Josh Jarman and The Extra, a.k.a. Me!
In 2003, I was going through what I refer to as my “Amateur Filmmaker Phase”. I had been quite proactive in the three years since finishing high school, in relation to entering the media industry in some way. I would try lots of things out before I finally decided to pursue a career as a writer, and feel like I’m on that slow but steady path. But at the age of twenty, I had a very productive year getting involved in lots of things in an attempt to figure out what I would be best at, or have the most luck at.
First up, I came across a youth project aiming to make a short film. Through Monash Youth and Family Services, or M.Y.F.S. for short, a group of young people had written a script about a supernatural character. I saw the ad in the local paper calling for local young people wanting to get involved. I went to the meeting wearing the cap of video camera operator, and became part of the project. Over two months, the group of us worked on the film and made it in time for National Youth Week in April. It was a great experience. With a taste for filmmaking and wanting to do more, I kept my eyes open for more opportunities.
Reading the Herald Sun on a Thursday as I usually do, for the “Hit” section of film reviews, I saw an ad asking for people to volunteer as extras for a new Australian movie being filmed in Melbourne. The name of the film wasn’t released, but it gave the details of the filming. It would take place at The Malthouse Theatre in Southbank, and up to three hundred extras were needed. Lunch would be included. It provided an email address to register your interest with, and I did just that. Sending my email through, I recieved a reply a few days later asking me to rock up to the theatre nice and early on a Friday morning.
Upon arrival, hundreds of people walked into the entrance, dressed casually as our email instructed us to do. We were ushered into a theatre where we took a seat, and waited. An hour passed, and then one of the crew came out to explain the lay out of the day. She said that eventually, we would be called in for filming. Another hour passed, and the director and star of the film came out for a Q&A session. The director was Pip Mushin, who had made appearances in TV shows and commercials for many years, and had a small role in “Strictly Ballroom”. The star of the film was Marcus Graham, who made a name for himself with the hit show “E Street” as Wheels, then moved in and out of movies, TV but mainly theatre, which made this film he was leading, “Josh Jarman”, a full circle kind of event, as it was about a playwright. The director and leading man answered questions for about half an hour.
I had a question in mind, and after patiently waiting with my hand up, I was looked at by the actor. “Any plans to work overseas at the moment?” I asked, insinuating he had some work lined up in America. He hesitated for a moment, and then said “Whatever happens really; I just take it as it comes” and that was it. He went onto the next question. Shortly after, the two of them walked off stage and returned to the adjoining theatre to film their scenes. As we continued to wait, the crew gave us lunch – pizzas. While eating, I spoke to a man and woman next to me who looked very interesting. The guy was wearing a fur coat, was bald, but had a prominent black moustache. His girlfriend, I assumed, was tall, blonde and attractive. I asked them both if they had been extras before. The guy proudly explained how he had been an extra in “The Matrix Revolutions”. Describing the process where he just so happened to be in Sydney and responded to a call to be an extra, he and everyone else there figured out it was a Matrix movie as Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss appeared in the nightclub in full costume as Morpheus and Trinity. However, the filmmakers wouldn’t tell them which Matrix sequel they were shooting for, as the production on both sequels in 2002 was top secret. A cool conversation to have, as we passed the time and waited, and waited, and waited…
Eventually, we were all called into the adjoining theatre and told to sit down. One of the extras coordinators saw I was rather tall or taller than most other people there at least, and sent me up to the back row. Out filmmaking experience was short, as we sat watching the actors playing actors down the front, doing a scene, the lights go out, then the darkened theatre is relit to show the actors holding hands and bowing to the audience. We all clapped and then stood up and walked to the side of the theatre. At the top of the stairs behind the seats, Marcus Graham and an actress did a scene, which we got to watch over a few takes, and then we were all done.
