Who knew a millisecond flash of my face in a TV scene would be seen?! And who knew people would give a rat’s tail?!

Not me.

This past fall I added another side hustle to my hat of tricks to stay afloat in Los Angeles, background acting gigs. (Don’t tell anybody, but if my grandmother didn’t have dementia, she’d tell you how I knew from the time I could talk that I was an actress, honey! I just knew it, and couldn’t be told differently, especially seeing very clearly that I was a more celebrated performer than all the other little kids in my classes. And if I weren’t so chicken, I’d tell you how that fire still burned in college, moving me to study theatre as an additional minor, and how it still flickers now, but somewhere in adulthood it’s been greatly dampened. So, I make myself believe this is a gig like any other gig, not a peek into my heart’s truest desire.) No different from any other gig I’ve done in Los Angeles, pouring drinks or greeting guests, I didn’t think much of it.

I damn sure didn’t think people I haven’t seen or talked to in a decade would be hitting me up about it!

I worked as a background extra on All-American: Homecoming (season 2).

This past fall filming season, I spent nice, long days on the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, California collecting my lil’ 132 over 8 (that’s entertainment industry work lingo).

I don’t remember exactly how many days I worked on set for All-American: Homecoming (season 2), but I was there for a few episodes, and just my luck, in episode 6, "Free Your Mind" directed by Keesha Sharp, they happened to leave a glimpse of your girl in the final cut, and as QUICK as it was, folks happened to notice me.

I found out I’d made it on TV when people started texting me.

Anyone that has ever visited any home I’ve had knows that I’ve never owned a television in my adult life. Anyone whose home I’ve ever visited knows that I don’t have an account on any streaming service. Anyone exposed to me at a decent proximity for any considerable length of time knows I don’t watch TV, unless I’m in a social setting. (Come on now, I’m not a total weirdo.. I’ll watch, and I’ll have plenty of commentary; it’s taking it upon myself to watch in my own leisure that I don’t do.) That being said, I hadn’t ever watched All-American: Homecoming (nor it’s parent show, All-American), and had no intention of watching it, even after working on set as a background actor for it. When the first few people hit me saying they’d seen me, that changed.

I streamed All-American: Homecoming for free on the CW network website after folks expressed their excitement.

Y’all texting me?! Shoot, now I gotta see!

It’s nice CW TV network allows free streaming of their shows without having to make an account, because baby if I would’ve had to, I was out! It was interesting watching how what I watched in front of me (in-person, on set) came together in the final production.

I’m thankful for people I know that are fans of the show.

What was more interesting than the contrast between what I saw on set and what I saw on screen, was what I saw from people.. People I know, people that know me.. People’s responses to the show (to me being “on” the show) is what moved me to actually think about it. We shot it in the fall, by the time it aired in the spring, it was long-gone from my mind. I’m thankful folks made me rewind.

I made a sappy post on Instagram about being seen on All-American: Homecoming.

As a Los Angeles lifestyle blogger, with a personal blog based in Los Angeles, I need to post more and this heartfelt caption from Instagram, about people’s responses to seeing me on All-American: Homecoming deserves to be cemented elsewhere on the World Wide Web.

Here’s what I posted on Instagram after an onslaught of DMs, texts and calls from something so small:

my lil' background extra work to collect a coin here and there is so small , y'all.. so so so so so so SO small.. but y'all.. Y'ALL are big.. your reactions , your encouragement , your pride ("aye, look my girl i went to school with...", etc.) , your love... YOUR LOVE IS BIG . it's so big it makes me want to do more , reach for more , be more.. be more for you.. do more for you..

i'm just a girl figuring it out.. finding her way #aroundLA ...yet you , people i took classes or rode the school bus with , fellow members from extracurricular clubs , folks from my hometown , family and family friends , co-workers from job after job , a range of acquaintances i've met along the way , & even random strangers in passing both online and off.. you.. you're big.. what you see in me is big

(**this post is not about my [almost non-existent] moves.. this post is about you**)

Plus, I was looking thru my aroundLAwithTK album of my phone’s camera roll for a picture to use for another blog post over in the cycling section, and I came across this set-day selfie (the one that’s the blog’s cover image), so why not?! This annoying iPhone keeps telling me I’m out of space. If I get all this darn blog content out of my camera roll and onto thee actual blog, I’d be able to clear up some space!

Okay, enough about that… I would write y’all an entire post about being on set of All-American: Homecoming, and it’s parent show All-American, as a background actor, but there’s not much say. Then again, who am I kidding?! I can write a blog post about the color of grass and yap for hours. Yeah, I’ll do that… not the color of grass post, y’all, the working on set of All-American.

Whew child.. trying to work towards goals. And they just might work..

Note: I tried to embed the Instagram post here, but it wouldn’t work. Maybe there’s a squarespace glitch with embedding Instagram posts, or maybe I’m not doing something right.. my devices and accounts being set to French (when I’m not yet fluent in French) probably doesn’t help 🙃

Nearing the end of a side hustle event gig yesterday evening, as I slowed down enough to feel my body beginning to ache, I hopped on my InstaStory ranting about how I’m pretty much over it.

I’ve enjoyed working high end events aroundLA, but enough is enough.

People from back home, down South, and elsewhere, even some here in L.A., find what I call my “side hustle” to pay the rent, very interesting. They want to know who was there and what were they like. They want to know what it's like to be in those exclusive spaces. And, they want to know how they can get there.

Tend to the buffet at Piccadilly, or tend to the buffet at Will Smith’s Calabasas compound?

I can understand how the latter inspires a little more inquiry.

