Talent Quest
Before leaving the hallowed halls of Xena to cast her talent-spotting eye elsewhere, Tracy Hampton fills Xena Magazine set reporter Kate Barker in on the importance of looking your best at the local supermarket.
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 11
Breaking into television is sometimes a hard thing. After all, the chances of having a talent scout spot you walking down the street are slim, and you're not likely to be 'discovered' while doing your weekly shopping at the supermarket.
But then again...
Tracy Hampton has been in the extras casting business for over seven years, and in her time as extras casting director for Xena: Warrior Princess, she has learned to view almost anyone she meets as potential talent. “A lot of people I cast aren't on agents’ books,” she says. “Even when I'm in the supermarket I'm always on the look out...”
Hampton says that this way of hunting down extras was much more common when she first started in the casting business, because at that time the existing agencies often didn't cater for the specific looks she required. “Initially it was very hard,” she recalls. “There was no one else but me to go around town and approach people and build up my own files.”
Eventually, however, the agencies started to expand their services. “It became too huge and I didn't have the manpower or the time to phone and co-ordinate everybody independently. Luckily, agencies started modifying their books to cater to the looks we need for Xena. There are some agencies that have catered to it more than others, so they get more work because of the variety of wonderful looks of extras that they can provide. But I also still cast people off the street.”
It's hard to imagine a total stranger walking up and asking if you want to appear on Xena, so surely there’s more to it than that? Well yes, but only once you’ve agreed to come in. “I know the market really well,” Hampton remarks. “It was very harmonious in Xena's time, so all different mixes of nationalities can go into that. In New Zealand we’re fortunate because we’ve got nearly every single culture here. So I just walk up and approach people.” It seems New Zealand not only has a great variety of natural locations, but just as many potential extras to populate them.
It’s easier for a person to be cast if they have the particular look required for a specific episode and Hampton has developed the knack of recruiting extras from the unlikeliest of places. “I had a taxi driver the other night and he looked like an Egyptian guard, so I cast him! He came in and said, ‘I don't speak very good English,’ and I said to him, ‘That’s fine, don’t worry about it.’ Then I told him what he had to do and he was really excited. I approached a guy at a petrol station the other day; he was with all his mates so he was quite taken aback. But he thought it was fantastic and he came in too.
“The look is different and we’re in a different place for every episode, so the briefs can be quite varied. You can go from a Spanish look to an Amazon episode.”
Looks, it seems, are the main consideration when on the hunt for extras. Citing an example, Hampton describes the considerations that have to be made when casting for a village. “If all the men in the village have gone off to war, then you wouldn’t use men in their twenties, because obviously they wouldn’t be there. So it has to fit with the storyline.”
Then there's the skill factor, where certain abilities are required of the extras. “If a village is being ransacked,” Hampton continues, “you have to make sure the people are up to running around. You’ll have stunt riders riding through and a lot of fighting, and people need to be able to take direction and be capable of understanding where they’re meant to be.” Fair enough. No one wants their one shot at fame to include being trampled by a group of barbarian raiders... unless it’s a stunt double taking the fall.
Speaking of which, nowhere are looks and abilities more important than in casting body and stunt doubles, and Hampton is in charge of that too. “The body doubles need to come in and impersonate what the actor has done,” says Hampton, “so for them it's a matter of taking that direction. It’s hard because they even have to imitate someone’s walk. Xena has her own style of walking, and it's up to the double to have that same look.
“A lot of people are cast for their looks,” Hampton reveals, “but we also have some people on file with their photographs and other details like whether they do kick-boxing or sword-fighting or horse riding or acrobatics. If there’s anything in particular like that, it’s listed in their file and we’ll cast them for their talent if the episode needs that particular element.”
Extras and doubles and stunties, oh my! How many different types of extra are there, anyway? “There are featured and non-featured extras,” Hampton explains as she goes through the various descriptions. “If they’re background artists and not individually named, they’re an extra. A featured extra is someone who will be established as an individual in a scene and the scene can’t be shot without that individual. This includes performers, dancers, whichever... if they’re non-speaking, they're an extra.
