1993 My China Entertainment Age

Chapter 157 "The Journey to the West" starts, White Lotus or Fairy Biyou!

According to the production rules of domestic TV dramas, the production cost of a TV drama includes many aspects. The first is the creation cost, that is, the purchase of IP copyright and the creation of screenwriters.

Secondly, there are the salaries of directors and leading actors. Directors include chief directors, assistant directors or AB directors, and actors include leading actors, supporting roles, extras, etc.;

In addition, there are also a certain number of staff members in video recording, beautification, post-production and other links, and there are corresponding costs. The entire project can involve nearly 200 staff members.

Every staff member needs to be paid, and every link will also have costs.

The reasonable cost allocation of a TV series should be 40% of the total salary of all the actors, 10% for the screenwriter and director each, and the remaining 40% for the cost of filming, beautification, computer special effects and other links.

Since it was the first time to invest in and produce a TV series, Jiang Xiaofeng had no experience, and didn't know how much money to invest in the filming of "Journey to the West" at the beginning.

Later, after communicating with many seniors in the circle, Jiang Xiaofeng learned that the production cost of a 30-episode TV series in Huaguo Mainland is about 600 million.

In fact, in these years, 600 million to shoot a TV series, no matter in Hong Kong or Taiwan Province, can't be regarded as a big production, it can only be regarded as a small production.

For a 600-episode TV series with a production cost of 30 million, the average production cost of an episode is 20, which can be said to be very low.

A few years ago, the production cost of many TV series with about 30 episodes would have been about 300 million.

Like "Heroes with White Eyebrows", which Zhang Zijian participated in before, this classic mainland martial arts drama, although all 34 episodes were shot in real scenes, the total shooting cost was only 230 million yuan.

Although the prices in 1994 were not high, the cost of 230 million was definitely very low.

Zhao Hengxuan, who plays the male lead Xu Liang, was only paid 300 yuan per episode at the time, and at the highest point, it was only 500 yuan per episode.

After filming the whole drama, the salary is only ten thousand yuan.

However, after some investigation and research, Jiang Xiaofeng decided to invest 1200 million yuan to produce the drama "Journey to the West".

It is worth mentioning that the production cost of the original "Journey to the West" was 1500 million yuan. It was filmed with a loan from a businessman in Xi'an, and he made a lot of money from this movie.

As for the director of "Journey to the West", Jiang Xiaofeng chose Cao Rong, the martial arts instructor of Xiangjiang, to be the director.

The reason why Jiang Xiaofeng found Cao Rong was because the protagonist and martial arts instructor of the original "Journey to the West" was Cao Rong.

Cao Rong is still very promising. Since the 80s, he has been a martial arts instructor. In 1991, he went to Los Angeles to film "Wesley: The Overlord Disarms His Armor".

At that time, Cao Rong also went to see Li Lianjie, who had immigrated to the United States at that time, and played cards with Li Lianjie, calling him Xiaojie and Jiezi.

A year later, Cao Rong changed his name to Boss Li when he was filming "Yi Tian Tu Long Ji: The Demon Sect Leader".

From 1993 to 1996, Cao Rong worked for Sammo Hung, and then followed Jackie Chan to film two films. Among them, the electrician "A Good Man" won Cao Rong the best action in the 1997 Taiwan Provincial Film Golden Horse Awards design award.

In addition, after communicating with Cao Rong several times, Jiang Xiaofeng felt that Cao Rong was capable, knowledgeable, thoughtful, and fully capable, so he acted as the director of the film "Journey to the West".

Jiang Xiaofeng found most of the production team for this drama, such as Ma Yashu who played the role of White Lotus, and Juanzi who played the role of Fairy Biyou, but Cao Rong also recommended an actor, Huang Haibing who played Tang Seng.

In 1994, Huang Haibing had just gone to the Central Academy of Drama, and they were going to make a film "The Book and Sword Enmity". The boss asked Huang Haibing to be the leading actor, and Cao Rong was the action director at the time.

Because the cooperation with Huang Haibing was quite pleasant, Cao Rong asked Huang Haibing to audition for the role of Tang Seng. In fact, among all the actors, he was only familiar with Huang Haibing.

Heizi plays Wutian, and his appearance is also Cao Rong's idea. Cao Rong thinks that he should be gloomy and full of mystery when he comes out, so Cao Rong asked the makeup to spread his hair out instead of combing it neatly.

As for Sun Wukong's candidate, Jiang Xiaofeng initially wanted to invite Liu Xiaolingtong.

Cao Rong introduced Liu Xiaolingtong to Jiang Xiaofeng because he collaborated with Liu Xiaolingtong in the play "Journey to the West Sequel" some time ago.

