Casting

The news brought by Hua Ruzhen was just an episode.

Lu Yanhe's work focus is still on the company's two dramas.

The audition for the drama "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.

In the end, the roles of "2 Broke Girls" were all decided.

Among them was Deng Xiaoyuan.

Deng Xiaoyuan was the one who got the role on the spot.

When she heard from Hu Siwei, "Congratulations, you got this role", she burst into tears of joy on the spot.

Lu Yanhe liked the "real" in her performance, and liked the state that was not based on her own aura, but presented with a kind of calmness that seemed to have been tempered and frustrated.

Of course, Lu Yanhe also had selfish motives. He worked with Deng Xiaoyuan in "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", and he had witnessed Deng Xiaoyuan's live performance with his own eyes and knew that she was a reliable actress.

And another main role, the owner of the restaurant, was also successfully won by Bai Yunfei, the short man discovered by Hu Siwei.

Several main characters all got the same performance contract.

The two female protagonists both had contracts of 30,000 yuan per episode, and they had to sign a six-season performance contract at once - of course, at Lu Yanhe's request, Linghe did not ask them to sign a six-season performance contract with a salary of 30,000 yuan per episode. Starting from the second season, the salary will be re-negotiated to give them room to increase their salary.

The other main actors were paid 10,000 yuan per episode.

For them, even such a salary price is a "high salary" that they can't get normally.

The salary of actors is a structure that is more different than the top and bottom of the pyramid.

After deciding on the actors, Linghe announced the project as soon as possible.

It was the first time to be made public.

Hu Siwei produced and supervised the production, and Lu Yanhe provided the script ideas. This is Linghe's fourth sitcom after "Friends", "Wulin Waijiao" and "Housemate".

With the previous two gems in front, "2 Broke Girls" naturally attracted everyone's attention.

However, when everyone found out that the main actors of the drama "2 Broke Girls" were all unknown actors, they were all stunned.

Lu Yanhe often used many unknown actors and newcomers as the main actors in his projects, and everyone was 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, "2 Broke Girls" did not have a single first-line star.

Some people were pessimistic, saying: "Maybe it's because the budget of "2 Broke Girls" was used to pay Lu Yanhe's salary for the creative script."

Linghe was happy to let everyone discuss and increase the popularity of "2 Broke Girls" to increase the attention first.

After a while, Linghe suddenly released another news related to "2 Broke Girls":

Recruiting rehearsal audiences. Before the official filming of "2 Broke Girls", a trial performance will be held in a small theater in the form of a drama, and audiences will be recruited to watch and provide opinions.

Another new way to play.

The reason is that the script was put together by everyone. Although Lu Yanhe has also read it, Hu Siwei still wants to see the audience's reaction in advance in this way.

See if the script and story are feasible, whether the characters can stand out, and let the actors rehearse in advance to master the status of the characters.

This requires a sum of money in advance.

The actors need to take out three months in advance to cooperate with rehearsals, script revisions, auditions, discussions, and according to opinions, another round or even two rounds.

Linghe certainly can't let everyone work for nothing. For this, Linghe still gave everyone a monthly subsidy of 10,000 yuan.

These actors are not famous actors, and their life pressure is not small. It can't be said that "2 Broke Girls" is a big pie that can change their fate, so they have to "dedicate" and "sacrifice" in the early stage.

And these main actors in "2 Broke Girls" are very willing to do this. Their mentality now is like suddenly winning the lottery. Everything in life has become how to make this lottery ticket really cash out the prize.

"TV 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 slowed down every crew, auditioning, rehearsing, reading scripts, and even in the filming of "Friends" last year, they rehearsed for three days, filmed for two days, and rested for two days in a week to ensure that everyone was in the best state for filming.

——Sometimes, a drama costs hundreds of millions of dollars, and the best creators are used to build the best team to make the best drama, but they don't give it the most sufficient time to make the most adequate preparations.

——Of course, we must also see that so far, there are only a few crews that can do this. Only Lu Yanhe's drama can make those difficult agents and difficult actors willingly cooperate with his and Linghe Film and Television's arrangements and do things that they can't do in other crews.