After the shoot, I hung around the theatre foyer for a while, hoping to speak to Marcus Graham, but he had a long line of ladies waiting to have pictures with him or get autographs. I wasn’t so keen on an autograph per se, but was going to invite him to something I was planning to run. Also around this time, being my “Amateur Filmmaking Phase” I was running a filmmakers networking site called the Melbourne Indieclub. In fact, it was the Melbourne chapter of an American site I came across a couple years earlier that was all about networking amateur and independent filmmakers, actors and crew. I had built the group up to high numbers over two years of hard work, and was looking at hosting our first live networking meeting very soon. The creator of the site encouraged me to get a guest speaker of some sort. I even got business cards made up and trying to make the most of my experience as an extra, I approached the director Pip Mushin, in the hope he would be our first special guest.
He was standing to the side, and I walked up to him saying “Hi Pip”. He extended his hand out to shake mine and asked for my name. I thanked him for a great experience that day, and asked him the following “You would have made some short films before?” And he said “Yes, absolutely” and then I proceeded to say, “Well I run a film networking group and we’re looking for a special guest to come and talk to us about their experience and stuff like that” I said nervously. He took my card and said “No worries just give us a call”, but I said “Yep thanks” and walked away, not realising he was offering for me to call him. Sadly, he never took the initiative and contacted me, even though my number and email was on the card. I did eventually have a couple of live networking meetings for the Melbourne Indieclub, just minus Pip Mushin, or any industry professional for that matter.
After the day of being an extra, we all got an email thanking us for our contribution. We were also put onto a mailing list that would notify us of any other opportunities to be extras in Aussie films in the future. I took up that offer and kept an eye on my emails. About a year later, I got an email to be an extra in “The Extra”, a comedy starring Jimeoin. But as it was being filmed, I was living overseas in the UK, and missed out. Some time later, I got an email with an update on the production of Josh Jarman. It was from one of the producers, who said they were taking the film overseas to do the festival circuit, and were hoping for an Australian release sometime in 2005. This would be a whole two years after the film was actually made, but given it was made on a small budget (that was completely financed through grants and donations) it would take a while to raise the funds to distribute the film nationally. Everyone kept asking me when the film that had me as an extra in it, would be released. All I could say was “Someday…”
Two years had passed, and finally the big day came. Through an email notification, I was made aware the movie “Josh Jarman” would have a limited Australian release through Hoyts Cinema. I didn’t expect it would be out in theatres for long, so I took the day off work, and headed to Chadstone Shopping Centre as it had a Hoyts cinema. I went and bought my ticket, and had an hour to pass so caught up with a friend for lunch, who worked at Chadstone at the time. I told her all about the film I had been an extra in. “What part are you in?” she asked, and I said “It’s set in the theatre, but I don’t know when it shows up in the film, or if you’ll be able to see me, as I was sitting in the back row”. I was hopeful, but wasn’t getting my hopes up too much either. After having lunch I said bye to my friend and headed to the theatre.
Grabbing a drink from the candy bar, the girl serving me asked what film I was there to see “Josh Jarman” I said, and with a surprised looked she asked “Why that film?” and I told her why. She was even more surprised that I was an extra in it and asked what part I was in. Again, I said I wasn’t sure exactly but described the scene. She said the next chance she got she’d pop her head into a showing of the film and look out for me. I was flattered by that, but didn’t expect her to remember. With my drink, I went into the theatre and joined the four other people that were there for the 1pm showing. The film started, and I watched in admiration, as I saw the film unfold I had been a part of over two years ago. Being told the synopsis back then, I had a vision in my head of what it would look like, and to be honest, the film was better than I thought it would be. Truthfully, when I was watching it being filmed it had a somewhat amateur look about it, but on screen it looked very polished and professional.
The story goes, Josh Jarman is a struggling playwright in Melbourne. His plays get an audience of only thirty or so, and despite the small turnouts, he continues to work hard on his craft, and aim to tell stories with meaning and depth. Trying his luck with a big time theatre producer, he is given the chance to make his next play a big one. This goes against Josh’s usual style, but given he hasn’t cracked into the big time, he decides to hand the reins over to an entrepreneurial producer who will make his play a bit more interesting, and sexy. Josh also meets the daughter of the producer, Sasha, who’s also an actress. She likes to have fun, and hooks up with the more nervous and neurotic Josh.
