Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 102 Ning Hao's Collapse

"Have you heard of the Asian Rising Star Director Program?" Sister Wang asked Li Boda with a smile.

Li Boda shook his head: "I haven't heard of it. Sister Wang, is the movie you mentioned related to this?"

"Yes! The Asian New Star Director Program is a program initiated by Hong Kong King Andy Lau's Yingyi Entertainment Co., Ltd. The original intention was to support the new generation of directors..." Sister Wang explained to Li Boda.

"So, Sister Wang, have you taken a fancy to a certain director or movie in this plan?" Li Boda's eyes lit up slightly.

I think the new star director support program initiated by King Liu should be reliable.

"Yes, I learned about the selected directors through some channels. There are six directors in total, but two of them are from Hong Kong, one is from Taiwan, one is from Malaysia, and another is from Singapore. There is only one director from mainland China."

"The mainland director is called Ning Hao. He graduated from the Photography Department of Beijing Film Academy. He has made two films before, both of which won awards."

"Graduated from the Photography Department of Beijing Film Academy? Isn't Ning Hao a director? Shouldn't he have graduated from the Directing Department?" Li Boda asked casually.

"...Don't you know that there are directors from the Photography Department of Beijing Film Academy? Zhang Yimou graduated from the Photography Department of Beijing Film Academy." Sister Wang couldn't help but shook her head.

"Um, I haven't paid much attention to this aspect. So this Ning Hao is very reliable?"

"I think it's reliable. Although the films he has filmed before were all art films, he plans to make a commercial film this time. But he still has some skills, and I have read the script. The quality is still very good." Sister Wang said with a smile.

"Sister Wang, have you read the script? What about Director Ning Hao, have you reached an agreement with him?" Li Boda asked hurriedly.

"I talked to Ning Hao about it, but, how should I put it, if Li Boda wants to participate in his movie, the salary will probably be..." Sister Wang hesitated. She knew that Li Boda cared a lot about money. After all, whenever Li Boda had free time, he would go out to perform in commercials to make money.

When filming "The Return of the Condor Heroes", Li Boda had been grumbling about the fact that his salary was taken away by Zhang Da Huzi for a long time.

"The pay will be discounted? But I've never made a movie before. This is my first time filming a movie, so the pay shouldn't be high." Li Boda reacted.

"This is your first time acting in a movie, so the pay is indeed not high. However, this time, it's not a discount." Sister Wang's voice sounded a little weak, as if she was a little embarrassed.

“Isn’t it a discount?”

"Well, if possible, it would be more appropriate to perform for free." Sister Wang said to Li Boda.

"Zero pay--" Li Boda was speechless. It turned out that he wouldn't get a penny this time.

"The main reason is that the role is quite good. According to Ning Hao, the role he gave you is an international thief. Originally, Ning Hao planned to ask King Liu to play this role, so Ning Hao deliberately expanded the role's part to make it even more outstanding. But King Liu was too busy with work and had no time to play this role, so the role was temporarily vacant. It happened that I found Ning Hao at this time, and Ning Hao was willing to give you this role, but in terms of the remuneration--" Although Sister Wang didn't make her words very clear, the meaning was already very clear.

"Is King Liu too busy with work and has no time to act? I'm afraid King Liu simply despises this script? So he doesn't want to play this role at all, right?" Li Boda curled his lips.

"You're right. After all, Ning Hao was nothing before. In fact, the reason why he was chosen was because among the six directors, there was no mainland director who was suitable. So King Liu didn't pay much attention to Ning Hao and his script. But I also read it. Ning Hao's script is indeed very good, and the role of the international thief is indeed quite outstanding." Sister Wang explained.

"A good script does not necessarily lead to a good movie. In the end, the quality of the movie depends on the director's ability. In other words, director Ning Hao is just a small fry in the eyes of King Liu, right?" Li Boda shrugged. He saw it very clearly.

"...Ning Hao is indeed a marginal figure in the eyes of Heavenly King Liu, but you are not Heavenly King Liu. What's the matter? Do you still want to imitate Heavenly King Liu and ignore Ning Hao?"

"How is that possible? I just think that no pay is a bit too, too—"

"So what do you want? Take that 10,000 or 20,000 yuan pay? This pay is not even as much as you earn from a commercial performance. It's not good to say this pay to others. Instead of saying it's not good, it's better to act in the film for free. It sounds better that way, and your pay won't be directly fixed." Sister Wang shook her head and persuaded.

"That's right, the pay for movies and TV series is different. Okay, let's do as you say, Sister Wang." Li Boda reacted.

Although he is considered a top star in the TV drama industry, he has never been involved in the film industry before.

