Aaron Marcus was a stand-in on the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading but wasn't upgraded to principal actor despite being filmed in close-up. Under SAG-AFTRA rules, an extra needs a line or word from the director to upgrade; just being directed or screaming doesn't count. Principals earn $1,246 a day versus $231 for extras.
Almost 20 years ago, I was sitting on a park bench in a scene with Frances McDormand in the Coen Brothers feature film Burn After Reading starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. I was working as a stand-in and was asked to do some general extra work, and I was even given a title. It was Loser Number 1, and the director gave me very specific directions as to what was needed in the scene. And I figured, this is great, I'm going to be upgraded from an extra to a principal. It didn't happen that way. So I'm going to share with you exactly what it takes to get upgraded and go from being an extra to a principal on a film or a television show. Hi, I'm Aaron Marcus, and here's a still shot from the scene that I worked on in Burn After Reading. So the setup is this: Frances McDormand's character is trying to find someone who she's never met but has a meeting with in a park. And I'm sitting on a park bench, and as loser number one, I have no idea what this woman is doing. So I'm sitting there and I'm hearing from both directors, because the Coen brothers both directed this film, Joel and Ethan, and they would say things to me like, okay, you're reading a paper and you feel the presence of someone staring at you. So I might be looking down and then it's like I'm looking up and I don't know who the person is, and I go back down to reading the paper. Another direction was you're reading the paper and all of a sudden this woman's staring at you and you look up and it's like, what, what's going on? So it was kind of like Do I know you? What's, what's happening here? That's what I'm thinking. And there were a bunch of other things that they were asking me to do. So when we finished, I'm thinking, this is a close-up shot of me. It was a very tight shot of me. I'm getting all this direction from the directors. I'm getting upgraded here. And now I'm thinking, well, I'm loser number one, so hopefully I will get a name credit, although that's not guaranteed. Hopefully I'll get a name credit when the credits are rolling. I will get residuals from doing a day player job here, and my pay is going to increase quite a bit. Now, I don't remember what the rates were 18 years ago, but I can tell you that today's union rates— and once again, check out the SAG-AFTRA website because things change all the time— but for an 8-hour day for an extra, if you're a union member, SAG-AFTRA SAG-AFTRA, it's $231 for an extra job. I believe it's $270 for an 8-hour day for a stand-in. And if you are a principal, let's say you're a day player for an 8-hour day, the minimum is $1,246. Now, if you're someone who's ever done some extra work, certainly you know that what I was doing This is the way I was thinking— was a whole lot more than just general extra work, you know, people walking down the street, maybe someone, you know, sitting at a cafe. So I had to learn the hard way that getting directions from a director, having the camera in your face on a film or television show, doesn't get you upgraded from an extra to a principal. So I had to learn about SAG-AFTRA rules. And here's what they are. The only way you can get upgraded from being an extra to a principal is if you are given lines, or at least a word to say. It has to come from either director, first AD, which is first assistant director, or someone else in authority who has the power to be able to give lines to people. Now, I have, I have seen some extras think that they're going to get upgraded if they just scream things out in the middle of the scene. And let me tell you, number one, you're not going to get upgraded that way because it wasn't given to you. And number two, it's not thought of real highly by people on the set, especially if you ruined a great take because you're screaming out some words. So a close-up and even being given directions does not get you upgraded. On a side note, just so you have this information, if you get upgraded, you will get paid as an extra for the day, and you will get paid as a principal for the day. However, they're going to deduct the extra pay from your principal pay depending on what time you actually got the upgrade. And I can tell you I've, I've seen it. I've experienced it myself. I've gotten upgraded before. Now, most of the time it's been on TV commercials, which is a whole separate category. They have different rules for that. So, but I have seen people get upgraded for TV and film projects as well. And look, if you have ever worked as an extra and you got upgraded, or you had a Close-up on your face, or you were given directions from the director, please share it here so we can learn from your experiences. It will be really helpful. And if you haven't done this yet, don't forget, subscribe, click the notification bell. You always will know when a new video is uploaded, uploaded. And if you like it, give it a thumbs up and please share, share the link with your fellow actors. I'm Aaron Marcus, and I can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya. See ya.
