Chinese entertainment starts with Hong Shixian

Chapter 332 Looking for actresses, looking for lesser-known beauties
About half an hour later, Wang Jinghua arrived at the coffee shop.

Seeing Qi Hui and his companion who had been waiting, and then seeing Qi Hui and Xiao Yang who had been waiting for a long time, Wang Jinghua's face showed surprise:

"You guys... just finished talking with someone?"

As expected of Sister Hua, she discerned a great deal from even the smallest details.

Xiao Yang chuckled and said, "Yes, Mr. Wang from Huayi just left not long ago."

It was just a simple sentence, without going into further detail, but it contained a lot of information.

Upon hearing this, Wang Jinghua's expression darkened, and her heart tightened.

She could ignore others, but she had to pay attention to Hua Yi. The feud between her and Hua Yi could go on for an hour or two.

This is what Xiao Yang wanted to see; it's just a negotiation tactic.

It's simple, but easy to use.

Qi Hui found it amusing and, without giving Wang Jinghua a chance to react, said in a deep voice, "Sister Hua, let's talk about serious matters."

With a snap of her fingers, a waiter who was already prepared brought Wang Jinghua a cup of coffee.

Wang Jinghua immediately perked up and started talking about serious matters.

After several verbal exchanges, both sides had roughly grasped each other's objectives and bottom lines.

Qi Hui's side is progressing relatively smoothly. Because of Hua Yi, Wang Jinghua is at a psychological disadvantage and suffers a small loss.

In addition, Wang Jinghua was very familiar with Qi Hui and knew that Qi Hui was not short of money.

This guy is the type who's always going to put on a show on his own, and he's done it twice in a row.

Wang Jinghua was fully aware of this; now it was her turn to ask for a favor.

"Give your son a role?" Qi Hui stroked his chin, pondering for a moment.

Wang Jinghua's son seems to be Dong Zijian... Qi Hui recalled briefly that before he transmigrated, this actor did not seem to have a house collapse.

However, it seems that he is not very famous.

As a second-generation rich kid, he seemed rather hopeless... Thinking this, Qi Hui pictured a thin, small figure with delicate features.

She would be quite suitable to play the role of Qi Lala.

However, Qi Hui originally intended for Liu Haoran to play this role.

After all, he did a pretty good job playing Lu Xiaoyu in "The Beginning".

But now, if Wang Jinghua can offer a good price, Qi Hui wouldn't mind sending Dong Zijian.

“Yes, Zijian is young, but his acting skills are quite good,” Wang Jinghua said.

"He starred in a movie called 'Youth' last year, and won the Best New Performer Award at the Golden Horse Awards and the New Performer Award at the Peking University Film Festival."

"Ahem... Sister Hua, you know me well." Qi Hui coughed lightly and said, "I've always been strict with scripts, and I'm equally strict with actors..."

“I’ll cover the rest of the funding, thirty million, right?” Wang Jinghua said immediately.

She knew, of course, that Qi Hui's requirements for scripts were not so much strict as to be picky.

Therefore, she was prepared to work her best to create a miracle.

“Well… Sister Hua,” Xiao Yang said, “President Wang has invested a portion, so he doesn’t need as much as 30 million anymore.”

"Then let's make it thirty-five million," Wang Jinghua said without changing her expression, adding another portion.

She knew very well that directors and producers like Qi Hui, while saying they didn't need that much funding, were actually desperately hoping for it.

I wish I had as many as possible!
Xiao Yang and Qi Hui exchanged a glance, discussed a few more issues with Wang Jinghua, and finally agreed.

However, Wang Jinghua did raise the investment amount to 4 million.

Wang Jinghua didn't feel bad at all; the more she put in, the more she earned!
By this calculation, we actually received nearly 20 million more funds than originally planned.

The total investment increased from the original 1.2 million to 1.38 million.

Xiao Yang was quite excited and immediately rushed back to find people from the legal department to start drafting the contract.

Qi Hui also called Kong Sheng.

Send him the script and let him work on the storyboards, shooting schedule, and other things when he has time.

Upon hearing this, Kong Sheng was immediately excited. While busy with the post-production work of "Battle of Changsha", he also worked with Qi Hui on the pre-production work of "Glorious Era".

He really liked "The Glorious Era" and had high hopes for the show.

