Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 252 Chen Duling's acting skills are inferior to Bai Lu's
"...She would have been fine if she had just behaved."

A Mandarin accented with Sichuan and Chongqing slur came out of Jiang Qiming's mouth.

He sat casually on the ground, his eyes darting around with a hint of fear, but he was still pretending to be calm.

His natural acting skills made Wang Jinsong, who was acting opposite him, take the role seriously.

After the script for "Better Days" was acquired by Datang Pictures, the male lead, Xiao Bei, changed from Yi Yangqianxi to Jiang Qiming. The two have vastly different fan bases and acting skills.

However, fans don't actually play a very big role in movies; at most, they might get 3 million in pre-sales followed by refunds.
A good movie, as long as it is of high quality, may not receive much attention in the early stages due to its cast and crew.

But as word gets out, screenings will increase, and the box office will definitely be good in the end. "The Unknown" is the best example.

In the era of social media, good actors and good works will not be buried. Jiang Qiming is such a good actor. His understanding of a character is through his voice.

Despite being from western Guangdong, she managed to develop a spicy Sichuan and Chongqing accent because of the role of Xiao Bei.

"Come on, take a look at this. If you can't bear it, just say so."

Wang Jinsong placed a bottle of water in front of Jiang Qiming, indicating that this was the phone, and the video playing on it was of Chen Nian being stripped of her clothes and having her hair cut off.

This is a typical example of acting without props, and it can best demonstrate an actor's skill level.

Jiang Qiming pretended that his hands were cuffed, tilted his head, and looked at the water bottle in a nonchalant manner. The corners of his lips turned up, a flash of sadness crossed his eyes, and the smile on his lips began to widen.

"Hey, what's with all this talk about having the heart to do it? I do this all the time. Their filming is so shaky, you can't see anything at all."

"OK, very good."

When Wang Jinsong announced the end of the performance, the way others in the audience looked at Jiang Qiming changed.

The quality of acting depends not only on the actor's own skill but also on the skill of the co-star.

If you're acting alongside an idol, no matter how good your acting skills are, you won't be able to showcase them. You'll most likely be so amused that you won't be able to get into character.

Wang Jinsong has been acting his whole life and knows exactly how to feed and connect scenes with actors. Therefore, he was able to bring out Jiang Qiming's acting skills to the greatest extent. A red flower needs green leaves to set it off.

"Clap clap clap!"

A round of applause came from behind the crowd. Turning around, they saw that the person clapping was Chen Xiu.

Just now, after Tian Xinwei and Zhou Ye finished their scene rehearsal, Chen Xiu didn't say a word or clap. But now he's clapping for Jiang Qiming.

The difference in treatment was quite obvious, but Tian Xinwei and Zhou Ye didn't feel resentful. After all, Jiang Qiming's acting skills were indeed superb, and they weren't in the same league, so they weren't competitors.

Thinking of this, Tian Xinwei and Zhou Ye also began to applaud Jiang Qiming's performance, and the others followed suit.

After the applause ended, Chen Xiu glanced at Wang Jinsong, signaling him to continue.

"Next, Bai Lu and Chen Duling will perform a scene from 'Love O2O' where Zhao Erxi and Bei Weiwei have a quarrel. Please get ready."

While Wang Jinsong was arranging the content, Chen Xiu leaned back and gave Wei Feng some more instructions.

"You should have Yang Ming focus more on Jiang Qiming. Peng Peng is going to New York next month to film 'Detective Chinatown 2,' so he doesn't need much attention. After 'Better Days' is finished, have Yang Ming help Jiang Qiming get a few more roles, preferably small ones."

"Understood, Yang Ming has been busy with MCN company matters lately."

"He'll be done with his work once 'Better Days' is finished filming."

"Okay, I'll talk to him about it later."

Chen Xiu sat back down. The MCN company that Yang Ming was busy with was actually a new job that Chen Xiu had arranged for him.

Since Douyin shifted its content focus last year, pursuing high-quality content and actively signing art school graduates to join the platform, Chen Xiu has been thinking about establishing an MCN company.

Then, last year, Datang Pictures' artist management department began to expand, and Yang Ming had many more professional agents to help him share the workload of artist management.

Seeing that Yang Ming had some free time, and remembering that Taiyang Chuanhe, which was supposed to be founded by him, also had influencer MCN business, Chen Xiu asked him to set up an MCN company.

The new company is named Taiyang Chuanhe, and it is jointly owned by Datang Pictures, Chen Xiu's personal investment company, and Yang Ming himself, with a shareholding ratio of 6:2:2.

Yang Ming is naturally dedicated to his own business.

Chen Xiu could rest assured that once the money was divided, he wouldn't have to worry about Yang Ming being poached or leaving to start his own business.

Apart from Yang Ming, all the other management members of Datang Pictures have now received company stock options, with Wei Feng having the most options besides Zhong Lifang.

Given the current development trend of Datang Pictures, it's clear to everyone that the stock options held will yield returns of several tens of times in the future.

