Eunuch, do you really know these martial arts?

"If we use short stories to connect the segments, after 40 minutes, the final result will only be a mess of visuals and a blurry mess, and the story will not be clear. It may also waste a lot of time and money, which is not worth it."

However, long takes are extremely resource-intensive, and the actors' salaries would increase several times over, probably doubling the script fee for each actor.

Even more than ten times.

I just did the math.

If we only hire five people, just to shoot one long take in this house, each person's fee would have to be over 20,000.

So I don't have much room for maneuver at all, and I'm having a headache about it right now.

If it's you, Teacher Jiang Nian, I can transfer this task to you; I won't take a single penny.

"You could even add another 20,000 yuan."

Wei Zheng gritted his teeth, wincing in pain.

"There's no other way. I'm simply not capable of handling this task. Rather than failing after filming and having to pay double the penalty for breach of contract, I'd rather take 20,000 yuan to avoid trouble."

Seeing Wei Zheng's troubled expression, Jiang Nian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It turns out that this guy encountered this problem before filming "iPartment".

He even once longed to get rid of this hot potato.

If I hadn't come here today...

He probably already figured out a way to resolve this matter, and eventually the prototype of "iPartment" was born.

Hearing what Wei Zheng just said, this filming method is almost identical to that of "iPartment". It is obviously the prototype of "iPartment"!
Therefore, in order to reduce costs, Wei Zheng will probably end up looking for people from the performing arts academies where students are currently enrolled, and he will happen to find Hu Yifei, who is currently a sophomore.

then.

He will find that Hu Yifei's acting skills are quite good.

And it's very eye-catching.

She's not even inferior to some of today's most famous celebrities.

not only that.

Because Hu Yifei is a student, she will cherish this opportunity very much. She is hardworking and not afraid of any hardship, making her the perfect subject for the shoot.

So Wei Zheng decided to go all out and have Hu Yifei invite her school's teachers, juniors, and classmates to film together. With just five people, they could complete the advertisement and keep the cost extremely low.

In this situation, I might still be able to meet the client's requirements and even make a profit.

Therefore, this method is used.

He can easily create the prototype of a phenomenal work.

Thinking of this, Jiang Nian immediately raised the corners of his mouth and said with a wicked smile:

Why don't you give it a try?

I think this show has great potential.

And you're very likely to do it very well.

After saying that, Jiang Nian patted Wei Zheng on the shoulder and continued:

"Think it over carefully."

If you fail to seize this opportunity, I don't mind paying the penalty for breach of contract on your behalf.

And take it.

After saying this, Jiang Nian smiled slightly, waved his hand lightly, and turned to leave.

In an instant, every actor and director present had their eyes light up, staring at Wei Zheng standing in the middle of the crowd like hungry wolves pouncing on their prey. Everyone was astonished and their mouths were agape.

Many people were whispering curiously:

"My God, who is this person?"

Is his script really that valuable?
I didn't expect Teacher Jiang Nian to be so sure about him.

If we can cooperate with him, wouldn't we make a huge profit?
Yeah, yeah!

In an instant, Wei Zheng became the focus of the film and television center upon witnessing this scene.

He was completely dumbfounded.

He tried to stand on tiptoe and look out of the crowd. In the distance, he could see Jiang Nian's back, which was about to disappear into the distance. His emotions surged like waves.

It turns out that when a person's fame reaches its peak...

He can change the course of things with just a few words.

Previously, the script in his hands was something that everyone disliked and even avoided like a hot potato, but now it has become such a coveted treasure.

Seeing this scene, Wei Zheng's expression turned serious, his eyes were firm, and he gripped the script even tighter, scanning the extras in front of him who were mostly playing minor roles and didn't really have much of an obsession with becoming stars.

As for their acting skills...

That's naturally much stronger than the average person.

Some of them even have the potential and qualifications to become future movie stars.

But their hearts are too restless.

If the details of the long take and low pay were revealed, they might have initially tolerated it out of consideration for Jiang Nian.

However, as time goes on, if an actor becomes unhappy and demands a pay raise, it can happen.

