Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 3 Shake people!

Li Qiutang wrote the complete script of "The Night the Comet Came" within three days.

After receiving the script, the photography assistant and art director immediately started selecting locations in the capital.

Li Qiutang began to draw storyboards without interruption and write storyboards with the photographer.

Student homework, although the crew is small, it has everything. Except for the producer, supervisor, and planner who are all school teachers in name only, all other workers were hired by Li Qiutang.

There are academic ones and there are social ones.

Fortunately, the labor cost is not high now, and the money approved by the school can cover this part of the cost.

Li Qiutang called Qin Lan:
"Sister Qin Lan, are you in Yanjing?"

"Yes, I have something to say."

"Well," he said, still a little embarrassed, "I have decided on my graduation project..."

"It's settled, what to shoot?"

"We're going to make a science fiction story," Li Qiutang said, "and I'd like to invite you to play the leading female role." Li Qiutang's heart was pounding as she said this.

"Okay." Qin Lan hesitated for a second.

Li Qiutang had prepared a lot of words to persuade Qin Lan, but she didn't expect to be blocked by just two words from her.

"No, we are a student project, a small crew, and we can't even afford the pay."

"I know." Qin Lan smiled, "Just provide food."

"Food is provided." Li Qiutang still had something to disagree with, "I thought you would refuse."

"What's the big deal?" Qin Lan laughed heartily. "Actually, I haven't played the leading role in a movie yet. I have to thank you for giving me this opportunity."

In fact, Li Qiutang also understood that her student crew had no appeal to celebrities, and Qin Lan only came to help out because of their friendship. After all, it was just a student assignment and would not take much time, so it would not delay her subsequent work.

"Should you report this to your agent?"

"What's there to report?" Qin Lan didn't care. Spending a few days helping a friend shoot a student project that won't be shown publicly is not considered a commercial activity, so there's no need to tell the company, "Give me the script and the start time, I'll take a look first."

"Good good."

Li Qiutang thought it would take some effort to persuade Qin Lan, but she didn't expect it to be so easy.

Could it be...?
This sister is very beautiful, but her current boyfriend is Brother Xiao Ming. Qin Lan doesn't look like the kind of person who would just take advantage of others' favors. Maybe she is just using her spare time to help out of kindness.

No matter what, Li Qiutang had to accept Qin Lan's kindness.

An hour later, Qin Lan called.

"This is a feature film." Qin Lan never expected that what he got was a feature film script.

“It’s a feature film.”

"You're making a feature film for your graduation project?!"

"Yes, we have enough money and a script, so of course we'll make a feature film." Li Qiutang said it nonchalantly.

"How long do you plan to shoot?" Qin Lan had to reconsider the time issue.

"The characters and scenes in this film are simple and can be completed in a week or two." Li Qiutang gave a safe time.

"One or two weeks," Qin Lan on the other side was calculating the time, "That's fine, I'll take this role." Qin Lan still kept his promise. After saying this, Qin Lan began to talk about "The Night the Comet Came": "What do you think of this story? It seems to be just a trivial matter between eight people, but I've never heard of your decoherence. It looks amazing."

Qin Lan was actually embarrassed to say that she didn't understand the story. In the script, you were not the same you, and I was not the same me either. She was confused.

But as she said, the story "looks powerful" and the style is clearly different from that of most directors on the market.

She couldn't understand it, so she thought of taking it and giving it a try. It was just a student assignment and it wouldn't take up much of her time, so she could just consider it as an opportunity to broaden her horizons.

Li Qiutang did not explain the story of "The Night the Comet Came" to Qin Lan on the phone, but said: "When I gather all the actors, we will have a script meeting and I will explain this story together."

"Okay, I like this story very much. You prepare well and I'll wait for your news."

Apart from Qin Lan, Li Qiutang never thought of inviting any celebrities to perform in "The Night the Comet Came". That was unrealistic.

Even Qin Lan and Li Qiutang went into the conversation with the hope that "what if she agrees?"

"The Night the Comet Came" requires eight actors, four men and four women. Recruiting actors is not a difficult task for students of the Beijing Film Academy. Li Qiutang also knows several group leaders in Beijing when he was shooting homework before. If he asks them to select a few actors who usually play big and small roles, they should be able to be recruited quickly.

Just as I was about to make a phone call, the assistant director in charge of casting came back.

"Qiutang, I'll bring two people to take a look, what do you think?"

Li Qiutang looked up and saw the two brothers, 30-year-old Zhang Songwen and 25-year-old Lin Jiachuan.

Zhang Songwen also works as an assistant professor at the Beijing Film Academy and it is difficult for him to become a full-time professor. Li Qiutang and he had met once, but judging from Zhang Songwen's current performance, he probably doesn't remember Li Qiutang.

Zhang Songwen and Lin Jiachuan were unemployed right after graduation. They had almost no career and their lives were not that good.

"The Night the Comet Came" does not require actors to have good acting skills, just good enough. At this time, Zhang Songwen and Lin Jiachuan's acting skills were just barely good enough. After a simple trial of two scenes, Li Qiutang decided to hire them: "You two pack up, 5000 yuan for two weeks, okay?"

It’s so direct for a small crew, there is no group leader or assistant director to make a profit in the middle.

"Okay." As long as there is a crew that wants it, it's fine. Zhang Songwen and Lin Jiachuan are not picky, not to mention that the price is fair.

"Okay, let's leave our contact information. I'll add you to our crew's penguin group. We'll notify you in the group if anything happens. You can keep an eye on it at any time."

"Okay, thank you director."

Zhang Lin and his companion took the script and left. On the way back, they felt that they were lucky. They got a movie offer shortly after the beginning of the year. Although it was a small movie and the director looked young, he was quite good and the money was decent. They were paid 2000 yuan in advance when they signed the contract.

How would the two feel if they knew that they were applying for a student's graduation project?

On the weekend, Li Qiutang and her teacher Jiang Wei came to the countryside of Shunyi, where the crew rented a small rural courtyard for filming.

"Change this round table and get a long square table." Li Qiutang disliked the round table as soon as she entered the door. From a photographic point of view, a square table is easier to photograph than a round table, and Li Qiutang didn't want to cause trouble for her photography.

After watching the scene for a long time, Li Qiutang proposed many revisions to the set, art, and props. When he left, he decided to gather the actors for a script reading session in two days to explain the story to the actors.

Jiang Wei watched for a long time, mostly in silence, and rarely expressed his opinion, because he felt that this student seemed to be doing something very bold without telling him, and he was a little unsure.

As Li Qiutang's head teacher and the nominal artistic director of "The Night the Comet Came", he has not seen the script of "The Night the Comet Came" until now.

Li Qiutang only said that the film was about a dinner party of eight people.

It was not until two days later when Jiang Wei saw Qin Lan at the script conference that he realized something was wrong!
Although Qin Lan is not a big star nowadays, she is already a well-known actor.

A student project can invite Qin Lan to star, no one would believe there is no trick here!

(End of this chapter)