Below the Stars: How the Labor of Working Actors and Extras Shapes Media Production, by Kate Fortmueller

Abstract

In Below the Stars: How the Labor of Working Actors and Extras Shapes Media Production, Kate Fortmueller traces the bottom-up histories of Hollywood by focusing on the perspective of the vast and lesser-known population of working labour, examining their interactions with a variety of industrial forces and breaking down the stratified divisions separating types of actors (e.g. extras vs. character actors), and discusses different conditions actors face working in areas such as film, TV, commercials, and video games. Rather than examining any specific films, the book draws heavily on union documents and individual accounts, as well as numerous interviews Fortmueller conducted with workers and industry insiders from 2014 to 2018.