Background Artist Comb your Hair

The secret to being a good background artist is: Comb your hair

Your hair is the only thing about your appearance that you have much control over.  Your face is unchanging and can only look worse if you are sick or tired.  Your wardrobe is designed by a committee and you usually have only a few different options to choose from.  Generally your wardrobe is not much different from anyone else's.

The one place where you can really stand out is by having well manicured hair and then combing it.

A significant number of male background artists do not comb their hair.  I remember one day in particular when working on "Mom"  I was picked to sit at the counter in the cafeteria right behind the principles.  Prior to that, I had awakened early in the morning to take a shower and wash my hair, I combed it and let it air dry naturally.  Then I drove to work with my windows up to avoid turbulence.  If it is a windy day, I will wear a fedora to keep my hair from blowing around.

On this particular day, I sat in holding with a very personable fellow who wanted to work.  He was wearing a nice suit, but his hair was uncombed.  It was absolutely uncombed like he just woke up. But he was wearing a suit and he looked silly.  I did not feel like it was my place to comment so we chatted about other things.  A little time later we had a line up and were chosen to work in the first scene.  This is when I got placed at the counter in the cafeteria.

It was a short day for me because we wrapped that scene early.  That other fellow was wrapped at the same time and was never chosen to work on anything.  He was discouraged at the lack of results for his effort and his hair was still as messy and uncombed as in the morning.  I did not have the heart to tell him that he should comb his hair, but I was certain that was practically the only difference between his situation and mine.

If you want to be a good background artist, remember to comb your hair.  It wouldn't hurt to wash it on a regular basis also.

copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer