I thought about getting a tattoo for over a year before I decided to get one. And as I pulled into the parking lot, I had a sudden panic attack: If I get a tattoo… I can’t be in a Hallmark Christmas movie!!!

It’s probably because it was November and my mind was flooded with Hallmark Christmas vibes, but I then shook my head and said to myself, “Julia! You’re not going to be in a Hallmark movie!”

And I got the tattoo.

And then I was in a Hallmark movie.

So if you want to know what it’s like to be an extra in a Hallmark Christmas movie (or how to cover your tattoo!), this article is for you!

How to Be an Extra in a Hallmark Movie

Answer the Casting Call

Hallmark movies film all over the US & Canada. I actually visited Almonte, ON during the holiday season, after I heard how many Hallmark movies they film there!

If a Hallmark crew (or other studio) comes to a town near you, likely they will put out a call for extras. These are people who just stand or walk through the background. It doesn’t require any speaking or particular acting skills. You’ll likely see the call on social media or the radio.

In my case, I saw it on social media and the radio (which I took as a sign to apply).

A film crew was in the Buffalo, NY area, which is an easy day trip for me. It’s not the first time the Buffalo area has been used as a holiday movie location, nor will it be the last! There were actually two movies filming at the same time while I was there (and no, I was not in the movie with Mario Lopez that everyone was talking about!), and they announced another one the day I went to set!

All I had to do was send an email to the local casting office (in my case, Casting Buffalo), with a picture of myself and tell them my availability.

• Good to Know: They asked for a head shot, which most professional actors have, but as a background extra, this was not necessary. I just sent them 2 good photos of myself, including one of me looking super Hallmarky in front of the tree.

Get a Costume

About a week after sending the email, I got a response checking on my availability for a particular day. After I replied that I was available, I got another email saying I had been cast as a Christmas ball goer!!!

I was ecstatic.

For about an hour.

Until I started getting more emails.

After getting inundated with emails from the costume department, the make up department, and everyone else you can think of, I learned that extras are expected to provide their own costumes, AND do their own hair and make up before arriving on set! Which led me to a minor panic attack.

And then of course it led me to the store…!

• Good to Know: Not all extras have to provide their own costumes. Some people were cast as “servers,” in which case they were provided matching “server” costumes. They also had to go on set the day before for a fitting.
• They also did have ball gowns on set, and would sometimes change out the dresses people brought for one of their own.

As a “Christmas ball guest,” I was expected to bring a ball gown to set. I got an email from the costume department for a “virtual fitting,” asking me to send some “look options.” Which just meant they wanted me to send a picture of the dress/dresses I was planning to bring to set.

I did buy one dress at J.C.Penney, but I kept the tags on (and was able to return it later). Luckily, my friend had a whole wardrobe of prom dresses at her church that people had donated, and that’s what I ended up wearing in the film!

The “Hallmark” Look

My email also included a costume guide for the seasonal “Hallmark look.” This was for people who got cast in two roles, and were also playing tourists. I was only cast as a ball guest, but I thought I could totally pull off the tourist look, since I’ve basically modeled my entire winter aesthetic on Hallmark movies…

If you want to look like a generic background extra in a Hallmark Christmas movie (good for visiting real life Hallmark towns!), here are some look options:

• Cute hat (preferably with a “pom”)
• Scarf (solid colored)
• Long jacket (neutral colored)
• Christmas sweater
• Black pants or dark jeans
• Suede boots

When I travel during the winter, I always bring this cute hat that I looove!

Final Call Time

The thing about being in a movie is that you don’t know the official time to be at set the next day, until they finish filming that day… And they don’t finish filming till around midnight…

In my case, I got an email about 8:00 pm the night before my shoot giving an estimated call time of 2:00 pm. But it said the call time could change. Thankfully it didn’t (it should be pretty close to the estimated call time, but it can vary). I got an email around 1:00 am confirming the official call time of 2:00 pm.

As an extra, I was only guaranteed 8 hours, but we ended up working from 2 pm to midnight (with a 30 min. lunch break).

