The news brought by Hua Ruzhen was just an episode.
Lu Yanhe's work focus is still on the company's two dramas.
The auditions for 2 Broke Girls lasted about a week.
During this period, a total of five rounds of auditions were held.
Lu Yanhe participated in three of them.
Finally, the roles of "2 Broke Girls" were decided.
Among them is Deng Xiaoyuan.
Deng Xiaoyuan got the role on the spot.
When she heard Hu Siwei say, "Congratulations, you got this role," she burst into tears of joy on the spot.
Lu Yanhe liked the "reality" in her performance, the way she performed not based on her own aura, but rather on a dejected calmness that seemed to have been tempered a thousand times.
Of course, Lu Yanhe also had his own selfish motives. He had worked with Deng Xiaoyuan on "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" and had personally witnessed Deng Xiaoyuan's live performance and knew that she was a reliable actress.
Another main character, the restaurant owner, was also successfully taken down by Bai Yunfei, the short man discovered by Hu Siwei.
Several main characters all received the same performance contract.
The two female protagonists both had contracts with a salary of 30,000 yuan per episode, and they were required to sign a six-season performance contract at once - of course, at Lu Yanhe's request, Linghe did not require them to sign a six-season performance contract with a salary of 30,000 yuan per episode. Starting from the second season, the salary negotiations would be restarted to give them room to increase their salary.
The other main actors were paid 10,000 yuan per episode.
For them, even such a high salary is a "high salary" that they cannot get normally.
The pay of actors is even more disparate than that between the top and the bottom of the pyramid.
After deciding on the actors, Linghe officially announced the project immediately.
First time released to the public.
Produced and supervised by Hu Siwei, and with Lu Yanhe providing the script idea, this is Linghe's fourth sitcom after "Friends", "Wulin Waijia" and "Housemates".
With the previous two films as excellent as before, "2 Broke Girls" naturally attracted everyone's attention.
However, when everyone found out that the leading actors in the drama "2 Broke Girls" were all unknown actors, they were all stunned.
Lu Yanhe often uses many unknown actors and newcomers as the leading actors in his projects, and everyone has gotten used to it, but before that, every project must have big stars.
Just like he and Chen Bige in "Love Letter", Jiang Yuqian and Liu Zefan in "Squid Game", and Jia Long in "Lost on Journey".
Unexpectedly, there is not a single first-line star in "2 Broke Girls".
Some people are pessimistic, saying, "Maybe it's because the budget of 2 Broke Girls was used to pay Lu Yanhe for the screenplay idea."
Ling He is happy to get everyone talking about it, to boost the popularity of the show "2 Broke Girls" and to increase its attention.
Not long after, Linghe suddenly released another piece of news related to 2 Broke Girls:
Recruiting rehearsal audiences. Before the official filming of 2 Broke Girls begins, a rehearsal will be held in a small theater in the form of a play. Audiences will be recruited to watch and provide feedback.
It’s another new way to play.
The reason was that the script was put together by everyone. Although Lu Yanhe had also read it, Hu Siwei still wanted to use this method to see the audience's reaction in advance.
To see if the script and story are feasible and whether the characters can stand out. Another thing is to allow the actors to rehearse in advance and master the characters' states.
This requires spending some money upfront.
The actors need to take three months in advance to rehearse, revise the script, audition, and discuss, and based on the opinions, do another round, or even two more.
Linghe certainly couldn't let everyone work for free, so it gave everyone a monthly subsidy of 1 yuan.
These actors are not famous and they are under great pressure in life. We cannot say that "2 Broke Girls" is a big deal that can change their fate and that they should keep "dedicating" and "sacrificing" in the early stage.
The main actors in 2 Broke Girls are all willing to do this. Their mentality now is just like they have won the lottery, and everything in their lives has become how to make this lottery ticket pay out the prize.
"Television Review" magazine published a commentary article specifically on this, praising this phenomenon.
——Film and television dramas have been eager for quick success for many years, but Lu Yanhe and his Linghe Film and Television have slowed down every crew for auditions, rehearsals, and script readings. They even spent a week rehearsing for three days, shooting for two days, and resting for two days during the filming of "Friends" last year, to ensure that everyone was in the best condition for the filming.
——Sometimes, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on a drama, and the best creators are used to build the best team, in order to produce the best drama, but the drama is not given enough time to make adequate preparations.
——Of course, we must also see that so far, there are only a very small number of crews that can do this. Only Lu Yanhe's plays can make those difficult agents and difficult actors willingly cooperate with him and Linghe Film and Television's arrangements and do things that they simply cannot do in other crews.
