Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 23 Under Construction...

At the intersection of a narrow street in the CP district of northern Beijing, a store on the street is being renovated. Judging from the sign and decoration style, it seems to be a convenience store.

Passersby who occasionally pass by the door can't help but look at it with confusion when they see this convenience store under renovation.

After all, there are neither residential communities nor factories, nor office buildings or schools nearby. Will anyone really come to open a convenience store in such a place?

Moreover, the sign of this store seems too strange. Which businessman would name his store "No. 444"?

Nowadays, even if you open a funeral home, you have to name it "Hengtong", "Kangshou", "Tianxiangju" or something like that.

In fact, this is not a convenience store, but a filming set being built by the crew of "Soul Ferry".

In the past few days, Meng Bai, Wu Bai, and other members of the director team have been running around the streets and alleys in northern Beijing, looking for a suitable filming location.

The other plot scenes are easy to find, after all, there are not many side scenes in this drama. The only one that is a bit difficult to find is the main scene "Convenience Store No. 444".

Meng Bai and his team initially wanted to see if there was an existing convenience store and negotiate with the owner to rent it for a month or two. The advantage of this is that it is more convenient and only requires a slight modification of the storefront sign.

But after looking for several similar stores, I was unable to reach an agreement.

Either the store’s business is too good and the owner is unwilling to rent it; or the owner hears that a film crew is coming to shoot a movie and immediately asks for a very high price; or there are too many people around and it is not convenient for the crew to shoot.

After several days of fruitless efforts, Meng Bai decided to change his plan and build a convenience store himself.

Of course, building it by themselves here does not mean starting from scratch. They rented an unused store with a suitable environment, low traffic and convenient transportation, and then found a construction team to decorate it according to Meng Bai's design requirements.

Apart from being busy recruiting crew members these days, Meng Bai basically spends the rest of his time supervising on site.

After all, he was the one who wrote the script, and no one knew better than him what the "Convenience Store No. 444" in the play should look like.

"Fuck! Brother Meng, you are like a little cow riding a motorcycle - so awesome!"

At the entrance of the studio, a man of medium height with a pointed face and monkey cheeks looked at Meng Bai who was directing the workers to do the decoration, and couldn't help but say with envy.

Meng Bai looked over, his face lit up with joy, and he walked over and punched the man on the shoulder: "Didn't you say you would come here early in the morning? It's almost noon now, so you came here for lunch."

The man who came was Liu Zhi, whom Meng Bai was waiting for.

"Sorry, sorry." Liu Zhi waved his hand without sincerity. "When a crew was returning the props they rented, there was a problem. I argued with the boss for a long time, and now it's over."

"Are you also in charge of prop work now?"

"Well, a small crew saves money, and everyone does the work of three people."

Meng Bai was immediately delighted when he heard this: "Then you are really suitable for my profession. I just happen to be a small crew and I need someone like you who can handle multiple roles."

"Fuck!" Liu Zhi cursed with a smile: "It seems you are using me as cheap labor."

After some jokes, Meng Bai got back to the point: "How about becoming my executive producer?"

Liu Zhi smacked his lips and said in a somewhat tangled tone: "Logically speaking, Brother Meng, you are praising me, so I shouldn't hesitate. But the problem is that I have never been an executive producer and I have no experience."

"You haven't done it before, haven't you seen it? Besides, this is not my first time as a producer." Meng Bai didn't care: "Actually, your main job is similar to the overall planning. It mainly helps me contact the necessary personnel and props, and the other is the on-site dispatch."

"Ah, if you say so, then I feel relieved." Liu Zhi said: "I am mainly worried that you will mess up your first play again."

"It's okay, just follow my instructions."

"Just your words are enough." Liu Zhi said with a look of "don't worry", "Then I'll go back and pack up in the afternoon and come over tomorrow."

Meng Bai waved his hand: "The studio is still under renovation, so there is no rush for now. Your first job now is to help me contact a reliable lighting and recording team. In addition, the crew has a batch of equipment to use, so please help me contact them as well."

