Standing Room Only

I have had the best time working for SRO. The staff is friendly and professional and they even pay you the same day as you work. I love history and architecture and this experience has allowed me to see some of North America’s most notable soundstages and studio back lots. Another bonus is I have met some great people and seen some wonderful entertainers.

Standing Room Only (SRO) is the best place to work for when doing audience work. The SRO coordinators are so great and the shows you work audience on are pretty spectacular. Thank you so much SRO.

I am extremely disappointed with this company?! I was at one time getting call for shows and now I don’t get calls at all anymore?! What kind of company is this? How can you only pick one race of people for a specific audience?! Really? You don’t think it’s being racism, but it is?!? And to the black b”’”””, who is casting director, who thinks she’s white?! Wake up, because your a scape goat, b”””””, they don’t respect you?! They’re using you to sell out your own people, you dumb scape?! I will longer be participating in these raggedy ass tv shows, with the worst of people, who have no class and or education?!!

Good Gaurenteed method of making $$$ money… especially if you’re in SAG… But do not think you’re going to be able to leave to audition once you commit to a days work… So I guess you need to ask yourself do I want to be a extra my entire life and the fluid on the body or do I want to leave and be a Fuckin Star!!! Same is true for a company called New York casting… if you happen to live in the Manhattan area

I have a full-​time job so I typically can’t attend these tapings, so this was my first taping I attended under SRO, my first one was under On-​Set Productions the day prior. I wanted to start attending these tapings so I could use the money that I would earn to donate to charity and since I am a volunteer Speech Coach for Special Olympics I figured it would be a good way to give back! I was one of the first ones to arrive today and I arrived 30 minutes prior to the call-​time and it was very unfortunate that they overbooked. What I didn’t know is that not everyone is guaranteed in even though you have confirmed you are attending and since I needed to go to the restroom before the taping started, I lost my spot in line and I didn’t want to cut in line like everyone else did so I went in the back of the line since that would be the polite thing to do. Little did I know, not everyone that is booked is guaranteed in. There was about 10 – 12 of us who were let go even before the taping started. Mind you, some of the people that didn’t get in also arrived early. Note: Some of the workers are not very friendly and give attitude, while some are nice and seemed to like their job. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a good first time experience with SRO. I wasted my time and gas going to the studios.

Some of these reviews are pretty bad but Standing Room Only is what it is. To me it’s a good way to make extra cash if you have nothing else to do that day. Most of the tapings are in Hollywood or Culver City but they really book tapings all over Los Angeles. They book a variety of shows from court shows, variety specials, talk shows, game shows, and sitcoms.
I wouldn’t bother to go to a taping if you don’t live close because usually it’s really hard to find parking. Yes, they are strict with their cell phone policy but they tell you cell phones aren’t allowed like 5 times on the recording so while it’s inconvenient it’s no surprise so it’s okay for an afternoon.
The shortest I sat in for was the Talk which I got paid for 2 hours. I thought it was a cool show and I wasn’t doing anything that day so it was great but if I was trying to make money there really would be no point. Most of the audience for that particular show were ticket holders who loved the show and weren’t even getting paid so that’s a benefit with working through Standing Room Only. The longest taping, I sat for was America’s Court which was about 6 hours. I thought it was interesting to hear different court cases (no they aren’t real, it’s improvised actors) but after 6 hours, yeah it gets to be a bit much.
The people that I see doing it are a mixed bunch. They are either fresh off the bus wanting to act and thought it would be a good start to do audience work (these are people you’ll see one time because they realize they won’t get any sort of acting work doing this), Russian girls (I have no idea why it’s popular with them but there are sure a lot of them), and people in between jobs or unemployed.
Good
Paid cash at end of taping
Get to see cool shows and celebrities
Freelance bookings, no schedule to adhere to
Sometimes you can meet interesting people
Bad
Watching a taping can be boring
Pay is only minimum wage
No cell phones allowed in studio
Parking is usually difficult and time consuming to find
I think SRO could be a positive experience if you know what you are getting into.
I would not recommend if: you are an actor and think a producer might discover you in the audience, live far away, have a low patience factor, have to go to the bathroom a lot, have a punctuality problem, or are one of those people that cannot be away from their cell phone for 1 second.
I’d recommend doing audience work through Standing Room only if you live close by to the taping, are looking for extra cash between jobs, are a fan of the show, are interested or excited by TV studios and productions, or have nothing else to do that day.

