The life of an extra. How do you spend 24 hours a day!

This is a survey report, I hope it can help you.

From all corners of the country, he is an unknown person such as passers-by, soldiers and maids in many film and television dramas, such as Red Cliff, Big Man and Emperor Kangxi. During the day, they may stand in the imaginary world in front of the camera, but at night, they may be at a loss for tomorrow's living expenses and where the crew's next free lunch is. Most of them are unwilling to stay awake in the cruelty of reality and the obscurity of dreams, but prefer to live in the stimulation of imagination.

Where there is a crew filming, there are extras, and the major film and television bases in China and the entrance of Beijing North Film Factory are famous distribution centers for extras. As the bottom of the film and television circle, what kind of life do they live? Why is this team getting bigger and bigger? A few days ago, many journalists of this magazine went deep into the mass actor groups such as Zhuozhou Film and Television City and Beiying Factory, but what they learned was cruel. In fact, this is a tribe of urban fringe people struggling on the line of food and clothing.

In front of the North Film Factory, ticket lovers and tramps.

Compared with the "captive" extras villages in major film and television bases, the quality of extras around Beijing Film Factory is relatively high. It is understood that in the early 1990s, when the salary of group drama was only 5 yuan, the quality of group drama staff in Beijing Film Factory was the highest, and the highest-ranking among the "fans" was the retired deputy director of Beijing Film Factory. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that at that time, the proportion of art school workers and old actors in filming leisure time was very high. Even at present, the group drama is paid only 20 yuan a day, and there is a good mouth in front of the North Film Factory, which is purely a "ticket friend" who has been fascinated by the drama; We have seen a middle-aged sister-in-law, who showed how to walk in front of the camera with a serious face. "Don't look at the camera, don't think that you can grab a special guest by grabbing the camera, remember that you are a background prop"; There is also an old man who warned the young people around him that "it is better to find a place to learn technology than to do this", with white hair and solemn temperament. This kind of high-quality mass actor who enjoys himself and is a good teacher can't be seen anywhere else. They like to participate in film and television shooting, but they have no unrealistic expectations of becoming famous quickly. They belong to the most enjoyable extras.

At present, there are generally three kinds of extras: one is a student who has just graduated from school and is curious about the film and television circle; One is a film and television enthusiast who dreams of becoming famous; There is also an unemployed person who lives on extra income.

The front of the North Film Factory is always crowded with these three kinds of people.

The first type is mostly idolized students who have never seen the world. Their biggest dream is to stand beside those movie stars who can only be seen on the screen before. After one or two group photos, their dreams quickly faded due to the hard work, the arrogance of the stars and the cruelty of being slaughtered by the "team leader". Most of them will give up automatically after a few days to months. Group play is just an episode experience when they were young and naive.

Second, Stephen Chow, who has the largest number of people at present and has a walk-on career in Song Bingjia and Jin Bing B, is the most mythical super encouragement in the hearts of group performers. Among the group actors who exchanged interviews with us, "Wang" is undoubtedly the word with the highest repetition rate and has become the most authentic one among them. However, among the many knowledgeable troupe leaders and leaders we interviewed, the success of "Wang style" is simply a cruel judgment of "occasionally rare", "extremely unusual" and "how many will have a crush on you" When Wang saw the dark crowd in front of the Beijing Film Studio, he recalled his first life with mixed feelings. He said, "I really understand. I want to tell them that I may be good for them and I am afraid it will be bad for them. " It is very unrealistic to want to jump out of Stephen Chow or Wang among hundreds of thousands of extras in the country! People who dream of becoming famous once are eager.

The third kind of people are in a difficult situation, and their composition is complex, mostly unemployed and unemployed. When they came to Beijing, they couldn't find jobs and their livelihood was in trouble. They joined this industry only to maintain the minimum living standard of 20 yuan's daily salary and a box lunch. In the past, most of them had painful experiences such as working hard on the construction site, picking up garbage and working in restaurants. And although they don't get much money, their daily transactions are very effective, and their working hours are flexible and relaxed, which is much more interesting than those who just want to live, which is one of the main reasons that attract them. It is this loose life that slowly poisons and anesthetizes some people. They become idle, don't want to do anything, sleep in the underground passage, eat or starve once a day, and become the bottom tramp on the edge of the city.

Start work and development

There are probably two ways for extras to "trade" themselves if they want to make money.

The first is the free trading method that gathers at the gate of Beijing Film Studio every day. An extras standing at the gate of the Beijing Film Factory, to complete this transaction, there are probably two links: extras-"group leader"-the crew, and at the terminal of the transaction, that is, extras, if they take part in the filming of a play every day, according to unwritten regulations, they can take 20 yuan's service fee from the "group leader" and have one or two lunches in the crew (. The shooting time may be short, but the waiting time may be long. If filming includes waiting for more than one day, individual "group leaders" with conscience will add some labor and transportation expenses to the extras, ranging from more than ten yuan.

