Todd: 

OK, now Matt, you used to work in Hollywood as an actor. Can you
talk about what kind of actor you were?
Matt: Sure. I acted mainly in commercial work and that is I auditioned for
commercials and basically in Los Angeles it's unlike any other city in the world for
acting and it's just so heavily centered around Hollywood and television and screen
work that there isn't really a lot of work in theater so I didn't have a ton of
training going in to the acting world when I entered L.A. so like many others I
opted just for commercial work and tried to get experience that way.
Todd: Oh, cool. So how do you actually get a gig? Tell me about the
process.
Matt: It actually... It's a lot more complicated than I thought when I first got
there and competitive. Basically, there are two types of actors in Los Angeles.
There's union actors and non-union. And to really progress you need to be a
union actor which takes getting a speaking part or doing commercial work, which
took me about six months and from there becoming a SAG member, screen actor's
guild member. You're in the union which looks a lot better on your resume to go
after agents so that was my next step and after I got an agent then I was able to be
sent out on auditions and look for work that way.
Todd: So how did you get your first big break?
Matt: It was just by chance really. I was acting and I was doing a lot of non-
speaking work on television and movies and really not progressing as fast as I
wanted to and I was on a commercial for I think it was Pepsi and they liked my
look and they needed an extra guy in the scene in a library and they put me in and
from that thirty second spot which was shown all the East Coast of the United
States I has half of my income for my first year because you get royalty checks
every time a commercial is shown on television. You get paid, so...
Todd: Nice.
Matt: Yeah... But from there I went back to television and movies.
Todd: Cool. 

used to do smth
commercial work
audition – проба кастинг, проходить пробу
ton of training – много обучения
to opt for smth - выібирать
to get a gig – получить работу
complicated - сложний
competitive - конкурентный
union actors and non-union
screen actor's guild member – член гильдии киноакторыв
go after agent – искать агента
non-speaking work
spot – ролик
income – доход
 royalty check – чек на проценті з показу

Todd: OK, Matt, we're talking about acting and you were an extra. Can you
talk a little about what an extra is and your experience?
Matt: Sure. Extra work is basically background in any scene for whatever
reason.
Obviously, movies and television, they need to be authentic looking so they
obviously, in restaurants or in places of public business, they need extras to walk
behind the main actors or be set behind the main actors to set the scene, so there is
tons of work in Los Angeles and New York for those types of jobs and obviously
they are paid a lot less but people do survive doing that and use it as a way to
springboard their career and meet people and network and make contacts while
they are on the set because extra work is mainly about waiting and you are on the
set for long periods of time, from twelve to sixteen hours doing virtually
nothing but waiting for the set to be ready for you to go out do your twenty second
saying and then go off the set and wait until they reposition the cameras, so it's a
very... it's quite boring and so you need to have something else to do while you are
waiting and a lot of people in Los Angeles use that to meet people.
Todd: Well, so how did you get started? How did you get onto a movie set?
Matt: I was in San Diego living at the time and I had just quit my job in real
estate and was taking acting classes in San Diego, and actually the guy who taught
my classes also was a pseudo-agent or knew people who did a lot of film work in
San Diego and so I was able to get work in San Diego for a couple of months and
then from there found out about the extra work and was intrigued and obviously,
naturally I was looking towards Los Angeles just because that is where you need to
go to get work if want to do that for a career.
Todd: OK. Thanks Matt.

an extra
background – фон, задний план
scene – сцена
authentic looк  - натуральний, справжній вигляд
people do survive
set (on the set) – на знімальні площадці
to springboard their career  - дать толчок карєре
network – налагоджувати зв’язки
virtually nothing – практично нічого
to reposition – переставити, перемістити
pseudo-agent 
look towards – стремиться в
 Todd: So, Travis, what is your favorite movie?
Travis: My favorite movie of all time is the original Star Wars.
Todd: Yeah, that was a pretty great movie.
Travis: The original Star Wars was a fantastic fantasy set in space, with
great characters, and while simple I thought meaningful story, but you know, it
meant something to me, especially whenI was a kid.
Todd: Yeah! Who was your favorite character?
Travis: My favorite character was Darth Vader.
Todd: What? You got to be kidding me!
Travis: When I used to play Star Wars as a kid with my friends we used to
always fight over who had to be Luke Skywalker, and who got to be Darth Vader.
Who ever got to be Darth Vader always got to kill Luke Skywalker.
Todd: Wow. Why do you think that Star Wars is such a popular movie?
Travis: Well, I think of the time that the original Star Wars came out it was
unique in a way that no other movie had really been, and so that was part of it. It
used special affects in a way that no other movie ever had, andI think America was
looking for a feel good fantasy movie that basically, while simple really made
peoplefeel like there are good things out there and good sides out there and you
could be on a good side. You know,you have the evil empire, which apparently
were the British Empire, and, since all the actors had a British accent. And then
you had the rebels, who were apparently, according to the director. What's his
name again?
Todd: George Lucas
Travis: George Lucas. I was about to say Luke Skywalker, but I was pretty
sure he didn't direct it. According to George Lucas were the Americans, so it
seemed like it was a replay of the revolutionary war, in some senses, though he
also borrowed from some Japanese movies too. Notably he borrowed from
KitaKurasawa's "The Hidden Forstress" I'm not really sure what the Japanese title
is of "The Hidden Fortress" but in English it's translated as 'The Hidden Fortress"
and in that movie, it's a movie where, what's his name, "Nufume?", the actor, he is
actually protecting a princess who has to go in hiding because an enemy samurai
clan has destroyed her family, and then the whole movie is told, that movie, "The
Hidden Fortress", is told from the point of view of two bumbling idiots who sort of
go around, provide slap stick comedy almost for the whole movie and are a
basically the role models for CP30 and R2D2 in the movie Star Wars cause in Star
Wars the whole movie is sort of in a way shown from the point of view, beginning
with these two characters, CP30 and R2D2, and they progress most of the movie,
until the end when Luke Skywalker sort of becomes more important and Obi One
Kanobi enters the scene, but at every point it's always CP30 and R2D2 sort of
gluing the scenes together in a lot of ways
pretty great movie
fantastic fantasy
meaningful story
You got to be kidding me
apparently
rebel
to direct
replay
to borrow
fortress
title
bumbling idiots
slapstick comedy
to glue the scenes