I do a group performance at Netflix, and my salary is ten times that of Hengdian

Breakfast and lunch are full, there is a shuttle bus back and forth, and when you are tired, you go back to the tent to rest, there are blankets and snacks. Perform 4 hours a day, and at the end of the day, make a net profit of 3000+.

This is the treatment of the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem", Qihan, a former participant, told us that he didn't want to do this job anymore.

Author | Zhan Shibo

Edit | Lu Yiming

Title Picture | Squid Game

Asian faces in international dramas are becoming commonplace.

After the introduction of "Chasing the Murderer in the White Night", "Wu Liuqi", "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Langya Bang", the streaming giant Netflix finally made up its mind to spend real money to shoot Chinese dramas. "The Dreamer", "Who is the Victim", "The Three-Body Problem", etc., every cultural translation of Netflix is difficult not to cause heated discussions.

And when we shift the focus from the leading actors on the poster to the group performances with Asian faces, the audience's curiosity will change again: where are the Chinese group actors in the drama series? What are the benefits? What is the difference between being a group performer on Netflix and being a group performer in Hengdian?

Qihan is one of Netflix's Chinese group performances. As a Chinese student with 6 years of modeling experience, he laughed at himself for changing from a humanoid hanger on the catwalk to a humanoid backdrop in Netflix dramas.

When Qihan was placed on the production line in a cross-cultural way by this film and television factory, his observation may make us initially disenchant the most mature content production model at present.

The following is Qihan's answer.

(Photo/Netflix version of "Three-Body Problem" stills)

01

From "humanoid hangers" to "humanoid backdrops"

Before I became a group performer, I worked as a model for 6 years. At that time, I was studying in New York, and I spent most of my spare time in the show and studio. After doing it for a long time, you will find that there are actually very few things that models can show, and the evaluation criteria are very single - in addition to the appearance is the measurements, the career growth space is also limited. I've come to agree with the saying "a model is a living hanger".

Then one day, I accidentally clicked into a group performance recruitment website, signed up without thinking too much, and filled in a lot of information. About a week later, I received an email saying that a crew was looking for an Asian group.

For the sake of confidentiality, the email will not reveal the specific title of the play, but will only tell you the production company, the image you will play and the general category of the play. If the group performers need to eat in the play, or if the story has an obvious religious background, they will ask in advance. If you are a vegetarian or have a special creed, alternative arrangements may be made.

THE EMAIL I RECEIVED MENTIONED THAT THIS IS A DRAMA CODENAMED "STRAIGHT SHOOTER" AND THE PRODUCTION COMPANY IS NETFLIX. I've always been curious about the large-scale film and television production process, and I heard that the benefits of this kind of crew are very good, so I signed up.

(Photo/Netflix version of "Three-Body Problem" stills)

Later I realized that their recruitment emails should not be sent out in bulk, but in a targeted manner. When filling in the information, in addition to the appearance and ethnicity and measurements, they will also ask you about your previous work experience, such as working as a bartender.

About a week after I registered, I received my acceptance email. It was April 2021, and before the official shooting, in addition to trying on makeup, we also needed to go to the base to do nucleic acid.

It was also my first trip to Netflix's base. The Netflix base is in the southwest of London, and I have the impression of a lot of huge white studios and post-production bases.

The bus that picked us up and the booth where the costumes were all written "STRAIGHT SHOOTER", and the staff tried on a small military uniform for me, but another group performance in the same group tried on the clothes of ancient Chinese soldiers. At the time, I was still a little puzzled about what Netflix was going to shoot, spanning so many dynasties in China.

In The Three-Body Problem, there is a game that deals with scenes from ancient China. (Photo/Netflix version of "Three-Body Problem" stills)

It took me two and a half days to try out and test the nucleic acid, but they were also subsidized. I live in the city of London, a bit far from the base, but there is a shuttle to and fro.

Another thing that impressed me was that there were only 5 people in my batch of makeup trials, but there were 30 makeup and hairdressers. It takes about thirty or forty minutes for each person to try on makeup, and it's hard for me to imagine how much labor cost it will be.