-

"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 of Songkai Film and Television talked about what he had just encountered in his live broadcast.

"Which of us doesn't want to do what Lu Yanhe and the others do? Who doesn't want to make this show better? I think you are really criticizing the wrong people when you criticize us producers. It's because we don't want to give them a better creative environment. ”

"How many actors like Lu Yanhe are there in the entertainment industry? He joins the cast of almost every drama in advance, and several of his dramas are overdue, but he has never asked the crew for a penny more in salary, and he is very considerate. Crew, how many actors do you think can do this?"

"Why do you think he didn't use any of the stars in "Bankrupt Sisters"? To be honest, in the circle, everyone has reached a consensus that the actors in Lu Yanhe's circle are easier to work with, especially those who have worked with Lu Yanhe Those young actors lead by example and are contagious.”

"Whenever he goes to any crew, apart from his own food and accommodation, he never asks the crew to pay for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of anyone on his team. Just for this reason, so far, he is the only one in the entire entertainment industry who does this. Why do people do this? Can it have such industry influence?”

"Of course, we can't say that the other actors who ask the crew to pay the bill are wrong. Things here are too complicated. It's unrealistic for you to let the actors join the crew without an assistant. Even Lu Yanhe, who is so arrogant, has to bring one. There is no way, professional Here’s the nature, what I’m talking about is that some actors are so disgusting that all the aunts and uncles want to take them with them and arrest the crew.”

"Actually, I really hope that Lu Yanhe and his company will film more movies, bring out more actors who are easy to work with, and let those actors who are not worthy of their roles be eliminated."

"Really, I'm not exaggerating. Look at Wang Dashan who acted in "The Journey", Wang Jing who acted in "Late Spring", and Zhan Yun and Wen Minglan who acted in "Friends". They are all recognized as good actors. The actors I work with all started the industry with Lu Yanhe, and they all learned how to be an actor from Lu Yanhe.”

"Some time ago, a friend approached Yin Xincheng about a film. But when it was about to start filming, one of the investors ran away and withdrew the capital. Suddenly, the film might be gone. Yin Xincheng had already collected half of the money. The film is paid, according to the contract, this At that time, even if the movie failed, he didn't have to refund the money. He took the initiative to go to my friend and asked if the salary would be enough to make up for the hole and continue filming. If it was not enough, he would refund half of the salary. I Fuck, do you dare to think about it?”

"Why only half? Let me go, do you understand? Not to mention that he can only withdraw half, the other half is divided by the brokerage company, and he can't be the owner of his brokerage company. Even if he takes it all, he will only withdraw Half of it, this is pretty cool, okay? It was Yin Xincheng who came to the rescue in such a timely manner that the show was revived. It meant that he didn't get a penny of the salary, and he was just waiting to get a share of whatever money he made from the show. , If he doesn’t make money, if he loses money, it will be in vain.”

"Do you know what Yin Xincheng said? He said that if he accepted the money with peace of mind at this time and didn't care about anything else, he would be ashamed to see his friends from "Friends" if word spread about it."

-

In the group chat of the creators of "Friends", Bai Jin took a slice of the live broadcast and sent it to the group, x-on:永新城:

Is this true?

Yin Xincheng: It’s true.

Bai Jin: Are you so moral? !

Yin Xincheng: I think that big brother is so miserable. He mobilized the whole company to make that movie. It took almost a year to prepare. The whole company was waiting for this movie to support his family. When he came to knock me When the schedule was scheduled, it took a lot of effort to meet me through my agent. After chatting, I I think his project is okay, and secondly, I think it’s really not easy for him. The industry has been in recession in the past few years. He had a drama before, and the actor had an accident, and it was sitting on his hands gathering dust, and he lost a lot of money. I promise If he acts, the platform will agree to give him a pre-order payment, otherwise, his play will not be filmed from the beginning.

Lu Yanhe gave him three thumbs up in the group.

Bai Jin: Are you really afraid that you won’t have the face to see us?

Yin Xincheng: Otherwise, you have done so many things each and every one of you, I will be involved in this.

Bai Jin: What did we do?

