Zhu Lin, who is quite familiar with the industry, replied, "This Director Liu has filmed a lot of web dramas! Most of them were made following the trend, some became hits and some flopped."
If a palace intrigue drama becomes popular, he'll quickly make one. If a time-travel drama becomes popular, he'll immediately find someone to make one; he can make five or six a year anyway.
"Making so many films a year, even if only one becomes a hit, it's still a profitable business."
“But if we do that, the quality of the show can’t be guaranteed, right?” Shi Xi asked rhetorically.
“Even an S+ rating can’t guarantee the quality of a drama.” Zhu Lin shrugged.
While eating her boxed lunch, Shi Xi remarked, "Thankfully, Pei Kai and the supporting actors' acting skills were up to par!"
"I just asked around, and most of the supporting actors are acting for the first time," Zhu Lin said in a low voice. "Their pay is shockingly low!"
"There are quite a few production crews like this in the industry, luring newcomers into acting roles and only paying them a pittance," the screenwriter said nonchalantly. "It's also a way for production crews to save money."
"This is a big IP, so the investment should be quite large, right? Why does this production team seem so poor?" Shi Xi asked in confusion.
When she first read the script, it said the production cost was 80 million.
Judging from the makeup and manpower available today, she would believe it even if you said two million, let alone eighty million.
"I bet it's money laundering," Tianyu said in a low voice. "Anyway, I don't think Director Liu wants to take this drama seriously!"
The three men's guesses were confirmed that afternoon.
Because in the afternoon, Director Liu left directly, leaving everything to the assistant director.
The assistant director is a student majoring in directing at the film academy. He hasn't even graduated yet, but he's already taken on such a heavy responsibility.
According to him, this play was also his graduation project.
Everyone: ...
Sweet Rain reluctantly went to get the script and discussed it with him.
Unexpectedly, the assistant director was very satisfied with the revised script.
Sweet Rain was prepared to have a war of words with him, but to her surprise, the assistant director approved it directly and said that it should be revised according to her script.
The sudden joy left Shi Xi and Tian Yu somewhat at a loss.
This must be what they mean by "a pleasant surprise from heaven"!
However, the assistant director lacked shooting experience and had poor control over the camera, often demanding reshoots for minor issues.
A single scene might need to be filmed more than ten times.
"I know! It's because you're too beautiful, Ms. Shi, and you don't fit into this drama!" The assistant director looked at the screen and said to Shi Xi, "Ms. Shi, could you please remove your makeup before filming?"
Shi Xi stood there stunned. This was the first time she had ever heard of a woman having to remove her makeup to film a drama because she was so beautiful.
“But Liu Anning is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the Three Realms. Because she’s so beautiful, she’s bullied and ostracized,” Shi Xi retorted. “If I weren’t pretty, why would I be bullied?”
Director Liu seemed thoughtful. "That makes sense."
Shi Xi: ...Can't you even look at the script?!
Assistant Director: "Let's shoot this scene again!"
One shot was filmed more than ten times.
Shi Xi was starting to miss Director Liu from the morning.
After a long day, Shi Xi and Tian Yu were both exhausted by the film crew.
Director Liu doesn't allow cuts, but he doesn't allow script changes.
The assistant director asked us to revise the script, but he wouldn't let go of the small details, so we had to film a scene more than ten times.
Moreover, the entire production team didn't even have a single screenwriter.
Only the sweet rain brought by Shi Xi is being revised.
"I did the math, we filmed 32 scenes today," Zhu Lin calculated. "At this rate, we can film 1,800 scenes in two months!"
“There will always be breaks in between. It’s impossible to film more than thirty scenes every day, right?” Shi Xi said.
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