Frustrating (Non) Walk-On Jobs

I've mentioned in earlier posts on here about my work doing 'Walk-On' work. On such television shows as 'EastEnders,' 'The Bill,' 'Lovejoy' and many others, over around 30 years, on and off. During the 1990's I think I was on something or other virtually every month during the summer. It trailed off as the new century started, basically because I was doing care work. As I'm now officially retired I thought I'd like to get back to doing SOME sort of supporting artiste work (please don't say 'extra' as it's a bit of an insult. I've been directed by the actual director on stuff I've worked on as well as A.D.'s (Assistant Directors) who are generally the people who work with the S.A's (Supporting Artistes) and give direction. I've never had any lines to say, but that doesn't mean you're not an important part of the film, or television programme-making process. If you make a mistake or don't take direction it means that a shot has to be re-done. Actors get annoyed, as they have every right to do, and it means that a 'take' has to be re-done. You have to be extremely patient, as many 'takes' can be done of a lot of the shots. From different angles, which means that the camera or cameras in some cases, have to be moved about, along with the lights, props have to be reset, along with furniture and this all takes time and effort. The S.A.'s can be the last people to be called onto the set and have to wait in a holding area, away from the actual shooting, usually on a bus or coach. Days can be long and VERY boring. You might have to arrive at a particular location at an unholy hour, say 5.30 a.m., and you might have had to drive some considerable way to get there, in the middle of the countryside perhaps and then, when you arrive, get herded around, sent to wardrobe and makeup and the, once in costume and 'made-up,' have breakfast and sit on the bus to eat it and wait for hours until you are used, maybe for 20 minutes during the whole day, or perhaps several stints of work over the whole day.

Well, having said all that, I used to get called by telephone from the various agencies I used to be with. Mostly in the Anglia area of East England, with the best (during the 1990s at least) Jaclyn, who were based in Norwich. I'd get a call from the ladies who ran it then, and they'd say 'can you work on . . . such and such a day? It's to work on . . . 'Lovejoy', 'Middlemarch' or whatever. I'd say, yes, or no, and then you'd pencil it in in your diary. Usually regular work on 'Lovejoy' and none of the 'you've been put forward . . .' business. You just said 'yes' to a job and then went to the location or studio on the allotted day and time.

I signed up to a couple of agencies. A couple of years ago I went up to London to register with Casting Collective. My stepson Daniel even came with me to make sure I got there. I think there was some concern that I was going to get lost or something. Hardly likely, but who knows? My photograph and my details were collected and put on their website. It seems that most casting is done using this technology. I can imagine it's easier than producing the more traditional 'Casting Book' that most agencies used to have. Probably less expensive as a print book must cost an arm and a leg to produce and then distribute to television and film companies as well as advertising agencies and other people most likely to need walk-on's as well a photographic models. After a while I began to get text messages. No such thing as a telephone call. You have to answer very quickly to these texts. Really  no personal touch with an agency ringing and speaking to you direct. I got quite a few 'you've been put forward for . . .' bites, one for something called John Carter of Mars and another for The King's Speech. A pity I didn't get to work on that, because it won the 'Best Picture' Oscar the year it was released. But no joy on either movie, unfortunately.

I also signed up with an agency in Birmingham called Extra People or something. We actually drove up to Birmingham to have photographs done at their studio in the Jewellery Quarter. A photo was posted on their website but I heard nothing for years. Until a few weeks ago I had an email from them telling me that they'd put me forward for a job as a gardener on something near Chipping Norton, at some large country house. I have a hunch it was to work on an episode of the popular series 'Father Brown,' which is filmed in and around Oxfordshire. It wouldn't have taken too long to get to the location, but then I got another email a few days later to say I hadn't been chosen. More recently I had another email from 20/20 after I'd responded, through Facebook, to a call for people to work on something at Cardington, in one of the former balloon sheds which have been converted into a film studio. I heard nothing further until a week or two ago when they sent yet another email asking for people to fill in for people who couldn't presumably fulfil a very long commitment to filming something called 'Big Ears' which I believe, after doing a Google search, is a live-action remake of Disney's 'Dumbo,' and being directed by Tim Burton. I sent a selfie, as well as my NI number and other details but, as Carol isn't well and now in hospital (see previous blog post) I couldn't accept, unfortunately. As it was for about a month-worth of work it would have been quite lucrative money-wise. So, after all the excitement of being even considered for work on something and then being told you haven't been selected, it's somewhat frustrating, to say the least.