Josh also meets Maxine, who lives in the same apartment building as him. She’s a struggling musician, and the two form a connection of sharing the common experience and frustration of being struggling artists in a competitive world. Along the way, Josh’s play continues to get rewritten, redefined and completely reinvented until it becomes something that is so against his style, it has become something else. Deciding he doesn’t want to compromise his integrity, Josh bad mouths his own play, walks away from the big time, and returns to his roots. The final scene of the movie takes place in a theatre, which as it appeared on screen, looked very familiar to me.
It was The Malthouse Theatre in Southbank, and the camera was closed in on two actors on a small set, that then pulls back to reveal a large audience watching the performance from their seats. The camera stopped with a bird’s eye view of the whole theatre, and I sat up in my chair as I looked out for myself. There in the back row, right in the middle where I had been sitting, I saw the back of my head. The shot continued with the actors down front kissing, the lights going out, then relighting the darkened theatre, to show the performers holding hands and bowing to us, where we all clapped and cheered. Through a couple of transitions, the camera stays where it is, and show the audience (me and the 299 other extras) vacating our seats and exiting the theatre.
The shot then cuts to Maxine looking at Josh Jarman, who had been watching the play from the glass both overlooking the theatre. And there, behind her, in the bottom corner of the screen, was Me! I had made it into the film. At the time it was being shot, I had not idea I was in the cameras frame, but apparently so, as you can just barely make out my face below, walking out of frame. I was in a Movie! I sat back in my chair, threw my arms over my head and silently cheered for myself. I was so wrapped I was in a major movie on the big screen, even if just for a second and half. I didn’t care. It was a full circle kind of experience.
I had wanted to be an extra in a film, mainly for the experience of being on a film set to watch the magic behind the scenes. It was a good insight into the movie production process, and as a bonus, I made it into the finished product, even if it was just for a few seconds or less. I had a big smile on my face for the rest of the day, and had to send the director an email and thank him, which I did. Later that day, I wrote an email to the address that had contacted me two years before with all the instructions for the day of filming, and put “Please forward to Pip Mushin” in the subject bar. A couple of days later I got a reply. It read;
“Brian. Thanks for going to see the film and for being in the film itself. I particularly like the scene you were in so thanks for being a part of it. I’ve attached a flier for you to this email which you can share with your friends. As you know, word of mouth is our best seller. Thanks for being a part of Josh Jarman. Regards, Pip.”
Proud of the film I was in, and thoroughly enjoying the story itself, I told all my friends about it and encouraged them to go see it. I let them know when and where my scene was and to watch out for me. After its one week of limited release in theatres, the film sadly only made about $20,000 on a budget of $1,000,000. A shame, as it’s a nice little film; funny, different and typically Australian, and giving you an insight into the live theatre world. It would be almost half a year later before the film was released to DVD, and I had to get JB Hi-Fi to order a copy in. That copy sits on my shelf, and when guests come over and the conversation of me being an extra in a film comes up, I put the film on, skip to the last scene and quickly pause the scene to show the glimpse of my head that pops up on screen, ever so briefly.
And would I be an extra gain? Sure, if the opportunity came up. Will I be a part of the movie industry one day? I plan to, and over a decade ago the dream started with me rocking up to a film set to be an extra, and just try to figure out how I would make my entry into the difficult-to-enter movie industry. I believe that I will get there one day, through the avenue of writing. In the time since I was an extra, I have done a few scriptwriting courses, studied movies and build up this movie blog. As I continue to live my life, rack up some experience, and then feed that life experience into my writing, I will have a good chance and a competitive edge to break into the industry, and write stories to be made into movies that are interesting, compelling and entertaining. Then, maybe I will get to hang out on a film set again; not as an extra, but as the guy who wrote the script, and get an all access pass to the production to watch the director, crew and actors turn my story into a reality. When that happens, I will make an effort to go up to a young person waiting patiently on set as an extra, and tell them to keep going and never give up.
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