You know that two truths and a lie game teachers always like to play as an ice breaker?
I always include “I was in a Rascal Flatts music video,” as a part of my truths, and I always stump everyone.
By some chance of fate I was lucky enough to find myself as an extra on a Rascal Flatts music video set in June of 2011. The band was filming the video for their song “Easy” featuring Natasha Bedingfield in downtown Nashville, Tenn., and my friends and I were more or less in the right place at the right time.
Being an extra is hard work. Although we were not being paid for our time spent on set, we chose to stay for as long as possible because we knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
For those of you who have seen the video, my friends and I spent the first half of the night filming the beginning scenes with the red carpet arrivals of the stars. We were standing on the sides of the carpet playing the part of the crowd and the paparazzi.
The whole experience was surreal. In between takes Gary LeVox, Jay Demarcus and Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts) would stop and take pictures with everyone and have conversations with us. Joe Don would always look to my friends after each take and ask us if we thought it was a thumbs up or a thumbs down performance.
By the time the outdoor scenes were shot it was already midnight and we had been on set since 6 p.m. The crew gave the unpaid extras the choice to either stay for the rest of the night or head out early, and of course we all stayed.
The rest of the video, the ballroom scenes for those who have seen the video, was shot from midnight until 5 a.m. the next morning. We were all supposed to be standing around tables and pretending to drink wine and act like we were having a wonderful time at a party. Somehow my friends and I were lucky enough to be placed at the table right next to where Natasha Bedingfield was standing.
I was so exhausted by the end of the night, but the blisters and achy feet were completely worth it. I even made an appearance in the video from 2:07-2:10.
Between takes Natasha would come talk to my friends and I and by the end of the night she told us we were her “new best friends.”
Column by Breanna Sill, Assistant Features Editor