Extra Agencies in London

Extra Agencies in London

There is a vast amount of extra agencies in London, and all оf them promise people to find them work on TV or film. However, as people that have been signed with those agencies and subscribed to those websites will tell you — that statement is hardly true. Mоѕt London extra casting agencies аrе аftеr your money, and that’s is where you can draw the line. You want to know more? Keep reading then.

Extra Agencies in London

Unfortunately, there are a lot of scam artists within the showbiz, and most of them pray of young, naive and completely green actors. They promise them the world, but at end, give them hell. It would be unfair to put all extra agencies within the category of scam, however, they are not that far apart. Agencies and websites continue taking in new clients even though they see there won’t be any work for them in the upcoming year, at the very least.

Aspiring actors end up wasting their money, time and effort by trying to put their profile on those websites or commuting to those extra agencies in London just to get another promise: “there will be work next week.” But there never is. We’ve talked a lot about how being an extra impacts an actor’s career in our handbook Acting in London.

At the end of the day, if you are serious about pursuing career in this industry, being an extra more than once will not do you any good. Putting aside all the frustration you get from setting up and paying for yet another website, or service that extra agencies in London provide — appearing on the screen in the background too often might hinder your future career as a serious actor. Plus, background work is not considered acting in any way, which means you do not get to put it on your acting resume. Basically, it’s worthless.

Extra Agencies in London – Is It Worth It?

The shorter answer to the question above would be no, the slightly longer one — it depends.

Think, whether you want to build a career in background work (there are some people making a living off it, most of them in Los Angeles) or a career as a serious actor. Fortunately or not, you cannot have both.

Getting some background work (provided that you can even get it) from extra agencies in London could benefit you only in the way that you can see how a real filming set works, and that’s about it. Being an extra is not the same as being an understudy — you will not get cast in the part if Colin Firth gets ill. If your primary goal is to be working actor in London, then extra work is not for your and that’s the bottom line. Forget about it.

Here’s some advice for those considering pursuing acting seriously:
How to Get into Acting: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
UK Casting #1 Website: The Spotlight

Those of you still looking for background work, I’m afraid we’re short of advice here on Acting in London. Seeing how most of those extra websites provide just projects of various interviews, stories for magazines, etc. (skip those entirely) — there isn’t a lot of legitimate background work to be seen, although you do get it once in a while. So in case you think paying £20-£30 a month is a good price for getting cast once a month (you usually getting paid £50 for one day’s work as an extra), then go for it.

At the end of the day I would consider your long term goals and how your current actions can impact them. Think about what career you want to pursue and what is the most important to you in life. Dealing with extra agencies in London can be either tricky or very easy, depending how lucky you get. Weight all pros and cons of pursuing this side of entertainment business and come up with a (good) decision.

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