Student tells of experience as miniseries extra

I recently got an exciting call to be an extra in the HBO miniseries, “John Adams.” I was ecstatic to get the call because I wasn’t hired for a previous movie audition.

The seven-part miniseries stars actors Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams. The series is directed by Tom Hooper and produced by Tom Hanks. The miniseries is based on the life of John Adams and the first 50 years of the United States.

This past week was my first day on the miniseries. The extra role I was cast for is a Redcoat, which is a British soldier.

Before I arrived on the set and begin filming I had to undergo hours of military training. The training taught me how to march and stand like a British soldier, hold a firearm properly, how to use my firearm and soldier conduct skills. Military coordinator John D. Bert led our training.

Because our weapons were real, all the Redcoat trainees had to sign a document stating we would practice firearm safety and never use our weapon in a harmful manner.

The morning of my first day on the miniseries began like any other, except I had a call time of 6 a.m., which meant I had to get up at 4 a.m. Filming was in Mechanicsville, so I had to allow myself time for driving.

The call times were separated into character titles. The Recoats had a call time of 5 a.m., the Boston Citizens and Sons of Liberty had a call time of 5:30 a.m., and the New Redcoats, arriving for their first day of filming, had a call time of 6 a.m.

All the extras and crew parked at the Mechanicsville Christian Center and then wait for the shuttle bus to take us to the set. The shuttle bus took many trips since there were around 200 people going to the set.

When we arrived at a back lot in Mechanicsville where the film site was located, we had check in and received vouchers so we could get paid for the day. The costume department took 10 people at a time, early arrivals going first, to get our pre-fitted costumes.

After getting our costumes on, we had to wait in line for hair and makeup. Since the miniseries takes place in the 18th century, most of us had to wear wigs.

Being that I was a British Redcoat, I had to get my teeth stained to look as dirty as possible, which was hard for me because I usually keep my teeth looking clean.

After we had gone through costume, hair, and makeup, we had to wait in extras holding. Shortly after, all the Redcoats and I had to report to our drill captain to go over military drills before beginning our first scene. The drills were to make sure we were ready to be in front of the camera and look as accurate as possible.

We then filmed many takes of marching back and forth during a riot scene. In between filming, the majority of the extras waited in extras holding, as the Redcoats had to report for more training.

There was not much down time for us because we had to look as sharp as we could in our movements. During the day, we filmed about four scenes of marching in a group with our guns.

The day was long and hard because we were standing on our feet for a 12-hour filming. In the end, our hard work paid off. We were able to look back and realize how much we had learned in only 12 hours. I made many friends and also met actor Paul Giamatti. I look forward to more days of filming – especially the battle scenes.