04.12.18
Extra! Extra!
One of the less glamorous jobs as an actor is background work, although there are a number of people whose entire acting career encompasses being an extra on set. A background actor does not have any spoken lines or a name in the script. Extras are there to create an environment and make the scene more real. And, even though an extra might only be on screen for a few seconds, the amount of time on set can be several hours. Call time can be at any hour, and shooting can be overnight.
There are some very positive things about working in the background, the most obvious of which is being paid. Background work cannot be included in screen credits on an actor’s resume; however, if production decides to give any lines to an extra, then credit can be claimed and the pay is increased. There can be a substantial amount of down time while waiting between scenes, so there is an opportunity to meet new people. And just participating in a film or television production is a wonderful learning experience.
Darby has worked background for a number of projects since arriving in Los Angeles in late summer of 2016. She has been in two music videos (for artists Sidney Samson and Tiana), two feature films (Almost Home and Wedding Wonderland), two YouTube videos with Miss Tiffany Tynes (“Shambles” episodes 3-4 and “The Walking Dead in the Hills”), one episode of an Amazon television show (“Jean-Claude Van Johnson”) and one commercial (due to a non-disclosure agreement, it cannot be named yet). If you want to try to catch a glimpse of her, the Sidney Samson music video is on YouTube, and it is called “One Word”. In the movie Almost Home, Darby is a student in classroom scenes. In Wedding Wonderland, Darby is a patron in the beauty salon scene. In “Shambles”, Darby is a press reporter, and she is a very messy zombie in he Walking Dead in the Hills”. And in “Jean-Claude Van Johnson”, a blurry Darby appears a little past 17 minutes into episode 6.