h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Remember the John Cusac movie "One Crazy Summer"? I was one of the cub-scout-type kids chasing the blonde girl. Well...I was cut out in the end. Several of my friends did make it to the final cut though.

I was paid with a turkey sandwich and a bottle of veryfine fruit punch. It was a good day.

It sounds like it was... I would have asked for two very fines, though

unfortunately they only had one for each of us.

From the International Express newspaper

They say you should never work with children or animals, and when a performing duck costs five times more than an actor to hire it is easy to see why. Thespian Muscovy duck George was sacked from the stage after it emerged his £250-a-day wages eclipsed the British acting union Equity's minimum £292.84 for a six-day week in the West End He was replaced by an out-of-work actor waiting in the wings, who was dressed up in a duck outfit for a fraction of the cost. But the duck is not alone in charging premium rates, and pet owners might soon earn themselves a reputation for being as pushy as child actors' parents. There is no rate card for performing animals, but agents confirmed that a dog could charge up to £350 for an eight-hour day and a performing pig £400. While a walk-on artist might expect to be paid £65 for a day's work, a snake could command around £250 and a horse up to £500.

Kay Weston, who runs Animal Ambassadors agency, supplying all species of animals for films, TV and advertisements, told how one of her rats appearing on BBC1's children's factual series Space Detectives earned more than members of the studio crew. "I know it sounds ludicrous but you have to remember that the cost charged for the rat is not for the rat alone at alone. The price includes training, transportation costs, handling fees and, for some animals, insurance," she said. "To fulfil some requests I may have to hold auditions in a village hall to find the right animal and spend weeks researching the job. All of these costs have to be met."

Even a humble donkey can cost twice as much as an actor on the minimum recommended wage. Claire Belton, who runs Animal Extras in St Kew, Cornwall, as a source of funding for the New European Distressed Donkey Initiative, said: "For a local job, where the donkey and handler could go to their own home at night, we would probably charge around £30 a day for the donkey, plus £50 for the horse box and handler."