I Was An Extra On The TV Show Longmire

Longmire is a crime drama television series that premiered on June 3, 2012, on A&E. The series was developed by John Coveny and Hunt Baldwin and is based on the “Walt Longmire” series of mystery novels written by best-selling author Craig Johnson.

The series follows Sheriff Walt Longmire of Wyoming’s fictional Absaroka County (pronounced ab-suh-ro-ka) who returns to work following the death of his wife. With the help of daughter Cady Longmire, newly hired Deputy Victoria “Vic” Moretti, and friend Henry Standing Bear, Walt must investigate a series of major crimes in his jurisdiction while preparing to run for re-election against Branch Connally, a young deputy in the department who wants Walt’s job.

This last Monday I was on the set as an extra at the Garson Studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico while the crew was shooting episode #212 – the second to the last show of the second season.

We were shooting in the Red Pony Cafe owned by Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips). I won’t go into details about the plot but it did involve scenes with Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) and Branch Connally (Bailey Chase).

As an extra you get there early and complete paperwork. I was there with my friends Kathy Olfshefsky and Julie Lombard Belt.

We were asked to bring three “cowboy” outfits and the costumes department picked/changed/enhanced what to wear.

When they are ready you are herded onto the set and told where to sit/stand/move. They call that “first position”. While this is going on there are probably 30 crew members setting up lights, establishing camera setups, deciding how the actors will move. It looks like chaos but in fact is very efficient. For the three principals in the scene there were stand ins who took their roles while the setup was going on.

Prop people put things in the scene to make things look more authentic (in our case signs, beer bottles, whiskey glasses, coffee cups, cigarettes, food, pretzels).

The principal actors appeared and there were several rehearsals with setup changes to adjust lighting and camera angles. Finally “picture”, “rolling”, “sound”, “background” (which meant people who had roles to move around the set started to move) and “action” where the main players did their part. And of course at the end “cut”.

Many many takes while cameras were moved to different locations, the extras, background and action people were given slightly different things to do.

Then more “takes”. We did that for 8 hours with a break for lunch.

The Longmire set is known for being one of the very best on which to work. Everyone was friendly and respectful but yet very professional. They are especially known for their work to make everything on screen as authentic and accurate as possible. The food was outstanding, and the process good. You do not speak to the actors unless they speak to you first but it was great watching them work.

Great fun! It should air in the next couple of weeks.