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SALT LAKE CITY -- When your father makes movies for a living you will inevitably work on a movie set at some point of your life. When your father makes small budget films like mine did, you will be taken advantage of and work crazy hours doing work for which you're underpaid and unqualified.
I worked with craft services and ate more than I prepared. I worked in the art department and was almost fired for showing up two and a half hours late. And when I was a production assistant John Denver helped me shovel horse manure when the stench of it made me gag. But out of all the jobs I've done on a movie set the most dreaded was always the job of an extra.
An extra is the person you see hanging out in the background of your favorite show or movie. It's a thankless job and as boring as a documentary on the evolution of the button.
So, while you hated working for your dad's roofing company over the summer I hated being on set as an extra. But, as it turns out, some people do extra work for a living and there's one extra in particular who has taken the web by storm.
Jesse Heiman may not be a household name and you probably don't recognize him, but you've probably seen him hundreds of times. This kid is the extra of all extras. He's been in everything from "Reno 911" to "The Social Network". According to this video he must be working all the time. The two minute video highlights just a few of the films he's worked on. Jesse is in so many movies that apparently a drinking game has been invented where you have to take a drink every time you spot him.
I won't give Jesse too hard of a time for making a living as an extra. If you're part of the extras union, which I'm sure he is, you can make about $110 a day. And if you work overtime or double time you can be making almost $30 dollars an hour. Not too bad for hanging around and probably playing with your smartphone all day.
As I mentioned earlier, this video only scratches the surface of all the stuff Jesse's been in. So, let's see what else we can find him in. If you spot him in something else let us know on Facebook and let's see how many times we can spot the Waldo of movies. So, pull out your DVD's, get your Netflix streaming and let the Jesse Heiman hunt begin.
E-mail: jclyde@ksl.com