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"We just started a play and wanted the actors to join the crew a week in advance to read the script and rehearse. As a result, they asked for an extra three million yuan, which did not include the food, clothing, housing and transportation for him and his team for an extra week."
A producer from Songkai Film and Television talked about what he had just encountered during his live broadcast.
"Who among us wouldn't want to do what Lu Yanhe and his team did? Who wouldn't want to make this play better? I think you're scolding the wrong people, us producers. Don't we want to give them a better creative environment?"
"How many actors are there in the entertainment industry like Lu Yanhe? He joins the crew early for almost every play, and several plays have been overdue, but he has never asked for a penny more from the crew. He is very considerate of the crew. Just for this point, how many actors can do it?"
“Why do you think he didn’t use any celebrities in 2 Broke Girls? Seriously, everyone in the industry has reached a consensus that actors from Lu Yanhe’s industry are easier to work with, especially the young actors who have worked with Lu Yanhe. They lead by example and are very contagious.”
"Whenever he goes to any crew, he never asks the crew to pay for any of his team's food, clothing, housing and transportation, except for his own food and lodging. Just for this reason, so far, he is the only one in the entire entertainment industry who does this. Why can he have such an influence in the industry?"
"Of course, we can't say that other actors who let the crew pay for their work are wrong. The situation is too complicated. It's unrealistic to ask actors to join the crew without assistants. Even Lu Yanhe, who is so humble, has to bring one. There's nothing we can do about it. The nature of the job is there. I'm talking about some actors. They're so disgusting that they want to bring their aunts and uncles with them and take advantage of the crew."
"In fact, I really hope that Lu Yanhe and his company can make more movies and bring out more actors who are easy to work with, so that those actors who are not worthy of their positions can be eliminated."
"Really? I'm not exaggerating. Look at Wang Dashan in Lost on Journey, Wang Jing in Late Spring, and Zhan Yun and Wen Minglan in Friends. They are all recognized as actors who are easy to work with. They all followed Lu Yanhe into the industry and learned how to be an actor from him."
"Some time ago, a friend of mine approached Yin Xincheng about a play. But just before the filming started, an investor ran away and withdrew his investment. Suddenly, the play was about to fail. Yin Xincheng had already received half of the salary. According to the contract, he didn't have to return the money even if the play failed. He took the initiative to find my friend and asked if the salary was enough to fill the gap and continue filming. If not, he would return half of the salary. Fuck, do you dare to think about it?"
"Why only half? Oh my god, do you understand? Not to mention that he can only return half, the other half is divided by the agency, and he can't decide for his agency. Even if he took all and only returned half, this is also very impressive, okay? It was really because of Yin Xincheng's timely help that the play was revitalized. It means that he didn't take a penny of salary, and he will get a share of the money earned by the play later. Otherwise, if it doesn't make money or loses money, it means he shot it for nothing."
"Do you know what Yin Xincheng said? He said that if he accepted the money at this time with a clear conscience and didn't care about anything else, he would not be able to face his friends from Friends if the news got out."
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In the group chat of the main creators of "Friends", Bai Jin cut a clip of this live broadcast and sent it to the group, @尹新城:
Is this true?
Yin Xincheng: It’s true.
Bai Jin: You are so righteous?!
Yin Xincheng: I saw that big brother was in such a miserable situation. He put all the strength of the company into filming that drama, and it took almost a year to prepare. Everyone in the company was waiting for this drama to support their families. When he came to me to ask for my schedule, he took a lot of effort to meet me through my agent. After we talked, I felt that his project was okay, and secondly, I felt that it was really not easy for him. The industry has been in recession in recent years. He had a drama before, and the actor had an accident. The drama was left in his hands and he lost a lot of money. If I agreed to act in it, the platform would agree to give me a pre-order payment. Otherwise, he would not be able to shoot this drama from the beginning.
Lu Yanhe gave him three thumbs up in the group.
Bai Jin: Are you really afraid of being embarrassed to see us?
Yin Xincheng: Otherwise, you have all done so many things, just crush me.
Bai Jin: What did we do?
Yin Xincheng: I was just saying that. Didn’t you follow CCTV’s “Heart Project” team to the impoverished mountainous areas to carry out a consolation activity last month?
Bai Jin: That’s a charity event, how can it involve you?
Yin Xincheng: Is this your fifth charity event this year? You guys are all so nice. If I don’t show a better character, I feel like I’m not worthy of this small circle.
Yan Liang: You are so stubborn. You want to do something righteous, but you put the blame on us.
Zhan Yun: That’s right.
