Many people have asked me, "What's it like to work as a background extra on a TV show?" Well, I'll tell you. Below is an article I wrote about my second time working as an extra on the TV show "One Tree Hill" which films in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“One Tree Hill” centers on Lucas and Nathan Scott, brothers who reside in the fictitious North Carolina town of Tree Hill.

Lucas is the illegitimate son of Dan Scott, a J.R. Ewing-type father who claimed Nathan as his only son. While Lucas is a sweet-hearted kid and Nathan is the opposite, they both share a common interest: basketball. A twist of fate earns Lucas a spot on Nathan’s high school basketball team, which creates problems for these brothers who dislike one another.

Other characters include Haley James, Peyton Sawyer, Brooke Davis, Marvin “Mouth” McFadden, Deb Scott and Karen Roe, who is Lucas’s mother.

In September 2007 I flew to Wilmington for a much-needed vacation and to work as an extra on the show again. I knew that I would be working as an extra the day after I arrived, and that I was cast as a delivery man.

My call time was 8:30 a.m., and the location I had to report to was a parking ramp in the downtown area. What I didn’t know was that the parking ramp was not where they would be filming that day, and me and about nine other extras were transported to the actual filming location by a van.

When we arrived at the building where they would be filming, I noticed there were production trucks parked on the side of the building. Out from one of the trucks was a large, foil tube that extended from one of the trucks and through a doorway. As we walked into the building through the doorway, we had to practically climb over the tube. Once inside, we entered a small room on our right, with the tubing leading our way. When we entered the room, all of us discovered that the tubing was really air conditioning.

Whenever there are extras, there is a production assistant who has to baby-sit them. Our particular baby-sitter’s name was Brad.

Prior to actually leaving the holding room to work as extras, we were invited to get some breakfast provided by Cinema Catering. For breakfast I had a muffin, two sausage patties and scrambled eggs with melted cheese.

While the other extras and I ate our breakfast, Brad divided us into two groups who would go on the set when needed. In addition to delivery men, some of the other extras were cast as workmen.

Suddenly, Brad asked for the first group he created to raise their hands. That was the group I happened to be in. I had just finished eating my breakfast. I raised my hand, and he asked us to follow him.

Finally, my workday would begin.

Five of us followed Brad out of the holding room and into the hallway. Looking straight ahead I noticed the set. There was a ramp crew and cast members used to walk in and out of it. I saw to the right of the hallway corridor two mirrors with light bulbs on either side. Folding chairs with “One Tree Hill” character names written on them sat before the mirrors. The actors who were working at that time -- Sophia Bush, who plays Brooke Davis; Daphne Zuniga, who plays Victoria, the CEO of Brooke’s clothing line Clothes Over Bros; and Lisa Goldstein, who plays Brooke’s assistant, Millicent -- would occasionally go back and forth from the set to that area.

Brad told us to wait against a wall until the crew actually needed us on the set. While we waited, we saw Sophia and Daphne walk back and forth from the set and to the mirrors to double-check their hair and make-up...or to just relax until they were needed. I first noticed Lisa when a woman was talking to her. Lisa looked over at me and gave me a huge smile while I was waiting to go on set with the other extras.

When the time finally came to go on set, we walked up the ramp and into a room that was set up to look like a back room area with two dressing rooms, two end tables with functional lamps and even a couch which would prove to be my best friend later on. There were two openings from that back room into Brooke’s boutique on either side.

Then Ian, the second assistant director, came in and individually told us what we had to do, when and how we had to do it.

He said that I had to carry three boxes of merchandise from the back room and into the store. I followed him into the store set as he showed me what I had to do with the boxes. Ian directed me to set the boxes one-by-one into three cubby holes. He also told me to set them where the edges had to stick out.

We went back into the back room area. Ian told me to carry two boxes into the store, put them in the cubby holes the way he showed me, go back for the third one and carry that into the store and place it in the third cubby hole. When that third box was stocked, I had to go back and hang out until the scene was finished.