Getting Ready to Head to Set

According to my emails, I was supposed to arrive on set with my hair in curlers or clips, light make up, and any tattoos covered.

• Good to Know: Some people had their hair up in clips/rollers like I did, but some people did not. There was a hair and make up person on set to help us get camera ready, so you don’t have to overly stress yourself out about looking good before you get there.

Covering My Tattoo for the Movie

The first thing I had to do was cover that tattoo…

I bought tattoo cover up make up on Amazon, and had practiced with it earlier that week. It was tricky to get a tone that perfectly matched my skin tone, but from the right angle, you literally couldn’t see it at all!!!

Up close, I could easily see the make up, especially as it dried. I was super self-conscious of my arm when I arrived on set. However, when I showed the other women I came in with, none of them could see the tattoo or make up from where they were sitting.

I also asked the make up artist on set, and she held out my arm to another crew member and said “What do you think?” To which, after staring confusedly at her for a moment, the other girl responded, “About what?”

So I consider that a win.

Prepping My Hair

Thankfully my hair dresser friend (who is in the process of moving to North Pole, Alaska, another real life Hallmark town!!) had just returned from Alaska. She came over around 9:00 am and got to work curling my hair and pinning it up in clips, according to my emailed instructions.

She also helped me put on some simple eye shadow, mascara, concealer and blush.

The awkward part was then driving the 2 hours to set looking like my great aunt with my hair pinned up on my head… (one of the other women wrapped a scarf around her head so she wouldn’t feel awkward about her hair in rollers).

Waiting in Holding

When you arrive to the movie shoot, the first place you go is “holding.” In our case, it was the basement of a local church.

• Fun Fact: They were in the middle of a church service when we got back for our “lunch” break, so we had to be as quiet as possible clunking down the stairs in our ball gowns and high heels.

Costumes

It was a bit of a mad house in the holding area. There was a costume crew running around checking the clothes you brought, doing fittings for other costumed roles, sewing beads on the leading ladies’ dresses, and searching through their piles of props.

One of the costume crew would check what we brought with us, and tell us what to put on. There were little changing tents all around the perimeter of the room that we went into to change costumes.

Most of us had dresses/accessories with the tags still on, so we could return things we didn’t need. But one woman cut the tags off her dress after she was told to wear it… but then they came and brought her another dress to change into!

So, even though we had to bring our own outfits, they still had plenty of dresses and props available, and would randomly hand people different dresses to put on. Some people changed three or four times (it is a point of pride for me, that I wore the dress I brought, and never had to change)!

• Pro Tip: If you’re being an extra in a Hallmark movie, don’t cut the tags off until the last minute, because you might end up changing!

Hair/Make Up

Also as I said before, they did have people there to do our hair and make up. They took my hair out of the curlers, brushed it all out, and redid it in some glamorous up-do. They also added to the make up I had done before arriving.

I definitely felt like a princess after that! I wish I could have got more pictures, but we could not take our phones to set.

• Good to Know: There was only one make up person, and one hair person for all of us, so it took a long time to get through everybody. They would periodically shuttle a van full of extras to set once they were fully “approved.” I was one of the very last people to get made up, so I had to wait for a few more extras to come from another scene and change costumes for the ball. By the time we made it to set, they had already started filming, and didn’t end up using us until after the lunch break.
• Try to get into hair and make up as early as possible, so you don’t miss part of the filming!

On the Set!

Finally, we made it onto the actual movie set, and let me tell you, it was magical.

For the Christmas ball, they had rented out a private mansion, and stuffed it full of twinkling Christmas trees and festive garland. It really felt like a Hallmark movie, with all the magical Christmas decorations.

On set, you go through the same scene multiple times, shooting it from different angles. Extras periodically walk through the background of a scene, just to keep movement going, while the main actors record their scenes.

They would tell us to mime a conversation, or just walk through on cue, and then yell “Background action,” before the official “Action” call.

