around casting too, and we will use them, if we have to, because we need the work. It is not easy, working in Hollywood. Especially for extras.