Some fine Toronto filmmakers are adapting a Yann Martel short story, We Ate The Children Last, into a film. The piece tells the tale of Porsicure, a Full Organ Xenofgraft that allows pig organs to be transplanted into humans. People are livin’ large at first, enjoying the medical benefits of this breakthrough, until things start to go a little…south. All of a sudden, their appetites are running in seriously inhuman directions, and no one knows how to deal as the pop culture phenomenon leads to mounting mass chaos.

Intrigued by the unusual story and eager to see it in action, I convinced them to let me tag along as an extra for a day, and spend a very pleasant hour strumming a guitar in the sun with an epic scar slicing down my neck and into my cleavage.

What I learned was that movie sets are much like well-oiled circus companies, with caravans packing up to move everyone, and everything, from place to place. Prop people, costume girls, and makeup artists were scattered around a UHaul truck, disassembling a giant news stand complete with handmade magazines featuring various crew members photoshopped into compromising tabloid stories. A lovely make up artist from Japan painted my scar on, and I was outfitted with accessories from a huge treasure chest of a suitcase-gauzy scarves, necklaces, bracelets, endless dresses for on-the-spot costuming. While talented maestros of cinema whirled around me in a hurricane of technical instruments, I basked in the sun and learned how to pretend to play guitar. Not a bad gig, this extra-ing thing.

I also got to bask in some serious young, local talent. And I’m not the only one who thinks they’ve got something going for them-Bravo stopped by the set to interview them while they filmed a riot scene, and Yann Martel himself was so impressed with their vision for his story, he’s given them signed copies of Beatrice and Virgil and Life of Pi, which they’re auctioning off. Want to win a copy? Head to their fundraising website and make a donation. Not only are you supporting a worthy cause, but you could score some sweet swag and serious intellectual bragging rights.