Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 430 I'll die before I die, even if I have to finish filming this movie.
According to the production team's notice, filming would begin at 9 a.m. the next day, and the actors would have to start getting their makeup done at 8 a.m.

Li Qiutang arrived at the film set at 8:30 a.m., and 10 minutes later, producer Chen Guofu also arrived.

At 9:10, Li Qiutang was getting ready to start work when she was told, "Director, Yoko hasn't arrived yet."

"You've been doing your makeup for an hour and it's still not done?"

The on-site director, however, said, "She didn't come to get her makeup done."

"What about people?"

"I don't know where they went."

"Where did this perfectly normal person go?" My good mood from the morning vanished instantly. "Call right now! We're about to start filming, and you're telling me you can't find any actors!"

Liu Ye quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "Director, don't be angry. You should send people to look for her right away. Is she still asleep? Go to her room and look for her assistant. How can you not find a living person like her?"

At 10:30, Chen Kailin jogged in, and before she even reached the director's booth, she heard Li Qiutang's frantic voice:
"You can't even keep an eye on a grown adult! You don't even know where they went, what are you all good for!"
"Hundreds of people are wasting their time, you'll have to compensate for the losses!"

"Director, they're here!" The coordinator pulled Chen Kailin over.

Not only Li Qiutang, but also the on-site producer, production manager, executive director, and producer Chen Guofu all wished they could tear Chen Kailin apart.

Chen Kailin was brought into the crew by Chen Guofu, but the executive director completely disregarded Chen Guofu's presence on set. As soon as she arrived, he started yelling at her: "If you don't want to act, pack your things and get out now! I can call ten thousand actors like you in a minute!"

Knowing she was in the wrong, Grace Chan quickly apologized, speaking in Cantonese: "Director, I'm sorry, I set three alarms, but none of them went off."

Li Qiutang didn't want to hear any explanation from Chen Kailin. It would have been better if she hadn't spoken, because as soon as she opened her mouth, Li Qiutang exploded: "Don't speak Cantonese to me, I don't understand it. I gave you five months, and you can't even speak a few lines of Mandarin properly, and your movements are not up to par. If you don't want to act, go back to being your pampered princess. I can't serve you."

Chen Guofu stepped in to smooth things over: "Where have you been? Don't you know that work starts this morning? You're not at the hotel either, and the crew can't find you."

Chen Kailin blurted out, "I attended a party last night and didn't sleep in the hotel."

Chan Kwok-fu now wants to kill Chan Hoi-lam. What kind of garbage has TVB given him?!
Li Qiutang laughed instead of getting angry: "You still go to parties? If you love to have fun so much, you can go back to Hong Kong now and do whatever you want!"

Fearing Li Qiutang would say something else, Chen Guofu quickly chimed in, scolding Chen Kailin: "What do you think this film crew is? Didn't anyone tell you that alcohol is prohibited on our set?! Over two hundred people are waiting for you, who do you think you are? Get out!"

The assistant director quickly pulled the person to the dressing room.

The alcohol ban on Li Qiutang's crew has always been the responsibility of the producer and the production manager. Chen Kailin was brought by Chen Guofu, so Chen Guofu has an inescapable responsibility for her lateness today.

Chen Guofu looked very upset. He knew that Li Qiutang had scolded Chen Kailin yesterday, so he rushed back today, only to have this happen.

"Let's film the other scenes first, director." Chen Guofu had no choice but to appease Li Qiutang for the time being.

Li Qiutang said, "I'm giving you face this time. If it happens a second time, I will definitely replace you."

Chen Guofu nodded in agreement: "Alright, alright. If there's a second time, I'll personally kick her out. Come on, get ready on site, let's get started."

This was just a small episode in the many things that happen on set, but Li Qiutang deliberately kept Chen Kailin hanging. She finished her makeup at 12 o'clock and sat in the studio waiting for her scene, but Li Qiutang didn't call her again until 9:40 pm when filming wrapped up.

Chan Kwok-fu privately approached Chan Hoi-lam and explained some of the rules of the Li Qiutang production crew to her, sternly warning her: "Your Miss Hong Kong status is worthless here, and your family's wealth is useless on set. If they replace you, TVB will have to apologize to them. I don't care if you can continue acting, you have to finish filming this show before you die. I'll say it again, we're not joking when we're filming. I don't expect you to be a great actor, but you need to have basic professional ethics."

The next morning, filming started at 9 a.m. Chen Kailin finished her makeup at 8:30 a.m. and waited in the studio, but Li Qiutang did not film her that day, leaving her to wait in makeup all day.

Li Qiutang did it on purpose!

He temporarily adjusted the filming schedule and filmed scenes without Grace Chan for a whole week.

For the past week, Grace Chan has been wearing makeup and waiting for her turn every day, sitting for ten hours at a time.

If it were just her suffering, that would be one thing, but her scenes were highly tied to Liu Xiaoqing's; if she couldn't film, Liu Xiaoqing and the others couldn't film either.

She alone would slow down the progress of more than a dozen actors, including Liu Xiaoqing and Cao Cao.

Is Qing Nai someone to be trifled with? This young girl has no professional ethics, offended the director and caused her own filming to be affected, do you think she'll let Chen Kailin off the hook?

That American Cao Cao is no pushover either. He didn't have many scenes in the ancient tomb, and he was originally waiting to finish filming, get paid, and leave. Now he's stuck on set and can't leave. He's even less friendly to Grace Chan.

For the past week, Cao Cao had been making sarcastic and sarcastic remarks towards her. Even the most thick-skinned person would feel uneasy in the face of such a situation.

After work and during lunch break that day, Grace Chan apologized to Director Lee Chau-tong: "Director, I didn't know the rules before. If you want to hit or scold me, that's my right, but don't let my actions prevent others from filming."

As he spoke, he glanced at Li Qiutang, and then at Liu Xiaoqing and the others sitting with Li Qiutang.

Liu Xiaoqing didn't say anything, just kept her head down and ate. Liu Ye gave her a way out, saying, "The young lady is new to acting, don't take it to heart."

Li Qiutang then said, "We'll start filming at 8 a.m. tomorrow. We'll be shooting a major scene in Studio 16."

"Okay, I will be there on time."

After dinner, Li Qiutang and her team held a meeting late into the night to discuss tomorrow's filming. Tomorrow they would be shooting a monster scene, and the crew had arranged for a mutated underground giant python. The crew had previously written about a golden-scaled python in "The Yellow Weasel Grave," and that's how they designed this giant python.

However, the python's movements and scales posed a challenge for special effects. Due to cost considerations and to avoid making the visual effects too fake, the production team kept the python in darkness for most of the time, but its head and tail would occasionally be exposed. This not only covered up the lack of special effects but also created a dark and terrifying atmosphere.

The props team has created the head and tail that the python needs to show, and the actor will have to face this head to complete the performance tomorrow.

This prop head is really well made; it's quite scary.

"When will the motion capture actors arrive?" Li Qiutang asked again after looking at the python head.

"If we need to film, they can arrive in three days at the latest." There isn't much demand for motion capture in China, so there are very few motion capture actors, and the circle is very small. If we need them, we can quickly find someone.

Li Qiutang made up her mind: "Alright, that's enough for today. Everyone get some rest, tomorrow will be another tough battle."

Li Qiutang clapped her hands and adjourned the meeting.

(End of this chapter)