CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 36: THE BOSS SHOULD WORK HARDER (REQUESTING MONTHLY TICKETS)

The first scene is about shooting the Earth Spirit Pearl, mainly featuring Xu Changqing, Jingtian, Xue Jian, Long Kui, and Jingtian’s good buddy Maomao.

Maomao’s actor is a chubby guy.

This fellow, aside from his looks, has an honest face and is called Lin Zicong.

He is a screenwriter by profession, famous for starring in Zhou Xingxing’s movies, especially in "Kungfu," where he was hit hard by Jiang Bao, even aimed a flying knife at Xing and performed quite well.

This time, he’s considered an important side character.

"OK, three, two, one, go ~"

After Qi Hao issued the command on the scene, he opened the box in his hand and took out the props inside.

Then everyone sitting around started exclaiming:

"Earth Spirit Pearl!"

What the audience sees on TV includes plot, dialogue, and music, so they may not feel awkward, but actors shooting on set don’t have that.

Fortunately, overcoming awkwardness is part of an actor’s basic skills.

Regardless of whether it’s action, dialogue, or tone, Qi Hao’s performance was absolutely qualified.

Unfortunately, there are teammates who act like pigs around him.

As soon as they saw this prop, they couldn’t help but laugh.

geigeigei~

Hu Ge, aren’t you supposed to be depressed? Why are you laughing?

Liu Shishi, aren’t you supposed to be dignified? Look at your mouth, you can’t stop laughing.

Yang Mi, you’re a CP with Hu Ge.

Even if you laugh yourself falling sideways, don’t lean into my arms.

Should I push, or... kick?

Laughter is contagious, even Qi Hao couldn’t help it.

The shot definitely had an NG, so there’s no need to hold back. Everyone’s laughing, while you’re not, how unsociable.

A bunch of actors laugh until they’re leaning all over, and the director group wasn’t immune either.

"This looks like Arhat Fruit..."

This thing is still lying in Qi Hao’s hand.

However you look at it, it seems like an Arhat Fruit.

Of course, you could also say it’s a kiwi with hair removed, anyway, it looks funny.

"There’s no other way, where can I find you the Earth Spirit Pearl? Even ’Journey to the West’ used a big yam for its Ginseng Fruit."

Li Guoli admitted with a wry smile that it was indeed Arhat Fruit. If I actually had an Earth Spirit Pearl, why would I be a director?

Actually, we originally planned to use kiwi fruit.

Convenient, quick, low-cost.

Choose freely from a vegetable market, fruit store, and eat it after use.

Unfortunately, the purchaser likes eating Arhat Fruit.

The actors adjusted slightly and brewed a serious emotion to reshoot this scene.

This scene itself is very simple.

It’s one of those scenes where as long as everyone doesn’t crack up, it’s easy to shoot well. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been chosen as the first scene of the shoot.

Usually, the first scene is always simple, passable in one go, to bring good luck.

Unfortunately, with the first NG, it’s hard for anyone to hold back afterwards.

Li Guoli got a little anxious.

Today’s shooting task is very relaxed, with time left for a dinner party.

The problem is, if you keep messing up like this, I’ll see you looking like you’re at a dinner party.

Lunch was a boxed meal.

Beef stew with potatoes, Kung Pao chicken, tomato scrambled eggs, and stir-fried shredded potatoes.

Qi Hao carried the boxed meal and came up to the director’s side.

"Director, what do you think of this? We should first give this Arhat... cough, Earth Spirit Pearl a close-up shot, then complete the verbal description with off-screen audio, then give a full view..."

He almost said the wrong name of Earth Spirit Pearl, leading to another burst of laughter from everyone.

Several people’s rice sprayed out from their nostrils.

However, his solution was indeed very practical.

Moreover, the Earth Spirit Pearl will have special effects added, so a close-up shot is necessary.

Chief screenwriter Deng Zishan nodded to director Li Guoli, expressing her agreement with Qi Hao’s suggestion.

Deng Zishan is a well-known screenwriter from Xiangjiang, previously worked at TVB.

Presently, she is Sugarman’s top-notch official screenwriter and part of Sugarman’s powerful production team, as was the case with "Chinese Paladin 1," which she also scripted.

Deng Zishan was quite wary of Qi Hao.

Such bigshots like to change scripts, some even bring their own screenwriters into the team and have constant conflicts with the original screenwriter.

It seems to be for improving the script, but in reality, it’s purely about competing for scenes and highlight shots.

Qi Hao didn’t bring a screenwriter, but his agent Zhang Nan approached her on the first day for assistance in revising some inappropriate parts of the script.

What’s crucial is that they had valid reasons, leaving her with no room for complaint.

"OK, follow what Qi Hao just said, everyone shoot again later!"

Li Guoli and the screenwriter reached an agreement and decisively adopted Qi Hao’s suggestion.

"Hao can actually change the script?"

Zhang Nan sat on a small stool, eating the same boxed meal as Qi Hao.

Being a second-generation, as long as he thought everything was for the career, he didn’t mind anything.

"He’s a film emperor, isn’t it normal to change scripts?"

Yang Liu sat on another small stool, ready at any moment to serve Qi Hao and meet his various needs.

