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The Strange Case of Assumed Heterosexuality in Background Actor Work

a quick self-pic requested of me awhile back for a stand-in role; alas, I was not chosen.

The blogger taking a quick self-pic requested awhile back for a
stand-in role; alas, I was not chosen.

Yet again the other day I did a background actor (aka “extra”) job on an enormous hit show (which I won’t mention because I’ll never work in this town again if I do).

And yet once again when I was there on set I was paired with a nice older lady who’d be my “wife” for the day.

This has happened (this kind of pairing) on numerous jobs. The expectation that you’d be part of a heterosexual couple. And along with that, the implicit denial that there’d ever be homosexual couples (as in, it would be just as easy for the AD troops to pair up same-sex extras as it is to pair up opposite-sex ones) in the background of any scene.

I can’t really blame the often famous and lavishly decorated writers/producers/creators of these shows, who often may even have significant LGBT characters or romances in the principal storylines.

It’s usually the ADs (assistant directors) who devise the background blocking, if any, and put the extras at their locations in the set and give them actions to do. Most of these are guys (some women too, but mostly men) in their 20s who probably can work 18 hours straight without complaining; perhaps these pairings are the most expeditious or what they think their bosses would want. Surely, say, if the “location” were a hospital emergency room waiting area, there’d be groupings of all varieties, including gay couples or families.
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Right? I still remember my favorite remark during pairing-up, when on one show I was coupled with a nice looking woman about half my age. “You got a young one,” this (older) lady said to me, with a sly, heavily mascara’d wink. You’re right, honey, I did! Next time, let’s try a young guy with dark eyes and some stubble. Then we’d be talking.

Links for those who want to do this:

Central Casting

Commercial Extras

 

 

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