Yin Xincheng: Stop talking, stop talking.
Zhan Yun: @Lu Yanhe, when will 2 Broke Girls be filmed? Do we need to make a cameo appearance?
Lu Yanhe: I have this idea, but I haven’t decided yet how I will make a guest appearance in the script.
Zhan Yun: What's so difficult about this? They own a restaurant, don't they? Let's just go to the restaurant and have a meal together, like the characters in Friends.
Bai Jin: This is possible!
Lu Yanhe smiled and said: I will talk to the screenwriter team and see if we can come up with a good idea.
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Lu Yanhe was very grateful to Zhan Yun for taking the initiative to bring up this matter in the group.
As of today when "Friends" is being broadcast, the main actors in the series have all become popular actors who can stand on their own and achieve success.
Just like Yin Xincheng, the platform is willing to pay pre-order fees for the drama starring him before it is aired.
As you can imagine, the more times like this, the harder it is to find them to guest star in a new play. Not every actor is as free as Lu Yanhe, who has the final say on what play to accept and what play to guest star in.
They will definitely not charge for their guest appearances. If they wanted to charge, Zhan Yun would not take the initiative to mention it.
If they don't charge any money, the agency will definitely be dissatisfied because they won't get any commission.
This requires them to take the trouble to deal with the agency themselves.
The more clearly he understood what was behind this, the harder it was for Lu Yanhe to talk to them and invite them to make a guest appearance.
Huang Kairen can do it, Chen Bige can do it, and Jiang Yuqian can do it because he knows that they can be their own masters.
But Yin Xincheng, Zhan Yun and others cannot make their own decisions.
Despite this, Zhan Yun still spoke.
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To be fair, Lu Yanhe really needs the main creative team of "Friends" to make a guest appearance in "2 Broke Girls".
The scene of the six members of "Friends" getting together will definitely be a big hit, attracting millions or even tens of millions of people to watch the show "2 Broke Girls" just for this scene.
Before Lu Yanhe could figure out how to talk to them, Zhan Yun brought it up herself.
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At this moment, Bai Jin was also chatting privately with Zhan Yun:
Yan He hasn't even contacted us yet, why are you asking? What if they don't need us to make a guest appearance?
Zhan Yun: If they don’t need us, they can just say so. But he might really need us to go. It’s just that he’s a person. You’ve known him for so long, don’t you know? He always doesn’t want to cause trouble for us. If he really wants to speak, I don’t know how much struggle he will have in his heart.
Bai Jin: Ah, you’re right. I just don’t understand. It was clearly him who gave us the opportunity and made us famous, but he always acts like he’s afraid of bothering us or taking advantage of us.
Zhan Yun: But it is because he is such a person that I trust him.
Bai Jin: I don’t know how many seasons the show “Friends” can be filmed for. I really hope it can go on forever.
Zhan Yun: I hope so too. In fact, my agency wants me to quit this drama.
Bai Jin: Huh?
Zhan Yun: Don’t worry, I won’t agree. If they dare to force me to quit “Friends”, I will negotiate with them to terminate the contract.
Bai Jin: Why do they want you to quit Friends? The show is still so popular.
Zhan Yun: Because filming "Friends" took up a lot of my time. From December to February, I basically spent two or three months in rehearsal and filming. In the same amount of time, I might take on another drama with thirty or forty episodes, and the pay would be two or three times that of "Friends".
Bai Jin: But is there any show more popular than "Friends"?
Zhan Yun: They think that even if I didn’t act in “Friends”, I would have been famous.
Bai Jin: ...
Zhan Yun: Oh, that’s how small companies are. I will definitely leave this company after my contract expires. It’s really depressing. You can feel it directly from their attitude towards you. They really just use you as a tool to make money. They don’t consider your long-term plans at all, nor do they consider what projects will be helpful to my entire career.
Bai Jin: You just want to make quick money, right?
Zhan Yun: They even wanted me to do live streaming to sell goods, but I rejected it flatly.
Bai Jin: Go to the brand’s live broadcast room?
Zhan Yun: I do live streaming and sell products myself.
Bai Jin: ...Please, it's not like you're out of fashion. If they ask you to do this, aren't you afraid that your image will plummet and all your endorsements will disappear?
Zhan Yun: They thought about it later, so they didn’t mention it anymore.
Some of the big brands that endorse Zhan Yun would definitely not want to see their spokesperson suddenly become low-class.
Bai Jin: Have you ever thought about where to go after your contract here ends?