That would create a huge uproar, and then he could forget about making movies. How to appease all these people would be a big problem. The movie might be canceled halfway through and completely ruined, let alone the chance of making it a success and putting it on the air.

That's just wishful thinking.

Thinking of this, Wei Zheng took a deep breath and said seriously:

Why should I be in such a hurry?
Polishing a script is no easy task.

If it were about making quick money, I wouldn't have taken on this challenging role.

We've overcome so many difficulties, and we're not starving now. We also have enough money in our hands, so what am I panicking about?
Mr. Jiang Nian has such a high opinion of this drama.

That means this show has unlimited potential.

It just so happens that Tang Youyou from before also seemed quite nice.

If possible, it would be great to invite her to participate in the film, but who would she be suitable to play?

At this moment, Wei Zheng kept thinking about the characters in his script, trying to choose the most suitable role for Tang Youyou.

Moreover, the first person he thought of was Tang Youyou, not only because Tang Youyou was the first actress to come to him for an audition, but more importantly, because Tang Youyou was Jiang Nian's person.

This fact had already spread throughout the industry, and even he was fully aware of it.

He hasn't been looking for Tang Youyou lately because Tang Youyou's net worth is now extremely high, far exceeding what it used to be.

If Tang Youyou was worth very little when she first graduated from school, and could be bought for a few hundred yuan.

They are even hardworking and resilient.

But nowadays, it's absolutely impossible to earn less than several hundred thousand yuan per episode.

If Tang Youyou were to be a little more assertive, it's even possible for her to earn a million-dollar salary per episode.

Therefore, it would be very, very difficult to get Tang Youyou to act in this play now.

but.

Because Mr. Jiang Nian was optimistic about this drama, Tang Youyou was his capable assistant and his most favored actress.

So she must be somewhat interested in this show, right?

Moreover, Tang Youyou happens to be an art student.

There must be many students around her who are just like her, trying to find a way out.

Even if Tang Youyou didn't end up participating.

Even just asking her to help find some suitable people would be fine; I can just pay them more wages myself.

Presumably, at the student price, my money is more than enough.

And there are even some left over.

Thinking of this, Wei Zheng immediately decided to have a serious talk with Tang Youyou. Most importantly, he believed that Tang Youyou, who had risen to fame thanks to Jiang Nian, would definitely not refuse this drama that Jiang Nian had personally endorsed.

Without further hesitation, Wei Zheng smiled and waved to the group of extras in front of him, then pushed through the crowd and returned to his office, closing the door behind him.

As for the requests from those outside who want to participate in this play...

He refused them all outright.

Director Wei Zheng!
I can!
"I can perform for just 1,000 yuan a day!"

"I!

I only want nine hundred!
I'm worth nine hundred!

"I'll give you five hundred!"

I'll act for 500!

"I have four hundred!"

"You can perform for just 400 yuan a day!"

"I!

I don't want money!

I'd even perform for free!

The room fell silent immediately after he said that.

Everyone looked at the man who was speaking, a middle-aged man who appeared to be around forty years old.

The man looked somewhat weathered, and when he said it would only cost fifty yuan a day, everyone looked astonished.

"No way, bro, even if you really want to compete, you can't be this aggressive, can you?"

Fifty a day?
Are you kidding me?
This isn't even enough for food!

It's important to know that filming one episode usually takes three to five days.

To exaggerate a bit, it could take a whole month to film one episode, which means you only need to pay fifty yuan a month. That's more tiring than being a beast of burden.

Of course, under normal circumstances, a person might only have one or two scenes in an episode, and the rest of the time they are completely free to take on other roles, which is fine.

But this price is still too low.

You know, people who can only play minor roles in this film studio would be considered good in smaller film crews outside.

Those are at least the level of the second male or second female lead.

But they would rather work in this film studio than go to other places to be lead actors.

Because they know that any film crew here is practically a god-like existence.

Eight or nine out of ten of the shows they make become viral hits online, resulting in higher screen time.

On the contrary, it's those who can get them to play the second male or female lead.

