Embedded Files
Evan McNeeley ► Background Check • 2nd Qtr - 2025
'Non Union Background' for 8 years (2012-20) during a 'Golden Age' in NYC before the Pandemic. I registered my '3rd Voucher' with SAG a few months before the Lock-down & joined online, Nov 2020; it was a long, hard run diving under the gate before it shut (metaphorically); I would not be able to do it today in the 'new normal.'
Resume Clips from projects I've 'worked background' on; some lost, blocked, erased or not 'find-able' ...ordered by release date. "I tried to find every one of them." (every ...single... one) - Evan
A fellow Background Actor took this cover shot (above) outside of a booking in 2012. My first 'profile pic' on 'Casting Networks' and it became synonymous with me because I used it for over five maybe six or seven years. "I changed the profile pics on the other accounts" (but let them expire) "...I kept Casting Networks and used this one 'forever' ...it was even done as a 'mock-up' in an episode of a very popular TV show (with Award winner Actors, Director(s) & Crew on it); they used my first name as the character's name in the episode and a pic very similar to this. I cherish that forever.
I was a 'Non Union Background Actor' ("Background" or 'BG') for eight years in NYC on Film & TV projects here before I joined the 'Screen Actors Guild' (SAG-AFTRA). I was on approximately 50 sets in 2019 before the Pandemic Lockdown (March, 2020) and worked every week until the shutdown ...it was incredible experience.
"Thanks for putting up with me!" Those of us that were doing it a while... were 'ALL WITH YOU' ...because we wanted to work. - Evan
"Thanks for putting up with me!" Those of us that were doing it a while... were 'ALL WITH YOU' ...because we wanted to work. - Evan
I knew the routine of a booking, basic set procedure, was on time, with 'a 2nd change' & I-9 verification. ‘On-take’ was my priority. I brought props, wardrobe, feelings & improv ("like groceries for the Chef"); following directions, getting along & staying safe to the best of my ability. I worked on 'group dynamics' & 'overcoming obstacles' ...set work is team work.
"Helping tell the story" ...while keeping up. I tried to give them (or you) 'the money's worth.' "I had tricks" ...& made corrections (like never bringing a cup of coffee on set again after an overnight at JFK). "I never canceled" ...& worked with anyone, any role... (same people in the unions on sets anyway) CDs knew which I was perfect for.
Two schools of thought were in the production world of NYC (I played / worked both of them) ...1, 'background should not distract,' be a blur & reused many times in the movie, episode or season... or 2, a 'menagerie' of things going on adds to it tremendously ...allowing viewers to 'come back' / view it again (a place to visit / re-visit) ...Easter Eggs & things people are doing (mini sub-plots for a few secs). Me? ...'mining for gold' & 'in my lane' (I did my job not yours) ...sometimes it was magic (& used); mostly not... (trash / 'b-roll champion' / cam not on us) ...great practice on the bright-side; half my career has been lukewarm, as well as big errors made (I was banned from some sets for sure). Dedication to character (as 'Background') 'weirded out' or 'rubbed wrong' those with no training (or were just tired). We were 'peons' constantly debased in the hierarchy (as 'Background'), though some truly appreciated our work; the same with caring about the job on take more than I did about anyone or what they were about (whoever they were, sometimes I didn't know) it rubbed some wrong (and some might have been 'important').
I went straight to 'omg' unless otherwise instructed... (or tried to with the givens in front of us) & tried to stay safe while giving them 'their money's worth' as much as possible ...this seemed best... (maybe I will be different in the future, I had to 'not distract from the action' once).
I joined ‘The Merry Men’ on these sets… “till 'Richard' is King” (Robin Hood’s was our leader & some were women or some were gay) ...you’ve seen us… loud, obnoxious, hated, targeted, blamed, in trouble, grouped together (safety in numbers… you know why) ...having fun while you were suffering & in anxiety… (if you were not having fun and networking doing background, you were doing it wrong, f**kin' wrong) ...we went through a lot but co-workers were my highest relationship in life (try to have friends & family without work); any food, fun or friendship was only a bonus (because we were being paid by Production to work).
If you were more successful, I was more successful I discovered... the proof being NYC production had been filming like crazy for 9+ years with no end in sight until the Pandemic hit; I didn't think so at first & is opposite of what we were led to believe ( we were told everyone is our competition & should be killing each other, so to speak, I didn't go that way, I went as a 'team player).
I didn't discredit, ruin, trash talk nor submit 'bad paper' about anyone to any office and only wrote about my difficulties after the Pandemic hit and I joined SAG (all are guilty of mistakes & more than few big ones in 7 years on me: showing up way hungover a bunch of times, not alerting PAs/ADs when I changed buses or went to the bathroom… making bad jokes about sex harrass/other and partying right off the bus after wrap instead of waiting just one mere block...); but I never partied on day... never will, not once and strived to follow all old/new codes, tightening myself up even more on them just to be sure as of March 2020 (but we are in the 'new normal' now and I joined SAG in November 2020 instead... this is all behind me ...I'm not even the same person I was January-March 2020. I recognized nobody on a giant shoot I walked by in Manhattan November, 2021 (and work is still short for actors in NYC, no matter what they say).
"Helping tell the story" ...while keeping up. I tried to give them (or you) 'the money's worth.' "I had tricks" ...& made corrections (like never bringing a cup of coffee on set again after an overnight at JFK). "I never canceled" ...& worked with anyone, any role... (same people in the unions on sets anyway) CDs knew which I was perfect for.
