As an actor once again i find my self in between jobs waiting for another job to come along, but while i wait i have had an offer to do some extra work for 4 days. A friend tells me doing background or extra work may stop me getting a supporting or lead role in the future. I wonder how much of that is true.
Acting : Can doing extra work mess up your chance of finding real acting work. by Haqi Ali
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Of course not. However, is your friend very knowledgeable in the business? Does your friend know this for a fact? Perhaps you should put more weight in this friend than in strangers. I know that many people get comfortable doing background work and over time reduce the amount of auditions they attend. I know that people who have been making their sole living doing background work for many years become known as background actors to CD's and agents and that can hurt. But four days? Ten days a year? Twenty days a year? I can't imagine that would stop a director from hiring an actor in a supporting role. What does your friend do in the business? If your friend is a CD maybe they are correct.
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If you do extra work on a TV show and get featured (by that I mean your face is shown prominently for a second) you can't audition for that show in the future. This comes straight from my agents and thusly they don't allow me to do extra work on TV shows. Movies however you can do extra work since all the roles will be cast. I suppose it's possible that if a role later in the movie somehow opened up and you had already done extra work in a previous scene then you would not be able too audition for that role. Hope this helps
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For TV the reason is fairly obvious; there is the "world" of the show. Someone seen as a featured extra (not a background extra) is now part of that world. The Show Runner doesn't want that "face" to return as someone else. Kinda silly in my opinion, but it happens all the time. There is no reason that an actor who is even a featured extra in "The Hangover" cannot have a supporting role in the next "Bourne" film. Devin is correct in that it is highly unlikely that a featured extra in the new "Bourne" film will not be considered for a role in that same film later on. But it wouldn't not affect getting a role in the directors next film.
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Hey Haqi - There is actually a really great blog written by Gary Craig in the Blog section you should read. He took extra work and based on his work ethic and moxy on set, he landed a principle role in "Curb your Enthusiasm." It was (one of many) things that helped him continue to build his resume. And, even more exciting he has a speaking role in David O. Russell's new film alongside Jennifer Lawerence and Bradley Cooper. He now has an agent too. There was also another blog written by Sonal Shah on here who has had a lot of success from taking various acting jobs - she eventually landed on Scrubs. Take some time to read them, hopefully you'll learn a lot. Good luck! Keep creating :)
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Even if you never get an upgrade extra work is educational. You learn how a professional film set operates. You don't have to do it forever but a few projects can teach a lot.
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No. ;-) Not at all true. Just ask Kate Hudson. Or almost any actor. No. And on the TV front? Forgive the sarcasm: Yeah, you wouldn't want a ShowRunner to become familiar with your face, cause he or she probably wouldn't ever create a new show (world) that you could audition for. High class problem to have. There are lots of shows. Don't listen to strangers - even me ;-) and their/our myriad opinions of what you can and can't do - 'cause whatever you think, you're right. Get out there and get the work, get the reel material, get the experience, expand and enrich your network, get - and stay - in the activity! Work breeds more work.