My wife and I do some work with this company… it works this way: You sign up on their website for free, upload a pic and then check out what shows they have available that need audience members or extras. You apply for the shows that fit with your schedule. Easy. No fees. If you’re booked, you’ll get an email. You confirm your booking. Show up on time. Get paid cash at the end.
This is a pretty easy and fun way to make a little extra cash. We use it for «fun money»… and sometimes it’s even date night if we get to see a show we’re actually fans of.
One thing I do wish they would update — sometimes things change and after we’re booked on a show, our schedule will change and we need to cancel — it would be great if we could do that on the website like you do everything else.
But otherwise, this is not a bad way to have a little fun and make a little bit of money. No, you won’t get rich doing this — not even close. But if you relax, are patient with the process and the coordinators (who have a really demanding job!) and have some spare time, SRO can be great.

If you are desperate and unemployed. This company is the place to go to. I am talking about poverty level, almost homeless status unemployed situation. They pay is cash minimum wage which in the state of California it’s nine dollars an hour. $ 9 Cash
Like you need that last dollar so desperately to pay that bill or whatever your situation maybe.
You will not receive any of the prize giveaways from any of the shows or be treated like a normal guest audience in general.
The coordinator page people can smell who you are, or who you are with from a mile away and they know that you are getting paid at the end of the show nonetheless.
Reason being, they sort of treat you like that regardless. They don’t give two f*cks about you or the fact that you are a human and you exist. Just like the way society really is in this day in age unfortunately.
You will only be booked based on the show type they are looking to pay you for and age group that they find more appealing for them, older folks good luck even being considered or being approached for that matter, and most importantly if they find you with sex appeal for females and for males if you are attractive enough they will maybe book you. Basically dress really skanky… hoe ishh type for females and for males dress as if your going to impress someone from that hoeishh skankyyy group, and show them you are ready to have sex with them. Sex appeal sells for them for that matter. Anything sex or sex appeal sells.
Now you are almost ready to be booked. Next you will need to act really desperate like you are on your last breath and you are starving. Do not show that you live a normal lifestyle. They want you to be desperate for anything they give you and don’t forget once more to sell your sexiness.
You will wait in line outside under any weather conditions they don’t care if it’s hot and your dying outside from the heat or if it’s cold. They don’t care about the weather or you for that matter.
Bring comfortable shoes and a jacket. You will stand on your feet for hours outside crossing your fingers that you will be accepted to enter for the show to get paid at the end. Bring a jacket bc all the hot lights and all the studio lights cause heat in the studios therefore they crank up that air conditioner plus you will be dressed like a skank so you will be needing that extra material, and they don’t care if you get sick or if it’s uncomfortably cold conditions. Bring socks also. The coordinators will dismiss your group at the end of each show and call you by their secret abbreviation «SRO GROUP» please exit. As if it’s a secret of some sort that you are getting paid. Lastly, you will be given your cash in a nice gesture way or very rude and folded or crumbled depends on the coordinator of that they and their mood.
Congratulations you have officially been a hoeish SRO guest.

I have some free time… I live in LA… I like to see how the «magic» gets made. So I register with SRO.
They book me on paid audience gigs when it makes sense for them — if I meet their demo. And I decide if I am free to do it or not. This isn’t the way I make my living so it’s all good. You get to see some places and things you would never see otherwise and it’s actually fun — and you make a little money too.
I find their coordinators to be actually really delightful if you treat them kindly. I see some folks that treat them badly and these seem to be the same type that do this audience/​extra work as their main source of income. That’s cool if that’s your gig, but for me, working with SRO has been a positive experience all the way around. Fun way to see some new parts of the entertainment biz and make some money at the same time. Be nice. Be patient. Be otherwise-​employed.

Drove 45 min to get to set today and was told that there would be parking on the lot for us, there was no parking. All adjacent street parking was 2 hour parking. Couldn’t park. Had to turn around and drive home.

