AND JUST LIKE THIS

If only they were this well-dressed now.

 The number one rule when in background work is DO NOT  APPROACH THE LEAD
ACTORS. The second is DO NOT TAKE PICTURES ON THE SET. 

While on location, burly security guys enforce the first rule. Yet the second doesn't apply to anyone else. Professional paparazzi, amateur shutterbugs, fans, stans, and tourists -- all have the unofficial OK to whip out their cameras and phones to snap and film to their hearts' (and photo agency and TikTok accounts') content. Yesterday's job on HBO's ...And Just Like That was one of the better examples of this odd phenomenon. 

Not one of the crazies, honest.

We spent the morning working in Washington Square Park. The weather was comfortable and sunny; despite the relative early time, the park was already beginning to fill with tourists, people on their way to walk, NYU grads in their caps & gowns (which, coincidentally, was what many of the young extras were playing), and crazy people. In other words, just another spring day in New York.

Productions like this in New York have diametrically opposite effects on locals and out-of-towners. For the former, it's OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE, GET OUT OF MY WAY! For the latter yesterday, it was OH MY GOD, SARAH JESSICA PARKER! Happy to make your day, folks.

I think Sarah Jessica Parker was jealous of my hat,
and decided to one-up me.

Most of the professional photogs know the score, and keep out of the way as
best they can, usually snapping photos only between takes. We background folks can occasionally be seen, well, in the background. Yesterday was my turn. 

I'm on the right waiting for my cue. The woman on the far left is background, too. The person in the orange t-shirt is probably a p.a., while the woman in the NYU grad in the cap & gown is either background or the real deal, since many of them were also in the park. The guy on the bench? Who knows. At some point, it becomes difficult to tell the wheat from the chaff. (There's a doll in the stroller, since babies can never follow the script.

As I mentioned earlier, there was no shortage of folks taking videos during filming. Some have YouTube and TikTok accounts. At least one of them captured me, first fiddling with my belt as the shot was being set up, then walking around the fountain after getting the cue:

This gives a pretty good idea of what happens on a set, with dozens of people involved in a scene featuring only a few actors. All the non-crew members and photographers are background actors (including the bubble guy). You'll notice an Asian couple on the left waiting to cross after SJP and the other actress pass. It's gotten so that, while watching TV or movies, I know exactly when background will appear behind the leads. 

It sounds strange but if we do our jobs right, you're aware of us even if you don't necessarily see us. Unless you're one of us. Then that's all you see.

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