I became famous in the entertainment industry by burning incense

Chapter 490 The Gap (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

the next day.

Before Ma Mingqi could hand it over voluntarily, Luo Fan brought up the matter from the previous night again as Ma was about to leave for the film set.

As more and more people came out of the guesthouse, Ma Mingqi quickly took out his ID card and handed it to Luo Fan.

He was seething with anger and wanted to curse, but the thought of Luo Fan being favored by Jin Li forced him to suppress his rage and speak politely:
"Brother Luo, even if you hadn't brought it up today, I would still have entrusted it to you. Don't worry, under your guidance, I will definitely turn over a new leaf, and stop comparing myself to others and spending money recklessly!"

Luo Fan nodded in satisfaction. After leading Ma Mingqi for so long, this was the first time he had felt a sense of accomplishment.

"Red Bean, we have two big scenes to film today. Do you think we'll have to work overtime?"

Other actors came out of the guesthouse. Ma Mingqi didn't run into Wang Hongdou. He just heard the name "Hongdou" and looked pale.

He immediately turned around and said quickly, "Brother Luo, I have something to do and need to get to the set early. I'll leave first. If you need anything, just come to the set and find me."

When Wang Hongdou and the other actors came out, they saw Luo Fan and Ma Mingqi walking away quickly.

Luo Fan met their gazes, nodded politely, and walked back into the guesthouse.

Wang Hongdou and another young actress walked for a while before talking about Luo Fan, whom they had just seen.

The actress said with great envy, "I never expected that Ma Mingqi, who has such a bad character, would have such a dedicated agent. When will I be able to meet an agent like that?"

Wang Hongdou was silent for a while, then said with some melancholy, "I don't know, maybe Ma Mingqi saved the galaxy in his past life."

She's just an independent actress, and after finishing "Mediocrity," she doesn't know where her next project will be. These past few days, she's been thinking about one question:
Does she like acting?
Should I continue in the entertainment industry?
To outsiders, this industry appears glamorous, but in reality, all the resources are siphoned off by A-list celebrities, leaving second- and third-tier artists to only scrape by.

As for ordinary actors who don't even qualify as third-tier artists, they actually earn about the same amount of money as ordinary office workers.

If she decides not to stay in the entertainment industry, she'll have to switch careers as soon as possible.

She attended a top-tier university for her undergraduate degree, so she is quite competitive in terms of academic qualifications.

The actress suddenly had a bright idea and said, "Red Bean, you said I specifically went to sign with Ma Mingqi's agency, could the company designate his agent to manage me?"

Wang Hongdou's eyes lit up, but then she shook her head regretfully.

"I heard that the company will assign you an agent, and even if you want to specify an agent, it depends on whether that agent will take you on."

And think about it, Ma Mingqi's agent is only responsible to Ma Mingqi, but he is also Liu Dahua's agent, yet Liu Dahua doesn't receive the same treatment.

It's less about the agent being responsible and more about the agent having faith in Ma Mingqi. If we were to meet a mentor who recognizes our talent, I believe he would be just as responsible as the others.

"Okay, you're right." The actress sighed and stopped thinking about it.

She is also an independent artist who originally played minor roles.

Because of his decent appearance, Director Ye assigned him to play a government official sitting in an office, giving him a few more lines.

She's already quite lucky to have evolved from an extra to a supporting actress. If she signed with a company and they put in some effort, she might be able to keep getting supporting roles.

Previously, she only felt that signing with a company was troublesome, would impose many restrictions, and would result in a large portion of her earnings being taken away.

But now that she needs to use the company, she remembers how good the company is.

The actress thought to herself, "I'll go find a company after I finish filming 'Mediocre Life,' but I don't know if it will be too late."

Upon arriving at the film set, they discovered that Jinli and Xu Wenwen were already preparing, with their makeup and costumes all done.

The seniors were even more proactive than the younger generation; they put aside all other thoughts and made serious preparations.

After Jinli finished her makeup and styling, Xu Wenwen pulled her aside to go over her lines.

Today's scenes are still related to poaching talent.

After learning that Su Yue and Wei Yaoyang wanted to switch jobs, Yuan Xiaoxiao, played by Jin Li, did not reply immediately. Instead, Xie Yingying, played by Xu Wenwen, debated with the group of people and criticized their ideas as worthless.

Yuan Xiaoxiao knew that Xu Wenwen had a lot of anger to vent, so she played the straight man and let her finish speaking freely.

Su Yue and Wei Yaoyang, who had finally mustered the courage to come and discuss the matter, were scolded away by Xie Yingying.

