Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

"Not satisfied?" Xu Xu reached for the "One Thousand and One Nights" document and said confidently, "This project is really quite good."

"As for the female lead, Dilraba has basically secured a deal and signed a letter of intent."

"You know how popular she is this year. The show 'Running Man' has boosted her national popularity to the max, and she has a very high level of public favorability."

Dilraba's rise to fame occurred around the same time as Jiang Bai's.

In April, the new season of "Running Man" began filming, and her "Lu Di CP" with Lu Han became a huge hit in China by July, becoming the hottest celebrity CP and gaining a large number of fans.

The phrase "You're afraid of heights, I'm afraid of water, only land is safest" has become the most popular sweet meme in the history of Chinese celebrity couples.

By June 30th, when this season of Running Man came to an end, Dilraba had become one of the most well-known female celebrities in China.

Although she doesn't have much to show for herself in the TV drama field, her popularity and national recognition are top-notch, making her a perfect partner for Jiang Bai after his ascension.

Xu Xu had also read the script, and it was alright; it was a typical fairytale-like idol drama.

"You've been fooled." Jiang Bai curled his lip. "Look at what's written at the end of the document."

"This is a drama co-produced by Jaywalk Studio and Hunan TV, and they're even planning to have us co-invest?"

"This is like finding a sucker to share the risk."

"Moreover..." Jiang Bai spread his hands, "Although the script outline looks good, it's obviously just a first draft."

"Mango TV requires this drama to be cut into 48 episodes. Do you think this amount of plot length is enough to support 48 episodes?"

"When filming actually starts, there will definitely be a lot of padding, and the script may even be drastically changed."

"The final product will probably be very disappointing."

When an offer of a film role is sent like this, it usually doesn't come with a complete script. It only includes the project details, a story synopsis, and one-third of the script content.

As for the complete script?

The answer is that it's still being improved.

First, we'll lure you into the project.

This kind of practice is all too common in the industry.

I wonder how many actors have fallen into this trap.

Before signing the letter of intent, the script looked great, but after signing the formal contract and receiving the complete script, I found that the later parts of the script were a mess.

Their own scenes were even significantly reduced, or the plot was heavily padded.

But the actors have already signed contracts, and if they don't perform, it would be a breach of contract.

This kind of tactic will still be commonplace even in 2025.

Just before Jiang Bai was reborn, he had just heard about Yang Yang's gossip.

I joined the cast of "Never Give Up the Country", but ended up receiving a script with two versions.

The contract was for version A of the script, but the actual filming was for version B. The script was drastically altered, the characters were given more screen time, and the second male lead was promoted.

This is a rather serious and excessive situation.

In less serious cases, the script is a first draft when the contract is signed, and the final version is only received after joining the production team, or the script is revised after filming begins.

This is the case with One Thousand and One Nights.

Jiaxing first submitted a reasonably good script to the review committee, and after it was approved by Hunan TV, they then took the script to another company to invest together.

Jiaxing provides the female lead, another company provides the male lead, and then they all invest together to reduce risk.

If the project ultimately goes well, it will be a good collaboration.

But Jiang Bai knew that "One Thousand and One Nights" had failed.

The screenwriter revised the series as it was being filmed, padded the original 24 episodes to 48, and then added a car accident death and resurrection for a forced happy ending.

In my past life, this pit was stepped into by Gong Yuhan and Deng Lun, who were under his management.

Gong Yuhan invested money in the project and cast one of his top stars as the male lead. However, this drama, which aired after "Ashes of Love," not only failed to solidify Deng Lun's top-tier status but also drew a lot of criticism.

It's fair to say that Deng Lun failed to maintain the top spot he gained from "Ashes of Love," and the show itself bears a lot of the blame.

Xu Xu frowned as he listened to Jiang Bai's analysis, then shook his head: "Then let's look at something else."

"One Thousand and One Nights" required the male lead's side to secure funding, and the drama studio "Cute" had the capability to do so, which is why they received the invitation.

However, Dailu did not necessarily intend to get involved in this project.

If Jiang Bai doesn't want to film, then so be it.

"Let me take another look." Jiang Bai picked up a few more documents and opened them one by one.

Martial Universe

Sword Dynasty

The Thunder

The Biography of Sun Ruowei, Empress of the Ming Dynasty

"Peerless Two Prides"

Hidden and Great

Honey-Glazed Squid

After reading through the first page of several documents, before Jiang Bai could speak, Xu Xu took the initiative to introduce, "Of these dramas, 'The Legendary Twins' was co-invested by Hua Ce."

