In early March in Jiangcheng, the wind blowing on your face is still a little chilly.

Lu Ban walked into a coffee shop in the city and saw a young man about his age waving at him.

The young man was quite handsome, unlike many young handsome guys nowadays who look prettier than girls. Apart from his small and fragile body, he was pretty good overall.

"Hello Director Lu, I'm Ye Cheng."

The young man introduced himself.

Lu Ban had also obtained information from Li Zijian before.

Although he is called a young man, Ye Cheng is actually two years older than Lu Ban and is almost 25 years old. His family is in real estate, and his father is one of the partners of Jiangcheng Industrial. But Ye Cheng does not want to inherit the family business, or rather, he does not want to inherit the family business by doing nothing. He has his own dreams and wants to pursue his dream of entering the entertainment industry. If he fails, he will go back to inherit the family business.

Young people nowadays really don’t know how to appreciate the blessings they have. Some of them dream of lying down and having a wonderful life without working hard, but some people clearly don’t need to work hard anymore, but they still want to experience life.

"You can just call me Lu Ban. I heard that this is your first time filming a movie?"

Lu Ban casually ordered a cup of coffee and asked.

"Yes, I only participated in variety shows before and didn't have the opportunity to film formal movies and TV series. Now I have this opportunity and I have to seize it well."

Ye Cheng answered simply.

"Variety show? What variety show?"

Lu Ban usually doesn't pay much attention to these variety shows, so he just asked casually.

"It's a lifestyle variety show called "Beautiful Fields," where a few celebrities experience life by planting crops and cooking in the fields."

Ye Cheng took a sip of his coffee.

"Oh, it's good."

Lu Ban had indeed never watched this variety show, but he had always heard about the chain of contempt in the circle: those who make movies look down on those who make TV series, and those who make TV series look down on those who do variety shows. Variety show stars are just subordinates.

The main reason is that a lot of fan economy is linked to variety shows. The general process is that a young idol makes his debut by filming one or two web dramas, most of which are adaptations of online novels, or dramas about brotherhood, and then participate in variety shows to increase his presence and establish his persona. Some of them keep appearing on variety shows and taking advertisements, and live a very comfortable life.

Moreover, there are many kinds of variety shows nowadays, including daily life shows such as farming and cooking, games played by a group of people, singing and dancing, board games, and even blind date shows.

Seriously speaking, as long as they don't mess around with their fans, take drugs, or have issues with principles, etc., these young actors can keep themselves stable. But the prerequisite is that they cannot continue to film serious movies and TV series. Once they do, their true colors will be exposed and they will be criticized by the audience.

And Ye Cheng obviously doesn't want to be confined to the variety show circle and wants to make a breakthrough.

"What movie are you going to make and what role will you play?"

Lu Ban's coffee was finally served. He stirred it with a spoon and then asked.

“No. 9 Huangmei Street is a low-budget horror film.”

Ye Cheng answered truthfully. Although generally speaking, it was taboo to inquire about other crews that had not yet started filming, Ye Cheng wanted to express his sincerity first, so he spoke frankly.

"To be honest, Director Lu, this film was launched because of your movie. The producers think horror movies have great potential, so they rushed to start filming."

"Then I think your crew might lose money."

Lu Ban also has something to say.

The market for horror films has never been large. Because of their scary nature, their natural audience is limited. The ones that can really generate box office revenue are family-friendly films, or at the very least suspense films. Lu Ban's real breakthrough was with online movies, which were made less than half a year ago. In such a short period of time, nine out of ten horror films produced are just crude imitations.

“…”

Ye Cheng didn't know what to say for a moment.

"But it doesn't matter. Just because your crew loses money doesn't mean you lose money."

Lu Ban comforted.

“…Actually, my family also invested money in this movie.”

Ye Cheng was a little embarrassed.

For an 18th-tier star like him who relies on variety shows to be found to act in a movie, his agent must have strong resources. But obviously, Ye Cheng's agent does not have such strong resources, so his family paid and invested a little, and Ye Cheng was also considered to have brought money into the crew.

"...No problem. Even if you lose money, if the whole movie sucks, people won't criticize you if your acting is a little bit worse...You didn't serve as both the director and the scriptwriter yourself, did you?"

Lu Ban realized it later.

"No, no."

Ye Cheng shook his head hurriedly. He was not that inflated yet.

But then he thought again, doesn't this mean that if he were the director and screenwriter, the movie would be a complete disaster?

If someone else said this, Ye Cheng might feel that the other person was mocking him.

But the person on the opposite side is Lu Ban.

The man who set the box office record for domestic horror films.

Even if he criticizes my acting skills to my face, I have to bear with it.

"That's good."

Lu Ban took a sip of coffee. It was bitter, but refreshing enough. Putting down the cup, he asked again.

"What do you think of your acting skills?"

"My acting skills are OK. I learned Stanislavski's method acting techniques. I think..."

Before Ye Cheng could finish his words, Lu Ban raised his hand.

"You don't understand that there is an account verification, do you?"

"No, what's the matter?"

Ye Cheng didn't understand.

"That's all right."

Lu Ban recalled a famous V on Dongle.me who had commented on his acting skills before. Not only was he a film and television star, he was also a double-degree PhD, and was full of method-school and expressionist ideas.

After secretly searching on his mobile phone, Lu Ban discovered that the celebrity had been banned for academic fraud. It's really unpredictable.

"How about this, just show me your fearful expression."

Lu Ban said.

"An expression of fear?"

Ye Cheng was stunned.

Afterwards, he thought that this must be Lu Ban testing him. After thinking about it, Ye Cheng closed his eyes and thought for a while.

Then, Ye Cheng opened his eyes, the muscles on his cheeks trembled, his eyes widened, and his mouth opened.

"Don't come over here!"

It also comes with a line.

Several people around looked over.

Lu Ban looked at Ye Cheng's performance, which was like an emoticon, and sighed.

"Brother Ye."

"What's wrong?"

Ye Cheng restrained his expression and asked hurriedly.

"Why don't we just go play the murderer?"

"Director Lu, are you saying that I'm more suitable for playing a cold and fierce role?"

Ye Cheng was a little excited.

"No, the murderer doesn't have to show his face."

Lu Ban spoke the truth.

“…”

Ye Cheng couldn't hold it anymore.

"Could it be so bad?"

"Ahem, maybe you appear on too many variety shows and need this kind of exaggerated performance. By the way, has your family invested in Yannan Drama Academy?"

Lu Ban was a little curious whether Ye Cheng had purchased his acting diploma.

"No, what's wrong?"

Ye Cheng didn't understand.

"It's okay. It's okay."

Lu Ban now feels that this commission has serious problems.