Chapter Sixty-Eight: Rising Stars
Chapter Sixty-Eight: Rising Stars
Chapter Sixty-Eight: Rising Stars
The room was completely silent; no one spoke.
Zhou Ran paused for a few seconds, and before she could hear anyone speak, she turned to look at the director.
Ask, "Is it okay now?"
"Yes, absolutely yes, no, I should say fantastic!"
Director Hu realized what was happening and stood up from behind the table.
Overwhelmed with emotion, he bumped his leg on the table, ignoring the pain, and rushed over to examine the two of them closely.
"Wow, you acted so well! But could you guys switch roles? You, Han Wenxing, are the school bully, and you're playing Xu Hantian, the academic genius."
Director Hu still felt that the two of them looked too innocent and that their appearances were suitable for them to switch roles.
"no!"
Zhou Ran coldly refused; he was destined to be the school bully.
He's the one who bullies others; how could others possibly bully him?
"Brother Zhou!"
Xia Chengping grabbed Zhou Ran's hand, looking at him with pleading eyes.
Zhou Ran sighed helplessly; this game of pretend play had become addictive.
"Okay, okay, this time it is."
"Uh-huh."
Seeing that the two had agreed, Director Hu quickly stepped back to the table to get a closer look.
The two didn't need to call a stop; they started performing as soon as he stepped back.
Xia Chengping, with one hand in his pocket, strode over to stand next to Zhou Ran.
He turned his head to look in Xia Chengping's direction.
She slightly curled the corners of her lips, like a wicked cat in a cat-and-mouse game.
This is a completely different feeling from the school bully that Zhou Ran portrayed before.
How do I describe it?
Zhou Ran's school bully is like that kind of delinquent teenager who comes from a bad family and can't survive without being assertive and working hard.
It carries a sense of defiance and resentment towards fate, a broken feeling of struggling desperately in the mud.
Xia Chengping, the school bully, is more like a quiet, bored young nobleman, playing a game controlled by him.
He sets the rules, everything is under his control, and he has an absolute, overwhelming advantage.
Director Hu was so excited he wanted to slap his thigh. "Wow, that's great! That's great!"
He really struck gold. If the two of them were just ordinary geniuses with talent before...
He is now a rare genius among geniuses.
The most important thing in acting is not acting well, but acting in a way that doesn't seem like acting.
You can also randomly switch between various characters and integrate your own soul into them.
He really struck gold today!
With these two things, he can not only turn his fortunes around this time, but also ensure that he continues to be popular.
Xia Chengping continued acting, completely absorbed in the role, and ignored everyone else.
He spoke, jokingly saying...
"Good student! It seems your special privileges with the teacher aren't working out anymore."
His tone was calm, but his sarcasm was palpable.
Zhou Ran didn't mess up either; he stood there obediently.
He didn't speak, but had a pair of round, bright eyes, curly hair, and a baby face.
It's like a beautiful doll; it's as if you're committing a sin if you touch it.
A clear, youthful voice recited the lines.
"Teachers are the fairest; they don't want to waste everyone's study time because of you."
If one person wastes one minute, that adds up to half an hour for a class of 30. It's not worth wasting half an hour of everyone else's time for your sake.
The same lines can evoke different feelings depending on the phrasing and tone.
Xia Chengping was stating facts earlier, but Zhou Ran's tone gave the impression of being accused.
I couldn't help but look at that puffed-up face.
They all had the same idea in their minds.
Oh dear, how could someone bully such a young boy? It's an outrageous thing to do.
The school bully character that Zhou Ran just played has vanished without a trace.
There's this kind of impulse: as long as you're not sad, I'd give you my head if you wanted to play with it.
"Ah, this is more like it."
Director Hu lowered his voice in surprise; this felt right.
With such a cute and innocent face, why is she playing a school bully?
Cuteness is the true home of that face.
Sometimes acting skills aren't the deciding factor; appearance is.
Of course, this is not to say that their acting skills are bad; both of them are very good, you could say they are excellent.
It's just a feeling called "suitable".
Some people just have an honest-looking face, so it's awkward to ask them to play a villain.
Some people are just born with the face of a villainous boss; if you ask them to play an innocent, naive girl, it just feels awkward at first glance.
Some people are just average-looking, but they insist on playing stunning beauties.
It makes the audience feel like they're being pulled out of the play.
There's a saying in their circle that they're blessed with good looks.
Your appearance determines your acting career.
The technical term is "fitting the role".
The two actors were good at acting, but their appearances made it hard to stay immersed in the story for a moment.
To let a baby-faced guy who's only 1.6 meters tall bully a strong man who's over 1.8 meters tall.
The thought of it gives me the creeps.
Now it works normally when you switch it back.
School bullies have their own stereotypes.
There are stereotypes about top students.
This change in acting style didn't produce the same stunning or shocking effect as before.
But it's comfortable, the kind of comfort that aligns with popular aesthetics.
The two finished their performance quickly, and this time Zhou Ran looked directly at the director.
His eyes clearly said, "Is it okay now?"
"Great! Fantastic! Absolutely amazing!"
Director Hu then led the applause.
Zhou Ran nodded, accepting their praise.
Xia Chengping exaggerated a bit; he grinned and looked like a complete idiot.
If it had a tail, it would have been wagging its tail high in the sky long ago.