I liked it even more when I learned that this TV series was designated as a tribute to the nation!
In fact, Kong Sheng is very busy. In addition to the post-production work of "Battle of Changsha" and the pre-production work of "Glorious Times", Hou Hongliang and Li Xue are also working on a long TV series called "Parents' Love" and intend to have Kong Sheng as the director.

But seeing how busy Kong Sheng was, Hou Hongliang and Li Xue quietly postponed the production of "Parents' Love".

This old man is already over fifty years old. If we add more burdens to him, he might be exhausted to death.

Xiao Yang is also very busy. After signing the contract with Huayi and Wang Jinghua, he is busy setting up the film crew.

Fortunately, she had experience in this area, and with the help of Noon Sunshine, things became much easier.

While working on storyboards and storyboards, Qi Hui also had to develop a shooting plan.

Xiao Yang soon came to us; it was time to put the actor issue on the agenda.

Helpless, Qi Hui could only put down what he was holding and chat with Xiao Yang.

Regarding the actors, we definitely need to pay attention.

The original work suffered a great loss in terms of actors.

They used a disgraced actor as the lead, and later had to use AI technology to change the character's face.

After its broadcast, due to its awkward viewing experience, "The Glorious Era" was jokingly referred to as the "Era of Head-Changing."

Of course, when we were filming, I didn't know which jerk was behind it.

The person got into trouble after the filming was finished.

Fortunately, head-swapping technology existed back then, otherwise this show would have been like many others and couldn't be broadcast.

For example, "The Story of Nanyanzhai", starring Liu Yifei, was filmed before the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the person has tested positive several times, and the broadcast of this show is still a long way off.

Therefore, this kind of thing cannot happen to Qi's project!

As for the cast, the male lead Zheng Chaoyang and the female lead Bai Ling will definitely be played by Qi Mouren and Jing Tian together.

For the remaining characters, Hao Pingchuan, Zong Xiangfang, and the villain Zheng Chaoshan, Qi Hui plans to cast Lao Ling and Xiao Zhang to play them.

The role of Zheng Chaoshan is yet to be decided; Qi Hui needs to consider it further.

This character is ostensibly the protagonist Zheng Chaoyang's older brother, but in reality, he is a villainous spy.

The Kuomintang's undercover agent, codenamed Phoenix, is responsible for most of the difficulties the protagonist faces.
As for the female characters in the play, Qi Hui thought about it and decided to find some lesser-known beauties to play them.

Xiao Yang was puzzled: "What does 'unpopular beauty' mean?"

The first time she heard this term

“They’re those very beautiful women who aren’t very famous,” Qi Hui said.

"Huh?" Xiao Yang still didn't understand. Are there really such people?
Qi Hui gave an example: "Take 'The Seven Fairies of Joy' for instance. All seven fairies are very beautiful, right? But how many can you remember?"

"And the same goes for the seven fairies in 'The Fairy Couple.' Besides the lead actress Huang Shengyi, which one do you remember?"

"For example, the three demons of Xuanyuan Tomb in Investiture of the Gods, Fan Bingbing played the nine-tailed fox spirit, and the remaining jade pipa spirit and nine-headed pheasant spirit were also very beautiful, weren't they?"

"Oh...I understand!" Xiao Yang suddenly realized and slapped his thigh.

Finding these lesser-known beauties not only guarantees they meet the standards in terms of acting skills and looks, but also doesn't cost much.

Kill two birds with one stone!
"Besides the lesser-known beauties, find a few new actresses to play the roles," Qi Hui said. "They also need to be pretty."

"Understood!" Xiao Yang nodded immediately.

Why hire new people?

That's obviously to save money!
Qi Hui nodded in satisfaction, then took the script and went to find Lao Ling and Xiao Zhang.

Xiao Zhang was no problem; when faced with the role of Zong Xiangfang, he immediately agreed.

This character is quite good; he's a double agent, and unlike other spies and villains, his goal isn't to take down the protagonist, but to survive.

He has a significant role, is an important character who drives the plot forward, and also serves to highlight the theme. He is a tragic figure who is easy to remember.

Compared to Xiao Zhang, Lao Ling is a bit more difficult to deal with.

Seeing the role offered to him by Qi Hui, Lao Ling frowned, deep in thought.

He didn't like the character Hao Pingchuan; on the contrary, he preferred the villain Zheng Zhaoshan.

(End of this chapter)