NEW ORLEANS – As the number and size of movies filmed in Louisiana has grown, some Hollywood producers have hit a problem: a dearth of extras.
Producers of the civil rights-era basketball picture “Glory Road” are looking for 500 to 800 paid extras to fill the stands and cheer for two to six days – plus 4,000 volunteers to fill the stands for the climactic game scene to be shot Saturday.
Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Walt Disney Pictures even ordered coveted tickets to the LSU-Georgia football game from eBay to raffle off as a premium. But so far, the response has been tepid.
That doesn’t bode well for Louisiana’s future as a locale for major motion pictures, said Lisa Beasley, who is in charge of gathering the crowds of extras for “Glory Road.”
“It’s going to be very telling down the road,” she said. “If we can’t get the amount of extras that we need, then we won’t come here. It’s not a threat; it’s just business.”
But it’s not just extras that Louisiana lacks. Two years after state tax incentives for the industry went into effect, the state has many more openings than it can fill locally. Those include crew workers, including electricians, carpenters, painters and makeup artists; office workers and various assistants.
Wages are from about $650 a week for lower-level production assistants to $3,000 a week or more for skilled artisans and assistant directors. Paid extras for “Glory Road” are being offered minimum wage with time and half for overtime.
Since Louisiana’s tax incentives went into effect in July 2002, major Hollywood studios and independent film producers have shot 25 feature films and television movies in Louisiana. Local production budgets total $245 million, according to the Governor’s Office of Film and Television Production.
They have included the feature films “Because of Winn Dixie,” “A Love Song for Bobby Long” and the Ray Charles biopic “Ray.”
Between now and February, at least eight more projects are shooting or scheduled to shoot. They include a remake of Robert Penn Warren’s political novel “All the King’s Men” starring Sean Penn; “Lady Luck,” a romantic comedy with Lindsay Lohan; and “Dreamer,” a racehorse drama starring Dakota Fanning and Kurt Russell.
The result is an overwhelming supply of work for locals.
“This is unbelievable; I thought I’d never see this in my life,” said Phil LoCicero, president and acting business agent for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 478 in New Orleans, which represents electricians, lighting workers, wardrobe employees, set builders, painters and others. “They’re actually picking and choosing their jobs, telling some people they don’t want to work.”
Many of the local’s estimated 220 members have been working solidly for the past two years, LoCicero said.
Under the standard contract, the lowest-level union workers earn a minimum of $20 an hour with time and a half for overtime for features and television productions, according to two industry sources. That adds up to about $280 a day for the 14-hour days commonplace when a production is in full swing. Rates for crew workers on television commercials is even higher.
“Glory Road” marks the second feature film Disney has produced in New Orleans. Its experience last year with the baseball comedy “Mr. 3000” was good enough that Disney decided to bring “Glory Road” here even though it is set in Texas, executive producer Andy Given said.
