This director loves making friends.

Qin Keqing saw Xie Fei again in the film academy's office, where Xie Fei told him two things.

Firstly, Qingying Film Studio is preparing the movie "Criminal Police Glory," and if Qin Keqing is willing, he can go to the crew as an assistant director.

Secondly, the person in charge of "King of Beggars" in mainland China has been identified; it is not him, but someone else.

The main reason is that this collaboration is with China Film Co-production Corporation, not a relatively weaker state-owned film studio. The nature of the companies is different, so the Hong Kong side will not hire an external person in charge.

Qin Keqing's plan to hire someone from outside is not going to work.

However, it wasn't all for naught. Xie Fei secured a seemingly decent job for Qin Keqing: he could work as a location producer on the set of "King of Beggars".

In a typical film crew, the location producer, while not a core decision-maker, is a mid-level manager responsible for liaising with location shooting sites and cooperating units, and handling unexpected situations ranging from government coordination to various disputes.

The position is important and carries considerable power.

"King of Beggars" is a co-production. The priority of co-productions in this era goes without saying. Also, because it involves Hong Kong, as long as the filming locations are chosen by Hong Kong, there will almost never be any procedural problems.

As a result, even the responsibilities of location liaison, coordinating locations, and handling local relations almost cease to exist.

In addition, for co-productions with Hong Kong, Hong Kong will send a location liaison to find filming locations, while the location liaison from the mainland... is their director.

The filming of "King of Beggars" and "Criminal Police Glory" overlapped in time. Qin Keqing could tell that Xie Fei was somewhat inclined to let him work as an assistant director on the set of "Criminal Police Glory".

Qin Keqing understood Xie Fei's meaning after a moment's thought.

"Criminal Police Glory" was produced by Qingying Film Studio. With Xie Fei involved, Qin Keqing, who had previously worked as an assistant director, could become a true assistant director, at least responsible for a certain aspect of the production.

But things were different when she joined the cast of "King of Beggars".

The entire production team was basically controlled by Hong Kong people; the mainland partners had absolutely no say in the film's creation.

If the person in charge is from the mainland, it's a little better. Whether it's for face or something else, the production team will inform the mainland person in charge of all kinds of meetings and decisions, and may even symbolically ask for their opinions.

As for external production... forget about attending important meetings of the production team. You'll probably be a nobody on set, similar to a tour guide.

Xie Fei probably thought that going to the "King of Beggars" production team as an external producer would not achieve any purpose and would be a waste of time.

But that's under normal circumstances.

Qin Keqing is not acting normally.

He chose to join the cast of "King of Beggars" almost without hesitation.

Xie Fei frowned, wanting to say something but holding back.

"Well, he's still young. Let him go to Hong Kong to broaden his horizons."

Xie Fei is very busy right now, spending the last two months working on the post-production of "Woman of the Fragrant Souls," so it will be difficult for him to offer any help to Qin Keqing after she went to the "King of Beggars" crew.

Although things weren't entirely perfect, Qin Keqing was still extremely grateful to Xie Fei.

If he were to operate it himself, even with a system and points, he wouldn't know who to contact.

Actually, thinking about it, being a location producer isn't so bad. At least you have a certain status, which is very important.

If it's really as Xie Fei said, with less work and more time, then more energy can be devoted to observation—the choice of which "friend" to partner with this time is related to the future development of the trip to Hong Kong, so no amount of caution is too much.

He Qing is about to leave the capital.

Just three days after Qin Keqing confirmed that he would be joining the cast of "King of Beggars", He Qing was going to report to the cast of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

This TV series, with a total investment of 1.7 million yuan, started filming in early 91 after casting its actors. It has been more than a year and a half since then, and He Qing's scenes have finally been filmed.

Furthermore, although the production team invested heavily, He Qing's salary was pitifully low, amounting to only 150 yuan per episode.

Don't think it's too little.

Even among the main actors, the highest salary was only 250 yuan per episode.

Of the total investment of 1.7 million yuan, nearly 1 million yuan was used to build two film and television bases, and the remaining 7000 million yuan was spent on costumes, props and location shooting. More than 7 props were made.