Even small production crews that give them the opportunity to play the male or female lead, once the film is finished and posted online, will likely have almost no one knowing about it.

It's possible that not even a ripple will be made, which would be a complete waste of time filming.

It's not that they're unwilling to gamble; it's just that they have too many choices.

Many people see no hope here and end up going to small film crews.

As a result, they only earned a few dozen yuan per episode, and only two or three thousand yuan for a whole show, while they could earn four or five hundred yuan a day here.

Even thousands of dollars in pay.

Most people can easily earn three or four thousand a day.

Because everyone here is a top-notch actor, an excellent performer, and a genius from a top academy. It's just that in this industry full of talent, it's too difficult to stand out.

That's why they ended up as background figures.

Otherwise, there would be many supporting roles in top-tier TV series and movies.

Even some passersby.

Their acting was very natural and fluid.

It's almost as if we were filming this movie.

That passerby truly blended perfectly into the environment, his expression as if he were completely immersed in the play, just like a real character in the play.

Little did they know, this was because their acting skills were top-notch, but they simply couldn't find their own opportunity to stand out.

Under this circumstance.

Many of them, after experiencing setbacks, actually choose to return to small film crews and small places to film.

But the result was that not only did he only earn a few dozen yuan per episode, but he also only earned two or three thousand yuan a month, which was not even enough to eat. He also found that after working hard for two or three years and filming hundreds of shows, the total exposure on the platform was not as high as the exposure he would get from filming a few shows in the film studio as an extra and appearing in a few shots.

Because in the top-tier film and television cities, any show that gets uploaded to a platform will easily garner hundreds of millions of views.

To know.

Their shows, even just one episode, gets at least a million views.

In fact, most of them, eight or nine out of ten, have tens of millions of views, and some with exceptionally good data and big-name stars can reach hundreds of millions of views per episode.

Even recently, a single episode can garner billions of views.

Keep in mind that the entire Great Xia Dynasty only has a population of just over one billion, yet it managed to garner billions of views.

That's because some people watch it over and over again.

Therefore, a single episode can garner billions of views.

This situation is actually quite common.

And it's a very large number of them; basically, two or three out of ten films shot in this film city can achieve this effect.

So even if their faces are only exposed on camera once, as long as they can appear as extras in every episode of a show, they are considered to have achieved their goal.

It could even have more than ten episodes.

That means they will have countless screen time throughout the entire show, appearing in front of billions of people at least ten times.

A little bit of outstanding acting skills, expressions, or some popular memes that can be used effectively.

They might suddenly become incredibly popular, causing their net worth to skyrocket.

In contrast, those small film crews...

Without those extremely rare, one-in-ten-thousand trending memes, it would be almost impossible to go viral.

At least in top-tier film studios like theirs, every year, or even every day, a bit player rises from obscurity to become the master, their value skyrocketing hundreds of times, earning tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan per episode.

In some cases, the number could even be as high as 300,000.

If you have a scene in three or four episodes of a show, that's basically four or five months. In less than half a year, you can earn four or five hundred thousand yuan, or at least two hundred thousand. Earning a little over five hundred thousand yuan a year is no problem. This kind of income is possible in any city.

Those are all top-tier individuals.

If you're lucky, you can film a few more movies and your income will explode.

As a result, such people appeared every day, which means that 365 such people turned their lives around in a year.

But in small film crews in smaller towns, the situation is quite the opposite.

Perhaps out of 300,000 productions over 30 years, only one lead actor in a single production might be lucky enough to achieve a minor level of fame.

Every year, small production teams shoot at least tens of thousands of films and television dramas. Over two or three decades, that's 300,000 films and television dramas. In other words, it would take 300,000 films and television dramas to potentially make someone famous.

Moreover, this person's fame was only short-lived.

They may not even be able to achieve long-term success.

At least after all these years of hard work, it's rare for a character in a small production crew to become popular.

They had never heard of him before; they had only heard that he had briefly become popular before disappearing from the public eye and fading into obscurity.

This is the difference between a large production crew and a small production crew.

So for them, money no longer means anything. (End of Chapter)