Memoirs of a Mortal

Shenzhen crew

After the performance that day, the four of us returned to our residence together. After everyone settled their wages, we found a cheap 2-bedroom, 1-living-room house nearby on the Internet.

After settling in, we sat together to discuss where to go to work next.Zhou also put his plan for extras on the agenda, wrote a resume for each of us, and sent it to the crew he knew that was recruiting actors.Next is to wait for notification！

Although I have had the experience of going to a TV station, it is impossible to say that I am not nervous at this moment!

A few people went to the supermarket to buy some food, cooked together at home, and talked about their ideals for the future."There's a crew in Shenzhen that needs 30 extras! I've already sent our information over!" Zhou took the phone and sat up from his half-lying position on the sofa.

"Shenzhen! What a great place! But how much is the daily wage?" another boy asked

"70 a day. If the director likes you and you can say the lines, you can get 200 a day!" Zhou looked at us. "But we can shoot for 15 days, so we can get about 1,000 a day! Do you want to go?"

"Go! Maybe we can even see movie stars!" Qiqi rushed to answer. The next day we checked out of the hotel and took the high-speed train to Shenzhen.

There are tall buildings, moist air, and brightly colored flowers blooming on the roadside.Before I came here, I often saw Shenzhen promotional videos on TV. It really is a great place."Hong Kong is just across the bridge from here. Shenzhen has a lot of fun things to do... and delicious food..." We sat in the subway, looking out the window and listening to Zhou's introduction.

Arriving at the agreed subway entrance, the crew's bus was already parked on the roadside waiting.At the boarding gate, a middle-aged man was checking the list.

When we arrived, the car was already full of people, men and women of different ages. "Are these extras?" I asked Qiqi.

"I think so! It's my first time here too!" Qiqi replied to me

The vehicle passed through the city, passed by the seaside, and finally stopped at the gate of a middle school.

"We are shooting a campus idol drama! You will all need to change into student uniforms!" A man wearing a hat and holding a microphone explained to us in the car."Get off the bus now and get in line for your clothes!"

The white and blue clothes really make me feel like I'm back in my school days.After changing clothes, the makeup artist helped me put on light makeup and tied my hair into a ponytail.Line up and walk in front of several crew leaders！

"Can you swim?" The man wearing a hat in the car just now came up to me.

"Me?" I pointed at myself.

"Yes, it's you! Can you swim?" he continued to ask

"I can!"

"You will stand at the front for a while, and after we finish shooting in the afternoon, we will make up a scene in the swimming pool! Do you understand?" He spoke very quickly.

"Wow! You can get 500 more!" I don't know when Zhou stood next to me.

"500? Not 200?" I tilted my head.

"If we stand in front, we will have lines to say, and we will be paid extra for swimming!" He said, "Please treat us to dinner tonight!"

"Everyone line up!" A woman in a white sportswear stood in front of us. "Then learn the moves from me!"

The morning exercises in my school days were repeated over and over again. The three main actors ran past us again and again. I kept repeating "They are really a perfect match!" and repeating this line.Although the weather in Shenzhen is good, there are a lot of mosquitoes. During the 2 hours of shooting, the back of my hand was covered with red rashes, which were itchy and painful.At noon, the crew prepared lunch boxes for everyone, which contained scrambled eggs with tomatoes, fried bean sprouts, and white rice.There is no egg in the seaweed egg soup, just a few chopped green onions floating on it."Everyone, get up. The leading actors are here. Let them sit down first. You guys stand over there and eat." An older woman pointed to the roadside.Looks like someone in charge.

Four young men took our original seats, and there were four empty tables around them.

“Are these celebrities?”Someone asked a question next to me."I haven't seen them!" an aunt answered

“Look at their pomp and the food they eat is different from ours.”"Can you still act like a tyrant without being famous?" "Does anyone watch this TV series?" "Who cares? Just give us a salary!"People talking

"My family in Beijing is very wealthy. I have four sports cars!"A male actor who looked about 1.83 meters tall sat in the middle and boasted loudly. But I really don't know his name"When I become famous, I can find as many girlfriends as I want!"

Everyone present heard his words clearly."How did he become the lead actor when he's not famous?" someone whispered."My family is rich. As long as my family is rich, I can do whatever I want in Luosha Country!""But this guy is just tall! He doesn't have any other special features!" Qiqi also asked

"How can you say such things? You have no morals at all! How can you be an actor!" Zhou said

"If you were a man, your family would need to be rich, or have someone with power working in the government! A woman? You would understand!"An old man jokingly dumped the leftovers in the bowl into the trash can.The rice that day actually didn't have any salt at all. When I saw someone dumping it into the trash can, everyone followed suit.

After lunch, we rested for about half an hour. With the sound of the horn from the crew, we returned to the playground to continue filming.Shenzhen in summer, the weather is hot at noon, and the sun is high！Dozens of people were exposed to the sun for more than an hour before the heroine slowly changed her clothes and walked over.

There's nothing I can do. Who made me need the money?Of the six scenes that were supposed to be completed that day, only four were actually completed by the evening. But the director didn't say anything, so even if I was unhappy, I could only keep it to myself."Tomorrow you will continue to stand in front, we will give you a few lines! You will be a special actor!" Before returning to the dormitory, the man wearing a hat during the day caught up with me and told me

"Wow, you can make more money again!" Three friends walked beside me. "Let's go, I'll treat you to a food stall!" I held Qiqi's hand and walked towards the restaurant on the roadside with the words 'Seafood Food Stall' written on it.