On The Set Of ‘Royal Pains’: A Day In The Life Of An Extra

My phone buzzed last Tuesday afternoon, August 5, with a Gmail notification reading: “Royal Pains Booking Info—Please Confirm!”This was it. My acting debut, as Hip Restaurant Patron No. 54.

I remember watching the first season of USA Network’s popular television series “Royal Pains” in 2009—a favorite in my family’s home down south—and following the adventures of Dr. Henry “Hank” Lawson, portrayed by Mark Feuerstein, who is black-listed after a controversial emergency room stint. He turns to concierge medicine for the Hamptons elite with encouragement from his brother, Evan Roth Lawson, played by Paulo Costanzo.

It seemed only fitting, while I’m working as a summer intern for The Press, that I submit my height, weight, union status, availability and, of course, a few candid photos to Manhattan-based Grant Wilfley Casting for my shot at being an extra in the series’ season finale, airing September 2. They had to make sure I fit the part. And that I wouldn’t break any cameras.

My confirmation gave me very few details, other than a series of brightly highlighted mastheads and asterisks, followed by emphatic, capitalized, underlined and bolded text telling me to be on time, treat the role like a job, and not use social media on set.

Walking into Westhampton Beach High School on Thursday, August 7, at 9 a.m. sharp, I had no idea what to expect. When I checked in, one of the production assistants briefly glanced up at me from a stack of papers. “What’s your number?”

“Hi! I’m number 54,” I said—perhaps with a bit too much enthusiasm. That enthusiasm was quickly extinguished with an hour of hurry-up-and-wait, seated around one of the cafeteria’s circular tables.

To pass the time, I struck up a conversation with another extra, Jacqlyn Melita of Islip Terrace, who told me about her experience sloshing through the snow earlier this year on the set of NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in Manhattan, where she worked as an extra. “Oh, dear,” I thought, anxiously eying my phone’s clock and remaining battery life.

For this particular shoot, we were both part of a campaign to bring locals in as extras, roughly 30 total, over the course of 11½ hours—for which we earned about $110 each.

At approximately 10 a.m., a busload of attractive extras—what the biz calls “model-types”—arrived, with garment bags and suitcases, like they planned to stay awhile. The actors had been shipped in from the Big Apple, also to play restaurant patrons, but had much more significant roles than I—mainly, wait staff. Lucky No. 25 played the hostess.

They were all members of the Screen Actors Guild, holding the prestige of union status—higher pay and better benefits, which include, but are not limited to, hair and makeup.

I, on the other hand, woke up an hour before my casting call to curl my hair and apply “natural” makeup, as per the emailed instructions, learned by frantically watching YouTube tutorials the night before. They taught me how to contour and highlight like a Kardashian, which was surprisingly appropriate when Khloé Kardashian herself—whom I managed to snap a picture with later, after an obligatory compliment about meeting her in real life—walked into the cafeteria at noon with Scott Disick for their lunch break.

The reality television stars—who have stirred up a frenzy on the East End this summer while filming “Kourtney and Khloé Take the Hamptons”—were guest-starring on the season finale, as themselves. This season of “Royal Pains” has featured a series of Hamptonite celebrity guests, according to writer and producer Andrew Lenchewski, including cookbook author Padma Lakshmi and reality television personalities Bethenny Frankel and Tamra Judge.

During the season finale, Ms. Kardashian and Mr. Disick bump into the “Royal Pains” brothers and their significant others—Charlotte and Paige, acted by Gillian Alexy and Brooke D’Orsay, respectively—at Dockers Waterside in East Quogue.

Before we headed over to the set, lunch was served at the high school. Mr. Feuerstein, Mr. Costanzo, Ms. Kardashian and Mr. Disick sat around a cafeteria table eating the catered lunch, which was a smörgåsbord—from salmon, steak and chicken to rice and beans, a salad bar, and numerous cakes not easily avoided, though the judging scowls of models and actors helped. It was almost humorous seeing these stars chowing down in a school cafeteria, but the food was much better than your average chicken patty and applesauce.

Finishing up lunch, we finally got the call to get ready to board the charter bus taking us to Dockers, the trendy restaurant that the Brooklyn-based production company Open 4 Business chose as the location.

When we got off the bus and were assigned to our positions on the patio, I was expecting to be placed in a back corner, where there was just enough camera distortion to make out my silhouette. Instead, the stand-in actors were called off the table next to me and replaced by the cast.

Staring at Ms. D’Orsay, inches from my table, as her hair stylists pinned back fly-aways and her assistant brought heels to replace her flip-flops, I was mesmerized—and smart enough to keep my sunglasses on. Seated across from me was a regular to television sets, SAG member Shaun Allen Lloyd, who struck up a conversation with Ms. D’Orsay. I even jumped into the chat when they randomly asked me for a rundown of the primary colors.

“Red, blue and yellow. Right?” I stuttered, temporarily star-struck.

Nearby, Mr. Feuerstein was sitting patiently as the makeup artist touched up his face, when she stroked the brush a little too close to his eye. “It’s fine,” he quickly reassured her. “That’s why I have another one.”

About an hour after arrival, the cameras were finally rolling. We went through dozens of takes, shot from several different angles, and two tables, one with the four cast members next to me, and the other with Ms. Kardashian and Mr. Disick not far away.

As “background”—as the crew so pleasantly called us—we had to fake speaking to one another as the actors read their lines. There were a lot of emphasized hand movements and cheers with cranberry juice-filled wine glasses. Between scenes, a production assistant poured half my glass off the patio, over the railing, to simulate drinking.

My starring role came when I was chosen out of the group of extras hovering around the lounge to walk from the bar to my table in the background of the set. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I knew this was my moment. “Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall,” I told myself.

My heels clunked across the floor as I took deliberate steps to my target, took my seat and smiled to the gentleman sitting across from me. We continued with a silent conversation, mouthing to each other about how tired we were.

Lunch quickly became dinner when the sun started setting, so Mr. Feuerstein and director Michael Rauch wrapped the day at 8 p.m.

When we returned to the high school, my employment forms were held as collateral in return for the silk Express top they had paired with my yellow J. Crew paperbag skirt. I was one of the few asked to come the following day—this time we were on location in Quogue, on the corner of Jessup Avenue and Quogue Street. It was a much more intimate set, with just 15 extras. I was given the role of walking out of Mr. Q., a men’s boutique store, and down Jessup, before ducking behind a hedge to get out of the shot.

Although the glamour was furloughed, the scenes played into the bigger picture of wrapping up the series. “As always the case with finales,” Mr. Lenchewski said, “what is tricky is to conclude all of the story lines [of the current season], but entice the audience to come back next season.”

The crew rushed to finish the scene in just three hours, bringing their week-long shoot for the season finale to a close. After the final take, Mr. Rauch shouted, “It’s a wrap!”—marking the wrap of my acting career as I know it.