The fake butcher, almost-actor, journalist extraordinaire
Read the story of one man who was all three of the above.
For the first time, we’re featuring a Freelancing Fail from someone other than me.
*cue me breathing a sigh of relief that I’m not the only one regularly f***ing up*
First up to be featured is freelance journalist, Daniel Hall. Daniel’s story is short and sweet and it involves both ghosting and butcher skills. Two things I never thought I would put in the same sentence.
Before we jump into it, if you’ve got a past Freelancing Fail that you would also like to share, this is your opportunity to share it with the group. You can either write your story as a guest post or simply submit the information to be shared.
It can also be anonymous if you prefer and it certainly does not have to have a shining lesson of redemption. Sometimes, we just do stupid things - and that’s okay!
What happened?
“During my undergrad, a friend and I auditioned to be extras in a film in Manchester, and we were asked to tick a box on any extra skills that might be handy for the film. Obviously, there was the regular stuff like dancing, singing, and a couple of other things too.
“Unable to dance or sing, I ticked the box that said ‘butcher’, thinking I'd rather pretend to cut up meat than dance or sing. A few days after the audition, I was offered the role... as a butcher. Probably because no-one else had been dumb enough to tick the box.
“However, they wanted to be sure I'd be convincing. I just got really embarrassed and ignored their emails. My mate, who had ticked dancing and singing, was offered the role of 'New York city gent' where he just had to stand in the background of a few shots (even though he'd ticked dancing). He was paid £120 a day for five days of work, which was massive at the time!”
Did you learn something from the fail?
“Don't try and lie about things you have no experience of. You'll get found out, or you'll get so anxious you won't want to do it anyway!”
There you have it folks, turns out being an actor can sometimes demand butcher skills from you too. Who else is thinking about taking up some more diverse courses in Lockdown 3.0? (Are we on three now? Is anyone keeping track?)
I was actually also an extra on Made in Chelsea during my undergrad. I had to stand behind a couple breaking up at their Christmas party while sipping fizzy apple juice and pretend I couldn’t hear. Still, the blurry picture my mum took of me on the TV when it aired was worth the absolute cringe of the day.
Quite the claim to fame, I know. I’ll be accepting my BAFTA any day now.
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