Chapter 113: Central Academy of Drama Exchange Meeting
As the year draws to a close, the weather gets colder day by day. In the last week before New Year's Day, there was another heavy snowfall in northern Beijing, and the entire city instantly became a vast expanse of white.
At the beginning of the month, Meng Bai received an invitation from his instructor, or rather a notice, to attend this year's Central Academy of Drama's "Alumni Exchange Meeting" as a representative of the "Outstanding Alumni" of the Drama Major.
Meng Bai naturally agreed without hesitation, as it was just a matter of giving some chicken soup and bragging in front of his junior brothers and sisters.
He had seen this before when he was in school, and was very familiar with it.
At the entrance of the experimental theater, Zhang Jianing looked at Meng Bai who was rushing over and waved, "This way!"
Meng Bai took a few quick steps and came to her. He took a breath and apologized, "I'm sorry, senior sister, please come out to pick me up."
"It's okay." Zhang Jianing said indifferently, "Why are you so late?"
"Tsk, don't mention it." Meng Bai sighed and said, "Knowing that there might be traffic jams due to snow, I got up early in the morning. But when I left, I forgot to look at the address more. I went straight to Dongmianhua Hutong after getting on the Third Ring Road."
The Central Academy of Drama used to have only one old campus, which was Dongmianhua Hutong next to Nanluoguxiang. But starting this year, the new Changping campus has also been put into use, and the main group is freshmen in their first and second years.
The "Alumni Exchange Meeting" of the Central Academy of Drama has two main parts. The first one is to share experiences with freshmen, so the venue is naturally chosen to be the new campus.
Although I came a little late, it doesn't matter, because the exchange meeting itself is not particularly serious and formal. Freshmen voluntarily participate and come and go as they please. The "alumni" who came to share their experiences also set their own topics, and the main theme was a free atmosphere.
Meng Bai followed Zhang Jianing into the theater, which was already full of people.
The "voluntary participation" mentioned by the school is indeed true, but how many people who can be admitted to the Central Academy of Drama are not here to become stars. Knowing that the "seniors" who came today are all "big guys" with certain resources in the industry, many students, especially those in the acting department, how could they miss them.
After all, unlike other majors, there are countless examples in the acting department about being spotted by the crew or a director during the freshman period and then becoming famous with a play. Who can guarantee that the next person to get the opportunity will not be himself?
Meng Bai followed Zhang Jianing from the edge of the theater to the front row and sat down. This area is basically full of "graduates" who came to participate in the exchange meeting today.
Looking around, don't say it, there are really a few familiar faces. One of them is still from their drama major, but he is one year older than Meng Bai.
It's not that Meng Bai knows a lot of people, but generally speaking, most of those who can come to the exchange meeting have made some achievements.
Generally speaking, these people were often among the better students in school, and would appear as representatives at various school activities or commendations from time to time. After seeing them so many times, they are all familiar.
Looking at the person who was speaking on the stage, Meng Bai asked Zhang Jianing, "Who is on the stage?"
"Yang Ming, from the same class as me, from the directing department." Zhang Jianing introduced, "But from what he said just now, it seems that he has transformed into an agent now."
"Agent?" This is a big gap.
However, Meng Bai's heart moved. He was considering the issue of agents during this period. Maybe he could communicate after the end.
This is another function of this exchange meeting, which provides a platform for communication for these alumni in the same industry.
Meng Bai came late, so his speech was also ranked at the back. Fortunately, everyone's speeches basically only talked about work, without those empty words, so it went quite quickly, and it was his turn soon.
"Next, we welcome Meng Bai, the producer and screenwriter of the popular online dramas "Soul Ferry" and "Psychological Crime", and also an outstanding graduate of our drama literature major, to share his experience and exchange with everyone."
Following the host's announcement, Meng Bai walked onto the stage. This was the second time he had faced such a large crowd in a while. I don't know if it was because there were no cameras this time or because he had experience and got used to it, but he felt much more comfortable than the last time at the National Drama Festival.
Looking at the unfamiliar but excited faces in the audience, Meng Bai sighed in his heart. This innocent and somewhat stupid look was exactly the same as theirs back then.
"Hello, juniors and seniors. I am Meng Bai, a 2007 drama literature major. I am currently a producer and screenwriter." Meng Bai looked at the audience and asked, "Some people should have seen it, right?"
"Yes!" "Yes!" "I have seen it!"
The audience instantly responded, fully verifying the main audience group summarized in the background data of Leshi.com.
"I just asked our teacher. The people present today are mainly students from the acting department. Most of them will want to be actors in the future."
Meng Bai said, "The most important thing for actors, especially new actors, is audition. You should have heard many seniors from the acting department talk about this topic, but it is basically from the perspective of actors. Today, from the perspective of a producer, or a crew, I will tell you about how new actors audition and how to make the director who interviews you more willing to choose you."
They are all juniors and seniors from the same school. Meng Bai has nothing to hide, so he talked about some of the issues he would consider in the audition.
Don't say it, this topic really attracted everyone's strong interest. After all, it is rare for producers to take the initiative to talk to them about how to select actors.
Even in the second half, when he talked about some more professional experiences, even "graduates" of the acting department like Zhang Jianing listened carefully.
After talking for more than ten minutes, Meng Bai finally finished his "experience sharing". But in the end, he said separately: "... Of course, all of the above are means for everyone to increase the success rate under the same circumstances. But in addition to this, there are some truly decisive factors."
"What factors, senior brother?" Someone shouted from below.
"Resources, background, popularity, and connections." Meng Bai said calmly.
The students below were instantly in an uproar when they heard this. But thinking about it carefully, it seems that there is nothing wrong with what he said, it's just that everyone subconsciously avoided it.
Meng Bai had anticipated the reactions of the crowd, and waited for the discussion to calm down a little before saying: "The purpose of saying this is to hope that everyone can realize the cruelty of this industry as soon as possible."
"You are not just competing with newcomers of the same age, but also seniors who have debuted for many years and child stars who have been famous for a long time. These are what you should consider before you fight for an opportunity, instead of blaming these factors after failure."
At this point, Meng Bai suddenly changed the subject: "But everyone doesn't have to be too anxious, because you all have at least one resource. Yes, that is your mentor, your seniors, and us seniors."
"Those of you who have watched "Soul Ferry" and "Psychological Crime" should also know that many of the actors in them are juniors and seniors of our major. The work email addresses of our Arclight Films are all available to teachers of the acting major. If there are students who are interested in our Arclight project, please send us your audition resume."
As an excellent producer, you should never forget to give the crew the opportunity to recruit new members at any time.
"Senior brother, can I sign up on the spot?" a boy shouted from the audience.
Meng Bai looked over in the direction of the voice: "No problem, what's your name? What grade are you in?"
"Senior, my name is Qu Chuxiao, and I'm a sophomore this year."
"OK, so sophomore Qu Chuxiao, right? I remember that." Meng Bai nodded.
Hearing Meng Bai's words, the boy was instantly overjoyed, and the classmates around him looked over with envy.
If he had known earlier, he would have stood up just now!
Unexpectedly, before everyone could continue to react, Meng Bai suddenly turned to the acting teacher next to him and said: "Teachers of our acting department, please remember that sophomore Qu Chuxiao attempted to skip classes to participate in the filming of an external play. Please pay special attention to him."
"Hahaha..."
The students in the audience were all stunned, and then burst into laughter, leaving Qu Chuxiao alone with a confused look on his face.
There is actually such an operation. This is the senior brother Meng Bai who was once known as the strongest in the drama major!
(End of this chapter)
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