Some employers, at least here in the states anyway, might hire you on for a 6-10 month stint to guage whether or not they want to keep you for longer. Mine did. Mine was 4 months but I'm here till december at least by the looks of it I make a little more now, thankfully Yup me too thank god! 20k is nothing in London! "Filler" is all the crappy projects that people use to pad out their reels (which you shouldnt do!). Only ever put your very best work on there even if it's only one piece! Alan