"Moreover, it is an important project prepared by CCTV, with iQiyi and Perfect World Pictures as the lead investors, and it is a major production for CCTV-8."

"From the company's perspective, I recommend that you take this role."

Filming will begin in March next year and wrap up in July.

"Besides this drama, I also recommend that you take on 'Sword Dynasty'. Although it is a web series, the production cost is very high, and iQiyi has invited Feng Xiaogang to be the producer, which shows their high hopes for the drama."

"This is also a major platform drama."

Jiang Bai didn't respond, but instead looked at two of the documents in detail.

At the same time, some questions that had troubled him for a long time in his past life seemed to have been answered.

It turns out he misunderstood the drama and Xu Xu.

Good heavens! In his past life, he always thought that Hu Yitian couldn't get the male lead role in "Go Go Squid!" and could only play a special appearance to take a spot in the sequel because the show's production company was incompetent and couldn't even secure projects from its own parent company!

It turns out this wasn't the studio's fault; it was all the time's fault.

The "Go Go Squid!" project was initiated very early, with registration completed in May 2017, and the lead actors were cast by October at the latest.

At that time, the project was called "Honey Stewed Squid" and hadn't been renamed yet.

The original timeline of "A Love So Beautiful" only aired in November, and Hu Yitian only became a sensation at the end of the year, so it was already too late to compete for this project.

However, after losing "Go Go Squid!", a top-tier project in which Huace invested as much as 90% of its capital, they were left with little to no investment.

The cute studio was able to get Hu Yitian into CCTV's big-budget production "The Legendary Twins" as one of the two male leads.

That's already impressive; it's been operating very quickly.

Now, because "A Love So Beautiful" aired earlier and was more popular than in the original timeline, Jiang Bai has more options.

These films and television series are now all sitting on his desk.

"Martial Universe" and "Sword Dynasty" are one thing, they looked like big-budget S-level productions, but they both flopped.

"Hidden and Great" is just average. There aren't any major flaws, but the content is also quite ordinary, just the average level of a spy drama.

The first half of "Empress of the Ming Dynasty: Sun Ruowei" received good reviews and became a hit online, with various clips and memes of Zhu Di and his three sons going viral.

But the story began to fall apart after Emperor Xuanzong of Ming passed away.

The production company invited him to play the role of Mingbaozong, replacing Zhang Yixing.

He'd be more interested in the role played by Zhu Yawen.

His age was actually more suitable for Zhu Zhanji's debut than Zhu Yawen's.

However, this role involves a romantic relationship with Tang Wei, who is more than ten years older than him. It was a case of casting the female lead and choosing the male lead, so the production team probably wouldn't accept Jiang Bai playing the role.

Instead of arguing with the production company, it's better to embrace better options.

Jiang Bai pulled out two documents from the list and handed them to Xu Xu. "These two will do. Talk to the production company as soon as possible."

Jiang Bai didn't accept any of the dramas recommended by Xu Xu, and instead chose "The Thunder" and "Go Go Squid!"

One is a serious drama, the other is an idol drama.

The former was a hit on both television and online platforms, achieving a peak viewership rating of 2.26% and topping the list of most-watched new online dramas in 2019.

It received an initial rating of 8.5 on Douban and ultimately won two national awards: the Magnolia Award for Best Chinese TV Series and the Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding TV Series.

The famous "Uncle Dong" came from this drama, and Tazhai became a household name.

If he were to star in this drama, it would broaden Jiang Bai's range in serious dramas, and especially increase his popularity among the general public.

He expanded his popularity from the fan base, which was mainly composed of young people, to the mainstream TV drama audience.

Despite having only average popularity among fans, Huang Jinyu, the original lead actress, has gained high national recognition through her roles in serious dramas where she plays police officers.

He is one of the most well-known young actors among the 30-50 age group.

Jiang Bai also wants this kind of widespread popularity among the people.

The latter needs no introduction; it was the most popular idol drama of 2019, bar none.

Even in 2026, it will still be the most successful idol drama of the decade, and is hailed as a phenomenal hit.

However, Xu Xu was full of doubts when faced with Jiang Bai's choice, and reached out to lift the "Breaking the Ice" document.

"You're going to take this role?"