Christmas Extra

The Wrapping

I was surprised to find myself with filming work in July. It was perfect timing though, as I was on holiday from my main job anyway and the additional income would mean I could make a proper start on saving for my skiing holiday, which as yet remained just a drunken conversation with Jonny a few weeks ago in the pub. Jonny was richer than me, so he probably wouldn't need to save up, but I definitely did.

Having joined the TV and Film extras agency a year ago, I was usually turning down work as it normally clashed with actual work or was spread over weeks on end and far, far away from my part of the country. But yesterday, an email arrived that not only caught me by surprise, it just happened to be on my doorstep.

"You kidding me?" Emily chuckled as I told her over the phone, on my way to the beach. "You're filming a winter movie on the rocks?"
"Yeh, I think they chose it because it is bleak and could be made to look like anywhere."
"You're gonna need a lot of fake snow to make that look convincing," she jeered.

As I got closer to the beach, which really was nothing like the traditional type of beach view you immediately summon up in your head when that term is used, there was a lot of hustle and bustle. The road leading up to it is usually deserted. Jonny and me used to go down there and play pirates when we were at junior school. Emily walks her dog there all the time and often tells me she can go for ages without bumping into a single person. Today the place was rammed with lorries and buses and people.

Despite having been on the agency's books now for a year, this was only the second job I'd been able to accept. The first had been a two day shoot where I played a mortuary assistant for a TV detective show. I spent hours waiting around in a freezing cold, derelict building, waiting for cameras to reset for a scene which involved two actors, myself and a load of dummies. My main involvement was looking through some microscopes in the background and my proud-as-punch moment was unveiling the cover on one of the pretend bodies for a detective to examine.

As I neared the cove, walking down the steep, chalky steps, I was asked to show some ID at a gate and then a nice woman, apparently called Beth, led me to a little tent where I was able to grab a cup of tea and a slice of cake. This was going to be lush. Easy money and a nice day by the sea.

Little did I know...