Zhou Ran frowned. Could this kid be getting addicted to acting and become a star?
With a brain like that, wouldn't he get ruined in the entertainment industry?
Zhou Ran was considering whether to nip Xia Chengping's little seed in the bud.
In his opinion, Xia Chengan was more suited to the entertainment industry than Xia Chengping.
Xia Cheng'an has brains, Xia Chengping doesn't.
The entertainment industry is full of shrewd people; the competition for resources is like a palace intrigue.
Xia Chengping is so stupid, he'd be ripped off and still end up counting money for you.
If this were the previous generation, Zhou Ran would have definitely taken immediate action to nip Xia Chengping's suicidal impulse in the bud.
They were worried that Xia Chengping's decision to enter the entertainment industry would affect the Xia family.
Now that she has a different identity and position, Zhou Ran is somewhat hesitant.
I met someone I thought I would never see again.
They discovered that they were doing just fine without him in their world.
I didn't lose my life, I wasn't tricked to death, and I wasn't unhappy.
On the contrary, seeing him makes me a little unhappy.
Was he too domineering in his past life?
Shouldn't it be him, not them, who should be reflecting on their actions?
He should let go and put his mind at ease.
Should we let children choose the path they want to take based on their own preferences?
To be honest, Zhou Ran was confused.
A rational choice and the path we must take in reality.
When they become two paths, or rather, two different paths, should he intervene?
While I was hesitating and staring blankly, Director Hu had already rushed over.
He grabbed Xia Chengping's hand and shook it frantically.
"It's you, it's both of you. I've made up my mind. You're the only one for the male lead in this drama. Quickly bring the contract and have both of you sign it."
They have a unified temporary contract.
However, this is for minor positions; all contracts are printed in a standardized manner, and once the terms are agreed upon, they are signed on the spot.
According to procedure, the male and female leads of the script need to have separate contracts with many restrictive clauses.
It's more rigorous than this kind of temporary contract.
Director Hu had a gut feeling that if they didn't finalize the contracts for the two people and secure their positions today...
Once these two people walk out of this door, they may no longer be his actors.
Regardless of why I have this intuition.
However, this intuition has helped Director Hu many times. At first, he didn't believe it, but later he had no choice but to believe it.
This turned out to be the work of a somewhat immature director who didn't believe in fate.
After repeated setbacks to success, he came to believe in fate and metaphysics.
"The contract is here. We are a low-budget production team with a small investment. The male lead's salary is not much, only 1.2 million yuan before tax."
Director Hu looked at Zhou Ran and said, "You're the second male lead, and your salary is one million."
"Look at this contract. If you don't understand anything, just ask. Or if you're not satisfied with anything, just say so, and I'll have someone add it in."
When Xia Chengping heard the number 1.2 million, the excitement in his eyes subsided somewhat.
He muttered, "So actors don't earn that much."
Director Hu, who was nearby, heard his mutterings and explained.
"That's already quite a lot; temporary extras can earn between 100 and 300 a day."
Full-time extras typically earn between three and five thousand yuan, while smaller, more ordinary actors earn between ten and twenty thousand yuan.
Actors with given names tend to earn higher salaries, depending on the specific production team.
In a small film crew, a named actor might not even earn as much as an extra in a large film crew.
Famous actors typically earn anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan.
It depends on the actor's popularity and the agent's ability.
As for the lead actor, it depends on the specific group. Some earn hundreds of thousands per episode, while others cost millions for the entire project.
Famous actors, the top-tier kind, can earn tens of millions for a single drama.
Some don't take any money and instead participate in the box office revenue sharing.
The most profitable option is the last one, but of course, the greater the potential profit, the greater the risk.
Various unforeseen circumstances could occur, resulting in poor box office performance and failure to recoup costs.
Seeing that Xia Chengping was listening attentively, Director Hu went a little further and gave him a brief explanation.
"Our production team didn't have much investment. Props and venues accounted for a large portion of the expenses, leaving little for the actors."
You're a new actor who hasn't participated in any filming before, so your price won't be high.
This salary is already considered a very reasonable price.
That's the truth. Considering Xia Chengping's status, giving him 300,000 to 500,000 would be the absolute maximum.
After all, this is an amateur, and amateurs are synonymous with cheap.
Director Hu cherishes talent and is delighted to have found two geniuses.
He simply waved his hand and gave 1.2 million.
This price is enough to hire a minor celebrity with a large following.
That's already very generous.
Xia Chengping didn't care about this small amount of money, but he wasn't unreasonable; he knew that Director Hu had already taken care of things.
Since you can make money while having fun, why not?
I might have to keep it a secret from my brother, otherwise he'll accuse me of not doing anything productive and just playing around.
Xia Chengping didn't hesitate and picked up the pen to sign his name.
Zhou Ran crossed her arms, showing no intention of signing anything.
"What's wrong? Is there any other request?"
Director Hu, seeing that Zhou Ran didn't move, assumed that he was concerned about his salary.
“Your role doesn’t have as much screen time as the male lead’s, so one million is already the maximum. We really can’t add any more.”
"no……"
Zhou Ran was about to speak.
With a bang, the door opened, and someone rushed in! Author's Note: Thank you to my mentor 9492239 (9492239) for your support! For more exciting content, please leave a message for this book on Liancheng Reading.
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