Ian wanted me to make sure that for each take I put the same boxes with the same merchandise in the same cubby holes for continuity, as it wouldn’t make any sense to have the three boxes change places during different scenes in the store.

At first my cue to start doing my task was after Sophia said a particular line, but Ian decided to just point to me when it was time. I had to do all that for each take, including rehearsals. I was grateful that the boxes weren’t heavy, since I had to start out by carrying two of them.

After each take or rehearsal, I went back on set to collect the three boxes. In order to ensure that I would continue putting the boxes in the same sequence each time, I stacked them in a certain way in front of me. The first box I put in the first cubby hole would be on top of the second box, leaving the third box sitting behind them.

Before the crew was ready to film, I set the first two stacks of boxes on the couch so lifting them wouldn’t be hard. When Ian pointed to me, I lifted them from the couch and brought them out to the set.

It was my own little strategy that I was proud of.

In-between takes, Sophia would constantly walk past me. On one occasion she even gave me a little, kind of “playful” smile. A woman who was probably Sophia’s assistant smiled at me a couple times, too. All those smiles provided me with a comfortable, fun-loving working environment.

When that scene between Sophia and Daphne was finished, the five of us were sent back to the holding room.

As more of the cast members arrived, I stood out in the hallway even longer just to see who had to work that day. The other cast members who worked that day included Chad Michael Murray, who plays Lucas Scott; Hilarie Burton, who plays Peyton Sawyer; and Lee Norris, who plays Marvin “Mouth” McFadden.

When afternoon approached, all of us were taken to the Coast Line Center for lunch. The Coast Line Center is in the downtown area and has a convention center, restaurants, shops, an inn and even a railroad museum.

We ate in one of their four banquet halls. On the menu were steak, tuna and chicken, plus a variety of side dishes. I had some tuna, a little potato salad and a roll. Earlier at the set we were invited to eat some tacos, and I took them up on their kind offer. After scarfing down two soft shell tacos, I wasn’t too hungry but still managed to eat everything on my plate.

After everyone had their lunch, we were taken back to the set. When we arrived back on the set, we were told that we were needed for another scene. The scene would be an establishing shot, or a shot of the exterior where the action would take place. In this case, it was a shot of Brooke’s store from the outside.

The show’s costume designer, Carol Cutshall, came in the holding room and told us to show her once again what clothes we brought with us. When you’re an extra, they want you to bring at least three changes of clothes they can choose from in case one outfit doesn’t work for whatever reason. Before I filmed the scene in Brooke’s store, Carol chose one of my button-up shirts that was beige in color. She really seemed to like it, as they seem to like pattern-less shirts on extras.

I showed Carol once again what I brought, and she chose a button-up blue and white short-sleeved shirt and a pair of white cargo pants which I immediately changed into. Carol was very nice. I even joked around with her once.

When they were doing the establishing shot, all of us extras went from being workmen and/or delivery men to pedestrians. All I had to do was cross the street, walking towards the store. After shooting it twice, with Ian standing next to me and letting me know when to go, we went back to the holding room.

The rest of the day consisted of going in the holding room and then out in the hallway again to watch the action. After a while the holding room got very cold because of the air conditioning. It would get so unbelievably cold in there that some of us would stand out in the hallway where it was warm and humid. By the end of the day, I was surprised none of us caught pneumonia.

We were at the set until 7:30 p.m. when they finally decided they no longer needed us. Poor Brad had no idea what was going on, which meant we didn’t know what was going on either. They had to film party scenes at the store, and even had other extras coming in specifically for those scenes. The extras were dressed for the extravagant party scenes, as opposed to our blue collar wardrobe.

Brad signed us out so we would get paid for working that day. I walked out of the building and snapped a couple pictures of the filming location before going back to my hotel.

It was quite an honor working on my favorite TV show, and also an honor seeing myself on TV when the episode finally aired. Not many people can say they’ve worked on their favorite TV show…but I can.
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