I really enjoyed being on set. Except for the high heels…

I had to wear high heels, which I don’t normally do. And listen, I don’t know how other people do it, but dang, high heels hurt!

They’re also very clunky. At one point, my shoes were being too noisy for the cameras, so they asked if I would mind taking them off… I said yes, please!!!

Unfortunately, I had to then put them back on in scenes where my toes might show. Though, for the record, with my floor length dress you could only see the toes, so I’m pretty sure I could have gotten away with wearing my trusty black boots…

Food on Set

You do get meals provided while you are on the movie set. We took a lunch break, during which the extras all got shuttled back to holding, while the crew ate on set. They had quite a variety of box lunches (with still warm sandwiches!), as well as chips and water.

There was also a snack corner on set. There was hot cocoa, tea and coffee, plenty of bottled water, and other little snacks like candy and chips.

As extras, we honestly didn’t know most of this existed…

In fact, we were all sitting in holding, minding our own business when one of the crew said, “I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you, but there’s food in the kitchen…”

Then someone told us about the hot cocoa/coffee corner when we were waiting in the freezing cold for the shuttle at the end of the night. One of the extras boarded our shuttle with an armful of every single snack available, to which the man next to him cried out, “Where did you get all that?!”

Newport Christmas Filming Locations

I don’t know all of the filming locations for the movie, since I was only on set for one scene. We talked about several other scenes they had shot, so I do know some of the filming locations. I will update this article once the movie actually comes out and I get to watch it (and see if I’m in it at all!).

Newport Christmas was filmed in Youngstown, NY. It’s a cute little town just north of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, and next to Old Fort Niagara State Park. The Stone Jug is a local restaurant that was used for several scenes in the movie.

Although it was filmed in western NY, the movie is actually set in Newport, RI. I can’t wait to go there next Christmas and see the Gilded Age mansions decked out like a Hallmark movie in their holiday decorations!

My Christmas Ball scene was shot at a private mansion, so unlike the ones in Rhode Island, you can’t actually visit that filming location.

That’s a Wrap

About midnight, they told us to wrap the extras for the day and start sending us back to holding. The main actors were still filming a scene, and we were doing some extra background footage, but the call came down for us to stop shooting.

Of course, we then had to wait for a shuttle back to the church (our holding area), and there were a lot of us! As it got later, they ended up prioritizing people who had borrowed pieces of clothing or props, so once again (because I had my own awesome dress!), I was on the last shuttle out (though, I would like to point out, I was on the first shuttle back for lunch).

Virtual Time Card

Before arriving on set, I was sent a link to my tax paperwork (yay) to fill out for getting paid (because as an extra, you do get paid for being on set!).

When you first arrive, make sure to check in with the head person at holding. Then you check out with them again when you leave set. Your time will get put in a “virtual time card” which you will get a link to access and approve. Once that happens, you’ll get a check in the mail paying you for your time on set!

Visit a Real Life Hallmark Christmas Town!

As an avid Hallmark fan, I have been all over the US and Canada to visit small towns that look like Hallmark movies, or are filming locations of actual Hallmark Christmas movies (and other similar brands).

Having been in a movie set in Newport, RI (though, naturally, filmed in western NY…), I can’t wait to visit Newport for Christmas next year!

Here are a few ideas of places to visit for Hallmark Christmas vibes:

• Almonte, ON
• Ottawa, ON
• Santa Claus, IN
• Wellsboro, PA
• 14 Real Life Hallmark Christmas Towns to Visit!

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Any more questions?

If you have any more questions about what it’s like to be an extra in a Hallmark Christmas movie, feel free to email me or comment below, and I will do my best to answer them (or share your own experiences!).

Want to be in a Hallmark movie?

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You might also like:

• 14 Real Life Hallmark Christmas Towns
• The Complete Guide to Almonte, ON
• Magical 3-day Christmas in Ottawa Itinerary
• The Complete Guide to Santa Clause, IN
• Dickens of a Christmas Festival in Wellsboro, PA

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