
DATE: Sunday, August 10, 1997               TAG: 9708090027

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CHARLOTTE SHEPARD, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK 

                                            LENGTH:   97 lines

``EXTRA'' IS HAPPY TO BE A MOURNER

MUSHROOM-SHAPED fire in the skies above Chesapeake. All-night, 12-hour-long shoots. Waiting for the ``cropduster'' to fix my makeup so I could board a bus for heaven. An actor flying out of his coffin.

All of these were part of my life while working as an ``extra'' - an actor hired by the day for minor roles - on ``Ghost Stories,'' a new TV series being produced by New Dominion Pictures of Virginia Beach.

Appropriately, the call from the production company came late one evening. The name of this episode was ``You Will Wake the Dead.''

``Your assignment is to mourn at a friend's coffin,'' said Cris Taylor, casting director for extras.

``Wear something dignified in black or navy, with a string of pearls to make you look refined,'' said Carl Curnette, wardrobe designer.

My excitement knew no bounds! Although I have a degree in theater, I had not worked for pay in the field. Now I was in for at least a token salary: $75 a day, plus all I could eat at the cast buffet.

We assembled July 16 for the first of two days at New Dominion's studios in Virginia Beach. I soon found that sitting around waiting for a director's call is the No. 1 occupation of extras.

Our group included three lady mourners - I was one - a preacher and two ghouls.

One of the actors playing a ghoul had worked as a mercenary in Africa, and the second was a Virginia Beach schoolteacher and sculptor. The preacher was, aptly enough, a former Baptist minister. My fellow mourners were a retired mental-health professional and a retired radio announcer. Today they work as extras in area theaters and in local commercials.

Gibson Towns, the teacher-sculptor/ghoul, had to shave his head so a skeleton skull could be built over his face.

When the director yelled, ``background,'' he meant ``extras in place.'' When he called for the ``cropduster,'' he wanted the sweating faces of the actors touched up.

Buffet meals were set up on the sound stage. The crew and the lead actors, mostly from New York, ate first. The extras got second shift, but we always had plenty. Our casting director was always bringing up drinks and snacks.

When time came for me to get in place to mourn, I leaned down and asked the corpse if it was comfortable. ``Not very,'' came the reply.

But there was more discomfort ahead for the unlucky dead man. In one scene, he lay in a coffin waiting to ``arise.'' He arose, all right: A glitch caused him to be fully ejected from the coffin! After a few minor leg cuts were tended to, he was back in place for another take. The second try worked.

Later, Taylor called me again, this time for a three-night shoot for an episode titled ``The All Night Diner.'' Two nights would be spent in the studio, and one would be on a farm near Fentress Airfield in Chesapeake.

In the studio, I spent both nights sitting in a diner set while a New York actress poured coffee. We were background for action taking place in the diner.

The shooting went on and on, in part because many takes were spoiled by small mistakes, often nothing more than an actor not standing on his ``mark'' on the floor.

After three hours, an actor playing a junkie quietly asked to go to the bathroom. The director declared: ``The junkie has to pee. Please put on all future cast (instruction) sheets that all bodily functions are to be done at home in the future.'' The actor slipped away, and shooting came to a halt.

Sitting in the diner, I learned all the parts and the cues. I got so bored, I longed to get up and perform them.

In fact, the life of an extra is mostly boring, and in a way it is much more difficult than live theater. If you make a mistake in theater, you just cover and go on. Not so in film.

There are long waits during shooting in the ``extras'' room, but the conversation is usually good. One extra told of how a prominent Hollywood star had introduced him to marijuana.

When we went on location in rural Chesapeake, this city girl learned what it was like to spend the night in the forest with dew settling on her head and clothes growing damp. It's a good thing I was hired to play a dead person waiting in a diner for a bus to heaven. I'll be able to claim it was good acting when viewers comment on how ``dead'' and ``awful'' I look.

We had been instructed to bring any medications we might need for bee stings or poison ivy. We had also been told that the hours and elements could be demanding, and that because accidents do happen during stunts, we should all ``have fun while staying on our toes.''

While Chesapeake city police cars blocked the road, a mock gas station was blown up. A mushroom-shaped fireball rose into the sky. No accidents!

When I finally gave my performance, as a passenger on a bus for heaven, they shot two versions of the scene. I'm anxious to see which one is used.

In spite of long waits and boredom, would I do this again? YES!

Cris Taylor, please call me again. And next time, give me a word or two to say so that Hollywood can see my potential! ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

L. TODD SPENCER

Charlotte Shepard...

Photo

L. TODD SPENCER

Terry Jernigan of Norfolk acts on the set of ``Ghost Stories,'' a

locally produced TV show by New Dominion Pictures.