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

Abstract

First edition. "Despite their considerable presence in Hollywood, background actors and extras have received little attention within film and media studies as significant contributors to the history of Hollywood. Below the Stars examines a history of actors that looks not to the stars, but to these supporting players of film and television sets. Kate Fortmueller highlights such actors as precarious laborers whose work as freelancers has critically shaped the entertainment industry across multiple media throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By addressing ordinary actors as a labor force, Fortmueller proposes a media industry history that can speak to underrepresented and quotidian experiences as the structural elements of the industry over those of well-known stars, directors, producers, or studios"-- Introduction -- Hollywood freelance: how actors and extras shaped the film industry -- Actors and the making of television's first Golden Age -- Reuse and replace? actors, reruns, and the cable era -- New media, old labor conflicts: voice actors and digital professionalization -- Conclusion -- Postscript. Actors and COVID-19: what the pandemic teaches us about film and television labor.