02

Shoot for 4 hours and change for 3,000 pieces

I had to get up very early on the day of the official shooting, and the shuttle bus departed from downtown London at 3 a.m. and drove for about an hour to get to the base.

After the ensemble got dressed, they were all arranged in a large tent to wait for filming. There will be a food truck in front of the tent for us to choose from for breakfast, with potatoes, tomatoes, grilled sausages and eggs, a little bit of each, which is more British.

When we go to the set to shoot, we can also bring our mobile phones in. There were a lot of group performances on site, but there was never a case where the sound emitted by electronic devices affected the shooting.

On the second day of filming, a group actor deduced the title of the play based on the actors' lines, and then I learned that we were filming "The Three-Body Problem". I haven't read the original "Three-Body Problem", and I have the impression that it is a science fiction novel, but the set at that time gave me the feeling that it was like the kind of revolutionary drama that I often saw on TV in elementary school, which was really a bit disconnected.

Later, I learned that we were filming the opening scene of the first episode, which had about 300 people. When it was time for official filming, everyone was gathered in a big playground. We don't have specific lines, we just remember that the director made each of us wave a little red book and "go crazy" as much as possible.

In those days, I often had the illusion that I had suddenly returned to the first day of junior high school when I participated in military training. I haven't been in China since high school, and I haven't seen so many Chinese people in many years, wearing the same clothes and shouting the same words.

But the English pick-up that appears from time to time will still bring me back to reality for a second. I realized that many of the group performers were not Chinese, and even Chinese people did not necessarily speak Chinese, so the assistant director used English when he talked to us. The director and actors are both Chinese, and they communicate in Chinese instead.

The intensity of the group performance is much smaller than expected. We shoot for up to 4 hours a day, and almost every half hour to an hour, the director would let us go back to the tent and take a break. There was heating in the tents, as well as blankets, hot tea and snacks prepared by the staff.

In addition to breakfast, lunch is also provided free of charge and is divided into three categories: regular, vegetarian (regular vegetarian who does not eat meat) and Vegan (vegan who does not eat meat and does not eat any animal-related foods, including eggs, honey and milk). Generally, it is a combination of staple food + vegetables + protein + dessert, and tea and coffee are placed on the table for self-picking. If you finish work after 6 p.m., there will be food such as burritos that you can bring to eat on the bus back to the city.

During the whole filming process, only one eldest brother quit halfway because he had to take care of the child. In this case, the full day will not be deducted, only the time he will be present will be compromised. And even if the "pigeon" is done with the crew, it will not affect him to continue to perform in a group next time. On Netflix, I haven't heard of anything like a blacklist between crews.

After about a month, I received the remuneration, and after deducting 15%-20% of the intermediary fee, the platform got about 1,300 pounds (about 11,000 yuan). Excluding the two half-days of pre-filming nucleic acid testing and fitting out, the average daily salary of the group performance is about 340 pounds (about 3,000 yuan).

群演的薪资也都是公开的。 （图/Entertainment Partners官网）

That's a little bit higher than my previous daily wage as a model, but if you count the hourly wage, it's better to be a model. I used to earn about 250 pounds (about 2,200 yuan) a day for the catwalk, but I only had to spend four or five hours a day. I can get a daily salary of more than 300 pounds for doing group performances on Netflix, which comes more from starting early and working more than 9 hours a day, and if I just work normally, the basic daily salary I get is more than 100 pounds (about 900 yuan)

I feel like everyone is here to experience life, so few people care about specific benefits. Of course, if you come for the second time, it should be to make money, after all, this is a good opportunity for students to make extra money.

When the episode aired, I realized that the scene I was in was only 5 minutes long, and we were filming for three whole days. My friend watched "The Three-Body Problem" to find me at first, but then he was attracted to the plot when he watched it. From this point of view, Netflix's remake does not seem to be too much of a failure.

But if there is an opportunity to do a group performance in the future, I will probably decline.

03

"A group performer is not an actor"

I know that the overseas acting atmosphere is already relatively friendly, and European and American group performances will be of higher quality than those in the modeling circle, but what I really want to do is still an actor.

