'Persuasion'

I did the Persuasion job last Saturday. I played the candle seller. My stall right next to the cake stall, which was pretty handy, and tasty.

Very different experience on this job, to 'The Other Boleyn Girl'.

1. No repeated threats of dismissal, in case any of the
extras carried mobile phones, and thus cameras.
2. No displays of obsequiousness to expensive, cosseted Hollywood
actors.
3. No casting agents on location trying to stem revolt among the
extras, because the agent has cut a deal with the production
company. So blatant; all you can do is curl your nose, and hope
you don't inhale too much of the smell.
[The lie: "We don't cut deals with production companies." ]
4. Good food. That is, not finding yesterdays Cumberland sausage in
todays steak pie.
5. Not feeling generally like a piece of meat, herded around on
demand.

Yes, an enjoyable day. All dressed up in 19th century gear,
walk the 700 yds through the busy centre of Bath to get to the
location. Good food. And, just about everyone I spoke to, who had
worked on 'Persuasion' earlier in the week while I was at
"..Boleyn Girl", .... said they had enjoyed it.

An onlooker had a mobile/camera....



Andrew

Jane Austen's 'Persuasion'...

Well, surprise..., the Bath agent phoned me mid-afternoon yesterday
to ask if I would do some work on 'Persuasion', Saturday. I drove
across for the costume fitting today.

I play a market trader, and I reckon I looked pretty good in that
gear, complete with 19th century winklepicker shoes. Unlike my role
in 'The Other Boleyn Girl'..., in which I look more like a hard-faced,
rather malevolent character than the servant that I'm really playing.

Anyway, the call-time on 'Boleyn Girl' tomorrow is 6am. So the alarm
will be set for 4.15am.

And I'm off to bed now.

Andrew

'The Other Boleyn Girl' ....

Tuesday 26th September...

This all started about a month ago when the agent phoned
, and she mentioned a minimum of three days work, probably
more, between 2 - 7 October. In a period drama.

I'd had several calls from her in the previous few months,
checking my availability for films, documentaries. So this
time I asked.., "Is this an availability check, or is it
real..?" It was real. And could I grow a beard, and let
my hair grow long.

I didn't hear much after that, but did a couple of other
jobs, where I mentioned to other people about the 2-7 Oct
and it seems that this 'period drama' is the film
of Jane Austen's 'Persuasion'.

Anyway, the third week in September dawned, and the 'offer'
had transformed from 3 days definite, probably more.... into..

a costume fitting, and asked to be available for the last week
in September and the first week in October, at upwards of 13%
less rate of pay than was originally mentioned. And with no
offers about number of days work. This all became clear so late
in the day, that I felt that I had been taken for a ride.
Particularly in making myself unavailable for other work. Oh,
and I forgot to mention , no overtime. And it was a completely
different film.


So anyway... Tuesday the 26th came. The production company
people had told me before I left on Monday night that I wouldn't
be needed the next day. So on the Tuesday morning I mulled a few
things over.

About 2pm I received a text message from the agent, to say that they
needed me for the Wednesday, and could I text them back to confirm.
I didn't reply. About 3 oclock, they tried phoning me on my mobile.
I didn't answer it, and they left a voicemail. I returned home about
5, and found that they had also phoned my landline. I phoned them
then.

An assistant answered. I said.. "I got your message, and yes I'll
do your job for you tomorrow. And I'd like a few words with Kate
(the agent). The agent was on the other phone, so she would call
me back.

She did.. I didn't mess around too much. I said that I didn't much
like the way that something definite had transformed into something
else completely, and completely one-sided. And "I don't quite know
how this fits with your view of things, but when I work on something
big budget, and I'm working about 5 yards away from people being paid
about 10 Million, I like to feel that in some way I'm sharing in the
largesse, even as an extra. If I was working on something with no
budget, but was creative and interesting, then I'd be willing to work
for nothing. This is a big film, and they've just had 15 hours of my
time for less than the minimum wage."

And she apologized. A huge, huge, apology. Some of the others had
been on to her that day. No petrol money. No recompense for taxi
fares for people without cars getting out to somewhere in the back of
beyond in the early hours of the morning. People feeling that they
were being treated as second-class life-forms on set. Long day,
stiffed on the rate.

She said that she wished she hadn't taken on this film, that it was a
100 Million film being made for 30 Million. That the agency was
earning virtually nothing from it. That she had to some extent been
pressurised into it. And that she had lain awake at night 'worrying
about you guys'. Etc..

Quite a performance. If it was a performance, then it was an
Oscar-winning one. It seemed genuine to me. So I accepted it. For now.

Janet Street-Porter ....

Looks like I've got to correct something....

On one of my earlier posts, I suggested that perhaps the reason
for Janet Street-Porter's 6 marriages was her moaning.

Apparently this is not true, at least according to the more recent
article in one of the Sunday's. According to Janet, within quite
a short time of marrying her first husband Tim Street-Porter, she
was off sleeping with various people. She didn't feel anything for
them, it was just good sex, and she didn't give the matter(s) much
of a second thought. And she didn't feel that she was doing
anything objectionable.

However, she wrote, when Tim found out he seemed to get terribly
upset, and promply left her. And she felt that she had ruined a
perfectly good marriage.

...... 3am. Front door opens. Figure enters hallway. Climbs stairs.
[Camera follows]. No knickers. Bitemarks on bum. "I'm home, dear.."