The second transaction method is that the "team leader" rents a farmhouse yard in the village next to the film and television shooting base and keeps extras in captivity. For example, Hengdian Film and Television Base and Zhuozhou Film and Television Base all have this captive mode, and this transaction method has one more link than the previous one: extras-film and television culture companies-small courtyard "team leader"-crew.

But this kind of "team leader" is better than a liar intermediary and a local ruffian. They usually advertise in the newspaper first, saying that the film and television culture company is recruiting actors for a film agent. Generally speaking, it is a group actor with a monthly salary of 6000 and a special actor's monthly salary. In short, the income is very high and the threshold is very low. When a large number of young people who became famous and made money quickly came here to find the so-called cultural company, they were first asked to pay about 300 yuan to 400 yuan for actor's license and photo fees. However, if some of them want to play in the play, such as footmen, maids, bartenders or high-level group plays with lines and a salary of more than 50 yuan a day-super actors, they have to pay at least 1000 yuan for recommendation and management fees, but the results are the same after paying. He was taken by the "team leader" to a suburban small courtyard near a film and television base, and then paid an accommodation management fee and settled down. In case there is a shooting job, they will go to the set to shoot. Without filming, they lived in a small courtyard with poor conditions and waited. They have to pay for their own meals and go hungry if they have no money. However, after the official start of acting, the "team leader" will not pay the bill on the same day after every day, but may only get dozens of yuan to eat when asking for the service fee. If he meets a quasi-rogue "group leader" who has been wandering around the set for many years, the consequence of asking for money is to be beaten by the thugs under the "group leader". After being controlled by the "group leader" economically, they either continue to work for the "group leader" with low salary, or they can't help secretly running away. What's more, the unscrupulous "group leader" detained everyone's labor expenses until the end of the play and fled with the money. Almost all the "group leaders" of captive extras are vicious and meticulous. He won't cause public security incidents, won't attract the attention of the police, and other departments are even less interested in it. Even the tax authorities can't find a "team leader" who has earned tens of thousands of dollars in recent months. Because the "team leader" and the crew are cash transactions, no evidence of tax evasion can be found.

Rules and regulations and injuries

Through the communication with many directors and "group leaders", I know the "market" of ordinary extras now: 20 yuan shows his face, 50 yuan has lines, plays dead, or Dai Xiao gives 100 yuan as a red envelope, makes a trip to 300 yuan with a body double of 200, and gets a slap in the face from 500 yuan, while foreigners do group performances for at least 500 times. ...

What is the market price of extras a day? According to the new labor contract law, we also find that there are no specific provisions to protect it, and there are no specific provisions in the general principles of civil law, which is relatively blank. Therefore, the market price of extras has long been unwritten, and directors and extras naturally know it. The only difference is the length of time, the level of the crew and the geographical differences.

It is understood that usually the crew will find an additional actor company when recruiting additional actors, and the actor company will find additional actors through acquaintances and "group leaders". There is no contract in the whole process, just according to the so-called established rules in the circle.

On the other hand, it is also a rule that extras do not sign contracts. Even if you have been an extra actor for several years, no company will sign a contract with an actor who is familiar enough to shuttle between the various crews. "If there is a movie, you can sign it or not." Many extras who ignore their own protection for filming are helpless when their interests are violated because of the rules.

"extras are very hard, and it is difficult to guarantee 20 yuan a day. As an ordinary extras, we sincerely hope that this market can be more standardized and the interests of the crew and extras can be more guaranteed. " This is almost the same voice of every group in the interview. The performance of extras is also a kind of labor and should be protected by law. When asked who should be responsible for the deduction of extras' salaries, the group performers hesitated: "Maybe it's the head of the group!" But at present, in the entertainment circle, I haven't heard of a department that specializes in managing "group leaders".

Lawyer Zhang Zhenzu of Beijing Kyoto Law Firm, who once represented actors Wang Bozhao, Dicky Cheung and Nicholas Tse in beating people, believes that actors are a special industry, and extras are also a special industry. When the crew arranges accommodation for extras, they are very different from the crew, not to mention the main actors. Extras are often disrespected, performing for more than ten hours in a row, and even getting injured or falling down during the performance. The crew explained that this was the need of the plot, not intentional, and might give him some compensation or even no compensation. No matter the performing arts industry or any other industry, we can't resist the prohibition of the law with our own particularity, and we can't infringe on the interests of extras on the pretext that "the actor industry is special" or "this is an industry practice". Extras should also go through legal procedures to demand wages, sign a contract with the other party before shooting, stipulate the rights and obligations of both parties, and sue in court after arrears of wages.

Extras have always been special workers who have not received enough attention, and they are vulnerable groups without identity in the film and television industry. For various reasons, there are no formal social organizations and institutions in China to protect and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of extras, and there are no sound rules and regulations to restrict the relationship between film and television crews and extras. At present, most of the crews have verbal agreements with extras, and many people get low labor fees, but they often engage in extremely dangerous work without knowing the truth. Once an accident happens, it is mostly because.