A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 34 Green Branch
Now it's easier to choose the female lead.

As for the director, scrolling through his WeChat Moments, Zhang Yang is preparing for "Spicy Love Soup," but directing a music video in his spare time won't be a big deal. Zhang Yibo and Xiao Gangpao are both free, so they can earn some extra money. Later, Zhang Zien said that he also wanted to direct another film, so they'll give him one.

"Twilight" was directed by Feng Xiaogang, and Li Xiaoran was chosen as the female lead.

This girl is really fair-skinned and has a great figure. Her profile says she graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy, majoring in folk dance. She was born in 76 and was assigned to the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe after graduating from the Beijing Dance Academy in 93. Currently, she works part-time doing advertising.

"Xiao Xiang Rain" was directed by Zhang Zien, and the female lead was chosen from a girl from the Shanghai Theatre Academy named Zhao Yan, currently studying in the 95 class of the acting department. Actually, Lin Jianlu knew her because she had seen her in at least two dramas in her past life: "Lurking" and "The Divine Doctor Xi Lai Le," though she didn't know why her name wasn't Shen Aojun. But since she had submitted her resume, they were still very willing to use her.

"Once Upon a Time in You" was directed by Zhang Yang, and the female lead was Zhou Xun—of course I know her.

"The First Tear" was directed by Zhang Yibo, and the female lead is also from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, class of '93, acting major, named Li Binbin. She's probably only in her early twenties, and she's truly beautiful with well-defined features.

"Love Is Just One Word" was also directed by Zhang Yibo. The female lead is Zuo Xiaoqian, a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy's 95 acting class. She's very beautiful, with a pure and sweet charm that seems to have been highlighted. The information says she acted in Jiang Wen's "In the Heat of the Sun," a film Lin Jianlu has seen, but she has no recollection of her.

It's beautiful enough.

There's one more movie left, "Brave Heart," which will also be directed by Zhang Yibo. But Zhang Yang strongly recommended a girl, Xu Jinglei, who is also the second female lead in his upcoming film "Spicy Love Soup," and will have scenes with Lin Jianlu.

She's from the 1993 class of the Performance Department at Beijing Film Academy, still a student, but she's already become quite famous in the last two years. It's said she has top-notch connections and a constant stream of film offers—and her boyfriend is Wang Shuo.

Lin Jianlu agreed, but unexpectedly, the other party declined.

Maybe they didn't find it appealing? Or did they think shooting a music video wasn't high-class enough?

do not know.

Anyway, being too assertive is a bit awkward.

Let's shoot then. Everything is familiar to us. Xue Zhongding is even familiar with renting cameras from the Beijing Film Studio. The crew is readily available; a few phone calls are all it takes to assemble one. As long as we don't get too hung up on the details, shooting is easy.

Even the production crew doesn't need to be changed. Once the script is finalized, they can film one by one, and they can just call in whichever director is on duty.

"Twilight," "Love Is Just One Word," and "The First Tear" are all films set against the backdrop of urban men and women. They shoot on the streets, add some indoor scenes, and then some studio sets, and that's it. The only outdoor scenes needed for "Twilight" were a short drive on the highway, and those were all shot before they even reached Langfang. They stopped at a service area, and right there, the outdoor scenes for "The First Tear" were finished.

For the production of "Xiao Xiang Rain," which required classical scenes, we went directly to the Feiteng Film and Television Base in Huairou and got it done in two days.

In short, it's simple.

The main reason is that the album has already sold far more than Lin Jianlu initially expected, so he no longer has the motivation to do any more commercial promotion, and his attitude is inevitably perfunctory.

These girls were quite interesting during the filming.

Li Binbin is very smart.

She's been in the industry for about six months now, and among girls her age, she's one of the smartest girls Lin Jianlu has ever seen—she seems to have a cheerful, boyish charm that makes it easy for her to make friends.

Shen Aojun was very polite, or in other words, very reserved. She was always very courteous.

But you can tell that she's only a freshman and she's already getting acting opportunities, earning 6000 yuan in fees in just two or three days. And she's even acting for Lin Jianlu, who's famous all over the country. She's very happy.

Zhou Xun wasn't particularly clever; instead, she seemed rather timid and shy.

However, after filming for a day, they gradually got to know each other, and she took the initiative to chat with the famous singer for a few minutes. From what she said, she actually really wanted to sing, as she had loved it since she was a child, so she asked for some tips on pronunciation.

Zuo Xiaoqing is very interesting. She's an incredibly sweet girl.

Her voice was incredibly beautiful, soft and sweet, and she was exceptionally articulate, with impeccable eloquence and emotional intelligence. Of the five girls, she was the only one who managed to get Lin Jianlu's phone number, and it was all so natural.

Li Xiaoran is different.

On the first day of filming, Lin Jianlu unexpectedly saw her smoking in a corner on the outskirts. Lin Jianlu didn't think much of it, but she seemed quite embarrassed and was a bit dazed for the next few hours, not knowing how to act.

This girl is tongue-tied, but when she does speak, it's often with a strangely sarcastic tone.