After the two returned, Xie Yingying was still not satisfied and talked to Yuan Xiaoxiao for a long time.

Today's scene features Xie Yingying arguing, which is a major scene. She is very emotional and has a sense of disappointment in her partner.

When the villagers learned that the two were leaving, they came to stop them, and the argument with Su Yue and Wei Yaoyang became quite a scene. A lot of people needed to be mobilized here.

Since the villagers were performing as part of their jobs, they naturally felt no psychological pressure.

Director Ye was the one under pressure, worried that he hadn't captured the atmosphere of conflict in the film.

Before filming even began, Director Ye and the screenwriter revised the dialogue several times, trying to bring the emotions together more intensely and then ignite them.

Director Ye and his team had a great time, but Xu Wenwen suffered.

"These lines are over a thousand words long. How am I supposed to memorize them? I rack my brains but I just can't remember them!"

Jinli asked, "How does it compare to the original?"

Xu Wenwen said with a gloomy face: "The original script only has three hundred words. According to the original plot, I didn't have any emotional outburst scenes. The conflict of poaching was set up when the villagers found out and came to make trouble."

But Director Ye approached me, saying that Xie Yingying, whom I played, had a fiery personality, and that after Su Yue and Wei Yaoyang came to tell me their intentions, it would be more appropriate for me to boldly curse them rather than mock them.

I thought it made sense, so I nodded in agreement. I never imagined that in just one night, I'd have so many more lines.

Jinli patted her shoulder: "Take a look first. If you really can't remember it, tell the director and ask him to film it in segments."

Xu Wenwen frowned. "I don't necessarily want to shoot in one continuous take, but look at these lines. The swearing is delivered in one go. Making me shoot them separately is just asking for trouble. My emotions are constantly being interrupted."

But this is just the daily life of an actor.

Jinli thought of Qiguan Mingzhu's吐槽 (tu cao, meaning to roast or criticize), and couldn't help but chuckle.

Actors do face many emotional challenges, which can be a bit like a split personality.

One scene might have you acting out youthful infatuation, while the next scene, in the same setting, might have you portraying a complete estrangement.

But actors also need to make the film look realistic, and they have to put their own emotions into it.

This job is unsuitable for people who are mentally fragile.

But from another perspective, those who can become actors all have strong hearts, are not afraid of rumors and slander, and are never worried about bad reviews.

While online criticism can be considered malicious on a psychological level, it won't harm you as long as you stay away from the internet.

The acting profession involves high pressure on professional ethics; it's not something you can take a break whenever you want, or simply quit filming whenever you want.

If you weren't big enough, you would have ruined yourself long ago.

Jinli said, "Watch me memorize it first, and memorize as much as you can."

As she spoke, she picked up Xu Wenwen's script and began to read.

Xu Wenwen quickly got into memorizing. She could recite the first five sentences fairly well, but she struggled with the rest, stumbling over her words and often forgetting them.

Jinli would give her hints, but it was still very choppy.

Xu Wenwen took the script and silently began to recite it from beginning to end.

Jinli took the opportunity to open the "53" (a popular Chinese textbook series) and start working on the Chinese language review questions. She skipped the easy questions and only started writing answers to the ones that were somewhat worthwhile.

When doing math problems, she needs to work on scratch paper to derive the solutions for almost every problem.

But when it comes to Chinese language and literature, I don't have this problem at all.

After seeing the question, she can silently recite the correct answer in her mind.

For her, studying Chinese was truly a lazy thing to do.

Jinli heard Xu Wenwen's voice in her ear, took the script from her, and continued doing her practice questions without looking up.

Xu Wenwen's recitation came over: "Heh, you two have a really good plan. Saying that there aren't enough spots, you should each go to different villages to grab spots, instead of competing in Pond Village..."

"You two know exactly what you're up to. The fact that Pond Village has developed to this point is thanks to you two—"

Before she could finish speaking, Jinli interrupted her: "The previous sentence relied on my and Xiaoxiao's advice; you two just followed our suggestions."

Xu Wenwen recalled what Jinli had said and continued:

"What have you done? If we hadn't given you direction, you wouldn't know anything!"

"Xiaoxiao isn't arguing with you, but you're arguing with her instead. You even said that if she goes to another village, she should come and help you. Bah! She's already left and still needs our help? Now you're not even talking about not having enough spots..."

Xu Wenwen forgot some of her lines, and Jinli silently filled them in for her.

The two of them were seriously rehearsing their lines, which was seen by all the staff members who were walking around. They all thought that Jinli was very patient and had a good relationship with Xu Wenwen.

