Background & Foreground Acting-Two Different Worlds

Is it ever! In background,,you can pretend to talk, often using your hands. In the foreground, you have to know your lines. But, in both cases you have to take directions from either the Director or 1st Assistant Director or a Production Assistant.
Then, there are distractions, like people walking onto the set. In background, there are people who walk onto the set, like small children did while a scene from "Blue Bloods" was being filmed on Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Then schoolchildren did. Then an old woman who spoke only Spanish did the same thing. In Prospect Park, this occurred 4 times, as I was doing my lines & role. It can be a pain in the butt, but, hey, you live with it.
Hey, it was a fun shoot, especially playing somebody on the other side of the law, a far cry from what I used to do a few years ago. Of course, when you have real life colleagues who took the same oath as you did, but cut slack for some n"er do well, in exchange for Political Favors, you more than understand the role of a n'er do well in a comedy production, & I played it, accordingly. After doing silent background for awhile, it does feel strange doing lines again, but it feels good doing a supporting role with lines.
You know something? These low budget productions give you a chance to develop as an actor & you see the creativity in these shows, which you don't see on The Networks. These people do take chances, but it makes for a better & livelier production.
Watch these shows on the web..You will look at television in a different way. Thanks!

M