Not to mention high pay, even if it's low pay, people may not want you. Now that you have a chance to get in touch with the film industry, why bother about a few small amounts of money.

After Sister Wang left, Li Boda continued filming with the crew of "Jingwei Filling the Sea".

Ning Hao was quite happy because Li Boda agreed to play the role of an international thief for free.

Although Ning Hao got the title of Asian Rising Star Director, the total investment for this project was only HK$25 million, which was divided among six directors. On average, each director could only get around HK$4 million.

Although four million is not a small number in this era, it is not a lot of money for making a movie.

But what made Ning Hao happy was that Yingyi Entertainment said they would give Ning Hao a share of 6 million.

This immediately made Ning Hao stand out.

This is why Ning Hao later wanted to invite King Liu to guest-star as an international thief. After all, if King Liu didn't value him, why would he give him six million? If he took six million, the other five people would get a lot less.

But unfortunately, King Liu refused to play the guest role on the grounds that he had no schedule.

There was no other way, Ning Hao could only give up on letting King Liu make a guest appearance.

But at this time, Sister Wang followed the scent and found Ning Hao, and Ning Hao was also interested in Li Boda, a new first-line actor in the TV drama circle.

After all, according to Ning Hao's plan, if there is no King Liu to make a guest appearance, then he will find a famous person to help build his reputation.

Although he will get a share of 6 million, Ning Hao still wants to be thrifty. After all, 6 million is still a tight budget for making a movie, so he has to save as much as possible!
So, after Sister Wang tentatively suggested that he could act for free, Ning Hao clapped his hands and decided it was a done deal. He let Li Boda play the role of the international thief Mike for free.

After all, it's just a cool and handsome role, which is not that difficult. With some training, even an actor with not much acting skills can be used.

Just when Ning Hao proudly began to prepare to set up the crew and started inviting actors.

Yingyi Entertainment informed Ning Hao that the money given to him by the Asian Rising Star Director was directly reduced by half, leaving him with only a share of 3 million.

Not only was three million not enough, but Yingyi Entertainment also wanted the role of the international thief Mike, which Ning Hao had prepared for King Liu but was rejected by King Liu, and said that they wanted to give them an unknown artist.

When Ning Hao, who was originally happily preparing for the filming, heard the news, he was completely dumbfounded.

It doesn't matter that the role of the international thief that Ning Hao and Li Boda agreed upon was taken away. After all, it's just a role and it doesn't have much impact.

However, the share originally promised to be 6 million was directly reduced to 3 million, which was a huge blow to Ning Hao.

Ning Hao is preparing the crew for the six million yuan.

The crew, equipment, venue, etc. are already in preparation, and even some contracts have been signed.

Now, six million has become three million, which almost drove Ning Hao crazy.

If it was said at the beginning that Ning Hao would only be given three million, that would have been fine. Ning Hao would have directly used the three million to arrange and prepare the crew.

Despite the tight schedule, Ning Hao was able to set up the crew smoothly.

After all, there are six million ways to shoot for six million, and there are three million ways to shoot for three million.

But he was given six million at the beginning, and he had already made plans based on six million. Halfway through, he suddenly told Ning Hao that there was only three million. What should Ning Hao do then?
Ning Hao was going crazy.

He didn't even have the energy to explain anything to Li Boda. He started running around frantically. He quickly terminated the contracts of some people who had not yet signed them, and went to see those who had already signed them to see if they could cancel their contracts. If not, could they get a reduction?

During the following period of time, Ning Hao was almost tortured to death.

But even so, Ning Hao had wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So what to do next?
In order to find a way to raise money, Ning Hao took out his and his girlfriend's savings, sold the gold chain he had bought before, and also sold the house.

I just barely managed to patch the loophole, but that’s still a little short of it.

After Ning Hao had done everything he could, he remembered what was happening with Li Boda.

As for Li Boda, the filming of the play "Jingwei Filling the Sea" has almost been completed and is about to be wrapped up.

At this time, Ning Hao and Li Boda's executive agent Sister Wang appeared together on the set of "Jingwei Filling the Sea".

Ning Hao was planning to apologize to Sister Wang and Li Boda. After all, Li Boda had already agreed to appear in the film for free, which was a sign of sincerity. However, Ning Hao couldn't get a role, so the film fell through.

It would be so embarrassing to say this out loud.

So Ning Hao told Sister Wang that he had to go and apologize to Li Boda in person, so as to show his sincerity.

Sister Wang felt that since Ning Hao was so sincere, she might as well bring Ning Hao with her to see Li Boda.

After all, the role was lost, and director Ning Hao came to apologize in person. This is really full of sincerity, right!

So, the two of them appeared in the crew of "Jingwei Filling the Sea".

(End of this chapter)