Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

"What variety show?" Jiang Bai asked curiously as he took the document.

The Masked Singer?!

He was somewhat taken aback: "This show invited me to sing?"

It's not that it's impossible.

Jiang Bai was quite surprised. Was the production team so resourceful that they even knew he was a good singer?

"You're a newly popular newcomer," Xu Xu said matter-of-factly.

"This show is about finding celebrities who are masked so that it's hard to guess their identities."

"You are a newcomer who has just become popular. Most people in the industry don't know you, and the audience is relatively unfamiliar with you, but at the same time, you have a considerable amount of traffic and popularity."

"Of course the production team wants to invite you to participate."

"As for whether you can sing or not, shouldn't we contact you first to find out?"

"Besides, this isn't really a singing competition show. As long as you don't sing off-key, the production team will be willing to use you."

The later seasons of "The Masked Singer" could be described as very fake.

Basically, as soon as a masked singer opens their mouth, everyone can guess who it is, but they still pretend they don't know.

The first two seasons were quite good; the production team put a lot of effort into the show, and many of the guests were genuinely unrecognizable.

"I see..." Jiang Bai quickly glanced through the script provided by the production team.

A typical scripted variety show.

Which guest will be unmasked each episode is predetermined, depending entirely on how many episodes that guest has signed a contract for.

Moreover, a guest can only sign a contract for a maximum of three episodes, after which they must be exposed and leave the stage.

"So if I go, I'll be participating in the third cohort, right?"

"Yes." Xu Xu smiled憨态可掬 (endearingly simple-mindedly). "Jiangsu TV is quite wealthy."

"We offered you a price of 80 for the first phase, which is almost the second-highest price among first-tier cities."

2017 was also a year of explosive growth in variety show salaries.

People like Na Ying, Eason Chan, and Zhang Ziyi became music variety show mentors because of the exorbitant fees offered by the production team.

They can earn between 30 and 50 million yuan for a season of a show.

A top-tier celebrity can earn between 100 million and 250 million yuan for appearing as a guest on a single episode.

Jiang Bai, who briefly rose to the top tier of popularity but is actually only a second-tier artist, received 80 yuan for one episode, which is indeed very generous of the production team.

All I can say is that the production company behind "The Masked Singer," Canxing, is incredibly wealthy.

After several seasons of "The Voice of China," they've made so much money they're practically rolling in it, so they don't care about getting a few extra coins.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Bai asked, "Can I sing original songs?"

"In the solo performance segment."

"Original work?" Xu Xu was quite surprised. "You have this ability too? Writing your own songs?"

"We didn't have it before, but we do now." Jiang Bai leaned back on the sofa, and the little bear shrugged.

During his three months of drum lessons, he didn't just learn how to play the drums; he also learned music theory from his teacher.

Although he still can't play melodic instruments like guitar or piano, he can already read and write music.

Of course, this refers to the simplest numbered musical notation and the basic staff notation.

That's enough.

Jiang Bai never considered composing music himself, nor did he have the ability to do so.

Even if you learn it on the spot, it's not something you can master in a year or two.

He only needs to write down the melody of the song from his memory and write out the simplified musical score; the rest can be perfected by the music arranger.

The job of arranging music is to combine various instruments such as drums, guitars, pianos, and strings to create a complete and complex accompaniment based on the melody.

Jiang Bai provides a basic melody, and then the rest of the work is left to the arranger.

In fact, this is also true for most singers' original songs.

Only a few singers, such as Li Ronghao and Xue Zhiqian, can truly handle all the arrangement work themselves, and even they don't always arrange everything themselves.

That would be a huge amount of work...

Even Jay Chou, most of his hit songs were actually collaborations with top-notch arrangers.

"I do have a few songs that I wrote myself," Jiang Bai said frankly, "but none of them have been arranged; they only have simple melodies."

"Oh?" Xu Xu was genuinely interested, not only asking many questions about the details, but also having Jiang Bai sing a few lines.

"That sounds pretty good," Xu Xu said finally, "but I don't know anything about it."

"I'll ask the production team for you first, and then after a while I'll find a music arranger to produce these songs for you and see how they turn out."

"It's definitely a good thing that you can write songs. We can pursue both the singer and actor paths at the same time, and these different paths can mutually boost each other's popularity."

That's what he said, but Xu Xu didn't have high expectations for Jiang Bai's singing career.

On the one hand, he genuinely didn't understand this, and on the other hand, he valued Jiang Bai's acting career more.

He's handsome, has decent acting skills, and his first role in a drama series has already made him a breakout star. He seems to be enjoying a great career, so he'll definitely continue to cultivate and develop his career in this field.

As for becoming a singer, it's a gamble; if I succeed, great, but if not, it's okay too.

Anyway, crossover is all the rage in the industry now. Singers go into acting, actors go into singing, so it doesn't make much difference if Jiang Bai is added to the mix.

"Let's leave it at that for now. We'll tentatively accept the variety show 'The Masked Singer'. I'll discuss the specific details with the production team later."

After gathering up the pile of scripts and documents on the table, Xu Xu stood up, preparing to leave Jiang Bai's house and continue working on his follow-up projects.

"Oh, right." Xu Xu, who was about to leave, suddenly stopped and said, "The female lead for 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' has been decided."

"Zhang Jianing had a scheduling conflict, so she ultimately chose 'The Story of Minglan,' which is a big production by Daylight Entertainment, and declined our offer."

"As for Li Xin, she is still filming 'Battle Through the Heavens,' and she also has another movie to film afterward. She said that she plans to rest and adjust from September to November and does not want to take on another movie to fill her schedule."

"So only Li Yitong's schedule was available, and the actress was willing to take the role and auditioned."

"Mr. Dai thought she was quite suitable, so he signed a letter of intent with her."

"If nothing unexpected happens, she should be the female lead."

"The other main roles have also been decided: Li Xian will play the second male lead, and Chen Duling will play the second female lead."

"We'll have a small-scale audition for the remaining roles in a couple of days, and then we'll finalize the casting decisions."

"Li Yitong." Jiang Bai nodded upon hearing the result.

This one will do too.

Jiang Bai wasn't picky; he felt that no matter which of the three candidates played Lin Beixing, the drama would be a success.

If the script itself is good enough, then the requirements for the actors won't be very high.

This is a drama where the actors carry the show, unlike a drama like "Rush to the Dead Summer" where the actors carry the show.

"Okay, I understand."

......

Not joining a production team doesn't mean Jiang Bai has no other work.

After a few days of rest at home and a few days of playing League of Legends and CS:GO, Jiang Bai's short vacation came to an end, and he returned to work.

6 month 9 number.

Jiang Bai reunites with Tian Xiwei, the female lead of "A Love So Beautiful" and his soon-to-be girlfriend.

The two of them were going to take some photos together to promote the release of "A Love So Beautiful".

This is perfectly legitimate; we're meeting under the guise of work.

Especially the work involves taking photos with a great atmosphere and very sweet moments.

This made Xiaotian extremely happy.

When the two met on set, Xiao Tian smiled and showed eight teeth.

"whee."

"What are you grinning about?" Jiang Bai rubbed the high crown of Tian Xiwei's head, a smile appearing on his face.

"Get to work first!"