She now understands why Qi Hao wanted an assistant who knows a bit about makeup design.

Because filming in this season, Hao doesn’t wear any makeup at all.

Every time after filming, she goes over to help wipe off his sweat and dust, and that’s it.

After a brief rest following lunch, the crew officially started filming.

The close-up shot of the Earth Spirit Pearl went smoothly in one take, calling out the name of the Earth Spirit Pearl, although it didn’t succeed in one take, the second attempt went equally well.

Next was a panoramic shot.

Having laughed all morning, it’s time to grow immune to it, no matter how funny it is.

"OK, that’s a wrap!"

Li Guoli announced the completion of this scene, his standards for TV actors aren’t too high.

If the standards were really high, he wouldn’t be looking for this bunch.

Hu Ge’s acting is just so-so, especially now with his facial issues, they’re trying to avoid giving him any close-up shots.

The main problem is still his own psychological barrier.

He always feels like he’s disfigured, that his face isn’t as handsome as before.

Plus, the character of Jingtian is originally quite lively, which is the opposite of his current somber personality, leading to inevitable NGs during filming.

Yang Mi’s acting peak was likely in "Martial Arts Champion Su Qie’Er".

Tang Yan has been struggling to make a name for herself for years, and her weak acting ability is a significant factor.

As for this Liu Shishi that Cai Yinong is trying to elevate.

*Sigh* Li Guoli just scratches his head thinking about it, he really doesn’t know how to critique her.

It’s not that she’s that bad-looking, but her eyes just seem soulless.

Cai Yinong asked him to train her well, but what can Li Guoli do.

I’m not an eye doctor.

If the actors they hired were all like Hao, he wouldn’t even have to worry, because then he could finish filming this drama in two and a half months.

But now, it feels like it’s going to be tough without four or five months.

After finishing this section, they shot a few more scenes, and through today’s filming, at least a few main actors have pretty much gotten into sync.

Hao’s acting overshadows the others, but he’s not pushing too hard.

Overshadowing them doesn’t really bring any sense of achievement.

It’s like bullying a five-year-old child.

Of course, Hao wouldn’t intentionally slack off either, his Best Actor flag must not fall, at the very least whenever he’s on camera, it has to give an impression of —

Emma, so handsome!

Oh my, such great acting!

Overall, this crew is actually quite comfortable to work with, and no one is tactless enough to cause the Best Actor any trouble.

People at the bottom like to give trouble only to those at the bottom.

Hao has been given a hard time by people before, but that was many years ago.

The only issue with this crew is there are slightly too many women, and each of them seems to eye him covetously.

Even those playing minor roles would take the chance to disturb him during his breaks.

It’s hard to turn them down completely.

Doing so could easily lead to being labeled as arrogant, and in truth, it does seem a bit arrogant.

After all, everyone is an actor, and in work there’s no distinction of status...

"Nan, is there any way you can help me with this?"

Hao turned to Zhang Nan for help, such things shouldn’t trouble him, leave it to the agent to handle.

"Easy, boss, just wait a moment!"

Zhang Nan thought for a while, then dashed off.

Hao nodded with satisfaction, this new agent really is capable.

Unlike Old Tian.

If Hao had said to Old Tian, hey, so many beauties keep coming up to chat, how annoying!

Old Tian would definitely have roasted him mercilessly.

After Hao shot two more scenes, Zhang Nan came back with a bag.

"Boss, as long as you’re doing something, others will feel embarrassed to disturb you."

"Makes sense, what’s this, books? ’Human Weaknesses’, ’My Art Life’, ’Brecht’s Plays’, ’Actor Creation Quality Training’... Oh, come on..."

Hao was completely dumbfounded, he stared blankly at Zhang Nan, as if seeing an alien creature.

"Yeah, if you’re reading, others will feel embarrassed to bother you," Zhang Nan thought his solution was perfectly reasonable: "No matter how thick-skinned a person is, they must have at least this much sense.

"I’m just a, uh, middle school student, and you want me to read books for a pose?"

Hao isn’t completely uninterested in learning, but he prefers watching classic movies and pondering acting techniques.

In his early twenties, he’s already watched countless films.

"It’s precisely because you’re a middle school student that you should be learning more. It’s not just about posing, no one says middle school students can’t be ambitious!"

Just because you’re the boss doesn’t mean you can slack off. In fact, the boss should strive even harder.

Zhang Nan looked at Hao with encouraging eyes.

"You know, you do kind of make sense." Hao was almost starting to self-reflect.

"Start with this ’Human Weaknesses’, we have to overcome these weaknesses, the author tells us that a person’s success in their career 15% relies on their professional knowledge, while 85% depends on their ability to express thoughts, lead others, and inspire passion in others..."

Zhang Nan placed the Carnegie book on Hao’s knee.

If you want to achieve great success, you need to have the ability to inspire others, mastering skills including but not limited to painting cakes, PUA, speaking about ideals, selling misery...

"So... should I give it a read?" Hao was being fed a story.

"Go ahead, it’s understandable, even elementary school students can get it!" Zhang Nan was very pleased; this boss really shows promise.

As a result, everyone saw Hao sitting on a chair during his break, engrossed with a book.

How could he not be engrossed.

Some of the words were unfamiliar...