Pure garage! They treat audience members like cattle, make them stand out in the hot sun for periods of time just to receive the bare minimum low wage pay that doesn’t even cover gas and almost all the SRO employees are terrible miserable human beings with unprofessional attitudes. Horrible!!!

Update: I’ve done SRO since writing this review, and they were way better. The coordinators were friendly and everything was fine. They still don’t do the guaranteed amount, so that’s the reason it’s 3 stars, and I don’t think I could ever give audience work 5 stars no matter what they did. I’m leaving the old review up, but it doesn’t really apply anymore based on my recent experiences.
Old Review:
Most of the coordinators are rude and treat you like garbage. The pay is fine – standard for audience. It’s not difficult but you get major attitude from just about everyone you deal with, acting like they hate their job and hate you for being part of it.
People complain about the pay, but whatever, it’s $ 9/​hr cash. If you treat this as your full-​time job… you’re delusional. You also sign an agreement for the pay and you’re not an employee, so they don’t owe you anything more. Audience work is for when you don’t have anything else going on and you want to make a couple extra bucks by seeing tv be made live instead of sitting at home watching it. That part is fun.
If you want to be treated like a human being for audience work, try onset productions. They still herd you around like cattle but that’s what the job is. At least they act like they’re glad you came. And when they wrap early you still get the full payment (at least sometimes), with SRO sometimes you make like $ 18 and it’s not really worth dealing with those assholes unless you’re really in the mood or desperate for cash.
Just to clarify, I’m not a very high maintenance person. I don’t even talk to the coordinators, or ask them for things. I do whatever they say without question and smile and clap when I’m supposed to – they just have bad attitudes by default. I get that your job sucks but you don’t have to take it out on the people who show up and make your job possible. There’s one guy in particular, I can’t remember his name, he acts like he’s there by court order, it stinks up the whole atmosphere.

I’ve only been working with SRO for a few weeks now but these reviews are appalling. I wonder what kind of entitled whiners wrote them, but I digress.
This is literally the easiest money you will ever make in Los Angeles. There is no fee. You need no experience. There is no interview process and you never submit a resume. You just apply to as many shows as you can, get booked for some of them, and get paid cold hard cash immediately after a day’s end. For doing what, you ask? For sitting. For clapping. For moving when they need you to move. For possibly being on television. For seeing celebrities in the flesh. For sometimes even getting prizes as audience members (a luxury I have not experienced yet.) What more could you possibly want? I could be working my ass off in fast food getting paid the same amount, but instead they are PAYING ME TO SIT. Come on.
I have never had a problem with any of the SRO coordinators. They aren’t overly cheerful or anything but no one has been the least bit rude to me. You barely even talk with them, actually – all of the information is given through an automated hotline. Fine with me. The clothing requirements they give sound ridiculous, but as long as you don’t wear jeans or sneakers they’ll let you in.
The only downsides:
The shows can often be boring and long, and sometimes you do not get to be in the audience at all and have to go home. But, that’s just showbiz. The major downside is that you’re not allowed to have a cell phone. I understand they don’t want people texting on air but they could at least let us have them while we sit in holding rooms. Or for emergencies. Plus, I see show crews with their phones out all of the time. Also, on many shows it is difficult and stressful to find street parking. I once got ticketed, and ended my day losing money. My final complaint is how long it takes to get paid. But again, it’s all about PATIENCE. An incredible virtue to have in showbiz. Still, they can afford to make some changes, so I’ve given them 3 stars.

SRO is great if you are looking to earn extra cash. You get paid at the end of the day for simply watching a show that is being filmed :) i had a great experience with them!
Attending studio audiences may even open doors for you as an actor, i originally arrived to be apart of the audience and one of their crew members approached me to be an actress on the show! Of course i took the opportunity and even got paid a little bit more at the end of the day. The Crew was very nice. I couldn’t help but notice all of the bad reviews and let me just say that if you come to the casting dressed the part even as a «Spec» you will get picked. They are looking for people who look their best and have good attitudes. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to be around the entertainment industry, its easy but time consuming be prepared for schedules to run behind, Sometimes sets run longer than expected so bring snacks if you can.

