Iberian Bird

I had such an unusual morning the other day. I was an extra for a commercial
that was filmed in the Algarve. Having sent in my details to the production
company, I was among 100 extras that turned up at the Alvor Aerodrome to
take part. On arrival, I felt a little lonely considering there appeared to
be numerous small pods of friends all grouped together while I stood ‘on my
tod’, trying to appear confident and casual on my own. I also noticed that
many of the extras were Dutch (it is a Dutch production company), so I
wasn’t feeling brave enough to approach them, not being able to speak a word
of Dutch. Not that that would have really mattered… most Dutch people here
are incredibly friendly and all speak English!
However, eventually I noticed someone I knew from years ago, and his fiancée
whom I’d never met, so it was great to catch up while we waited for filming
to begin.
About an hour or two later we were called out to the middle of a slightly
muddy field where we proceeded t o watch a stunt pilot in a light aircraft.
There were plenty of ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’ where we all tried our very best at
acting suitably impressed (actually we were very impressed, this guy was
incredible!)
We waved, pointed, looked up and across, took photos, looked afraid (very
afraid…). Whether we were doing a fantastic job or not is another question,
of course! Hopefully at some point we will be able to see the fruits of our
labours, (perhaps on YouTube?), or the production company’s website.
I’ll keep you posted!
Oh… I almost forgot to say… we were all paid for doing
something that was actually a lot of fun. I do hope I’ll be asked to be an
extra again!