I was once in film Daahling!

Enough on my mental health for the moment. Here I will regale you with tales of my life in film. In a never before told story I spill the beans on what its like to work with the stars of stage and screen!

Anyone can sign up to be a SA or Supporting Artiste. There are hundreds of agencies all over the country. The best ones only take commission from your first job of the year, the worst ones charge you a monthly or a sign up fee.

So way back in 2015 I signed up and got my first job. It was for a mini series called Arthur and George. It was an early call and I turned up on the set which was the Black Country Museum in Dudley. First things first and it was breakfast time. You get the most amazing food on set, as you eat the same as the stars do. I filled up on a little English fry up and some coffee. Then it was on to costume, basically for me shirt waistcoat and old trousers and some very uncomfortable boots. The directors had decided that they would want me as a featured extra. I could see from the faces of the SAs already there that they were a bit miffed. This normally means that rather than being in the background you normally end up in a scene with the stars. So it was off to make up. I went up into a large trailer and took my seat. The place was a treasure trove of make up and wigs and moustaches, I was in heaven! I looked across and sat next to me was none other than Martin Clunes! Morning Mr Clunes I said, Good morning he replied and that was that. The make up lady took one look at me and said I didn’t need anything doing, so of I went back to a building that was being used to store the SAs. It was an open set, meaning that the public were allowed to watch. We all went outside to watch the filming of the scene where there is a runaway carriage. They must have shot it 20 times and I think the actual scene lasted about a few seconds. Mr Clunes was being surrounded by people and he was lovely. He was very open with everyone and posed for pictures and signed a few things. As I stood there in my manky old costume this family of about 8 people stood in front of me and the dad said in a broad brummy accent ‘I told you it was im dint I’. They were all convinced that I was ‘somebody’ off the telly. ‘Im not anyone!’ I replied. ‘Nah, you cant fool me, I told you it was im dint I Tina, I said as soon as I saw im from over the car park it was that fella off the telly…what was you in , go on tell us’. As much as I tried I couldn’t convince them otherwise and they insisted on having their pictures taken with me! I hope they left the museum feeling that theyd met someone famous! So, as the day grew longer I watched all the other extras being used in scene after scene. I was getting a little bit worried that I wouldn’t even be used, as can sometimes happen. It was right at the end of the day when the assistant director came to get me and I was whisked away into the public house being used for a close up scene with Martin Clunes. Apparently, I was now the barman in the pub! I was fussed over and the two directors were so friendly calling me Doug and just letting me do my thing…polishing glasses and looking barman like. They directed me to serve a drink to the actor playing the policeman. He was, in army terms a dick. Even though it was my first time on set I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to direct me so that he would be in shot longer than I was. So I said yes of course and ignored him. I was listening to Martin Clunes dialogue with the policeman and I knew a bit of the background to the story, so I knew that what the copper was telling Mr Clunes was a load of lies. As I walked up and down the bar polishing a glass I briefly stopped and raised my eyebrow as if to say ‘I know youre lying’. Roger Moore would have been proud of my eyebrow acting! I loved every minute of it and know I was lucky to be chosen as a featured extra. I loved the atmosphere on set, the technical stuff and the passion that everyone showed for what they were doing. So, filming over and you have to wait weeks and sometimes months to see if you made it onto the big screen! I am pleased to say that on my first job I got 12 seconds of me and my eyebrow got 1.20 minutes of screen time. Its well worth watching and I think I appear in episode 2.

Some people make a living out of being an SA but I just did it for the experience and the food. To be paid £120 to do something so exciting is well worth the travel. I will tell of a few more adventures in film over the next few weeks so stay tuned folks!