It saves studios a lot of money because while SAG extras get paid $182 just to sit and pretend to be background office cops on a show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, that paycheck gets bumped up to $1,056 a day the moment they open their mouths. On the other hand, Loopers get paid anywhere between $100 and $300 per recording session, and they can usually improvise up to 50 different sounds and voices. They also have a specific way of talking. Terms like “walla” and “Chomsky Pass” might sound like some layman’s opinion of philosophy over on Twitter, but for loopers, these terms mean mumbling gibberish while throwing in a real word every once in a while because apparently, that’s what works on film.
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On a technical level, it’s kind of interesting; from a business point of view, it’s pretty damn cutthroat. These groups have been outed for bribing post-producers to get their loopers on a show, lying to sound coordinators about being hired for their productions, and blacklisting any looper who dare speak out against and reveal their dodgy practices. Why? Because there are just so many jobs available, believe it or not, and these individual companies want all the jobs money for themselves. A looper who’s worked in the industry for over 20 years told The Hollywood Reporter: “It’s very competitive to get these jobs. I have an ex-boyfriend who called it ‘the Mafia of the acting world’ because no one gives up their spots and you have to kill someone to get in.”