Lin Yifeng nodded.
As they left, Meng Ran lowered his voice and asked Lin Yifeng.
"With a budget of over a hundred, can you really find actors?"
In Meng Ran's eyes, actors these days are all high and mighty, not to mention those famous big stars, whose salaries for a single movie are beyond his imagination.
Before Meng Ran arrived, she had assumed that Lin Yifeng's salary would be very high, but she did not expect it to be so low.
Lin Yifeng shook his head.
"You're overvaluing actors."
Lin Yifeng's statement is indeed correct.
In 1994, the domestic film and television industry was in a very bleak state. Even top-tier actors only received a little over 20,000 yuan per film, and the total cost of a movie was only a little over 200,000 yuan.
Compared to the stars who were wildly popular in Hong Kong at the time, their prices were on a completely different level.
One million dollars wouldn't be enough to hire a single film star in Hong Kong, but it could definitely find some decent actors in mainland China.
However, Lin Yifeng doesn't plan to find actors with solid acting skills. This TV series is mainly a test, and there's no need to spend too much money on hiring actors.
With a budget of one million, most of the money should be spent on the production crew, the consumption of camera equipment, renting venues, and extras.
This part should be the bulk of the expense; there's really no need to spend too much money on finding celebrities.
Upon returning to the hotel that day, Lin Yifeng immediately began preparing the script.
The next day, Lin Yifeng brought Meng Ran to the Kyoto Film Studio again.
Before entering the courtyard, Director Wang was holding a megaphone and shouting loudly to the crowd below.
"A TV series is about to start filming, and it may be filmed in Zhongzhou Province."
"The lead actor's salary is around 100 to 150 yuan."
"Forehead……"
Director Wang looked at the requirements Lin Yifeng had taught him yesterday and continued to give him instructions.
"Everyone should bring out their best acting skills, mainly by being able to switch between multiple roles and identities."
"Acting skills are entirely dependent on individual ability."
"Those who need to register, come here and give it a try."
After saying this, Director Wang saw Lin Yifeng at the door and hurriedly went around from behind the crowd to greet him.
About half an hour later, the first batch of applicants came for interviews.
Director Wang led Lin Yifeng to a classroom and sat them at the back of the room, where they moved a table.
Many people were also gazing out from a distance from the classroom, trying to get a clear look at what was going on inside.
Lin Yifeng, along with Meng Ran and Uncle Wolf, sat behind a desk, observing the ten people who had entered.
"Take a look at the requirements first."
Director Wang handed the short script prepared by Lin Yifeng to everyone.
The actors looked through these items and immediately found something.
After a little preparation, Director Wang began his performance as instructed. The group of people, like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displayed their unique talents and performed their own unique shows in the room.
This scene made Meng Ran frown.
This group of people were so engrossed in their own little world of acting that they gesticulated wildly and engaged in nonsensical conversations with others. To an outsider, they would have looked like ten people who had gone mad.
However, this is the first round of screening; only those who pass can proceed to the next round of testing.
After a short five-minute performance, Director Wang called for a pause.
The ten people immediately lined up and looked at Lin Yifeng with expectant eyes, clearly very satisfied with their performance.
Lin Yifeng looked at everyone with a complicated expression, his tone tinged with helplessness.
"I think your acting skills are really good."
Upon hearing this, the ten people in the room became even more excited, their eyes filled with even greater anticipation.
But Lin Yifeng then changed the subject.
"However, your performance was still too exaggerated."
"It doesn't feel down-to-earth or relatable to ordinary people."
"What I'm filming doesn't require you to have any outstanding performances."
Upon hearing this, all ten job applicants looked puzzled.
Even Director Wang couldn't quite figure out Lin Yifeng's thoughts.
Once ten people are driven away, new people will soon come to try.
For the entire morning, virtually no one managed to catch Lin Yifeng's eye.
Inside the compound, many of the eliminated actors were pointing in the direction of the classroom and discussing amongst themselves.
"What does this mean? Are you deliberately playing a trick on us?"
"Yeah, if you don't have a shifty-eyed look, what protagonist would want a character like that?"
“I just performed, and he said I was too disgusting.”
"These people from Zhongzhou are really hard to please."
"Exactly, exactly, does he even know what acting is?"
Clearly, this morning's job interviews stirred up resentment among many people.
So much so that those who signed up in the afternoon began to hesitate, deciding to observe the performance of others first.
It must be said that although Lam Yat-fung's remuneration was not high, he was very strict about the actors' acting skills.
Actually, Lin Yifeng's requirements are not high.
As long as you can portray the feeling of Mao Zedong as the main character, that's fine.
The problem is that most of the people here are formally trained, and when they hear that someone is the protagonist, they assume that he is a positive character, and they all have that kind of righteous and awe-inspiring demeanor.
This kind of person definitely couldn't act in "The Swindler".
The few actors who could portray that "thief" feeling acted somewhat deliberately; to put it bluntly, they gave him a yellow jacket and a yellow hat.
Lin Yifeng even suspected that these people could seamlessly switch roles, and that saying a few words like "Sir, please come this way" would feel perfectly natural.
The key is the balance that these people simply cannot strike between these roles.
After the first day of recruitment, Lin Yifeng began to have some doubts about life.
He even considered whether to spend money to find some stars with decent acting skills.
This group of people clearly does not meet his requirements at all.
During dinner that evening, Meng Ran couldn't help but complain.
"Holy crap, today I've truly witnessed the difference in acting skills."
"This thing really is worth every penny."
Lin Yifeng smiled after hearing this.
"no way."
"If their acting skills were really good, they probably wouldn't be working at the film studio."
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