The road to fame for extras is full of thorns

Source: Zhonggong Network

"Effort! struggle! Zhou Xingchi's dragon set Yin Tianqiu, played in "The King of Comedy", shouted his ambition to the sea. This classic shot has also become the driving force in the hearts of countless latecomers, including Wang Baoqiang, who has now achieved fame.

Extras, a familiar and unfamiliar name for the public, are familiar with the fact that people can always see their voices and shadows in film and television dramas; strangely, the faces of most group actors are blurred and difficult to define. With a salary of day-to-day and no fixed social insurance, these low-level figures in the film and television industry continue to pursue their star dreams. The top of the pyramid leading to "Wang Baoqiang" is full of thorns along the way, what are they experiencing? The reporter interviewed the "passers-by" in the Shanghai Film and Television Park and talked to them about the untold stories behind them.

The daily wage rose from 50 to 90

Still can't afford to pay the rent

Located in Songjiang, Shanghai Film and Television Park was long known as Chedun Film and Television Base, and the film and television base built in 1992 has many landscapes of old Shanghai style. Film and television dramas such as "Love Is Deeply Rainy", "Kung Fu", "New on the Beach", "Sparrow" and so on are filmed here. Extras also poured in from that moment on, leaving their footprints and images on every set.

When I went to visit, Wong Kar-wai's film "Blossoms", adapted from Kim Woo-cheng's novel, was being filmed intensely, but out of secrecy, the entire shooting process did not allow outsiders to enter. However, the extras still have the opportunity to get close to the superstars participating. Hu Wei from Datong, Shanxi, is the "old Keler" in the Chedun group performance, and he is 50 years old this year, and he definitely belongs to the big brother level in the group performance. Because many era dramas require the image of middle-aged men aged 40-50 with life experience, Lao Hu has jumped from the most basic group performance to a special actor in just a few years. Hu Wei said with some pride: "I have only been here to do group performances for more than 5 years, but soon I have a special play." "Generally speaking, the salary of group performances is 90 yuan a day, and special actors, that is, those who have one or two lines and can show their faces, can have an income of 300 yuan a day, and some crews will be particularly generous and will give 500-800 yuan a day."

The reporter learned that the daily salary of the group performance has also increased in recent years, from 50 yuan to 90 yuan in the past five years. Zong Xiaojun, head of the group performance department of Shanghai Film and Television Park, told reporters that in general, the working time of 90 yuan a day is 8 hours, and more than 8 hours must pay overtime. According to its disclosure, the crew is more trustworthy in this regard, and overtime wages will be paid to these group performers on time.

Sun Jinxue, from Shandong, is now a team leader, the administrator of the extras. He also started from the most ordinary group performance, step by step. He told reporters that although the daily wage has now risen to 90 yuan, the rent around Chedun Town has also been rising. Better, the house with independent bathroom and gas is also nearly 2,000 yuan, so many group performances still choose villages with worse conditions farther away, and the price of those houses is about 800-900 yuan a month.

Group performance composition:

Workers from the north and south of the sky

Enter from the north gate of Shanghai Film and Television Park, walk straight along the "Middle Tibet Road" and turn left at the intersection, pass through the tramway, "Yong'an Company" and "Xinya Restaurant", and come to a white building, the second floor is where the group performance department is located.

There will always be people sitting in the seats in front of the building, most of whom are group performers waiting to start work. When the reporter went to visit, it was Friday afternoon, some group actors were coming out of the set to rest, everyone sat in pairs and chatted and rested, and some took out their mobile phones to brush vibrato and spend the waiting time.

Cui Dong, an Internet celebrity in the mouth of many group actors, has 700,000 fans on Douyin. He once received millions of likes for a rather magical kick-and-kick video. But in the car pier, the group performances are the same, the Internet celebrities are also the same role, the director and producer look at it, otherwise it will still be 90 yuan a day treatment. Before Cui Dong did the group performance, he worked in the electronics factory next to Chedun Town. "Aren't you from a lot of electronics factories here?" The reporter asked. "There are a lot of people who come to play and see the stars at first, but gradually they fall in love with this line." Cui Dong said that he was one of them.

At this time, Sun Jinxue on the side also told reporters that he chose to come to the film and television park precisely because he could not stand the boredom on the assembly line in the factory. "At one point, my eyes were almost closed, the assembly line was still spinning there normally, and my work didn't seem to be affected." Sun Jin said that it was at that moment that he realized that he should change his way of living.

Therefore, Sun Jinxue from Shandong met Cui Dong from Shangluo, Shaanxi, the two of them have been doing group performances in the film and television park for nearly ten years, partnering on countless sets, and now both of them are lucky to become the leaders of the group performances, and at the same time, they will also have the opportunity to take over the scenes, because neither of them wants to give up the opportunity to appear in front of the camera.