Yin Xincheng: By the way, last month, didn't you follow CCTV's "Heart Project" team to visit impoverished mountainous areas for condolences?

Bai Jin: It’s a charity event. Can it involve you?

Yin Xincheng: Is this your fifth charity event this year? You 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 tough-talking. If you want to do something righteously, you have to blame us.

Zhan Yun: That’s right.

Yin Xincheng: Stop talking, stop talking.

Zhan Yun: x-on:鲁艳河, when will "Bankrupt Sisters" be filmed? Do you need us to make a cameo?

Lu Yanhe: I have this idea, but I haven’t figured out how to make a cameo in the script.

Zhan Yun: What’s so difficult about this? Don’t they open a restaurant? Let's go to a restaurant and have a meal together as characters from "Friends."

Bai Jin: You can have this!

Lu Yanhe said with a smile: I will talk to the screenwriting team and see if we can come up with a good idea.

-

Lu Yanhe was very grateful to Zhan Yun for taking the initiative to mention this matter in the group.

By the time "Friends" airs today, all the leading actors in it have become popular actors who can stand alone and achieve success alone.

Just like Yin Xincheng, the platform is willing to pay pre-orders for his dramas before they are aired.

It is conceivable that the more times like this, the harder it is to ask 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 take and what play to guest star in.

They will definitely not charge for guest starring, and if they do, Zhan Yun will not take the initiative to ask.

And if they don't charge, the agency will definitely have an opinion, because the agency will not earn a share.

This requires them to spend effort to deal with the agency.

The more clearly he knows about the things behind it, the harder it is for Lu Yanhe to ask them to guest star.

Huang Kairen can, Chen Bige can, Jiang Yuqian can, because he knows that they can make their own decisions.

But Yin Xincheng, Zhan Yun and others can't make their own decisions.

Despite this, Zhan Yun still spoke up.

-

To be fair, Lu Yanhe really needs the main creative team of "Friends" to guest star in "2 Broke Girls".

The scene of the six people in "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" for this scene.

Lu Yanhe hasn't figured out how to ask them yet, but Zhan Yun brought it up herself.

-

At this moment, Bai Jin was also chatting with Zhan Yun privately:

Yanhe hasn't even contacted us, why did you take the initiative to ask? What if he doesn't need us to guest star?

Zhan Yun: If he doesn't need it, he can just say it directly, but he may really need us to go, but 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, and if he really wants to ask, I don't know how much struggle he has to make in his heart.

Bai Jin: Ah, you're right, I don't understand it, it's obviously him who gave us the opportunity and made us famous, but he always seems to be afraid of bothering us and taking advantage of us.

Zhan Yun: But it's because he's such a person that I trust him.

Bai Jin: I don't know how many seasons the show "Friends" can be filmed, I really hope it can continue.

Zhan Yun: I hope so too. Actually, my agency wants me to quit the show.

Bai Jin: Huh?

Zhan Yun: Don’t worry, I won’t agree. If they dare to force me to quit Friends, I will talk to them about the termination of the contract.

Bai Jin: Why do they want you to quit Friends? Obviously, the show is still so popular.

Zhan Yun: Because I took up a lot of time to shoot Friends. From December to February, I basically spent two or three months rehearsing and shooting. In the same amount of time, I might take on another show with 30 or 40 episodes, and the pay would be two or three times that of Friends.

Bai Jin: But what show can be more popular than Friends?

Zhan Yun: They think that even if I don’t act in Friends, it will be popular.

Bai Jin: ...

Zhan Yun: Alas, small companies are like this. I will definitely leave this company after my contract expires. It's really depressing. You can directly feel from their attitude towards you that they really just use you as a tool to make money. They don't consider your long-term planning at all, nor do they consider what projects are helpful to my entire career.

Bai Jin: Just want to make quick money, right?

Zhan Yun: They even wanted me to do live streaming to sell goods, but I refused sternly.

Bai Jin: Go to the brand's live streaming room?

Zhan Yun: I will do live streaming to sell goods myself.

Bai Jin: ... Please, you are not out of fashion. If they ask you to do this, aren't you afraid that your image will plummet and all the endorsements on you will run away?

