I am a leader in the entertainment industry

Chapter 90: Casting

Looking back at the history of commercial films and TV series over the past few decades, behind every successful director and film or TV series, there must be a creative team that has worked together for a long time.

Although technical personnel such as art design, costume design, photographers, lighting technicians, editors, and composers may be unknown in the market, they are even more important to producers and directors than famous actors!

After these two points were decided, we discussed the issue of location selection.

There is some controversy regarding the location selection.

It is helpless to say that because of the age issue, in the field of filming costume dramas in China, film and television cities have existed since the 1980s, but they have always focused on the architectural styles of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Later, film and television cities of the Sui and Tang dynasties also appeared.

When the filming of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms began, the central government invested heavily in the construction of the Three Kingdoms Film and Television City and the Qin and Han Film and Television City.

Therefore, the 12 filming bases are also available, but there is only one film and television city of the Song Dynasty in China, and it is located in Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Province.

It mainly presents the standard style of the Northern Song Dynasty Bianliang City, and the other buildings are relatively simple.

However, the setting of the time period of”Legend of the New White Snake” is the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is not a palace drama.

But there was no other way.

Even if Li Qi had some money in his pocket, he couldn’t afford to build a film and television city.

So, after discussion, everyone could only temporarily decide that all interior scenes would be shot at the Ming Dynasty Film and Television City in Shuntian Prefecture, the town market would be shot in Kaifeng Prefecture, and if large-scale water scenes needed to be shot, they would have to go through a field survey before deciding whether to go to the Grand Canal Film and Television City or the film and television city in Zhejiang Province.

Then, for the large exterior scenes, we mainly consider Qingcheng Mountain, Emei Mountain, Zhangjiajie and the West Lake Scenic Area in Hangzhou.

After discussing this, the technical staff of the crew had a direction for their work. Li Qi and Yang Xue were to go out to scout the locations first, Ning Hao was to organize the work team, and Xiao Jiaer was to take charge of accounting and logistics.

Of course, before that, there is another important issue to discuss, which is the actors.

The most important actors in the whole play are the trio: Xu Xian and Xu Shilin, father and son, Bai Suzhen and Hu Meiniang, and then the Green Snake, Xiaoqing and Xiaoqing.

In addition, the more important roles include the monk Fahai, Xu Xian’s sister Xu Jiaorong, and Xu Xian’s brother-in-law Li Gongfu. The next most important roles are Xu Shilin’s brother Qi Baoshan, Li Gongfu’s daughter Li Bilian, and the villain Prince Xiaoye.

Next to them are the Five Ghosts, the Golden Cymbal Dharma King, the Maoshan Taoist priest, Hu Meiniang’s maid Caiyin, as well as Guanyin Bodhisattva, County Magistrate Yang, Madam Yang, the Prince, and others.

Casting is an extremely important task. The degree of fit between the actor and the role directly determines the success or failure of a play.

In this regard, Yang Xue, a former actress, has been in the industry for quite some time, so she is very experienced. Ning Hao, although he has always been a failure, is also an expert. On the contrary, Xiao Jiaer is only familiar with individual actors and can make some important suggestions. As for ordinary actors, apart from other things, the scope of people she knows determines that she cannot give very good suggestions.

As for Li Qi, he has just entered the industry and his vision is limited to the movies and TV series he has watched before, and the group of people he met when filming”Startling by Each Step”,”The Lotus Lantern” and”Crazy Stone”.

Although this is his TV series and he has a classic for reference, he has a clearer and more specific demand for actors, so he can be targeted, but he still patiently listens to everyone’s recommendations for actors for various roles.

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Unlike the previous things, the selection of actors involved too many things, so once the discussion started, time passed quickly. It was noon, and the meeting was not over yet. The company ordered a working lunch, and they ate while chatting. After the meal, they continued the meeting.

Anyway, for relatively important roles, everyone worked together to come up with several candidates. In the end, the assistant who was responsible for recording the meeting wrote down several pages of notes just on the names of the actors.

Next, the main task of Li Qi and Ning Hao is to select the actors.

The meeting was finally over at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Fruitful, but also exhausted[]

After the meeting, everyone will go their separate ways to do their work.

Assistant Director Shen Ao had to go out and inspect 850 scenes first, so as to provide Li Qi with shooting suggestions. Xiao Jiaer was responsible for giving a rough budget for the whole play. Then she had to negotiate the remuneration and sign the contracts with the lighting team, martial arts team, photographers, and production staff.

Then, she didn’t even bother to take care of the costumes and props, because once she started to contact the actors and negotiate film contracts, it would be her job, and the bulk of her job. Of course, Yang Xue would assist in the specific negotiations. After all, when it comes to the entertainment industry, she has the most experience, and when it comes to negotiations, she is also an expert.

As for the actors who have been recorded in the meeting memorandum, the production manager who has been appointed will be responsible for collecting information, including acting experience, personal photos, stills, personal performance style, etc., and then handing it over to Li Qi. After Li Qi has formed a certain thinking, he will start to contact the actors in detail.

The meeting was over, and everyone went about their own business without even having a cup of tea.