With employees having something to strive for, they can work more diligently, giving Chen Xiu the confidence to maintain a more detached approach to management without being bogged down in the company's mundane affairs.

"Why did you tell Cao Guang that I was overjoyed? Don't you think I've embarrassed myself enough?"

The powerful voice delivering the lines drew Chen Xiu's attention back to the live performance.

Bai Lu and Chen Duling stood facing each other, the former's face full of anger and grievance, while the latter... seemed to have only an expression of being innocently wronged.

"No, Cao Guang mistakenly thought I was two-timing. When I confronted him, I learned the whole story. I never told him that you were Huantianxidi."

Chen Duling looked at Bai Lu with an innocent expression, delivering her lines without much variation or emotional depth, failing to convey any intention of Bei Weiwei trying to persuade her best friend to stay. Even from this simple exchange of lines, Chen Xiu could already discern the difference in their skill levels.

Bai Lu doesn't actually have much talent in acting, but she's willing to work hard.

This can be seen from the delivery of lines. Basic line delivery skills require practice; there's not much talent to rely on.

On the other hand, Chen Duling was also very hardworking, diligently taking notes on set...

When filming "Love O2O", Chen Duling filled two notebooks with notes, which amazed Meng Ziyi.

The silly beauty had no idea what she had said that made Chen Duling, the student historian, record it truthfully, and even write down such a long list.

However, when it came to actual performance, Chen Duling, who was invincible in theory, could not apply even a tenth of her theory and still failed miserably.

Judging from today's performance, it's not entirely unfair that netizens criticized her for her poor acting skills.

After watching the two performers, Chen Xiu thought: If theory is to be transformed into skills, it still requires constant practice. If Chen Duling had gone to various film crews in Hengdian to practice beforehand, her acting skills might have improved faster.

"Okay, stop!"

Wang Jinsong stopped their performance, stroked his beard, and began his critique.

"Bai Lu, your lines are alright, but your facial expressions need more control, especially your mouth movements are a bit too exaggerated."

"Teacher, I usually practice in front of a mirror. How can I improve?"

"Practicing in front of a mirror is a basic skill. If you want to improve, you need to find a video of someone else's performance, imitate it, then film yourself practicing and compare it with the original. Correct it slowly. Don't find someone with great acting skills at the beginning."

"Okay, thank you teacher!"

Bai Lu grinned, showing his teeth, and shouted energetically.

She knows her acting skills are lacking, but she works hard to practice, and that alone puts her ahead of most people in the industry.

After commenting on Bai Lu, Wang Jinsong looked at Chen Duling.

"Chen Duling, your acting style leans towards the academic school. Simply put, you know how to act, but you can't express it, right?"

"Yes! Teacher, how can I improve this?"

"I suggest you practice more, not just at home alone, but on set with all sorts of different actors."

Chen Xiu glanced at Wang Jinsong, nodded slightly, and expressed her approval of the senior's professionalism.

"Okay, thank you teacher."

The same sentence, spoken by Bai Lu with great vigor, sounded somewhat resentful to Chen Duling, which is of course related to their different personalities.

Back in her seat, Chen Duling first glanced at Bai Lu, then glanced at Chen Xiu out of the corner of her eye.

Seeing him take out his phone to look at it, get up to leave, and not pay any attention to her, Chen Duling pursed her lips, feeling a lump in her throat.

When filming "Love O2O", Chen Xiu once said that Datang Pictures had signed an actress who was not formally trained in acting, but whose acting skills were much better than hers.

At first, Chen Duling thought that Chen Xiu was just trying to motivate her, but in reality, there was no such person.

It wasn't until she came to the performance training, met Bai Lu, and heard her self-introduction that Chen Duling realized, "So there really is such a person..."

And then, Bai Lu's acting skills were indeed better!
Although it wasn't a big deal, Chen Duling did feel a bit down.

"Dudu, shall we practice again during our break?"

Chen Duling turned her head and saw Bai Lu's smiling face and friendly eyes.

Forced a smile, Chen Duling nodded at her, letting go of the frustration in her heart.

Meanwhile, Chen Xiu, who went out to answer the phone, also received an invitation that he had forgotten about.

"Hey, Brother Xiu, have you forgotten something?"

"Have it?"

"My dad! Last year in Hengdian, when I visited you on set, didn't I tell you that my dad wanted to invite you to play golf together? Did you forget?"

"Hmm~, I haven't forgotten, it's just that I've been busy since filming ended. I only just had some free time and was planning to make plans with your dad in the next few days."

Chen Xiu said somewhat guiltily.

He has been busy until now, that's true, but he really did forget about it. It was only after Wang Sicong reminded him that he remembered.

Young Master Wang on the other end of the phone didn't pay attention to these details: "Then I told you, remember to call my dad to arrange a time."

"Okay, I'll contact him later."

Chen Xiu hung up the phone, thinking to herself that for Lao Wang to have Wang Sicong remind him twice, there must be something important to discuss.

(End of this chapter)