However, there was one thing that the staff couldn't quite understand.

"How did Jinli know Xu Wenwen's lines? Wasn't she studying the '53' textbook? I just walked past her and didn't see the script!"

"Yeah, how did she know Xu Wenwen's lines?"

With this question in mind, the staff paused their work and watched silently.

Soon, Xu Wenwen finished reciting her lines, albeit haltingly, and looked down at Jinli, asking her for feedback.

As Jinli pulled the script from the back of the "53" exercise book, she said, "The first half is fine, but pay attention to the second half. I forgot a lot of the second half and often skipped words."

Xu Wenwen stared blankly at the script she was handed, "Jinli, weren't you just giving me hints about the lines?"

Jinli smiled at her: "I forgot to tell you, my memory is pretty good, I've already memorized your lines."

Xu Wenwen: "So you were doing practice questions while listening to me recite my lines?"

Jinli calmly continued looking down at the practice questions, "Okay. You should hurry up and memorize them; filming will start soon."

Xu Wenwen recited her lines in a daze.

She felt that six of her three souls and seven spirits had left her body, leaving only her soul.

We're all human, so why is the distance between people greater than that between people and dogs?

"hiss--"

The other staff members gasped in shock upon hearing Jinli and Xu Wenwen's conversation.

They went off to whisper among themselves.

"Jinli has such a good memory? If I hadn't seen Xu Wenwen struggling to memorize them, I would have thought those lines were very simple."

"I heard that Jinli is going to take the college entrance examination this year. I feel that she might be able to go to university."

"You don't understand. If you've been to Jinli's live stream recently, you'll know that her fans' expectations for her aren't just about getting into university. They believe she can get into a top-tier university!"

Upon hearing this, the people in the discussion fell silent.

After a long while, someone said incredulously, "A top university? That's impossible. She's just a celebrity, not a full-time student. She's only been studying for two years. How could she get into a top university?"

This statement was echoed by others.

"Fans always have a filter on celebrities. I heard that Jinli's fans have a filter on her thicker than a city wall. They must be exaggerating!"

"Exactly, if Jinli really had that kind of ability, she would have already released a press release to promote it. Why would she have waited until now?"

"In any case, she is still very admirable for working and studying at the same time."

Wang Hongdou and the other young actors overheard their discussion.

Wang Hongdou didn't know what the other actors thought.

But she was deeply shocked.

She suddenly realized that as long as you have a strong will, you can live a meaningful life no matter what your profession is.

Jinli is already a top-tier celebrity. She has resources, connections, and most importantly, money.

But she's still studying!

She did not abandon her ideals just because she had reached the pinnacle of her life.

Even someone as capable as Jinli is constantly improving, so what is there for her to hesitate about?
She used to think that acting was an unstable profession, but now she sees it as a very good one.

She takes on roles when she gets them, and if she doesn't get roles, she works hard to develop side businesses; she can still live a fulfilling life.

But if she changes careers and goes to work a regular job, her time might not be so free.

Wang Hongdou suddenly said to another actress, "Aren't you looking for entertainment companies lately? Send me a copy of their information, I need to look for one too."

The actress was a little puzzled: "I just asked you yesterday, didn't you say you weren't in a hurry?"

Wang Hongdou: "I've thought it through. I feel it's better to sign with a company. At least someone can help plan my career. But I absolutely can't sign with a shady company that makes money by exploiting actors' contract terminations."

"Don't worry, I've asked my colleagues, and we have a list of things to avoid."
-
It's only been a short time since New Year's Day, and the actors are all a bit lethargic.

However, the lead actors' seriousness and enthusiasm inspired the lower-level actors to follow suit and quickly overcome their laziness.

Director Ye's filming went smoothly; the actors were able to nail even the simplest scenes in one take.

After filming for two hours, we finally got to Xu Wenwen's emotional outburst scene, which was a segment with a lot of lines.

Xu Wenwen still wasn't familiar with her lines. She also had to participate in filming for the first two hours, so she didn't dare to be distracted by memorizing them.

Director Ye only gave her a few minutes to rest, and she could only manage to recall her memories, not continue memorizing.

"3, 2, 1, Action!" Director Ye picked up the megaphone and gave the order.

Xu Wenwen, who had been holding back for so long, finally exploded, "Ha, you two talk a good game..."

Xu Wenwen's heart skipped a beat as soon as she started.

Oh no, she got nervous and messed up her very first line.

But Director Ye didn't call "cut," so she had no choice but to grit her teeth and continue reading.

(End of this chapter)