1
Is it really easy to be a star?
"Endorsement for a few minutes, into the bag of 7 million", "70 days of filming, crazy money of 100 million", "starring in cut-out dramas, paid nearly 10 million"...
In Hengdian, this kind of news emerges in an endless stream, they continue to stimulate the nerves of the public, so that countless young people are "fascinated", so that countless boys and girls are eager to move, so that they are fantasizing about the star dream of "overnight fame" all the time.
Few professions can be like stars, not only bright in appearance, sought after by countless people, but also well paid, thousands of dollars at every turn.
A few minutes on their stage may be the "ten years of work" of most people in the audience.
Therefore, driven by huge fame and fortune, about 200,000 people left their hometowns and came to Hengdian to do group performances. I long to one day become the glorious female (male) number one on the screen.
So, have these 200,000 "drifting" people really realized their "star dream"?
2
Hengdian Town, located in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, is known as the "Hollywood of China" and has now become a dream factory for the "Heng drift" people.
Every day, hundreds of young men and women flock to them, dreaming of being caught in the eye and becoming stars.
However, the truth is that the profession of star is not as easy as imagined, in addition to having a solid foundation as an actor, but also with a unique appearance.
Yes, not everyone is a professional actor, but although they are not professional actors, it does not mean that they are not group actors.
In fact, strictly speaking, everyone can be a group performance.
However, compared with those "popular actors", group performances are not treated poorly by one point or two, and there are even fewer "flying up the branches to become phoenixes", but there are also special cases.
Born in a rural family, Zhao Liying, presumably known to everyone, entered the show business circle because of a draft competition, and since then she has begun her seven-year dragon set career.
At the beginning, she played some roles such as girls, sisters, and daughters, and from time to time she was reprimanded by the director, rejected by her peers, and despised by the staff.
But she did not fall down, but with tenacity and perseverance, several times the effort, became the industry recognized as the "desperate three women".
7 years later, she was reborn in nirvana, and the dramas starring her such as "Shanshan Coming", "The Legend of Lu Zhen", "Flowers and Bones" were deeply loved by the public, and her fame soared, and she quickly became a new generation of top stars.
Similar to Zhao Liying's experience, there is Wang Baoqiang.
At that time, 14-year-old Wang Baoqiang, who ended his 6-year martial arts career, came to Beijing alone and became a "North Drifter".
In order to realize his dream of kung fu stars, he went to the door of The North Shadow at 4 a.m. to wait for the scene.
In order to make achievements, Wang Baoqiang in the filming process made extra efforts:
The role of filming is small, he does;
Filming has a transfer, he listens;
Filming is dangerous, he goes...
Driven by such a spirit, relying on a "Blind Well", Wang Baoqiang became famous overnight.
It can be said that for several years, the dragon set was unknown to no one, and the "Blind Well" was known to the world.
After that, he continued to work hard, and his works such as "Soldier Assault", "No Thief in the World", and "Tai Yuan" made him even more popular.
It is precisely with the precedents of Wang Baoqiang and Zhao Liying that these 200,000 group performances are encouraged, and they believe that the next Wang Baoqiang and Zhao Liying will be themselves!
Although there are very few people who have become famous, an important reason why they still flock to it is that the threshold for group performances is low.
Group performances do not require any professional skills, second, do not need higher vocational education, and third, the salary ends.
Their job is not complicated, they just need to follow the director's instructions step by step, either stand or move stiffly, or make some simple expressions, and don't need too much acting.
Moreover, they have neither performance pressure nor interpersonal communication, and every day is "brainless" work, which can be described as the ultimate freedom.
"Dreams still have to be had, what if they come true?" With such a mentality, it also makes the drifters have unlimited reverie: one day they will be favored by big directors, play the male (female) protagonist, marry Bai Fumei or Gao Fushuai, and embark on the peak of life.
But today's current situation is: the most important thing in Hengdian is group performances.
Moreover, among them, there are piles of beautiful women, single sticks everywhere, generally young, and not highly educated.
3
So, what is the current situation of group performances?
Someone once reported on the group performance life of Hengdian:
Some of them, who have been in Hengdian for 10 years, starred in "corpses" every day, and the result? The brain is about to "corpse"...
Some of them just got a script to shoot a drama because mandarin is not passed, and the result is? If you didn't choose it, you were scolded...
Some of them, on the first audition, accidentally made a mistake, and the result? No matter what kind of request, it was ruthlessly rejected, because there were still a large number of people to interview...
A shot that only requires fifty group performances, but more than five hundred group actors come to audition, and the admission rate is less than 10%, which shows the fierce competition.
You may think, being admitted to the 10% group performance, must be very popular, right?
