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Arts & Entertainment

Editor Gets a Taste of the Small Screen on 'Royal Pains'

The cable show filmed in Southampton last week.

The USA cable network show “Royal Pains” was to film its third season premiere and yours truly, the editor of Southampton Patch, was one of the locals selected as an extra.

With the temperature in the 40s and intermittent light rain, I walked the sidewalks of Main Street on Tuesday in short sleeves to give the illusion it was a summer day in Southampton. I had been cast as an “upscale wealthy Hamptons pedestrian” on the show about a concierge doctor working on the East End. My job was to look preppy and window shop, as stars Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo and Resha Shetty, as Dr. Hank Lawson, brother Evan Lawson and physician assistant Divya Katdare, respectively, talked on the sidewalk in front of .

The extras were a mix of Hamptons locals and New York City actors. Most of the Hamptonites got on board for the fun of it, while the cityfolk were mostly aspiring professional actors and filmmakers.

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Grant Wilfley Casting, based in New York City, cast the extras for “Royal Pains,” as well as other film and television productions on the East End, including HBO’s failed pilot “Suburban Shootout,” directed by Barry Sonnenfeld of East Hampton in 2008, and “Something’s Gotta Give,” a film starring Jack Nicholson.

The call time for extras on Tuesday was 7 a.m. at Southampton Village’s , which serves as base camp for “Royal Pains” whenever it films in town. The production provided a courtesy bus for the city actors, which left Manhattan at 5 a.m.

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A heated tent was erected in the Coopers parking lot for catering and wardrobe. Non-union extras were expected to bring clothes for at least two “looks” to fit their parts, but the wardrobe department had additional clothes to outfit extras who didn’t have quite the look they were going for. The costume director asked for light-colored lightweight fabrics that would look summery but still be warm and comfortable, like cardigans. Red, black and dark and drab colors were prohibited.

My shoes and chinos passed muster, but I was given a mauve polo to replace my eggshell blue camp shirt. I had also brought a navy blue blazer with gold buttons, but so had every other male extra. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones chosen to wear a blazer, so short sleeves it was. I was still luckier than the mail carrier and the beach bum, who both wore shorts.

After wardrobe and breakfast — yogurt parfaits, fresh fruit, eggs to order, bacon, ham — the extras playing pedestrians got on a bus and the motorists drove their own cars to Main Street.

My first job was to sit on a bench in the far background. Easy enough. I chatted with another extra and checked my e-mail on my phone. We were so far back, we couldn’t even see what was happening during the scene.

Being so far in the background that first time, I was eligible to be on camera again later, but it would take a while for the cameras to reset and the actors to rehearse. The extras were shuffled off to “holding,” at the , so we would be warm.

When the next scene was ready, we were called back to Main Street. A few of us were selected to walk a couple feet behind the stars are they talked on a sidewalk bench.

When the assistant director called “background,” extras began moving. Because it was a long take, some extras starting walking later than others. Off camera, they squeezed between each other and film and lighting equipment to get to their marks on time.

After having my back to the camera on the first run, the cameras were reversed and the scene was shot again from the opposite direction. However, my face time was brief, and probably more accurately described as “profile time.”

The day ended at Coopers Beach for lunch, returning wardrobe and filling out time sheets. The wardrobe department had held the extras' I-9 employee eligibility forms hostage to make sure they got the clothes back.

Non-union actors were paid a flat day-rate for their work, while members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, better known as AFTRA, got a higher rate and everything from their mileage to meal breaks were considered in their pay. The rain wasn’t considered bad enough to grant the extras “wet pay.”

Despite having stood in the cold for hours  — my thanks to the people at for letting a few of us extras warm up inside their office with a cup of hot cocoa  — and the head cold that followed the next few days, being an extra was worth it, if only just to say I’ve done it.

Season three of "Royal Pains" premieres June 29.

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