I have some insight into this phenomenon. I'm a propmaster who, for reasons of professional courtesy to a desperate colleague, recently found myself on a cheapo tv movie. The producer thought he was smarter than everyone else in the industry - and was always trying to cut ridiculous corners and haranguing us to "think creatively, dammit".

He made an executive decision that we'd "save money" by hiring low-cost extras instead of professional musicians for a four day dancehall scene involving a 12 piece orchestra. By this point the Ass't Directors had had a bellyful of him, and just said "whatever you say, boss".

Producer was informed on the morning of, that due to union rules, extras pretending to be musicians actually get paid as musicians. Then, when the know-nothing extras were positioned and it became clear they didn't even know how to assemble their instruments, much less hold them properly or convincingly mime playing them, he actually expected me, the Propmaster, to give them proper instruction!

"Sorry, sir, I have no musical knowledge. I just procure the instruments that were on my list, and make sure they get to set on time.

"Pity we've only hired extras and not real musicians, though. Because not only would they be able to look like they're actually playing, they'd have brought their own instruments, so we'd also have avoided the expense of having to rent instruments. Which, by the way, has unexpectedly run up my budget by several thousand dollars. There'll be a Budget Alert on your desk this afternoon."

This was the guy's standard methodology: paying a premium to have something look like shit. And just wait until you hear about the non-wait extras that showed up at the high-end restaurant, and whom he insisted flourishingly bring exquisite dinners out from the kitchen , four plates atat a time. The breakage was astounding