Chinese Entertainment: Directors Start with the Fairy Sister

"Let's go find the assistant director first!"

Mu Deyuan beckoned Zhao Yanxi to follow, but stopped after taking only two steps and asked, "By the way, did you bring the script?"

"I brought it."

Zhao Yanxi took out the script from her backpack, which was in a file folder, and handed it to Mu Deyuan.

"Let's go."

Mu Deyuan, holding the script, led Zhao Yanxi from the small white building to the performance building.

The building for the Department of Performing Arts and Directing, where Zhao Yanxi spent five years in her previous life, felt just as familiar as it would a decade or more later.

I don't know how much money the damn school leaders embezzled, but the teaching building hasn't been repaired for over a decade!

By the time I was a junior in college, I basically didn't have any classes in performing arts anymore.

At this time, the students you could see at school were mostly from the classes of 03 and 04.

However, apart from the students from the years she studied there, Zhao Yanxi was relatively familiar with the classes of 02 and 05. These two classes, like the class of 96, were known as the star classes of Beijing Film Academy.

In the directing department office, Mu Deyuan burst through the door with a hearty laugh: "Old Tian, ​​Old Tian, ​​are you there? I need to talk to you!"

Tian Zhuangzhuang is the head of the directing department and also Zhao Yanxi's teacher in the original timeline.

As soon as Mu Deyuan saw him, he greeted him with a big smile: "Old Tian, ​​I've come to ask you for a favor."

"What is it?"

Tian Zhuangzhuang glanced at Mu Deyuan and Zhao Yanxi beside him with surprise.

"My student wants to make a movie. Everything else is almost ready, but he needs two assistant directors. Don't you have a lot of free time in your directing department? How about we arrange for two experienced people to help out?"

"..."

Zhao Yanxi's lips curled up slightly, and he finally understood why Lao Mu had brought him to the Performance and Guidance Building—to show off!

At their age and stage, their own achievements are basically set, and what they can compete on is the ability of their disciples.

Whoever has the best students is considered to have stronger educational abilities, and therefore deserves greater responsibility!

Tian Zhuangzhuang was a kind person. Although he saw through Mu Deyuan's "sinister intentions", he did not give Zhao Yanxi any attitude. After reading the script, he enthusiastically introduced two senior students to him.

In Lao Tian's words, it's about "broadening their horizons and helping them with some work," and there's no need to mention wages.

"..."

Even so, Zhao Yanxi couldn't let them work for free. However, the salary was only slightly higher than their internship salary. In any case, it saved a lot of money compared to hiring a director through a proper recruitment process.

According to Zhao Yanxi's original budget, the minimum cost would have been 115 million.

Now, both filming and post-production editing equipment can be paid for after use, which means that the 30 yuan equipment fee can be paid out.

In this way, the production cost of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was 150 million!

In addition to recommending directors, Tian Zhuangzhuang also expressed his support for the work of directors at the Beijing Film Academy, saying that he could be credited as their producer if needed.

Being named as a producer is not a casual matter. In China's director-centric system, producers and executive producers are usually the second-in-command of the production team and are responsible for the quality of the film!

In terms of distribution and theatrical scheduling, films with big names listed as producers often receive preferential treatment.

Conversely, if the video quality is too poor, it can also damage the producer's reputation!

Zhao Yanxi never expected that her trip to the Beijing Film Academy would bring such a pleasant surprise.

After securing the production team, the next issue was finding the right actors.

Since she had decided to look within the Beijing Film Academy, Zhao Yanxi directly left her email address with Wang Jingsong, the director of the Acting Department.

The notice outlines the role requirements for some key characters and welcomes alumni of the Performance Department of Taipei Film Academy to apply and submit their resumes.

The main issue is that the students from the classes of 02 to 04 are a bit older, and the students from the classes of 01 and 00 are worried that they won't be able to portray the naivety of high school students.

Don't underestimate Zhao Yanxi just because she's a new director. In this day and age, with the number of graduates from various art schools each year and the accumulation of previous years, there are only so many projects approved for the market each year.

Whenever a new project comes along, it's enough for those celebrities to fight tooth and nail for it!

......

Qingcui Garden is a villa community developed in recent years in Shunyi District, Beijing.

Almost every villa occupies four to five thousand square meters of land, and the people who live here can be described as either rich or noble!

One of these buildings is where Liu Yifei and her daughter live.

After filming wrapped up for "The Return of the Condor Heroes," Liu Yifei held a small party here, inviting several friends to get together.

Most of them were classmates from the 02 performance class, including Zhu Yawen, Luo Jin, Zhou Yang, Jiang Yan, and others.

The latter is Jiang Yiyan, who will later become the famous owner of the green tea shop, except that the "Yi" has not been added yet.

"Yifei, you've lost weight again. It must have been tough filming 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'!"

"It's alright," Liu Yifei's beautiful eyes flickered slightly as she recalled the changes before and after falling into the water, and a slight smile appeared on her lips: "It was a bit tough at first, but it got much easier after I got used to it."

"Can you guys stop chatting and hurry up and skewer the meat?" Zhu Yawen said with some resentment. "I told you to buy the skewers, but you insisted on saying 'self-sufficiency'."

"And the result? It turned out to be just me and Little Luo fighting!"

"Hehe, I'm here," Liu Yifei said with a silly grin. "I'm going to have a big meal today. It's been so long since I've had barbecue."

"Yifei, how's the food on the set of 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'? A big production like that should have pretty good food, right?" Zhou Yang asked curiously.

"Yifei is the female lead, so the food she eats must be pretty good," Jiang Yan chuckled.

Zhou Yang frowned slightly; she felt that Jiang Yan's speech was becoming increasingly sarcastic and unsettling.