"Don't worry, Brother Meng, I will definitely find you the best value for money in all of Beijing." Liu Zhi said confidently. "Okay, I'll wait for your news." Meng Bai checked the time: "Let's go, let's have lunch together, I'll treat you."

"Hey, is this appropriate?"

"What a pretentious guy! Isn't this the reason you came here at dinner time?" Meng Bai said unhappily.

As he was talking, Meng Bai's cell phone suddenly rang. He took a look and saw it was from Gan Wei.

"Hello, Sister Weiwei. What's going on?" Meng Bai asked.

"Xiao Meng, how is the crew's preparation progress?" Gan Wei's voice came from the phone.

Meng Bai introduced: "The filming location is already under construction. Together with the later set-up and cleaning, it will take about a week to complete."

"That's pretty fast." Gan Wei asked, "Have you started looking for actors for the roles?"

"Not yet. I plan to wait until the crew has finished their preparations before considering the casting." Meng Bai said, thought for a while, and asked, "Why, Sister Weiwei, are you going to introduce me to someone?"

"You seem to understand immediately." Gan Wei didn't hide anything and said directly, "Indeed, I have a friend who asked for help and I'm looking for an audition opportunity."

Meng Bai seemed to understand something in his mind. He just wanted an "audition opportunity", so it seemed that the person should not be someone from Leshi.com or a very familiar relationship with him. It was probably because they had some relationship and they arranged it because they couldn't afford to lose face.

In fact, it is normal to use connections to find roles. Meng Bai himself also relied on Qin Lan's connections to get in touch with Leshi.com.

So he was not very disgusted with this request. After all, they just wanted an audition, not directly assigning a role.

"Are you a man? Which role do you want to try?" Meng Bai asked. The female lead has been taken, and the only two male leads left are worth mentioning.

"He's a boy, not very old, and I think he's more suitable for the male lead 'Xia Dongqing'."

"The male lead..." Meng Bai hesitated for a moment and replied, "Okay, Sister Weiwei, since you've already given the order, I can't make things difficult for you. Just ask him to come to the crew and find me. I'll take a look at it with the director then."

Gan Wei was obviously relieved when she heard Meng Bai agreed, and said happily: "Just audition as normal. If he is really not suitable, it doesn't matter if he refuses. Don't worry about me."

"I understand. Hey, Sister Weiwei, you just reminded me. I remember that we also have contracted actors at Leshi. If there are any suitable ones, you can come and try. After all, it's a unit drama with many roles, so it doesn't matter who you use." Meng Bai said.

"We have indeed signed a few young girls before, but most of them have no acting experience." Gan Wei was obviously tempted. After all, promoting their own artists through their own dramas is like killing two birds with one stone. "Well, I'll see if there is anyone suitable and then contact you."

After agreeing on an audition time with Gan Wei, Meng Bai hung up the phone. Seeing this, Liu Zhi asked, "What's the matter, Brother Meng? The investor wants to send someone?"

"It's not really a push, it's just to give me a chance to audition."

"Oh, every employer says so, and every time we have to use their people."

Meng Bai smiled nonchalantly: "It's okay, I don't have many candidates anyway. As long as the image fits and the acting skills are good, I don't care who he is."

However, Gan Wei's call did remind Meng Bai that it was time to start considering the issue of actor selection.

As a unit drama, in addition to the three main characters, each of the remaining episodes also has its own unit protagonist, the so-called "stage characters."

Sometimes it is not easy to find such actors, because they are temporary roles and each person only shoots for a few days. It is expensive to find talented actors, and the cost-effectiveness is not high. Finding ordinary extras will not be able to keep up with the performance.

In addition, we have to consider the adaptation of character settings, so the range of choices becomes much smaller.

Where can we find a group of actors who are not expensive, have decent acting skills and a good image?
"Old Liu, do me a favor." Meng Bai looked at Liu Zhi and said, "Please buy me two bottles of good wine."

"What? Brother Meng, two cups later?"

"The whole thing, I have to respect my teacher."

(End of this chapter)