Working as a Background Talent on Showtime's The United States of Tara

An interesting new weekly series on Showtime will air on January 18, 2009 called "United States of Tara." I was fortunate enough to witness one of the tapings while my ten year old daughter performed as a background "minor bowler" in a scene set in Kansas during the winter. The scene was actually shot at AMF Midtown Lanes in Los Angeles, California.

The main character of the series is Toni Collette who plays a mother with multiple personality disorder. The basis of the series is about how her family copes with her mental disorder and reacts to each of her personalities. Steven Spielberg is the mastermind of the program. Diablo Cody is the script writer. (Wikipedia)

Because the subject matter of the movie touches upon the sensitive subject of a mental disorder, controversy is already brewing before the show has even aired. (Entertainment Weekly/Popwatch) There is fear that the comedy will spark & encourage the formation of stereotypes amongst those who are actually suffering from multiple personality disorder.

After checking in with the Assistant Director (AD), we sat under the blue canopy waiting for our next direction. Minutes later, we were served lunch: grilled cheeseburgers with freshly fried French fries. Other entrees included tuna melt sandwiches, chicken burgers & grilled cheese sandwiches. Although we brought our own snacks as suggested by our management company, the fresh warm burger was still very satisfying.

When lunch was over, my daughter met with wardrobe next to determine which outfit she would be able to wear in the bowling scene. Although the printing on her shirt would probably be unrecognizable from where the camera was shooting, wardrobe asked her to wear her hooded long sleeved shirt inside out to disguise the writing. Luckily, my daughter did not protest too much and eventually agreed to wearing her shirt backwards. She was also fitted with bowling shoes since she was casted as a 'minor bowler.'

We were then ushered in the bowling alley where the "holding room" was located in the bar of AMF Midtown Lanes. This is the room where all the background talent sits until they are needed. The waiting can get tedious, so the extras brought books to read, electronic games, ipods, their own munchies, etc., to occupy their time. There were approximately 20-30 adult extras and about 10 child extras hired that day.

Normally, the minor background talent would be left with the studio teacher for a minimum of 3 hours to satisfy the school requirement for the children. On that particular day, school was not in session; therefore, my daughter & I were able to 'hang out' together in between shoots.

While waiting to be placed in the scene, my daughter passed the time drawing & coloring and writing short stories. We occasionally, roamed around the set nearby to stretch out our legs and grabbed some snacks provided by catering.

What was interesting to see that the props -- comprised of beer bottles, peanuts, potato chips, soda cans -- were kept under safe watch by the crew. To make sure that none of the extras would eat the props by mistake, the crew place bright green masking tape on the wall behind the snack props that boldly said, "GO AWAY!!!! PROPS." About 30 crew members manned the scene with the director & the actors. With all the equipment and background people involved, it was amazing to witness the crew help orchestrate a 10-15 minute scene without getting in each others' way.

We were able to get a glimpse of Toni Collette who plays the mother "Tara," Keir Gilchrist who plays the son "Marshall" and Brie Larson who plays the daughter "Kate."

At the end of the day, the AD kindly invited us to eat a catered dinner with the rest of the crew. Entrees included steak, pasta, salmon, a variety of steamed veggies, rice pilaf, and chicken. A dessert table and a salad table were also made available to us. Because we were both exhausted from the entire day, my daughter and I opted to go home after the shoot. We were still able to take advantage of the chance to bring home some of the gourmet food.

Despite the fact that her camera time was less than other shows she has worked on before, my 10 year old daughter states that she still enjoyed the experience with Showtime of playing an extra. Spoken like a 'seasoned' little actress, she commented, "They'll still pay me the same even if I work less."