Living in Los Angeles, you have many opportunities to participate in the making of movies, TV shows, and commercials.

My godson Paulie was the stand-in for Fred Savage on the Wonder Years where his father Jimmy was often an extra as he had to be on set as guardian for his son.

By virtue of my friendship with Fred Dryer, former Rams football player and then actor, my house was used for a location shoot in his TV show, “Hunter”.

Even my car got into the act.  My restored 1959 Edsel convertible was used in a number of movies and TV shows that needed to simulate the late 50’s early 60’s era.

When son Nick was seven years old, I thought he would enjoy being an extra in a 7UP commercial that was shooting in downtown LA.  The commercial was to have a Marathon Race theme, and my connection to the Los Angeles Marathon Committee is what brought the opportunity to my attention.

Next time you watch a TV show or movie that was shot in Los Angeles, notice how long the shadows are. In order to avoid the usual crowds of people and the attendant traffic, most shows are shot just after sunrise, before Los Angeles wakes up and leaves the house.

This commercial was no different.  We needed to be on-site at 5AM, which meant leaving the house at about 4:15 on a Saturday morning.

The production company had reserved parking next to the location which was an alley that was wide enough to look like a street with the right camera angle.  We gathered with the rest of the extras and got instructions for our part as the crowd lining the street and cheering on the runners, an man and a woman, as they ran by.

Two things.

One, yes Southern California weather is warm.  But some mornings, like this, the temperature dips into the 40s.

And two, an alley flanked by tall buildings gets no direct sunlight at 6AM.  No sunlight to light the shot, and no sunlight to warm the extras.

We waited an extra two hours, until nearly 8AM until the light was “right”.  Then the director told everyone to take off their jackets and hats as the commercial was supposed to be happening on a warm SoCal summer afternoon.  We had been told to wear “summer clothes” such as shorts and t-shirts.

After multiple unsuccessful takes as the director was unhappy with all of us extras who were failing to pretend we were anything other than cold, tired, and pretty annoyed at having to stand around in an alley at dawn.  And there was no coffee.

People started leaving.   Not a lot of motivation for unpaid extras to stick around.  Soon there were not enough people to create the crowd-scene the director was going for, so we were all “released”.

The commercial still ran.  The runners appeared only in low-angle shots and close-ups, so no one saw that there were no spectators.

Our last commercial.