There was YET ANOTHER call for work, again via email, for something filming in Milton Keynes. Don't ask me what it was for, or, for that matter, where in Milton Keynes. So, you can imagine I was keen to say 'yes' to it. But, you've guessed it, nothing came of it. You would think, would you not, that I'd be in with a chance with something that was being filmed virtually on my doorstep? But, no, I didn't even get a sniff.

I just don't understand this thing about being 'put forward' for this sort of work. It's not as if you're going to do an actual speaking part. You just have to be able to take a certain amount of direction, behave properly, not take any photographs on the set, be extremely patient and not trip over the scenery. They seem to make a big issue over something quite straight forward. I've been booked for work where you accept or decline the work offered work and then just go to the location and do the day's walk-on and that's the end of it. Then you sign the clit at the end of the day and get paid a few week's later.

Working In Care- Part 5

As I mentioned in the last post I did quite a few shifts at the house at Everton. I think I seemed to fit in with the other members of staff.  As a result I was booked there almost on a permanent basis, which meant that I knew I had a good run of work. The risk with doing any sort of temp work, whether it be industrial or care, is that you can never guarantee you will have enough work, but I was fortunate in that I had obviously made a good impression on the other permanent members of staff to be constantly re-booked for  shifts at Everton.   I also got to know the client group well which made the work a good deal easier. It had been my intention to get back to doing 'Walk-On' and 'Supporting Artiste' television work, and I was intending to get back to that sort of work eventually, and filling in with care work in between times. There were no major issues with such things as challenging behaviour, not to say that some members of the client group couldn't become quite challenging, but not of the violent type,  it was more verbal. It was nice that you could do a 12-hour day, starting as I said in the last post, at 7 a.m. and working through until 7 p.m. and going home.  This meant that I could do enough hours in a few days rather than over a seven-day period to make it financially viable. Most days were broken up into three shifts, starting at 7 and ending at around 2- 2.30, and the late shift coming on at that time and finishing at around 9-10 p.m. This was the sort of shift pattern all the N.H.S. homes throughout Bedfordshire used. At Vincent House we had to do night shifts, and these were for around a month. I don't like working nights as I'm a day sort of person and find it extremely difficult to keep awake and then to have to go home and try to sleep when it's light outside is extremely difficult. 

Not only did we have the general care tasks to perform in the home, but we had to do the shopping and cooking for the residents and part of your job you could expect to get a meal which you ate with the residents, so that was something of a perk of the job. I seemed to always get the job of preparing this evening meal and when I started my shift I would find myself in the kitchen peeling potatoes and other vegetables and making whatever was on the menu, such as cottage pie, sausage and chips or whatever.

We had to take some of the residents to daycare. I seemed to be attached to one particular client, a lady who went to Biggleswade and to a daycare centre run by Barnfield College, a sort of 'outreach' from the Luton college and a centre in Queen's Park in Bedford. She was in a wheelchair and another member of staff drove us there early in the morning and she was involved in such things as basic money-handling, personal care and drama. I was in my element with the drama part of the classes, with my background in stage management and puppetry really being put to good use. Every year the clients did a play, and it was quite amazing that people who in general had real issues regarding speech and communication could stand up on a stage and put on a show. There was a real sense that they were overcoming their problems by doing these shows. I helped with such things as scene painting and general running of the shows. These shows were watched by quite a lot of their friends and relatives and they were assessed by teachers and tutors and from this the clients were awarded certificates which were presented at a ceremony at the end of the year.

Working on Dennis Potter BBC Series "Blackeyes"

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I have done a fair amount of 'walk-on' or 'extra' work in television productions, ranging from 'EastEnders' to 'Lovejoy' and 'Keeping Up Appearances.' Generally you are in the background, literally 'walking-on', propping up the bar in the Vic in EastEnders or being a ruffian in the crowd in 'Middlemarch.' (This was described in quite a lot of detail in an earlier post.) Some you have to take quite a lot of direction. Anyone who says that being an extra or 'walk-on' is easy may like to know that you have to be able to take direction and not make mistakes and concentrate when being given instructions, as if you do  so it is going to waste valuable time and no production is going to want to employ people who constantly make mistakes and fool around on set. It is an expensive business making good quality drama for television and eventually you will be blacklisted and won't get used again.