Two schools of thought were in the production world of NYC (I played / worked both of them) ...1, 'background should not distract,' be a blur & reused many times in the movie, episode or season... or 2, a 'menagerie' of things going on adds to it tremendously ...allowing viewers to 'come back' / view it again (a place to visit / re-visit) ...Easter Eggs & things people are doing (mini sub-plots for a few secs). Me? ...'mining for gold' & 'in my lane' (I did my job not yours) ...sometimes it was magic (& used); mostly not... (trash / 'b-roll champion' / cam not on us) ...great practice on the bright-side; half my career has been lukewarm, as well as big errors made (I was banned from some sets for sure). Dedication to character (as 'Background') 'weirded out' or 'rubbed wrong' those with no training (or were just tired). We were 'peons' constantly debased in the hierarchy (as 'Background'), though some truly appreciated our work; the same with caring about the job on take more than I did about anyone or what they were about (whoever they were, sometimes I didn't know) it rubbed some wrong (and some might have been 'important').
I went straight to 'omg' unless otherwise instructed... (or tried to with the givens in front of us) & tried to stay safe while giving them 'their money's worth' as much as possible ...this seemed best... (maybe I will be different in the future, I had to 'not distract from the action' once).
I joined ‘The Merry Men’ on these sets… “till 'Richard' is King” (Robin Hood’s was our leader & some were women or some were gay) ...you’ve seen us… loud, obnoxious, hated, targeted, blamed, in trouble, grouped together (safety in numbers… you know why) ...having fun while you were suffering & in anxiety… (if you were not having fun and networking doing background, you were doing it wrong, f**kin' wrong) ...we went through a lot but co-workers were my highest relationship in life (try to have friends & family without work); any food, fun or friendship was only a bonus (because we were being paid by Production to work).
If you were more successful, I was more successful I discovered... the proof being NYC production had been filming like crazy for 9+ years with no end in sight until the Pandemic hit; I didn't think so at first & is opposite of what we were led to believe ( we were told everyone is our competition & should be killing each other, so to speak, I didn't go that way, I went as a 'team player).
I didn't discredit, ruin, trash talk nor submit 'bad paper' about anyone to any office and only wrote about my difficulties after the Pandemic hit and I joined SAG (all are guilty of mistakes & more than few big ones in 7 years on me: showing up way hungover a bunch of times, not alerting PAs/ADs when I changed buses or went to the bathroom… making bad jokes about sex harrass/other and partying right off the bus after wrap instead of waiting just one mere block...); but I never partied on day... never will, not once and strived to follow all old/new codes, tightening myself up even more on them just to be sure as of March 2020 (but we are in the 'new normal' now and I joined SAG in November 2020 instead... this is all behind me ...I'm not even the same person I was January-March 2020. I recognized nobody on a giant shoot I walked by in Manhattan November, 2021 (and work is still short for actors in NYC, no matter what they say).
I was constantly amazed; I learned things on set (new ways or gaps in understanding filled). I didn't get to say thank you enough.
- Evan
- Evan
The 'final edit' might have had me 'up front,' way in the back, a blur 'in the rack' or not in at all... but my resume above, are projects I've 'worked background' on... (many seasons & / or days on some, 3 or 4 on a few but 1, 2 on most). "I looked for every single one of them" ...every single one. I didn't have all the network or streaming subscriptions but I saw all of them... all ...97% at the least... (I wasn't really visible or even 'in' most of it that I know of) but "I didn't steal sunshine" ...I waited 3 weeks or so, after the premiere or episode airing before I put it on my Resume (or the whole season if I couldn't find the scene, with the only exception being when I first started in 2012/15 and then when the Pandemic hit when I threw my last few bookings on my Resume around November / Dec 2020 or early 2021). That is, I would wait before adding the entry so they could 'do their thing' and not be a distraction to their project. The most recently released project(s) are on top of my Resume(s). No set pics, hashtags or leaks were on my FB or Twitr. "Thank you for considering me!"
- Evan
- Evan
80% of these 'collage pics' above are 'selfies' ...completely done by me... the other two or three are 'staged' by me to look the way they do. The original purpose was to send them individually to casting directors for roles available at the time. I created these collages out of them (mined) to display on my website ...they say... "I can be anything!" (...and I enjoy it... here is proof, with or without your permission or approval...) I truly love my job of acting! - Evan
[The above Text & four 'Collage Pics' were posted on the MoMA 'Week 5' Discussion Forum of "Seeing Through Photographs" / Sept 10th, 2021]
[The above Text & four 'Collage Pics' were posted on the MoMA 'Week 5' Discussion Forum of "Seeing Through Photographs" / Sept 10th, 2021]
A quick note about 'background acting:' "Thank you SAG-Aftra... for acknowledging 'Background' and featuring the companies (and heads of companies) that 'get that perfect look' for production on the 'SAG Site.' Other than that... "f*ck you" (says me Evan to the ones that say Background is not Acting). It is acting and almost identical to any other 'on day' booking... I was 'cast' (using Casting Associates) do fittings before the shoot. 'On Day' I go to hair, make-up, props, crafty... I wait in holding, am brought out to set and given direction... then I act on camera. I go to the catering during lunch. I am wrapped at the end of the day and get my paper signed (etc.). "I was on approximately 50 sets in 2019 here in NYC before the pandemic hit in March, 2020..." and had been doing it for seven years straight here in NYC since 2012 as my only reported income on my taxes... my whole life on projects I don't even remember as well and should have kept records and resume of everything I did since I was an adolescent but people discourage this saying "don't put background on your resume..." and other things that'll keep you out of the business. I've had some great 'featured background,' worthy of nothing somewhere (so I noted it since 20212). "Other than that... I LOVE US!!! Love CDs, ADs, PAs, Hair, Makeup, Wardrobe, Props Set Dressers... Production, Directors, Executives, all the Unions ...people I talk to in the offices over the phone or via email.... other background ...the Principals / Stars or whatever you want to call them now-a-days!!! (...and you know I do... or have never worked with me).- Evan McNeeley
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