“We also have the stunt doubles; the stunties; the wranglers; people who horse ride and riding doubles as well. Initially, when I break down a script, I’ll break it down to extras, stunts, wranglers, body doubles, stunt doubles and any role that’s nonspeaking. At that point I’ll talk to the director and Wardrobe, and find out from them if anyone’s featured who will need to be established as a character. So I basically co-ordinate anybody who doesn't speak.
“After reading the script and breaking down its extras requirements, I start casting,” Hampton explains, running through the stages of the casting process. “I have two or three days to cast about 70 people per episode. If I find someone off the street who’s appropriate, we’ll photograph them and fill out a casting form of their measurements and other details. As soon as I confirm them, their details go to Wardrobe and a costume is made to fit that person. The day before they come in for their costume fitting, the details will be at Wardrobe of every single person who’s been cast.
“After the wardrobe fitting,” she continues, “I give them an extras schedule which I have written for the episode so that they know where they're meant to be, and to give them an idea of the days they're required. I'll phone every person the night before they're on to give them their call time. They'll already know who their character is, but they'll just need to know what time to meet the bus or be at the location.
“I also tell them the story line so they know what’s going on. Even though they’re in the background, they’re going to be seen, and what their expressions are is relevant to the story. So they need to act to a certain degree. I think if people get the storyline then it’s really going to be beneficial to them in giving a good performance.”
One potential difficulty that is avoided with advance communication is making sure the extras are comfortable in their roles. “There might be something in the story that’s against their beliefs,” Hampton points out. “We cast a guy last week whose character is going to be baptised. You need to tell people what to expect, because, for example, this guy might not have wanted to be portrayed as being baptised, because it might be against his religion.
“Also, it's really important to communicate what the costumes are going to be like, because it might be against someone’s beliefs to wear a scantily-designed outfit. I had a girl in today who was going to have a prosthetic stomach wound, and I said, ‘Well, aside from your stomach showing, you’re going to have this big cut with blood across it…’ But she was fine.”
Hampton says any one Xena episode has an average of 70 extras spread over the shooting time, but sometimes more are needed: “All the India episodes were huge. In India we had 70 people for the marketplace every day, and they worked for four episodes. We did a big festival, like a circus that was big. I think I’ve cast up to about 140 for any one episode.”
Sometimes the suggestion of a large crowd is done with camera angles and CGI (computer graphic imaging). Hampton cites the recent fifth season episode Livia as an example of some of the tricks of the trade. “They had a Roman march and it was huge; Livia had conquered and she was coming back and all of Rome was there to greet her. We have to do that within a realistic budget. Fortunately we have the visual effects department and they can create digital crowd scenes.
“Sometimes, for an audience shot, we’ll shoot one way, then shoot from another angle and just move the same extras. In the gladiators arena in Livia with all the Romans watching the stage, the actual extras were all dressed as Romans in the morning, then redressed in the afternoon as slaves. Redressing the same extras has probably happened about twice in the last six years. For when the soldiers are marching in, they did some computer work and just duplicated over and over, so that the size of the army grew. Generally it’s only used on those big scale wide shots - a big audience shot or soldiers or something like that.”
Even with digital help it sounds like a tough job finding and keeping track of over 70 extras for every episode. However, Hampton points out that compared to when she first began casting for Xena her work these days is a breeze. “The hardest part was when I first started,” she remembers. “I worked 16 hours a day. I’d get up at four in the morning; drive the extras out to the set in a big vehicle and get them through Wardrobe and Make-up myself. At night, when the call sheets for the next day came out, I'd still be phoning people at nine o’clock, adn I'd been up at four that morning.”
Since then, Hampton has created ways of saving time and keeping things running smoothly. “I used to have manual systems, but now I’ve created software that will do the timesheets and accounts which is a big part of the job. Also, it’s a matter of understanding what’s required, and now that the agencies are catering more to the look of Xena, it’s easier. I’ve now got systems in place, and a great support team to make it work.”
Hampton still goes through the files of each potential cast member, and this aspect of her job is something she really enjoys. “I never just organise a group coming in,” she says. “Every single person is considered, whether it's a featured role or standard extra role.
“I hand pick every person. If I see someone who’s perfect, I’ll go up and ask them. I’m really inspired by what I do, and I love it.”
It might be as well to remember this the next time you’re in the supermarket: your 15 minutes of fame might be just around the corner...