Then, another group of people walked over. One of them, a man dressed in a Kuomintang officer’s uniform, was James Howard, the actor who played the great hero Qiao Feng in Zhang Jizhong’s version of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils." Next to James Howard was a beautiful woman in a floral dress, probably a female celebrity, but unfortunately Henry Clark didn’t recognize her.

　　Surrounding James Howard and the female celebrity was the chubby man who had scolded Henry Clark and the other three earlier. Judging by his appearance, he was probably just an assistant director.

　　Because there was a bespectacled man nearby who looked even more like a director, holding a script and occasionally saying something to James Howard and the female celebrity, to which James Howard and the woman would nod or respond from time to time.

　　After they finished discussing the scene, the crew quickly sprang into action. Someone held up the lights, someone grabbed a reflector, someone carried the boom mic, and the cameraman stood in front of the crane. Director Warren and the chubby man bustled about, gesturing and giving directions.

　　After a while, Director Warren rushed over and pulled Henry Clark: “Stand over here.”

　　A moment later, the chubby man ran over and said to Henry Clark, “Stand a bit further in, don’t block the way.”

　　Henry Clark felt like a wooden puppet, moved around at everyone’s whim.

　　“Extras are just living props. Henry Clark, oh Henry Clark, just think of yourself as a brick—move wherever you’re needed!”

　　After a few minutes of pushing and pulling, everything was finally ready. James Howard and the female celebrity entered the Western-style house, and the camera was in position. Director Warren held the clapperboard, waved it in front of the lens, and snapped it down.

　　Swish!

　　Henry Clark straightened his chest and stared straight ahead. Out of the corner of his eye, the camera’s red indicator light was dazzling and harsh. His very first scene in life arrived just like that, plain and uneventful.

　　“Scene 35, Take 1 of the night scene at dawn in ‘Undercover’, action!”

Chapter 009 Always Performing

　　“Shou’an sent word from Beiping: the Communist army may cross the river in pursuit.”

　　James Howard and the female celebrity walked out of the Western-style house shoulder to shoulder, reciting their lines as they brushed past Henry Clark. The camera followed the two of them, sweeping past Henry Clark as well. While Henry Clark kept his gaze straight ahead, he was constantly watching the camera out of the corner of his eye. Who would have thought that just as the camera was facing him, James Howard happened to walk by.

　　In that instant, his face was completely blocked.

　　Fortunately, this shot wasn’t filmed just once. They did it three or four times, and although the camera never lingered on Henry Clark for even a second, in the brief moment it swept past, Henry Clark was still captured on film. This made Henry Clark a bit excited.

　　Of course, this excitement only lasted for about ten minutes. As the shots were repeated several times, he had to stand motionless. During the breaks, James Howard and the female celebrity could sit down and rest, but Henry Clark, Simon King, and the others still had to keep standing, at most leaning against the wall.

　　It was exhausting.

　　Once the excitement of filming for the first time wore off, all that was left was the word “hardship.”

　　A single scene took an hour to shoot, going straight until 11:30 before the director finally said, “That’s a wrap.”

　　“We’ll probably go past midnight tonight, so we’ll get the overnight pay,” Simon King said, rubbing his sore legs.

　　“How’s the overnight pay calculated?” Henry Clark shook out his Kuomintang uniform, which never felt as comfortable as his own clothes after wearing it for so long.

　　“If it goes past midnight, you get an extra ten yuan for every hour.”

　　“How are wages calculated here?” Henry Clark had looked it up online, but there were still a lot of details he didn’t quite understand.

　　Simon King took out his phone: “I just copied a pay chart from the group leader. Add me on QQ, and I’ll send you the file.”

　　After adding each other, Henry Clark received the file. Since the next scene hadn’t been arranged yet, he opened the Word document to take a look. The Hengdian actor pay chart was very detailed.

　　Extras: 40 yuan per day, 8 hours of work, 5 yuan extra for each hour of overtime, overnight pay after midnight is 10 yuan per hour. If you have to get up before 5 a.m. to film, there’s an early call fee of 10 yuan per hour.

　　Featured extras: 70 to 90 yuan per day, also 8 hours of work, 10 yuan extra for each hour of overtime, other terms same as extras.

　　Other miscellaneous: shaving head starts at 10 yuan; makeup starts at 5 yuan, with blood 10 to 30 yuan; getting hit 30 yuan; carrying a sedan chair starts at 10 yuan; carrying a coffin or wearing mourning starts at 5 yuan; lying on wet ground starts at 10 yuan; playing a prostitute doubles the pay; speaking lines starts at 30 yuan; transportation supplement 5 yuan; speaking lines 30 yuan. If you play a dead person, the crew gives a red envelope, from 1 to 10 yuan (none recently).

　　Switching crews counts as a day’s wage. If the crew cancels filming, it’s half a day’s pay if you haven’t changed costumes, a full day if you have.

　　Meal supplement: breakfast 5 yuan, lunch 5 yuan, dinner 10 yuan.

　　“What’s the transportation supplement?” Henry Clark asked as he read.

　　“It’s when the crew doesn’t provide a car and you have to take a taxi yourself.”

　　“Oh. Is getting hit real or fake?”

　　“Of course it’s real. Who’d pay for fake hits?”

　　“Why are there no red envelopes for playing dead people recently?”

　　Simon King rolled his eyes: “Because there are too many anti-Japanese war dramas lately. Haven’t you heard people say, ‘Hengdian kills 700 million Japanese soldiers a year, enough to circle the earth twice’? There are so many people playing dead Japanese soldiers, dozens or even hundreds in a single scene. If they gave out red envelopes every time, the crew couldn’t afford it, so the rule was scrapped and nobody gets them anymore.”