If you don’t drive, working with these guys might prove easier as they do not provide or validate your parking.
Plus they’re mostly a bunch of fucking stuck up assholes and they treat you like piss on their shoes. Truly.
Don’t work with them. Register with Central casting and Jeff Olan and book yourself on quality jobs, even if it is audience work. Onset Productions isn’t filming much in the LA area at the moment but they’re great for audience work. Organized and respectful.

This place doesn’t even deserve a one rating, Horrible, horrible, just horrible, There are lots of other places that treat you like a human being not just another number. They descriminate against white people and book mostly black people. They make mistakes with money a lot and make you wait in line for an hour to get your money.

This company would improve drastically if they woke up and got rid of a couple of very angry, rude and downright utterly miserable employees that they have working for them as coordinators!!! I have done a few of their audience calls, and have never seen anything even close to a genuine smile on the faces of some of their employees… I can imagine that it must suck to drive around LA in heavy traffic and do the work that they do for the pay that they are probably getting, but COME ON… if you are truly that miserable at your job, you need to find a new one… It really does not hurt to SMILE… try it, you might feel better!!!
That aside, the pay is menial, but it is cold hard cash and some of the shows are fun and entertaining… I have even gotten some pretty cool gifts for sitting in the audience of some of these talk shows…
SRO could definitely improve if they hired some new coordinators that still had a little joy left in them…

Out of all of the audience work companies I’ve worked for, SRO is consistently the worst. There always seems to be some issue with payment. On multiple occasions, I’ve been cheated out of hours of work, or straight up paid less than what the website claims. Sometimes it’s only a few dollars, so a lot of people just deal with it, but when it’s happen several times, you really begin to notice and feel ripped off. At a show I did recently, for some reason the SRO workers kept literally running out of money and had to leave and get more several times, and it took a total of 2 HOURS of standing in line to get paid. Seriously. Unpaid hours I may add.
The majority of their shows that they have on a regular basis are only 2 – 3 hours long, meaning you get ready and get shuffled around like cattle to make a solid $ 16-​$ 20. Cool. They don’t pay a flat rate, which every other company I’ve worked with does. Several of the people who work for the company and work on shows are extremely rude and condescending. You can tell they definitely hate their jobs.
All of this being said, they’re great for when you need some quick/​disposable cash, but don’t count on them for a decent pay day.

I was with SRO at many shows before and at last 2 I had a very bad experience! I was treated very very badly by the guy who works there with audience! The way he talked to me was very rude and unprofessional! I think that SRO should pay attention to this! I don’t think that anyone should be treated like that! 1 star just for that! Don’t feel like applying for another shows anymore!!!

Did you ever notice that only the prettiest, most model-​esque females are seated in the studio audiences of television shows within the camera view? Coincidence or conspiracy? Actually… neither really. It’s a common casting agency practice to fill the leftover seats of live-​filmed shows with attractive individuals. It’s Hollywood. NOTHING is sacred.
Standing Room Only works as a double-​fold company. It provides fans with free tickets to their favorite shows merely just for requesting them but it also works as a casting agency to book the seat fillers. I know this because, well, I am one of those seat fillers. Sometimes they hold auditions and place you in their data-​bank and other times, they place ads on Craigslist looking to cast the fillers. You get paid $ 8/​hr to watch a show taped and receive cash payment after the show.
It can become a fighting match however, because you have to show up at the taping early and stand in line asking for the «SRO Coordinator» and are generally off to the side because the audience can’t know you are being paid for this. The audience is let in first and then they handpick amongst the SRO people to fill-​in. Basically, if you dress skanky (as a female) or sharp (as a male) you will be let in first. Sometimes, the remainder of the group as to wait outside and are let in to fill as people leave to go to the bathroom, etc. Either way, everyone gets paid at the end of the night. The only problem is, that there are no contacts or number to really call so you just have to hope everything works out smoothly and the SRO Coordinator is within sight all night.
Hey, did you really think that the beautiful audience was natural? NAH! But hey, it’s a good way to make some money!