Don’t like regular jobs, hate the normal everyday grind, wish you could just sit back be entertained and make money? Well folks your dreams have come true, welcome to the “unique” world of Audience work. Or as though of us in the know call it, CSG. Clap, Smile, Get paid. Sound to good to be true, well Yes and No.

In and around Hollywood there are at least 30 or more new pilots, game-shows, and reality shows being taped every week. The one thing these shows need that they don’t have immediately on tap, are people to fill the seats. Watching TV you must have wondered where do all those audience members come form. They can’t all be friends and family of the contestants or ticket holders can they? Indeed they are not. In fact, some of the biggest Primetime shows you can think of wouldn’t be able to stay on the air without paid audience members. While there are a small number of Casting agencies who cater to these shows, most of the work is freelance. Craigslist, Audience hotlines, and semi crooked casting companies all make up the driving force behind wrangling up audience members for your favorite TV shows.

What can you expect if you decide to make this a secondary source of income? Glad you asked. While you will get paid for just sitting there, looking interested and clapping, there are a large list of Pros and Cons to consider. So keeping that in mind, here’s some insider info.

The Good

Your paid tax free money as soon as and the taping is over. Strangely enough ten dollars of it is always gone before you get home.

The longer the show tapes for, the more you get paid. The Carson Daily show is a rare exception in that you wish it would end quicker.

Sometimes you get free beverages, snacks, movie passes, or even a t-shirt. Pay close attention to the Warm up guy who’s throwing out the swag. Sometimes he doesn’t look where he throws it. Trying to explain to your friends how you got a knot on your head from a Snickers bar is quite embarrassing.

You get to see all the slip ups and bloopers first hand, this comes in handy if you somehow manage to sneak in your camera-phone and post the pics on TMZ.com

Watch TV with your friends when the episodes air, then bet them extremely high amounts of money that something particular will happen on the show.

Though it’s rare, you might actually meet that special someone sitting right next to you. Or in my case, a dominatrix (true story). Better yet, you both can combine your money and afford a really nice dinner somewhere.

You are witness to free dance competitions. Whenever life is getting you down, just think about that poor tourist who came to see the show from Iowa and got picked to be in the dance competition. I still chuckle about it to this day.

Photo by lishaharris

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