Commercial success

I did two commercials the other week.
One was for a well-known fast food company (Let's call them McBurger), the other one for a popular meal replacement drink (FatAway).
Oh the schizophrenia of being a working actress!
The other big difference was, on the FatAway commercial I was a fully paid-up principal, I turned up for 3 hours (a car came to pick me up from home) and got a decent fee for 10 minutes dancing with a smoothie bottle, they also paid to have my jumper replaced which got burn holes in it through my own stupidity (from placing it too near one of the light bulbs surrounding the makeup mirrors). Great! Lovely breakfast too, everyone was nice and I looked like a star.
Since it was a test commercial, it may not even get screened, saving me potential embarrassment, but offering the opportunity for further work (and pay).

The McBurger ad, I had to cycle to (to save money), then we sat around in an uncomfortable office without chairs- I had brought my Pierre Cardin suit which I then deemed unsuitable to sit on the floot with, so I just kept my black trousers on. I was only an extra that day, or "background artist".
When I got called into makeup I realised a girl I know was doing one of the speaking parts. Whilst I was on ninety quid for a ten hour day, she must have made a few grand to say one sentence.
Still, good for her I guess.
However, I ended up running through the shot more times than a hamster on a wheel, and we didn't break for lunch for six hours. We were starving.
After lunch, they released some people and decided to keep me and some others behind. No question of who wouldn't mind, just you, you and you, like cattle.
I dropped into an emotional hole and after a couple more boring hours and a rejection phone call from a theatre company, I couldn't stop crying for the last 3 hours of the shoot.
I actually stood at the 6th floor window considering my options.
They found me eventually and dragged me back on set, but I kept the back of my head to the camera so they wouldn't see my tears.
That commercial is on all the time now, and I am nowhere to be seen in that second set-up which took the last 4 hours to shoot!
I also missed my friend's corporate Christmas party I had been looking forward to, and had to cycle home miserable and feeling lonely.
Not great for a few quid!

But hey I feel much better now, I had a great experience those last two days on a "sensible drinking" commercial- everyone was nice and despite the freezing weather and the inability of anyone to find the central heating switch (until I discovered it on the last day) in the house we were filming in, we had lots of fun.
The house had two cats who cheered everyone up, and conversation on the extras bus got filthier than a tramp's shoes, which caused plenty of giggles and guaffaws. They should do a BigBrother bus, really! It would be great!
Just some mad, bored extras and a calor gas heater. Cheap production costs, great entertainment value!
The only downside was that on the first day someone locked the toilet at the unit base, and I had to pee behind a wall in the freezing dark, guarded by two ancient security men...