On one occasion in the early 1990's I was called by my London agency as they were looking for someone to double for the actor Nigel Planer. I was told years ago that I had a striking resemblance to this actor (he made his name in the comedy series "The Young Ones.") This was for a new Dennis Potter series being made by the B.B.C.  called "Blackeyes," and the interiors were then being filmed at Ealing Studios. This would involve two day's work so I would need to drive to the studios each day. I was somewhat excited about this, as you can imagine, as I have never been a 'double' for anyone. Not only was I to be Nigel Planer's double, but I was to be his 'stand-in.' I have known that people do  this sort of work, being used on the set for lighting, setting up cameras, so that the star can remain in his/her dressing room or caravan and then just appear when needed for the actual filming. 

On arriving at the studios for the 'call' which was relatively early (as most filming starts at the crack of dawn for make-up, wardrobe etc.) I was met by a production assistant and then told that I would be working on the set with a young lady, ' who was standing in for  Gina Bellman, another star of the show, walking' the movements of the actors and speaking the lines. This was because most of the takes were very long, around 10 minutes, without any sort of 'cut away' and the camera was set up on a sort of track on the floor and as we spoke and moved around the camera would follow us. It was quite intensive and we had to get the moves right.

It was quite exciting filming at the famous Ealing Studios. At the time this was being filmed it was owned and operated by the B.B.C., but in it's past it was where a lot of really well-known films were made, mostly the famous Ealing Comedies such as 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', 'The Lady Killers;' 'Passport To Pimlico' and many more. In another studio next door to where the 'Blackeyes' set was built they were making one of the B.B.C. 'Narnia' series, based on the C.S. Lewis books. I'm not entirely sure which one, but during breaks outside the soundstages I saw actors in costume who were playing the little creatures which appeared in it, as they had taken off the costume heads and were standing around talking and having a cigarette break, so I assumed that was was what they were filming. 

During a lunch break one one of the days there I went to the canteen for lunch. I always talking to people I meet. It makes for really interesting day. The whole filming experience is really interesting and I have always had a keen interest in how television programmes and films are made. As I was sitting and eating my meal one of the crew sat with me. He was the lighting cameraman and we started chatting and he was telling me that for his next assignment (bearing in mind that this was around 1989-90 I'm talking about.) he was going to be filming a documentary series with Michael Palin, following in the footsteps of the character Phineas Fogg and going "Round The World in 80 Days." I now now how successful and popular that series became and how many more similar voyages Michael Palin made in future series, so it was quite a privilege to meet the man who actually went with him and filmed it!

Dennis Potter actually directed 'Blackeyes.' I can't say that it was one of my favourite Potter series, as I quite enjoyed his earlier series such as 'The Singing Detective', 'Pennies From Heaven' etc. This was somewhat controversial. A lot of his work has caused controversy in some way, but when you consider the rather dull drama we get served up by television these days, it certainly makes a difference to not have yet another police series or one set in a hospital. I suppose the nearest we get to what he was attempting would be Stephen Poliakov.

There were some scenes in the series where I was supposed to be watching someone through a window and I had to wear a costume that exactly replicated what Nigel Planer was wearing. There was also a scene where a man on stilts walked past the window of the flat and peers in. All this took a great deal of time and effort to film, but having since watched the finished, broadcast production I don't remember it being used, nor seeing myself in the background, watching through a window from across the street!  A pity, but you don't really do walk-on or even stand-in work to be seen necessarily. It was quite odd to stand and have a break with Nigel Planer as we are very similar facially. I just wish now that I had got someone to take a photograph with him. I was rather like looking at yourself in a mirror. I suppose today it would be a good deal easier, what with digital cameras and having cameras in mobile phones, but you aren't supposed to take cameras onto the set when you go filming, but I think people do regardless. All in all quite an interesting experience.