lovenovelstory You can skip Chapter 47 class occasionally, but you can't skip it every day.
You can skip Chapter 47 class occasionally, but you can't skip it every day.
Shen Li thought of Xiong Rui's muscular physique, then considered her own tiny, chick-like frame, and gritted her teeth, feeling a bit agitated: "Fine! What time tomorrow morning?"
"5:30!"
"...Brother Xiong, could you say that again?"
"5:30 AM! Martial arts students' morning exercises, without fail!"
Shen Li took a deep breath. 5:30? Holy crap, he could count the number of times he'd gotten up this early in his life on one hand.
But remembering Yao Jia's comment about "not having enough muscle mass," he stomped his foot, fueled by alcohol, and exclaimed, "Fine! 5:30 it is! I'm going all in!"
Xiong Rui grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth: "You've got guts! I'll come knocking on your door tomorrow morning!"
The two strolled leisurely back to their dormitory. As Shen Li walked, she took out her phone and opened the two group chats.
In the "Film City Extras Daily Pay Group 1," hundreds of messages have already been posted. A dizzying array of announcements and notices are flooding the chat.
"Tomorrow morning, we need 20 male extras for a period drama set in the Republican era. They should be presentable and bring their own black leather shoes. Meet at the south gate of the film studio at 7:00 AM. Daily wage: 150 RMB, including boxed lunch."
"Urgently needed! 10 male shavers needed for a Qing Dynasty drama, all day tomorrow. 200 RMB per day. Requirements: good-looking head shape, not stage fright."
"For a period drama, we need five actors to play corpses. They just need to lie on the ground and pretend to be dead. The pay is 120 yuan per day, and meals are provided. Requirements: able to hold your breath and not afraid of getting dirty."
"Modern drama, needs 3 foreground actors, with screen time! Requirements: Female, long hair, good figure. Male, height 178cm or above, energetic. Daily pay 300 RMB. Director will personally select actors. Send photos to apply."
Shen Li was dazzled and her heart was racing.
This is fucking a "money-making buffet"! 150, 200, 300, as long as you're willing to work, you can earn so much more in a day than running a "flash delivery" job!
He quickly saved the group to his contacts, pinned it to the top, and then scrolled down to "Beijing Special Actor Exchange Group".
This group has a much higher barrier to entry. There are only a little over a hundred members, and the messages aren't as numerous. Shen Li scrolled through a few messages:
"The production team of 'The Longest Day in Chang'an' needs three extras next week to play the roles of 'Bad Guys'. There will be action scenes and lines. Requirements: Male, rugged appearance, those with martial arts background preferred. Daily pay 500 RMB. Apply with a model card and a self-introduction video."
"A modern urban drama needs a featured extra to play a company executive. Requirements: Male, 35-45 years old, with a refined and scholarly demeanor. Daily wage: 800."
"A period fantasy drama needs two extras to play sect disciples. Close-up shots and lines are required. Requirements: Male, 20-25 years old, handsome. Daily pay 600."
Shen Li looked at the "Daily Pay 500", "Daily Pay 800", and "Daily Pay 600" and felt like her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.
Damn, if I could get into the special agent circle and do a few jobs a month, wouldn't my living expenses be covered?
But he also knew that being a special agent wasn't easy.
They need model cards, self-introduction videos, good looks, acting skills, and some even require basic martial arts skills.
With my current qualifications, besides the labels of "decent appearance" and "trained at Beijing Film Academy", I have nothing else.
"No rush, no rush. Let's get to know the industry first, figure things out, and start as a small extra." Shen Li took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Once I'm familiar with the circle and get to know people, I can accumulate some experience and connections before climbing to the point of being an extra."
After leaving the "Beijing Special Actor Exchange Group", I clicked back to the "Film City Extras Daily Pay Group 1" and started scrolling through the chat history like an archaeologist.
This process took almost half an hour.
The daily volume of messages in the group is like a tsunami.
Notices started being posted as early as four or five in the morning and continued until late at night. The notices were filled with words like "urgently hiring," "filling positions," and "needed tomorrow," making it look like the giant screens at train stations during the Spring Festival travel rush.
As Shen Li flipped through the pages, she built a database in her mind.
Which ID is the group leader, which ID is the assistant director, which ID is the team leader, which ID specializes in posting notices for female extras, and which ID specializes in posting notices for stunt doubles for action scenes.
I took screenshots one by one, saved them by category, and was even more meticulous than when taking notes in a professional class.
He flipped to the back and found something interesting.
There are a few "celebrity extras" in this group... not real celebrities, but the kind that the group leaders are scrambling to use.
They're good-looking, easygoing, always available, and their acting is passable. These guys basically don't need to compete for gigs in the group chat; the group leaders will directly tag them: "@Old Zhang, are you free tomorrow? A period drama, playing a shopkeeper, lines required, 300 yuan." "@A-Kun, Qing Dynasty costume the day after tomorrow, need a head guard, are you in?"
Shen Li stared at the @ records, her eyes darting around.
This is the damn "head effect." In a group of over four hundred people, only a dozen or so are truly successful.
The rest are all "cannon fodder," spending their days in the group trying to grab those jobs that pay 150 or 180 yuan; if they don't get one, they'll starve.
"I'm definitely going to climb to the top." Shen Li silently added these people to his "special attention" list, "but not now. I don't know anything now, and if I just rush in, I'll just get beaten up."
He then looked through the group members' profiles.
Goodness, out of these four hundred-plus people, there are more than a dozen who are labeled as "Beijing Film Academy students." Some are senior students who have already graduated, while others are current students like him who are secretly working part-time.
Shen Li wrote down all these people's names, preparing to find opportunities to get closer to them later.
In a place like a film studio, alumni connections can sometimes be more effective than money.
After browsing through the group chat, I opened the "Beijing Special Actor Exchange Group".
This group sends far fewer messages, only a few dozen a day, but each one is worth real money.
The IDs that issue the announcements are much more formal than those of the extras' groups, and they are basically in the format of "XXX actor/assistant director of XX film crew", which has a very businesslike feel to it.
Shen Li noticed that the announcements posted in this group basically all required "submitting a model card + a self-introduction video + clips of recent works". Some even required "three rounds of auditions"... first screening of materials, then video interviews, and finally on-site auditions.
"Damn, it's like taking the entrance exam for the Beijing Film Academy," he muttered.
Shen Li has none of these right now. Model card? Never filmed one. Self-introduction video? Does a video shot with a phone's front camera count? Clips of recent works?
Oh... does the pool backdrop and bubble tea shop being used by younger men count? ...
"No rush, no rush, let's take it one step at a time." Shen Li tossed her phone onto the pillow and stared at the ceiling, calculating.
"You can ask Yang Yi to shoot the model card; his composition is pretty good. I need to work on the self-introduction video carefully, highlighting the two points of 'Beijing Film Academy graduate' and 'hard-working.' As for my work... first, I need to get some screen time as an extra and gather some footage."
However, Shen Li immediately remembered a critical problem... time.
The work at the film studio mostly takes place from morning till night. But damn it, I'm a freshman in college, and my schedule is packed... I can skip classes occasionally, but I can't skip them every day.
Teachers aren't stupid; skipping too many classes will result in zero participation points.
Shen Li pulled out the timetable and studied it carefully.
Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings are all professional classes, so I can't miss them. I have no classes on Wednesday afternoon, and only one Marxist Philosophy class on Thursday morning (I can find someone to take it for me). The weekend is completely free.