Things that fire my imagination…4. Location Shoots.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work on numerous TV and film shoots throughout my life, sometimes playing a role with dialogue and at other times serving as an extra or background artiste.

In my twenties my interest in serious acting work lessened and I preferred to concentrate on singing, but I was more than happy to continue to work in the film industry as a background artiste for extra money; after all, I knew the job from all my years at stage school and sometimes it was easy money. At other times, it was incredibly demanding when called to work in the freezing cold in a flimsy costume, during the night, or stand all day…well, the list goes on, but I wanted to tell you a little about one particular job that was the inspiration for my short story The Maid.

The location escapes me now, but I knew filming there I might have the opportunity to see areas of the house not open to the public as often happens in film shoots.

As described in The Maid I did arrive before dawn on a freezing day in 2011, but myself and three other women were booked to play housemaids for the week. The film was John Carter, based on a story by Edgar Rice Burroughs and we were warned it may take a long time for us to be called to set and that we wouldn’t be required very much anyway. We had a nice little trailer to wait in, and after breakfast we settled down to wait, which is what all background artistes must be prepared for. Not for those of a restless nature this job.

When presented with a possible twelve hour day during which it is one’s job to ‘wait’, the conversations that occur can be quite amazing. Discussions are unhurried, and with a sympathetic group, many a niggling or even serious problem can emerge and be discussed; sometimes, it is easier talking to relative strangers than those close to us as I’m sure you know. The first day passed with only one of us being taken to do a scene at the end of the day, and then that was the job finished for her. The director wanted a different maid each day to give the impression of a grand household with many servants, so we said goodbye to maid number one on Monday evening.

The lady I found most interesting was sewing a rag rug like the one I spoke of in the story, and she is whom I based ‘Violet’ on. She spoke with a gentle Norfolk accent and managed to combine nursing with extra work, a bizarre combination. Somehow, her tales of narrow boat life and watching her sewing her rug fascinated me, and I was lucky that by day three, it was she and I who remained. Then, she was called to set and I knew I would be on my own for day four.

By this time I had ‘waited’ three days to be called on to work, and earned pretty good money for it when at last my moment came. I had to admit the little trailer was forlorn without my companions, and rather eerie under the shade of a huge tree in the grounds so I was not sorry to be called to set before lunchtime to take part in a scene in the mausoleum. As I had hoped, it was an area not usually open to the public but it had a foreboding atmosphere, and the actors were grim and serious. My action was similar to that I describe in the story, having to fiddle about in the background with something noisy and yet make no noise, which is never easy! I was finished by lunchtime, but my mind was full of the conversations I had had with my fellow ‘maids’ in the little caravan in the grounds, and especially of the lady who would become ‘Violet’ in my story, which was taking shape in my mind.