10 Things They Never Tell You About Being A Hollywood Movie Extra

As of July 2013, the minimum daily rate for a general supporting actor registered with the Screen Actors Guild union is $148.00 ($18.50 per hour over the course of a regular work day), and that rate will go up should the extra be asked to do anything more taxing than standing in a corner pretending to be interested in what their co-extra is pretending to say.

The SAG defines a regular working day as 8 hours, though hourly rates increase substantially if your time on set exceeds 8 hours. For your 9th, 10th and 12th hours spent on set, you'll receive time-and-a-half pay, and if the workday exceeds 12 hours, that turns into double-time pay. Though it is rare, a production that asks an SAG extra to stay for more than 16 hours will have to pay them a full days wages for every extra hour.

Rates of pay for non-union extras are invariably lower, however. Once a production has met the union quota, it will begin hiring extras who aren’t entitled to the SAG agreed money, and will end up doing the same amount of work for far less reward. Typically, the wage will be around $8 an hour with no prospect of double-time pay