‘Friday Night Lights’ begins filming Monday
As producers with the Los Angeles-based company, On Location Casting, prepare to begin filming portions of the NBC television series “Friday Night Lights” in Brownsville early next week, the search to find qualified extras is intensifying.
On August 28, staff with the company held a casting call at the Brownsville Public Library hoping to find Hispanic residents to appear in episodes 204 and 205 of the series. A second casting call was held yesterday at Sunrise Mall in Brownsville. However, staff with the company said that they still don’t have enough people to create the small, Mexican border town they were hoping for.
“I need probably about 500 total and the majority of those will be over 25,” said Tina Kerr, extras casting director for the company. “We’re seeing mostly people under the age of 18. We’re very, very short on adults.”
Kerr said that a total of 420 local residents have applied for the paid extra positions, yet the company still doesn’t have enough people to shoot the necessary scenes. She said that she now plans to focus on finding people ages 30 and older by distributing flyers at venues across the city.
“We start filming on Monday,” Kerr said. “We’re trying to find places where we can go to target a more specific community or group of people.”
Those wishing to appear as extras in the upcoming episodes of “Friday Night Lights” can e-mail a photo to fnl_extras@yahoo.com or call (512) 707-7934. Selected applicants will be paid $56 for eight hours of work, yet must have a valid social security card or green card. Kerr said that Spanish-speaking residents are welcome to apply.