Zhan Yun: They thought about it later, so they don't mention it.

Some big-name endorsements on Zhan Yun will definitely not want to see their spokesperson suddenly become low.

Bai Jin: Have you ever considered where to go after your contract with this side 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 a studio. Instead, they renewed their contracts. I wonder if it is not that easy to open a studio.

Bai Jin: The premise of opening a studio may still be to have an agent like Chen Ziyan. Otherwise, even if you are popular, you have to fight alone and may not be able to survive.

Zhan Yun: Yes, sometimes when I see the black and criticism of Lu Yanhe, I always think that if I don't have an agency - although they are doing a bad job, but without them, it is very likely that I will not be able to survive.

Bai Jin: That's not it. The main thing is to open a studio by yourself, and you have to bear all the expenses, including legal affairs, public relations, publicity, marketing, business docking... The operating costs are quite high, especially if you cooperate with the top people in the industry. With your popularity and fame, the annual costs in these aspects are not small.

Zhan Yun: Let's just set up an agency together in the future and keep each other warm.

Bai Jin: Now that we are both on the rise, let's forget it. Let's get together again in ten or twenty years, when there will be fewer conflicts.

Zhan Yun: You are still as direct as ever.

Bai Jin: I like this.

Zhan Yun: I like you like this, too.

-

If the casting of "2 Broke Girls" was smooth and orderly, then the casting of the two thieves in "Home Alone" was not smooth because 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.

So much so that they almost looked through all the comedians in the circle, but still could not find the right actors.

Chen Yin insisted that this movie must have a well-known actor who can be recognized by the theater manager. Otherwise, no matter how good the movie is and how popular it is, it may end the window period after a few days of release because there is no screening.

Lu Yanhe understood why Chen Yin insisted so much.

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 ideas should be the operating ideas of commercial films.

The core of commercial films is selling points and stars.

It is true that the three protagonists of "Harry Potter" are all newcomers, but the other roles are a golden supporting cast, and none of them are declining. They are all actors with great reputations in Europe and the United States.

Even the two actors in the original "Home Alone", Joe Pesci had already starred in "Goodfellas" and Daniel Stern had already starred in "Goodbye Yesterday", both of whom were already famous actors at the time, especially the latter. Director Chris Columbus was worried that he could not afford it at the beginning, and it was the producers who loosened the budget that allowed the classic performances of the two of them.

If "Home Alone" was only based on the fact that the screenwriter was Lu Yanhe, this movie would definitely not be released quietly like an ordinary "three-no" movie, but it would certainly 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 see a movie in a cinema.

Only with stars can there be publicity points in the early stage and basic screenings.

And there are only so many good comedians in China with certain box office appeal.

"What if we expand the scope to non-comedians?" Hu Siwei asked, "The image can be adjusted through makeup and other methods. It's not only comedians who can play comedies. Many crossover comedians also have surprising performances in comedy works."

Of course.

Just like 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 more difficult to find actors according to this idea.

First, famous actors dare not easily accept roles that are not their style.

Second, even if they are willing to accept, they don't know what effect they will have.

Still need to audition.

But for a group of already famous actors, asking them to audition is not easy, even for Lu Yanhe.

However, the filming of the movie is about to start.

The Hornets only have time to shoot during the winter vacation.

If they fail to shoot, they can only wait for the next vacation.

Lu Yanhe gritted his teeth and called many people, asking them to recommend actors, and then took the initiative to contact them, arrange to meet, discuss the script, discuss the role, and then invite them to audition.

Because of this movement, many people in the entertainment industry knew that Lu Yanhe had a movie and kept meeting actors, but he couldn't find a suitable one.

Several actors with good acting skills and strength took the initiative to recommend themselves to Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe was very entangled and hesitant.

He didn't even ask others to audition easily, because from the hard conditions, they were not satisfied. They were not famous enough to impress the theater manager, and there was no way to support the star halo of "Home Alone".

He didn't want to waste other people's time.

But, if he really told others, I'm sorry, because you are not popular enough, you are not famous enough, so I can't give you this opportunity.

This is too ridiculous. (End of this chapter)