Zhan Yun: I haven’t thought about it yet. I prefer to open my own studio. However, neither Li Zhibai nor Yan Liang chose to open their own studios. Instead, they renewed their contracts themselves. This makes me wonder if it is not that easy to open my own studio.
Bai Jin: The prerequisite for opening your own studio is probably to have an agent like Chen Ziyan. Otherwise, even if you are very popular, you have to fight alone and may not be able to survive.
Zhan Yun: Yes, sometimes when I see the criticism and attacks against Lu Yanhe, I always think, if I didn’t have an agency - even though they do a terrible job, but without these, I probably wouldn’t have been able to make it.
Bai Jin: That’s not the case. The main thing is that I opened my own studio, and I have to bear all the expenses myself, including legal affairs, public relations, publicity, marketing, business matching... The operating costs are quite high, especially if you are working with top people in the industry. Given your popularity and fame, the costs for these aspects are not small every year.
Zhan Yun: Why don’t we just set up an agency together and keep each other company?
Bai Jin: We are all on the rise now, so let’s just forget about it. Let’s wait ten or twenty years, then we can get together and there will be fewer conflicts.
Zhan Yun: You are still as direct as ever.
Bai Jin: I like it this way.
Zhan Yun: I like you like this too.
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If the casting of "2 Broke Girls" was smooth and proceeding step by step, then the casting of the two thieves in "Home Alone" was not smooth as they could not find the right candidates.
The actors that Lu Yanhe and others thought were suitable were unable to participate due to schedule conflicts.
I've almost exhausted all the comedians in the circle, but still can't find a suitable actor.
Chen Yin insisted that the film must have a well-known actor who could be recognized by theater managers. Otherwise, no matter how good the film was or how popular it was, it might end within a few days of its release because it was not scheduled.
Lu Yanhe understood why Chen Yin was so persistent.
The positioning of "Home Alone" and "Oh, My Sea" is different.
Although "Home Alone" is also a low-budget movie, it is positioned as a commercial film, so their operating philosophy should be the operating philosophy of a commercial film.
The core of a commercial film is, first, selling points, and second, stars.
It is true that the three protagonists of "Harry Potter" are all newcomers, but the other characters can be called a golden supporting cast, and not a single one is left out, and they are all actors with great reputations in Europe and the United States.
Even the two actors from the original "Home Alone", Joe Pesci had already starred in "Goodfellas" and Daniel Stern had already starred in "Goodbye Yesterday", they were already famous actors at the time, especially the latter. Director Chris Columbus was worried that he could not afford him at first, but it was the producers who loosened their budget that allowed for their classic performances.
If "Home Alone" was released quietly just because the screenwriter was Lu Yanhe, this movie would definitely not be released as quietly as ordinary "three-no" movies, but it would definitely not be able to get enough screenings like "Love Letter" to ensure that the audience who want to watch this movie will not increase their viewing costs and have to travel a long way to find a cinema showing the movie.
Only with celebrities can we ensure early publicity points and basic film scheduling.
There are only so many good comedians in China who have certain box office appeal.
"What if we expand the scope to include non-comedians?" Hu Siwei asked, "Can the image be adjusted through makeup and other means? It's not just comedians who can act in comedies. Many actors who cross over to act in comedies also have surprising performances in comedy works."
Of course.
Just like the actors who played the two thieves in the original version of "Home Alone", they were not actors who specialized in comedy, but the final effect was very good.
However, it would be even more difficult to find actors based on this idea.
First, famous actors don’t dare to easily take on roles that are not in their style.
Second, even if someone is willing to take the role, we don’t know what effect the performance will have.
Still have to audition.
But asking a group of already famous actors to audition was not an easy task, even for Lu Yanhe.
However, the filming of the movie is about to start.
The only time to take photos of the wasp is during the winter vacation.
If we fail to shoot, we will have to wait until the next holiday.
Lu Yanhe gritted his teeth and called many people, asking them to recommend actors. He then took the initiative to contact them, arrange meetings to discuss the script and the roles, and then invited them to audition.
Because of this commotion, many people in the entertainment industry knew that Lu Yanhe had a movie and had been meeting actors for a long time, but hadn't found a suitable one.
Several actors with good acting skills and strength came to Lu Yanhe to recommend themselves.
Lu Yanhe was very conflicted and hesitant.
He didn't even invite others to audition easily, because they didn't meet the hard requirements. They were not famous enough to impress theater managers, and they had no way to maintain the star aura for "Home Alone".
He doesn't want to waste other people's time.
But, he really has to say to others, I'm sorry, I can't give you this opportunity because you are not famous enough.
This is ridiculous. (End of this chapter)