The total salary of the entire cast and crew was less than 3% of the production cost, which is almost like "free money".

He Qing played Xiao Qiao in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but her role was small.

"Little Qiao."

When Qin Keqing thought of Xiao Qiao, the first thing that came to mind was the scene after Zhou Yu's death, when Zhuge Liang mourned him, and Xiao Qiao appeared in mourning clothes, tears streaming down her face, and presented Lu Su with a sword.

Their appearance was truly pitiful.

Unfortunately, Qin Keqing was completely unprepared and unable to give He Qing any practice in acting, so the plan had to be abandoned.

However, before He Qing left, the two of them went wild for a while, from the living room to the bathroom, then from the bathroom to the bedroom, and then from the bedroom to the kitchen...

Finally, the two lay down on the bed.

Will you miss me?

"meeting."

Will you visit the set?

"Big sister, you're going to play Xiao Qiao, a minor supporting role with only three or four episodes. Filming will be over in a few days. Why would I go to visit the set?"

"You're so rude."

"How do you like it?"

"like……"

"I can make it even thicker, you just need to..."

"..."

Overall, it was a very enjoyable night.

The efficiency of Hong Kong films during this period was beyond imagination; as soon as the specific details of the cooperation were agreed upon, the film crew would fly to Beijing.

However, several of the main actors in the film, including Stephen Chow, have not yet arrived. They are reportedly still filming other movies in Hong Kong and will not arrive until filming begins. On the contrary, the female lead, Sharla Cheung, arrived ahead of time with the crew.

Unlike her character in the movie, Zhang Min doesn't have sharp features and a heroic air. Instead, she has the lively and clear spirit of a pure girl next door, as well as the profound charm of a mature woman. These two completely different and contradictory qualities make people want to take a second look.

But she didn't seem to like talking much, and she liked to wear sunglasses, which made her seem a bit arrogant and aloof.

The people in the Hong Kong film crew respected her a lot, and they always felt a little reserved when talking to her.

Qin Keqing disliked her arrogance.

Unlike mainland film crews, Hong Kong film crews could do all the preparatory work as they went along, once the location was confirmed. This was probably a characteristic of Hong Kong films during that period.

Since the location shooting needs to be determined first, Qin Keqing, as the location producer, will definitely have to go along. His task is indeed as Xie Fei said, like a tour guide, leading people around.

The Hong Kong location liaison for the film crew speaks Cantonese, though not standard, but it's understandable. After all, they're filming in mainland China, and as the location liaison responsible for external communications, knowing some Mandarin makes communication easier.

Actually, even if they speak Cantonese, Qin Keqing has no problem.

After resigning from the film studio in his previous life, he went to Guangdong Province. For a long period of time starting in the 1990s, many elderly people there only spoke Cantonese.

Through constant exposure, Qin Keqing was able to speak some simple Cantonese, and he had little trouble understanding it.

Although Cantonese varies by region, the Cantonese spoken in places like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan is not much different from that spoken in Hong Kong.

It is said that these three places intentionally speak Hong Kong-style Cantonese, but Qin Keqing doesn't know if it's true or not.

Over three days, the Hong Kong location liaison followed Qin Keqing to many places in Beijing and shortlisted several filming locations, but no final decision was made on the spot.

Qin Keqing thought he was going to ask director Chen Jiashang or art director for their opinions, but when he went to the pre-selected location the next day, there was Zhang Min in the car.

Are we waiting for her to make the final decision on the location for the outdoor shoot?

Qin Keqing wanted to greet Zhang Min, but seeing Zhang Min wearing sunglasses and looking aloof, he didn't bother to say anything. He just nodded at her and silently remained invisible to her.

Aside from being the female lead, Zhang Min did not hold any other position in the production team. Logically speaking, the choice of an outdoor filming location should not be her responsibility.

However, Qin Keqing did know some of the legends surrounding Zhang Min.

She is the woman of Xiang Huasheng, the boss of Yong Sheng Film Company. In private, the Hong Kong people in the film crew call her the boss's wife.

Qin Keqing always felt that this title had a somewhat mocking element to it.