Liu Yifei didn't think much of it and replied with a smile, "It's all the same, the same cafeteria and boxed lunches, plus Little Dragon Girl has body requirements."

"My mom is afraid I'll get a chubby face from eating too much, so she doesn't want me to eat too much."

"Quick, look at your phones! Director Wang sent a message!"

Jiang Yan suddenly looked at her phone and said, "Looks like there's a new project, and it's directed by one of our own school's directors!"

Upon hearing Jiang Yan's words, the others disregarded what they were holding and immediately surrounded her.

"Hey, Xiao Zhu, you still have meat in your hands," Jiang Yan said with a look of disgust. "Get out of the way, don't you guys have your own phones?!"

"Yifei, Yangyang, come and see!"

"Mmm~"

Liu Yifei leaned closer with a smile, looking at the content in the QQ group, and it was indeed as she had thought.

"You Are the Apple of My Eye? That title sounds so familiar!"

"Is the director also from the class of 02? A student from the cinematography department of a vocational college?"

"Zhao Yanxi, why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Idiot! This is the actor who plays Zhen Zhibing in 'The Return of the Condor Heroes.' He's the one who saved Yifei when she fell into the water last time!" Zhou Yang said irritably.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!"

Luo Jin nodded repeatedly, then looked at Liu Yifei and said, "Yifei, you should be familiar with this Zhao student, right? What do you think of him? Is he reliable?"

"What, you're not going to sign up just because it's not reliable?" Jiang Yan said with amusement. "I don't care, I'm going to sign up and see."

"Yan Xi is very reliable," Liu Yifei said solemnly. "This movie is adapted from his novel, which is selling very well and has a large fan base!"

"Oh," Zhu Yawen suddenly realized, "I remember now, I bought this novel before, it cost me twenty silver dollars, the author's name is something like 'Taoli Yanxi'? No wonder this movie looks so familiar."

"That's him!"

"Then this project must be pretty good. I'll ask the company to quickly make me a better-looking resume."

As she spoke, Zhu Yawen couldn't wait to walk to the side to make a phone call.

Jiang Yan glanced at him disdainfully, then took Liu Yifei's arm and said affectionately, "Yifei, you've worked with Director Zhao before, you must be quite familiar with him. Could you introduce us?"

"Well... we're not actually that close," Liu Yifei said, speaking in a somewhat idealistic tone, "I haven't had many scenes with him."

"Just do as the director said, prepare your resumes," Zhou Yang said speechlessly. "Since this is an internal selection by the Beijing Film Academy, our chances are still very good!"

"That's right, that's right. Who brought a laptop? I'll make a resume first!" Luo Jin asked with a smile.

"Who brings a laptop when they go out for a barbecue?"

"I have some at home, come to my house to get it later."

......

Yanxi Studio, second floor.

With a simple renovation, this place now feels like home.

My inbox has already received hundreds of resumes. Although it was stated that the selection was only within the Beijing Film Academy, students from the Central Academy of Drama and the Communication University of China also submitted their resumes.

After all, it's not a big secret. If someone is determined to find a way, they can always find Director Zhao Yanxi's email address.

Luckily, he had a good idea. This email address wasn't his personal one, but a temporary one that he would use as the studio's dedicated email address from now on.

There were quite a few resumes, but after filming the off-campus members, Zhao Yanxi only recognized Zhu Yawen, Luo Jin, Zhou Yang, and others, almost all of whom were Liu Yifei's classmates from the class of 02.

"Is this going to turn into the 02 class's graduation performance?"

Although she found it strange, Zhao Yanxi thought it seemed pretty good.

First of all, the 02 performance class became a star class not only because of good fortune, but also because of its outstanding professional skills.

Secondly, since Liu Yifei is the female lead, choosing a group of classmates who have a good relationship with her as supporting characters would be more suitable and would better showcase the friendship among students during their youth.

Finally, the fact that they were able to carve out a niche for themselves from the crowd shows that they also have a certain audience appeal!

This is crucial.

As the saying goes, a small success depends on promotion, while a big success depends on fate. This "audience appeal" is "fate"!

Zhao Yanxi is also willing to find a group of actors with "great luck" to star in her debut work!

"Liu Yifei plays Shen Jiayi, Zhao Jingyan..."

Zhao Yanxi thought for a moment, "Zhu Yawen, Luo Jin, Qi Kui, who can play the lead role of Zhao Jingyan?"

"Put it aside, Qi Guosheng (original author Cao Guosheng), um... give it to Zhu Yawen."

There was no particular reason, it was just because Zhao Yanxi had the deepest impression of Zhu Yawen—she had watched too many of his intimate scenes with Fang Huihui in "When Larry Met Mary" on Douyin.

"Hu Zhiwei..."

That is, Hu Jiawei, Shen Jiayi's best friend in the original work. The original work used her real name here, so Zhao Yanxi naturally had to make some changes.

There were quite a few girls in the Class of 02: Wang Jia, Sun Meijing, Zhou Yang, Jiang Yan, and Zhao Yanxi. After thinking about it, Zhao Yanxi still chose Zhou Yang.

The first two were not well-known, and Zhao Yanxi was not interested in Jiang Yan, the tea master. On the contrary, it was during the time of "The Legend of Nezha" that Zhao Yanxi was enthusiastic about TV dramas.

After this analysis, the main supporting roles were all assigned to the 02 cohort, while the other minor supporting roles were given to the 03 and 04 cohorts.

Only the protagonist Zhao Jingyan remains, and the only familiar name that seems to be Huang Bo is...?

We can't exactly let Huang Bo play, can we?

The moment this idea came to mind, Zhao Yanxi immediately refuted it—"That damn Huang Bo is no match for me!"

"Yes, I can do it myself!"