The reporter learned from the interview that most of the group performances in the Shanghai Film and Television Park come from migrant workers from nearby factories, and some of them directly switch from migrant workers to full-time group performances, looking for opportunities to perform here all year round. Zong Xiaojun, head of the group performance department, told reporters that due to the impact of the epidemic last year, the number of demand for group performances has suddenly decreased sharply, compared with the original demand of five or six crews turning on at the same time and thousands of people at the same time, the current resident group performances may only be 500-600 people. He admitted that the changes in the film and television industry are also very fast, and there are too many crews to queue up when it is good, but in the trough period, there may not be a crew a day, and for group performances, it is also a real "watching the sky to eat".

It is too difficult to be "Wang Baoqiang"

More seeking to transform into field business, etc

In an interview, 50-year-old Hu Wei told reporters very directly that it is almost impossible to jump out of another "Wang Baoqiang" in the group performance. "Capital has decided, who to praise, who to push, not you a group of talented directors and producers who want to win you red." What Hu Wei said is not unreasonable, and many of the group actors who have been groping in the film and television park for many years have slowly transformed into behind the scenes.

Sun Jinxue has become a group leader, and at the same time will help some crews to do field work. "Be diligent, but also react quickly, there are many unexpected situations on the set, if you can solve the problem in time, the director and producer will look at you, and the next project they will find a reliable team to do things." 」 He has done a lot of film and television drama live production and other positions, he feels that doing these jobs is also a "curve to save the country", although the final subtitle scroll of the film and television drama has not been able to add his name, but Sun Jinxue is still very much looking forward to the future of the film and television industry, "I think my road is still long, I want to work harder, now every time I follow the group, I am learning, to summarize." ”

Provide skills training for group performances

The move was widely welcomed

It is worth mentioning that Shanghai Film and Television Park is not at all relaxed about these "passers-by A" and "passer-by B" from tiannanhaibei, in 2017 and 2018, Zong Xiaojun organized two consecutive "mass actor acting training classes", and gave them acting lessons. Zong Xiaojun said that at that time, some of the old actors who went to the film came to teach lessons, and the effect was very good, teaching them the shape and lines, and finally finished the course with a skit performance. One training session lasted for a whole year, with different classes and different teachers scheduled every week.

Hu Wei participated in the training as one of the first trainees, who was almost 50 years old at the time, and he was obviously an outlier in the class, but unexpectedly, the teacher had a very high evaluation of him. Zong Xiaojun said that in that class, Lao Hu's grades were among the best, and the final sketch performance was full of color. Hu Wei also told reporters: "My life experience is also a big ups and downs, in Datong, Shanxi, I did business early, I started an Audi early, but then the business was gone, almost lost, and could only come to Shanghai to find opportunities." Lao Hu's experience also made his eyes, body shape and posture different from other group performances, coupled with his love for acting and a little talent, he quickly became a favorite actor for many crews.

No accident insurance and no social security

Who will protect the rights and interests of group performances

The reporter learned in the interview that the current group performance salary is in the form of a daily settlement, basically do not pay social security, and have not purchased any personal accident insurance. Cui Dong told reporters very directly that he did not pay social security, and the crew was generally a verbal agreement, and once an accident occurred during filming, the cost would be borne by the crew. According to many previous media reports, the crew will sign contracts with those actors who have been stationed in the group for a long time and purchase relevant insurance, and group performances like the end of the day will not have insurance.

Previously, many domestic crews had disputes arising from group performances that could not be paid after being injured in filming. Some experts said that the current Employment Contract Law cannot cover all groups and types of work, and the extras are in the "gray area" of the Employment Contract Law. The relationship between the "group head" and the extras is similar to the relationship between the contract foreman and the worker in the construction industry, and even more loose than the contract worker relationship. For the management of extras, in the case that the law is not perfect, it can only be regulated from the level of industry rules. For example, the "Actors Guild" belonging to the Hengdian Film and Television Group can effectively eliminate the phenomenon of the deduction of the salaries of mass actors.

Journalist's Note

endeavor! struggle! No matter which line you are on, what you need to remember is the two shortest sentences. In the interview, I saw the glow of their sincere and plain faces, and although they flashed in front of the camera, although their names were not found as the subtitles scrolled, these unsung heroes made up the brightest undertones in the industry. At the same time, for these hard-working industry grassroots personnel, the relevant departments should give them more rights and interests to protect, so that they can have more head-on and more solid backing. (According to the "Labor Daily" report, Zhuang Congzhou, chief reporter of the Labor Daily, wrote/photographed)

Editor-in-Charge: Yimeng Yao