Then you are disappointed.
In 2018, the basic salary of Hengdian group performances was 70 yuan for 8 hours.
In 2022, the basic salary rose to 90 yuan for 8 hours.
In four years, it has risen by 20 yuan, which shows that this situation of oversupply shows how cheap group performances are.
Not to mention whether you can be selected, even if you are selected, it is only 2700 yuan a month, you enter a factory, more or less can earn 4, 5 thousand.
Many times, the monthly income of male group actors is less than 1,000 yuan, not to mention that some of them have married and have children and have begun to take on the heavy responsibilities of the family.
Let me ask, what can this 1,000 yuan do?
What about female group actors? They are treated a little better than the male actors, but can you accept it?
During the filming process, if there is physical contact with the actor, such as hugging, you can add 100; expose the thighs, add 100; there are kisses, plus 200...
Some scenes need to be undressed, there is no wisp on the body, directly add 1000, simply shoot a few intimate scenes, you can earn more than 10,000 a month.
In addition to the basic salary, the average salary of female group actors is about 4,000, but this is only for good looks and slim figures.
Most of the female group actors who are not outstanding in appearance take the same salary as male actors.
Moreover, the social welfare of these group performances is also very small, there is no corresponding labor contract, there is no five insurances and one gold, in addition to the basic remuneration that does not rise every year, it will also provide a box lunch.
The reporters also interviewed some group performers at random, and in front of the camera, they said:
"I started waiting at the door at 4 a.m., and sometimes no one asked me until 7 or 8 p.m."
"When the group performance is tired, it is only a hundred pieces a day."
"I've been here for more than a year, I haven't made a few bucks, and I don't have the face to go back in the New Year."
4
But even so, why are there still groups of people piling up in the shop?
In fact, it is the double work of laziness and gambler psychology.
Fire is the dream of every group performance, but the dream is not so easy to achieve.
I thought that as long as I stayed here and "waited for the rabbit", I would definitely have a chance to become popular.
Such a probability is like buying a lottery ticket, putting a lot of time and money on the "gamble".
Such a shortcut to the peak of life may not be achieved in your lifetime.
Moreover, if you want to achieve this dream, without paying and sacrificing, there will be no day of coming out.
First of all, you must have a good face, like Zhao Liying, not necessarily a beautiful person, but must make people look refreshing and give people a comfortable feeling.
Secondly, you must also have the spirit of perseverance, like Wang Baoqiang, waiting at the door of the North Shadow at four o'clock in the morning, working diligently in the crew, others do not act, he acts, others do not listen, he listens, others are afraid, he goes.
Finally, you have to learn to sacrifice, you have to understand that you are a group performance, sacrificing your cleanliness, sacrificing your face, sacrificing your temper.
Correctly treating the director's reprimand, the screenwriter's difficulties, and the right conditions for the crew are all the driving forces that spur you on.
Wang Baoqiang once said in an interview: "There was a director who told everyone that this baby was a good girl, that she was a rural person, and she could only play some countrymen. ”
Zhao Liying also talked about her own experience: "The director said that I would not shoot a scene, and I would pout my mouth for no reason, like a pig's mouth." ”
Although these reprimands are very harsh, they are very open-minded, change them if they are wrong, and improve their acting skills to make up for these deficiencies.
But how many people can do this?
Zhou Xingchi also mentioned many times in "The King of Comedy" that the book "An Actor's Self-Cultivation", but most people only value the famous saying in the movie: "If people do not have dreams, what is the difference between them and salted fish?" ”
This is not wrong, but you also have to delve into yourself, have you done the self-cultivation of an actor?
There was a "horizontal drift" who broke the news that in Hengdian, people suffering from mental illness due to drama are not new.
First, because there are few opportunities to star, it is difficult to get the admission quota, just when they are ready to show their skills, in exchange for a long wait, and finally they are not selected, which is not a small blow to their spirit.
The second reason is that they often get close to the stars, so that they feel that success is at hand. Every day they live in their ideal world, but the real encounters hit them again and again.
The film "I am a passerby" is about the real life of the Hengdian group performance, and one of the group actors, because of the double blow of life and career, finally "went into the fire", which made people sigh endlessly.
5
It's good to have dreams, after all, no one wants to be a salted fish for a lifetime, but we must not just daydream to achieve our dreams.
There is not so much good luck in the world, and behind all the glamorous and beautiful, there is an unknown sad past and a struggle past.
If you want to be noble before people, you must suffer after people, and the counterattack of the grassroots is not a myth, but it is not so easy.
Finally, what do you think of these nearly 200,000 Hengdian group performances: Do you think they are brave enough to pursue their dreams, or are they living in a muddy nightmare?