Never wanting to seem ungrateful, I added the disclaimer on my InstaStory that I am thankful for being able to have and do these more rare ways of making money for as long as I have.

Now, it’s been long enough. I’m ready to use the other 90% of my being with which God blessed me.

Being a woman of my word, I’ll give y’all a blog post, and/or maybe even a YouTube video, on side hustles in Los Angeles… eventually. (Get on my tail and eventually will come sooner than later.)

At this very moment though, I don’t want to think about those social event side hustle gigs. I want to think about something new, what’s next.

(If it isn’t obvious, I’ll still be working them for the time being, because baby, one thing about these bills, they gon’ come, and I’m gon’ make SHO they paid, one way or zhee otha!)

Background acting is what’s next.

I started typing this sitting in the onboarding office of Central Casting’s Los Angeles location.

Do I plan to, or have a desire to, make a career out of background acting?

Not at chance.

First of all, it’s not enough money in exchange for my time.

Let me give you an example.

A month or so ago, I worked a 2-day event for the luxury designer brand Prada. Prada transformed the long-standing Ghengis Khan restaurant on Fairfax into an immersive art experience, featuring a panel one second and a nightclub vibe the next. I was responsible for tending to a lounge of VIP guests, and I worked my a** off because they didn’t hire enough servers. (Yet, Prada hired a slew of white girls to stand around wearing a Prada uniform shirt-dress, doing nothing.. no exaggeration.. nothing. I asked them, the “brand ambassadors,” what they had to do and they specifically said, “just stand here…” for $30/hour!! I immediately applied for that event staffing agency, am now on their roster, and am scheduled to work a $40/hr gig I booked thru them to kickoff Coachella this Friday. Moving along..)

Prada Mode Los Angeles got that work out of me, you hear?! But, I made a thousand bucks in two days.

Would I be foolish enough to think I’ll make $1,000 for 2 days on set as a background actor? I’d be setting myself up for disappointment if I did.

Background acting is only a lucrative industry for the entity employing the background actors, in this case, Central Casting. From every case I’ve heard, and from the numbers I saw on the paperwork I signed at onboarding today, background acting gigs aren’t paying anywhere near the amount of money good event gigs pay.

How much do background actors in Los Angeles get paid?

When you begin working as a background actor in Los Angeles, the pay rate is minimum wage. Who can survive off of minimum wage in Los Angeles? Sure in tf not Te’Keya Krystal!

Note: I didn’t look this information up on Google about the pay rate for background actors in Los Angeles; I’m telling you what I know from personal experience, as this is a personal lifestyle blog. There may be other entities out there that pay more, I’m not sure; I’m sharing what I know thus far from friends in the industry, and from myself joining the first and most popular major casting network in Los Angeles, or whatever that video playing at onboarding said today.

If these new gigs won’t pay more than your previous gigs, why do background acting?

Networking!

Experience.

Though I won’t make enough money to feed myself with background acting work (or I’ll make enough money to feed myself, but won’t have time to eat), it will put me closer to the entertainment industry.

In college, I studied broadcast journalism and minored in performing arts. I’ve always wanted to be in the field of entertainment. Then I moved to Los Angeles without much planning or preparation, got distracted with making money to make ends meet, and never pursued my passions. That changes now.

Pride is The Devil

all my pride gone
had to lose it all, then I got rich
- Lil’ Baby on J.Cole’s Pride Is The Devil

Okay, I have to take a pay cut, but is a temporary modification not worth long term gratification?

I’ve decided to take the chance of making sacrifices now, to worry a little bit less about the now, to benefit myself on a deeper level in the future.

Once you’re exposed to certain levels, it’s difficult to accept less. No one ever wants to feel as though they’re going backwards. We all want to be on an upward trend in life. However, I’d be remiss if I counted my growth in only dollars. I wouldn’t want to let “oh, uhnt uhn, I’d make triple this doing thus and such” hinder potential growth in other areas. (Shoot, if that’s the methodology, instead of serving drinks, I could make a thousand times more serving blow jobs. I giggle, but it’s true; I told y’all over on the LA opinion column how gold diggers, damn near prostitutes, really exist aroundLA.. and live well!)

“Money is the motive” is a popular adage, but I don’t want money to be the motive for me. Money being thee only, or the deciding, factor in matters, ignoring morals or passions, is where all sorts of other problems begin.

I want to let my heart drive me, not my bank account. And I don’t want to let my pride interfere.

At Central Casting onboarding, potential background actors are required to take a headshot and full body for their CentralCasting.com account.

So, here I am.

In addition to not making any money, I’ll also have to get over not liking the way I look on-camera, if I plan to make money doing on-camera work. I’m posting this very imperfect, completely raw (unedited), image of myself, even though I strongly dislike it, to force myself to get over it. It’s the mandatory photo taken at Central Casting onboarding, and it’ll remain on my Central Casting profile that (hopefully) hundreds of casting directors will click on.

To be continued

This isn’t the end all, be all. As previously stated, I do not plan to make a career out of background acting in Los Angeles. I also don’t expect the exposure and experience, gained background acting, to be a sure way into something I would like to do long term.

I’m simply opening myself up to possibilities by trying something new.

Special thanks to one of my former luxury retail co-workers, now close girlfriend, Shirley Chung, for not only suggesting I sign up for Central Casting Los Angeles, but also scoring me one of their extremely-swiftly-filling time slots for onboarding.

If you all would like to know about the onboarding process for Central Casting, comment on this blog post or on the @aroundLAwithTK Instagram account. If I start getting booked on gigs, and you want me to do a follow-up post, along the lines of “how is it to do background acting in Los Angeles,” let me know that as well!