"The Three-Body Problem" is a big production, but I still can't write the experience of being a group performance in it into my resume, because group performances have no hard requirements for acting skills, and it is difficult for my acting skills to be improved by doing group performances.

The time cost of doing group performances is also very high, you often need to get up early, and most of the time you are waiting, and the process is actually quite boring. Most of the group performances of "The Three-Body Problem" are students, and many of them are first-time students, and they have basically never studied acting, but I often meet people who study design and media.

Few people expect to realize the so-called star dream through group performances, and there is a tacit consensus in the European and American entertainment circles: group performances cannot be counted as actors. Although in my eyes, group performances and actors are equal, there is no distinction between high and low, after all, if a production does not have a group performance, there is no way to operate.

Qihan participated in a drama performance in high school. He told me that he became interested in acting not because of the experience of performing in groups, but because of the performance in middle school, which made him like the feeling of rehearsal. (Photo/Photo provided by the interviewee)

However, there are exceptions. I met a Korean who was a full-time ensembleman. He told me that he enjoyed acting and was worried that continuing to perform in groups would lead him farther and farther away from the actor's path, but he had no other path, after all, this was the closest to the stage that he could get into.

I also talked to some of my acting classmates about this, and some people thought that group performances were okay. For those who don't have a steady income yet, this money can support you to continue studying acting, and you can also observe the performance of experienced actors in front of the camera.

I didn't completely agree, so after doing a few group performances, I signed up for an acting class. Every time I take an acting class, I can almost get into a state of flow.

We have a total of 7 classes, each class is about 12-15 people, and I am the only Chinese. Someone asked me if I was worried about encountering racial discrimination, but I have no concerns about this for the time being, at least the group of European and American actors I have come into contact with is still very friendly. In contrast, the modeling industry is not so Asian-friendly, especially younger models, who often have a very ignorant side.

Students and teachers of Qihan's acting class. (Photo/Photo provided by the interviewee)

More often than not, discrimination is about the individual and not about the group. Especially in recent years, after Asian film and television dramas have slowly entered the global vision, the demand for Asian faces in the European and American film and television circles has actually increased.

But as a Chinese who wants to be an actor in Europe and the United States, I think the biggest problem is actually language. I think my English level is okay, I went abroad in middle school, I took IELTS once, it was 6.5, and I studied in English-speaking countries for my bachelor's and master's degrees. I have no problem understanding the script, as long as it's not in Shakespeare's style, I can understand it mostly. But when performing, I still get stuck because of English lines.

Let's put it this way, it takes a certain amount of time for an actor to memorize lines in his native language, let alone a non-native speaker. It's really difficult to memorize lines in English and then express them in English. As far as I've observed, this is a dilemma that almost every non-native English speaker encounters.

In addition to language, the introverted nature of East Asians can also lead to a loss in performance. The Chinese who are then e are more than i in the eyes of Westerners. A lot of times I need to be very familiar with my opponent before I can get into character. But for Europeans and Americans, they are generally in a more open state, and it may be easier to win the role before a scene starts.

Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that they have been involved in this kind of performance since elementary school, and many of them have a lot of stage experience. What I remember more is that I was worried that I would not be able to play well in a drama event in high school, because the role was too far away from me, but my classmates told me that actors are for the role, and you should forget your original character.

Another advantage of being an actor in Europe and the United States is that there is no strong concept of social clocks here. At 30 years old, you are not expected to have a successful career. I'm not a person who wants to follow the time steps given to me by East Asian society, so I can still consider changing careers to become an actor at the age of 28.

Luckily, when I just finished my acting class last year, I was taken by my agent and signed with an actor company. Although I hate chicken soup, my experience has taught me that a person who is not from a professional background can also restart his life at the age of 30, and there is no time in this world when it is really "too late".

Qi Han, who slowly received video shooting work, is also transforming from a model to an actor. (Photo/Photo provided by the interviewee)

Proofreading: Meet, Operation: Lu Zirui, Typesetting: Gan Miao