Originally, the cooperation had already been negotiated, so it was only a matter of signing the contract. After two days, Liu Xiaolingtong's wife disagreed again.

Jiang Xiaofeng knew in his heart that Liu Xiaolingtong's wife was just a shield, and the one who really disagreed must be Liu Xiaolingtong himself.

Therefore, Jiang Xiaofeng also gave up the idea of ​​cooperating with Liu Xiaolingtong, and decided to shoot according to the original lineup, and invited Cao Rong to play the role of Monkey King.

After learning about Jiang Xiaofeng's thoughts, Cao Rong quickly declined and said, "No, how can I play Monkey King?"

Jiang Xiaofeng continued: "You can do it, you have to believe in yourself."

Cao Rong still shook his head again and again: "No, no, you can let me act in other roles. I have never learned the monkey show. I really can't play Monkey King. I think you should find someone else."

Jiang Xiaofeng said earnestly: "Don't worry, you don't have to be like Liu Xiaolingtong to play a different Monkey King. Zhou Xingchi and Zhang Weijian have all played Monkey King before, and they all have their own styles."

"You can also try to play a completely different Monkey King..."

Although Jiang Xiaofeng said a lot of words of encouragement, Cao Rong still felt that he could not act.

As a result, one night in Yanjing, after Jiang Xiaofeng asked Huang Haibing and Heizi to audition, Monkey King still couldn't find a suitable one.

At about two o'clock in the morning, Jiang Xiaofeng really had no patience, so he told the makeup artist that Cao Rong should try it.

During the over-burden of makeup, Cao Rong dared not show it to others. He was afraid of being laughed at, so he kept his eyes closed. Then he opened his eyes. After taking the photo, Jiang Xiaofeng looked at it and thought it was ok, so he asked Cao Rong to play Monkey King.

Cao Rong has been repurchasing most of the time in the past few years, and he has never played such a role before, so he has no confidence.

But when it comes to kung fu, Cao Rong proudly said that it is at the level of Jet Li and Donnie Yen, because he was born as a fighter.

Liu Xiaolingtong has never practiced martial arts. His method of acting is mainly based on monkeys. It is impossible for Cao Rong to be like him, so he can only find another way.

Because "Journey to the West" is about Monkey King becoming a Buddha, after consideration, Cao Rong decided to use three-point monkey and seven-point human to play this role.

In less than two weeks, the cast of "Journey to the West" has been confirmed.

January 1rd is New Year's Day.

The crew of "Journey to the West" held a simple start-up ceremony in Diaoyutai Film and Television City, Baoji.

In addition to Cao Rong, Qian Yanqiu and other main creative personnel, the boss Jiang Xiaofeng also attended the opening ceremony.

In terms of cast, Cao Rong, Heizi, and Huang Haibing played the most roles, followed by Wu Jian, Ma Yashu, Juanzi and other actors.

And Wu Jian also became the second signed artist of Century Film and Television Company after Zhang Zijian.

Jiang Xiaofeng chose to sign Wu Jian because in his previous life, he had seen him act in "Xia Ke Xing Xing", and thought his role as Gouge was very classic, and he thought his acting skills were also very good.

However, at the press conference, Jiang Xiaofeng, the boss, became the focus of the audience. Almost every reporter present would focus their cameras on him.

"Director Jiang, will you play a role in this play?"

"My company's investment in making movies, have you considered guest appearances?"

"..."

Jiang Xiaofeng didn't answer yes or no, but said vaguely to the media reporters: "Let's wait and see, I don't know now."

"If there is a suitable role, I will definitely play it."

In fact, Jiang Xiaofeng never considered starring in the play "Journey to the West".

Because of Jiang Xiaofeng's current status and status, he was no longer allowed to take over the filming of this TV series that might become a ghost animal.

However, Ma Yashu, who played the role of Bai Lianhua, and Juanzi, who played the role of Fairy Biyou, are very eye-catching to Jiang Xiaofeng, because they are the types he feels more personally.

Because of his cheerful and outgoing personality, when Ma Yashu saw Jiang Xiaofeng, he did not hesitate to get close to Jiang Xiaofeng, calling "Jiang Dong" one after another.

Ma Yashu also asked Jiang Xiaofeng curiously: "Director Jiang, why did you choose me to play White Lotus?"

Jiang Xiaofeng said solemnly: "Because I think you look as pure and flawless as a white lotus."

As for Juanzi, who looked aloof and cold, in fact, her eyes would look at Jiang Xiaofeng from time to time, with a hint of giving a glance.

ps. Today's chapter 3, thank you for your monthly pass, thank you very much for your support and encouragement, thank you.

(End of this chapter)