Boasting 28 years in the travel industry, Arline Sloan has been shortlisted in the home-based agent category at this year’s TTG Travel Industry Awards. But her route has been anything but conventional, combining work as a TV and film extra with her travel agency business.
Arline’s been doing extras work for 15 years and has a regular stint on EastEnders. She said: “I was always intrigued about being an extra, so I applied to an agency and they signed me. My first job was on Holby City. Since then I’ve worked with Richard Gadd on Baby Reindeer, Ricky Gervais on Muppets 2, Bradley Walsh, CBeebies Horrible Science, Silent Witness and many other films and TV series.”
During a stint as an extra on Ready Player One she got to work with and meet one of her all-time favourite film makers, Steven Spielberg. Talking about the experience Arline said: “I met Steven on set and got to chat to him about a scene. It was phenomenal to meet him, I couldn’t believe it. I’m an 80s child and have watched all of his movies so was completely in awe.”
She’s been a double on EastEnders and had small talking parts but mainly stars as a face in the crowd. A typical day on set sees her start at 7am, sometimes finishing at 11.30pm. After arriving on set extras get to relax and enjoy a cup of tea before filming begins. Every day is different and filming varies depending on what scene they’re working on.
Appearing on EastEnders allows her the flexibility to work on the move and led Arline to make a booking while on Albert Square. “I secured a £41,000 Orlando holiday while walking across the Square. I had my ear bud in and was putting the booking through on set, which was a bit different to my usual set up. The great thing about working on EastEnders is that you have so much downtime. They put you in a holding area while you’re not filming so I’m able to take my laptop and work on bookings and enquiries. It’s the best job ever and a great fit for a home-based agent.”
From home to high street
She’s also set to open a shop in Essex after winning a Scale Up Your Street competition with Jet2 holidays. She said: “I had to prepare a Dragon’s Den-like pitch and was one of 12 agents that won £8,000 to open a shop. Hundreds applied so to get through was a real achievement.”
The year’s shaping up to be a good one for Arline, with sales hitting half a million from January to June. She said: “This year’s been incredible. It’s crazy how things progress. Last year I hit £874,000 in sales and so far this year I’m on track to exceed that. I’ve been in the industry for 28 years; most of my bookings come from regulars, around 20% come from recommendations and the rest are new clients.
“I have lovely clients with bookings ranging from bucket and spade to higher end. I’ve never paid for advertising; I use Facebook to promote offers on my personal page and local groups. Google is also massive for me – I have 77 five-star reviews on Google, which drives customers to book. I love what I do and have so much passion for it. When things were bad in Covid it was a real challenge, but I worked hard to help people and secure refunds. I think the service I provided during that time really helped my business.”
Her travel agency work is more lucrative than the extras work, which is sporadic and comes in as and when. In terms of her TV work helping her travel business, she said: “I’ve had a few extras book holidays with me as we become friends spending so much time together chatting on set. But I don’t use it for that. I do the job because I love it and it gets me out the house. Being a home-based agent can get lonely sometimes so the job gets me away from my four walls to do something different, taking my laptop somewhere else.”
Her advice for other agents thinking about the extras route? “As long as it doesn’t affect your main travel agency work or your ability to get back to clients quickly, TV and film extra work is the perfect combination. I love the variety it brings to my working life.”
