So I got booked as Background on Video Game High School, the final season of the Rocket Jump show that propelled these guys to fame and success. Normal day until I went with the other 2 guys booked as construction workers for the episode.
We walked over – 2 non-union, and the SAG member Background actor who was playing our supervisor. So we’re standing there waiting for direction, and the AD asks us, “Which one of you has the line?” We both look at each other and each had the grace to not claim something that hadn’t been promised.
So he walks us through the short scene, and announces because of where I end up that I will have the line: “Where do you want these, boss?” to the smarmy rich kid on the show. The other actor congratulated me and afterwards, I had to fill out a bunch of new paperwork.
For those of you who don’t know how these things work, I basically just got handed the dream, the way it almost never happens. I became, in the acting world, Charlie Brown catching a fly ball from the stands and the manager saying, ‘put that kid on the team!’ I became the exception that proves the rule.
You see, when you are non-union Background and they decide you need to say a line, you get “Taft Hartley’d” The term comes from the labor law that opened the loophole that now makes me, when the paperwork is fully filed, eligible to join SAG-AFTRA and become a ‘real’ actor. It also meant they paid me a few more dollars for the day.
So, now I’m SAG-eligible! Can’t wait to get it all official-like!