Finding your way to set can be stressful, especially with early call times, unfamiliar locations and traffic.

While Availability Enquiries will include a general location, Check-In messages will provide you the exact address.

We encourage all artists to check their commute as soon as they recieve the Check-In so there’s no nasty surprises at 6AM the morning of the shoot.

All three of the following apps are completely free and will help you plan your journey before you set off, so are recommended staples for Supporting Artists.

What3Words

What3Words (styled as W3W) divides the world into 3m x 3m squares and assigns each square a unique three-word address. For example - cover.fired.unique will bring you to the London Eye.

This is particularly useful for remote areas or places without formal addresses, where postcodes are just too vague and where traditional navigation instructions might struggle.

As such, you’ll often see a W3W code with the filming location address in our Check-In Messages to help you locate exactly where you need to be. Sometimes there will be two codes, one for the car park and another for the Crowd base entrance.

Since the app works offline with pre-downloaded data, it’s a reliable tool.

That said, What3Words isn’t a full navigation solution. It pinpoints exact locations.

From here, it lacks the broader functionalities of navigation apps like Google Maps or Waze, such as turn-by-turn guidance.

Therefore, when using What3Words, you’ll want to click “Navigate” at the bottom of the screen, which will pull up your naivgation app of choice and translate the W3W code into real-world coordinates and provide routes.

Regarding navigation apps, many crowd holdings have bared witness to the great Google Maps vs Waze debate - the truth is that if you’re a driver, you should be familiar with both.

Google Maps

Google Maps is definitely the most versatile navigation tool, offering guidance for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport users.

The business listings with reviews and photos makes it ideal for planning and finding local services either side of a long filming day.

You can also download offline maps which allow you to navigate without an internet connection which can be handy for the really remote locations.

Additionally, the ‘Street View’ feature offers a visual perspective of your destination before you set off, which is particularly helpful for anticipating unfamiliar areas.

The real hidden gem of Google Maps for Supporting Artists lies in its “Timeline” feature, formally known as ‘Location History’. This feature can be found by opening your profile on the top right. You may need to turn this feature on if it isn’t already.

Timeline effectively tracks your journeys, and thereby your mileage. This can be incredibly helpful when it comes time to fill out your self-assessment for HMRC and you’d like to declare your mileage as a business expense. Even if you’re on top of your mileage tracking, this feature will back you up in case you ever forget or need to double check.

Waze

While Google Maps’ traffic updates are generally accurate, it occasionally struggles with temporary road closures or minor issues.

Waze is a driver-focused navigation app known for its real-time traffic updates and user-generated content.

It enables users to report accidents, road closures, and police speed traps as they encounter them. This often makes its pathfinding more efficient than Google Maps, which sometimes doesn’t grasp the true scale of congestion or delays.

If you click “Leave later” after inputting a location, Waze will give you a graph of all the estimated journey lengths, giving you a good idea of the best departure time to shorten your driving time.

Waze does have limitations. Unlike Google Maps, it’s designed exclusively for drivers, with no support for walking, cycling, or public transport directions. Additionally, it’s notorious for being a battery hog, particularly when running continuously in the background, so be sure your phone is plugged in and charging during your drive.

Regardless, Waze excels as a traffic-focused tool for drivers, offering dynamic route-finding options and ETA calculation that regularly outperforms Google Maps.

For drivers, occasionally one app can fail or behave strangely. Being familiar with both Google Maps and Waze means you can seamlessly switch to the other without losing time.

Always aim to give yourself a decent buffer time which can absorb any delays and disruption you may encounter during your commute. We always say to aim to get to your Call Time 15 minutes early.

If you encounter a serious delay during your commute, be sure to safely inform the production number in your Check-In message and provide an ETA if you can.

What other apps would you suggest to fellow supporting artists?

Leave your comments below!

Many Thanks,
The Extra People Team.

Log in to your Extra People profile HERE!

Have an Entertainment Partners profile? Try HERE.

SUPPORT CONTACTS

The email address to use for any profile-related issue is epcommunity@extra-people.com

If you have any booking enquiries please reply to the last email concerning that project. Your email will go to a dedicated email for that production.

If you have general enquiries that are not pay or booking related, please contact team@extra-people.com

On Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, we post Urgent Casting shout-outs and let you know
when the productions you’ve worked on are released. Follow us to stay informed!