Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 280 Is Heilongjiang considered Jiangnan?
"Minister Chen, thank you very much for the local government's support for our film and television projects."

"Mr. Meng, you're too polite. Harbin has always been very rich in historical and cultural resources, but there are still a lack of cultural projects that can break through the circle. This project is also a rare cooperation opportunity for us..."

In the reception room, several leaders from Harbin’s cultural and tourism departments were chatting with Meng Bai, who had come from afar. The atmosphere in the room was warm.

According to the project plan, the ArcLight team will start from scratch in Harbin and create a one-to-one "Peace Hotel" in the style of the Republic of China.

For such a large-scale film and television project, it is naturally necessary to obtain approval from the local government, so Huguang contacted Harbin’s cultural and tourism department.

The local cultural and tourism leaders initially thought it was just an ordinary film crew shooting and did not take it too seriously.

It was not until he heard that they were going to invest more than 20 million to build a "historical hotel" that he finally took it seriously and his attitude immediately became enthusiastic.

Not only were all the relevant procedures given the green light, but they also directly helped to mark out an abandoned factory that met the plot requirements as the main body of the renovation.

In addition, the cultural and tourism department also applied for policies for the crew.

Not only is the construction cost greatly reduced, but there is also financial support of over one million - not in cash, but converted into construction resources.

However, these welfare policies are not without conditions.

First of all, the obvious ones, such as the development and utilization of the construction scenes after filming, the subsequent use rights for local cultural and tourism publicity and promotion after the TV series is broadcast, etc., all require the cooperation of the crew.

In addition, there are some invisible conditions that are not suitable to be discussed openly, such as those regarding contractors and material suppliers.

Of course, these won’t be too excessive.

After all, to put it bluntly, the reason why the crew chose Harbin was mainly because the script set the story here.

If the conditions are really too extreme, the worst that can happen is that we can just move to another place.

Shenyang, Changchun, Dalian, there is no place that can’t be photographed.

Anyway, the screenwriter is Meng Bai himself, so it’s just a matter of changing the settings.

But in general, the policies offered by the local cultural and tourism department are still favorable to the crew of "Peace Hotel".

The original cost of the scene was 2000 million, but now it can be saved by almost a quarter.

After the content and venue of the cooperation have been determined, the next work will mainly be handed over to the director team and art directors.

In addition, the crew also invited experts from the Institute of History on modern history and architectural history of Northeast China to serve as consultants.

This will not only minimize errors in details, but also help the crew complete the construction of the "Peace Hotel".

Yang Lei is mainly responsible for the scene, and since the male and female protagonists have been confirmed, the rest of the casting work is basically decided by the producer Meng Bai.

As "the most luxurious five-star hotel in Northeast China", Peace Hotel is full of guests from various countries.

These people each moved in here with their own purposes, and because of the incidents caused by the male and female protagonists, they began to intrigue with the Japanese side.

Unlike general spy war dramas where the story line basically revolves around the protagonist, the supporting characters in "Peace Hotel" almost all have their own side characters.

So from a certain perspective, this can actually be considered a group portrait drama.

Like the iron-blooded detective Dou Shixiao of the puppet Manchukuo, Wang Dading's old lover and Northeast socialite Liu Jinhua, the underground party member Tang Ling hiding in the dark, Lu Dailing who hides her identity as one of the three little stars, as well as various people like Soviet agents, American spies, German representatives and so on.

Dou Shixiao, the second male lead, is a tough sheriff who has solved countless cases. His wife and children were once kidnapped by Wang Dading, and he finally borrowed high-interest loans to redeem them. He and the male lead have a "blood feud".

The role was chosen by Gao Weiguang, who is under Jiaxing Media. It just so happened that he had just finished collaborating with Huace on "Eternal Love" and is also from Heilongjiang.

Then when Meng Bai first started choosing Liu Jinhua, who has a "spicy and charming" personality, the first person he thought of was Gao Ye, with whom he had just worked not long ago in "Day and Night".

Unexpectedly, after contacting the other party, he realized that he had made a mistake.

"Producer Meng, I am especially grateful that you thought of me. But..."

Gao Ye said with some embarrassment: "I looked at the requirements of the role, I'm not from Northeast China."

"Huh?" Meng Bai was surprised. "Where are you from?"

"It's a bit embarrassing to say this, but I'm a serious girl from Jiangnan."

"Heilongjiang?" "..."

Meng Bai looked through her information again and found that she was indeed from Changzhou, Jiangsu, the same place as Bai Lu, a typical southern girl.

And it was made in 87.

Who would have thought of this!
The main reason is that this girl’s voice and appearance are too confusing, so Meng Bai has a preconceived notion.

In this case, there is nothing we can do. After all, the other characters are not very relevant, but "Liu Jinhua" must have a Northeastern accent.

"Sorry, sorry, it's my mistake." Meng Bai said apologetically.

"It's okay, Mr. Meng, you're not the first one to misunderstand." Gao Ye said with a smile: "In fact, I'm very happy that you thought of me."

The character she played in "Day and Night" is called "Liu Yin", a bar owner who has always helped the two brothers "Guan Hongfeng and Guan Hongyu".

This character doesn't have many scenes, so I basically didn't have much contact with Meng Bai while on the crew.

So when she suddenly received the invitation to act in Arc Light's new drama, she was really excited for a long time.

"I've seen the scenes of the character 'Liu Yin', and you performed very well." Meng Bai said, "We'll work together again next time if we have the chance."

"Thank you, Mr. Meng."

Watching Gao Ye leave, Meng Bai thought for a moment and sent a WeChat message to Meng Ziyi on his phone.

Meng Bai: [Girl, do you know where Gao Ye is from? ]

Meng Ziyi: [Sister Gao Ye is from Jiangsu. We talked about this before when we were on the set.]

You two don't even have any scenes together, how come you can still chat?
Meng Bai changed another person.

Meng Bai: [Brother Pan, do you know who Gao Ye is from? ]

Pan Yueming: [Teacher Gao, I haven’t really come into contact with this, it should be from the north, right?]

Sure enough, I wouldn't be the only one to make this kind of mistake.

Although it was a misunderstanding, fortunately it didn't waste much time.

Meng Bai started to select suitable candidates again. This time he carefully read the information one by one and finally chose Jiang Yan.

This girl can be considered half a "second-generation star". She is Song Dandan's goddaughter. She has filmed a movie with Zhang Ruoyun before. She is a girl with a very lively personality.

She has a gorgeous appearance and is quite similar to the character "Liu Jinhua".

Then the role of "Tang Ling" was played by Wang Yang, and "Lu Dailing" was played by Liang Jie from Huace.

"Xiao Liang!"

Looking at the familiar girl in front of him, Meng Bai smiled and said, "I was skeptical when I heard the name before. It really is you!"

"Yes, hello, Senior Brother Meng Bai!" Liang Jie said excitedly but carefully.

She had previously starred in "Psychological Crime" and "Soul Ferry 2", but at that time Meng Bai had not yet planned to engage in the artist management business.

Later, this girl was noticed by Huace and signed a contract with them.

"By the way, have you been in touch with Xiao Zhu recently?" Meng Bai suddenly remembered that she and Zhu Xudan seemed to be classmates.

"Zhuzhu..." Liang Jie said awkwardly, "We haven't had much contact."

Although we had a good relationship when we were in school, it has been a year or two since we graduated.

Since we are no longer in the same company, there is no chance for cooperation and the relationship will gradually fade.

It is said that relationships in junior high school die due to class division, relationships in high school die due to college entrance examinations, and relationships in college die due to graduation.

This is true for couples, and it is similar for friends and classmates.

(End of this chapter)