As for "Brave Heart", Lin Jianlu originally thought that it didn't matter if there was no female lead. It's rock music, after all. Just film yourself standing under the sunset singing your heart out, and then film a few scenes of running, and that will bring out that inspirational and uplifting feeling. But he couldn't resist Xue Zhongding's persuasion. The earliest "Cold to the End" and "Super Cool" were only made possible by the conditions at the time. Now that we're going to release a video, we should find a female lead!
Actually, we could have asked Lin Xilei; she's been idle all day and is worried about not having any work opportunities. But considering that these days, a round trip between Hong Kong and the capital would only cost 6000 RMB, barely enough for the airfare. So we gave up on that idea and used a girl recommended by Zhang Zien, named Liu Dan. She's also a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama and played a commoner in "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo." She has a round face and is very pretty.

In short, Lin Jianlu finished six music videos in just 11 days. He didn't even miss the chance to celebrate the relocation of Moyan Records' office address. He went over for a drink to celebrate. Well, "Cold to the End" was a huge hit in mainland China, and Moyan Records, as the distribution agent, made a fortune. They immediately upgraded their equipment, moved out of the New Metropolitan Hotel, and rented a four-story building near the Second Ring Road to start recruiting.

Along with this, Rolling Stone's branch office in the capital also received more than 100 square meters of office space and is also looking to hire people.

…………

Finally, on June 5th, "Spicy Love Soup" held a script reading session, bringing together all the signed actors, big and small.

Lin Jianlu finally "coincidentally" ran into Gao Yuanyuan.

Hmm, a little disappointing.

My wife is absolutely pure and innocent! And she is indeed one of the rare beauties who looks stunning at any age—but perhaps Lin Jianlu has seen too many beautiful girls in the past six months, especially just a few days ago, when he was watching couples who changed every two days like a revolving door, and those girls were all really beautiful! Compared to them, well… my wife is like a green branch that has not yet unfurled its leaves.

She's pure and innocent. Beautiful even without makeup. But she seems to fall a little short of being a goddess.

Moreover, Xu Jinglei was also present.

She must be in her early twenties, just over two years old, clearly entering the peak of her youth. She is both pure and beautiful, yet possesses an inexplicable and slightly arrogant air that is very alluring.

Both were from the Beijing Film Academy, both majoring in acting. She was a year ahead of Jiang Qinqin and two years ahead of Zuo Xiaoqian, but she was much more famous than the other two—well, of course, as I said before, her boyfriend was Wang Shuo.

They were all seasoned veterans, and Zhang Yang casually introduced them, so they nodded and greeted each other.

The male lead is named Wang Xuebing, and he graduated from the Central Academy of Drama.

The female lead is named Liu Jie, who is also a singer. But Lao Zhang said that the reason for casting her as the female lead was twofold: first, the female lead's role did not actually have an overwhelming advantage; second, Liu Jie is a spokesperson for Panasonic, and Panasonic promised to give her a sponsorship of 20 yuan for her role as the female lead!
So, this is someone from the advertisers!
Xi'an Film Studio only provided 100 million yuan, which was not enough to make the film. Zhang Yang had already secured more than 40 yuan in sponsorships from various sources, including Panasonic, before the project was even finalized.

Even so, he still complains about being broke every time we meet—he plans to spend at least two million to make this movie!

Lin Jianlu was completely unfamiliar with Liu Jie, but she was clearly a huge fan of Lin Jianlu.

They're both singers, but Lin Jianlu sold 400 million copies in mainland China alone, and his songs are everywhere. Liu Jie only sold tens of thousands of copies; they're not even comparable.

Lin Jianlu saw Guo Tao; she really liked "Crazy Stone," where Guo Tao played the male lead.

Also, Pu Cunxin and Lü Liping.

And Xu Fan, who is someone I know.

No matter who it is, everyone is very polite—they can't be impolite. This isn't just about who's the most popular; many people know that Lin Jianlu agreed to come and act for a few days, which allowed Zhang Yang to swindle 100 million yuan from Xi'an Film Studio!

Are you going to disagree with that?

However, in Lin Jianlu's opinion... it felt like a makeshift operation. It was similar to the makeshift operation he used to make his own music videos—the kind of operation that would likely lose all its investment.

However, at the script reading session, everyone from the director to the screenwriter to the actors was quite interested in this novel episodic format of romance films, and they all looked very optimistic and enthusiastic.

Yes, my wife is still pretty, but she's still a bit too young and inexperienced!

And she was even one of my fans, who brought her cassette tape and asked for an autograph.

Lin Jianlu directly signed his phone number for her. Gao Yuanyuan was stunned for a moment before she realized what it meant. She blushed bright red and glared at Lin Jianlu several times with a mix of shyness and reproach.

He was ignored for the rest of the study session.

There's a sense of grief and indignation, like an idol's image has suddenly shattered.

***
Frankly speaking, asking for monthly votes won't get me any ranking or bonuses.

The real reason I'm asking for monthly votes is because of the new book ranking. I don't really understand how the new book ranking is "weighted" anymore, but more monthly votes will definitely lead to a higher ranking. A higher ranking means attracting more new readers, which will allow me to earn more money to support my family after the book is released!
Please help out, everyone! If you have any votes, please cast them!
Thank you so much!

(End of this chapter)