Chapter 369

Thinking it over, Li Zhibai must have been annoyed by "Divine Map."

Of course, it is also possible that the dramas Li Zhibai took on before, and every argument he had with Zhou Ping'an, had accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction in his heart.

Lu Yan He feels that this is a good thing.

With Li Zhibai's current energy, he can fully participate in a film and television project more deeply, rather than just being an actor.

As long as Li Zhibai doesn't mess around, his attitude can help a project develop in a better direction.

Li Zhibai asked Lu Yan He: "What do you do in the projects you manage now?"

"Me? Each project is a bit different." Lu Yan He said, "For 'Lost on Journey,' I basically just asked Teacher Jia Long to handle it. I just wrote a script, and then by chance, I found one of the leads. Oh, of course, there are also many cameo actors I invited. I actually didn't participate much in this, but for something like 'My Own Swordsman,' I participated more. From the cooperation model with Beijiguang, the profit-sharing ratio, the grading, finding the production company, to what level of drama this drama is expected to be, finding what leads, etc., I basically participated in every link to a greater or lesser extent."

Li Zhibai: "Did you learn all this yourself right away?"

Lu Yan He shook his head, "Not really, I learned while doing it. I was lucky to have Sister Ziyan lead me, she is very familiar with many things."

Li Zhibai nodded thoughtfully.

"This kind of thing can really only be learned while doing it." Lu Yan He said.

After Yan Liang heard that Li Zhibai had such thoughts, he was also moved.

"Would it be better if I also accumulated more of this kind of experience?" He asked.

Lu Yan He said: "I feel that not every actor must become a professional producer, but being able to understand more about these behind-the-scenes production links and procedures can also help us judge the quality of a project."

Yan Liang: "How so?"

"What is a good project? A good project is a result. Before achieving this result, every link, every department, and every job type is affecting this result." Lu Yan He said, "It was only after I started doing my own projects that I discovered so many twists and turns inside. For example, the platform's grading of you. Before I understood it, I only thought it was a matter of production cost size. After I understood it, I knew that the level of grading also means what level of resources and promotion the platform will allocate to this project, and what the priority is. For some projects, the platform will put in people even if they know they are not the most suitable, in order to cultivate their own production teams or signed actors. But for some projects, the platform will configure the most suitable and excellent people from all aspects. Many times, the platform is not unaware that many of their practices are not the optimal solution for this project, but in terms of the overall operation and development of the platform, it is the optimal solution after comprehensive consideration."

Lu Yan He said a lot, and finally summarized: "So, now when I look at a project, besides reading the script, I also look at the situation of the producer of this project, what his style was in the past, whether it matches this project, what dramas the director has filmed, what he is good at, what he is not good at, and besides the content of the script, how it needs to be filmed to present a good effect, and whether this production team can achieve such an effect."

Yan Liang showed a look of sudden realization.

"You are really professional now."

Li Zhibai said: "However, this must also be based on Lu Yan He's own autonomy in taking dramas. Even if we know how to look, it's useless. We can't refuse the dramas Zhou Ping'an wants us to take, and it's useless if Zhou Ping'an doesn't agree to the dramas we want to act in."

Yan Liang nodded.

Lu Yan He: "You two are not small artists anymore, without a say. If there are dramas you really want to act in, you must also have ways to handle Zhou Ping'an. Are you just letting them knead you now?"

Yan Liang came back to his senses, smiled, "I am still relatively obedient. Li Zhibai can completely ignore him."

By comparison, Yan Liang, who only became popular at the beginning of this year relying on "Friends," indeed has less confidence.

"Do you have any other dramas to film besides 'Divine Map' later?" Lu Yan He asked.

Yan Liang said: "Not for the time being. We received notice that we are going to film the second season of 'Friends' in the second half of the year."

"That's quite good." Lu Yan He said, "Fortunately, you are still in 'Friends,' otherwise this big-hit drama would really have nothing to do with me."

"Are you really not considering returning?"

"Before Jingtai TV has a formal handling, no matter what, I will not return. A person lives for a breath; I have already taken a step back, should I take a second step back?" Lu Yan He shook his head.

Yan Liang is the one who knows best what happened between Lu Yan He and Jingtai TV at the beginning.

"I heard that Director Li also didn't receive any handling."

"This is too normal. A deputy director, how could he be handled because of me." Lu Yan He shook his head, "But Sister Ziyan is right, a gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late. Take it slowly, there will always be an opportunity."

"I thought you had already let go when you publicly expressed a close cooperative relationship with Director Jiang at the beginning."

"Letting go is impossible. It's just not wanting to let the enemy's power continue to increase, and disintegrating his power from the inside." Lu Yan He smiled, "Now that there is 'Seventeen Layers,' Jiang Lan will not stand on his side to help him no matter what."

"That's true." Yan Liang nodded.

The news that the drama "River of Silence" is about to start filming is also slowly spreading online.

After all, it is another drama with a dazzling and eye-catching lineup.

Previously, only a small number of people knew about this drama, but because of the huge attention Lu Yan He received in "Seventeen Layers," many people also curiously cared about his next drama plan.

Therefore, when they saw the news about the drama "River of Silence," they all clicked in curiously to learn the details.

"Lu Yan He actually took Chen Lingling's drama again."

"Doesn't he have many projects of his own later? Why still take outside dramas? I thought he wouldn't be able to finish filming his own projects in these two years."

"His own projects can be filmed at any time, but Chen Lingling's project can't wait for him."

"As long as Lu Yan He is willing to act, which script wouldn't be willing to wait for him? He has now acted in four TV dramas, two as a lead, two as a supporting role, with remarkable achievements. There isn't one that didn't hit. This kind of achievement is solid and hard."

"But even with such achievements, doesn't acting in 'River of Silence' still mean being the second lead to Ceng Qiao? Fans, don't praise him too hard."

"When has Lu Yan He ever picked his billing? I have never heard of him having any unpleasantness with anyone because of fighting for billing."

"Exactly. When he made a cameo in 'Three Mountains,' he also agreed immediately, not minding at all to play a supporting role for a few newcomers."

"Using billing to mock Lu Yan He is very immoral. As a young actor who has only started acting for a few years, does he have to suppress actors like Chen Bige and Ceng Qiao who have debuted for many years to be called impressive?"

"Actors don't speak with billing, they speak with dramas and roles."

"This is truly an unprovoked disaster. Who could have thought that such a small matter, not even fighting for billing, could lead to such heated discussions among them." Chen Ziyan said helplessly to the person on the phone, "Is it important whether Little Lu is the first lead? This is not some trashy drama. For a drama by Director Chen Lingling, the first or second lead is not as important as the director's billing, right?"

The person on the phone smiled and said: "Can I quote this sentence of yours in my article?"

The person Chen Ziyan is on the phone with is a famous reporter.

The person specially called for this matter to ask for her attitude.

"The matter of billing has been argued for several years, and everyone has been calling for a long time for actors not to care too much about billing, but the debate about this matter has never stopped." The reporter said, "I want to use Lu Yan He's attitude as an introduction to write an article and discuss this phenomenon properly. For an actor like Lu Yan He, who can openly not care about billing, and not just not care in words, but truly not pursue billing, I think this is a very good example to let everyone see clearly how meaningless the fight for billing is."

Chen Ziyan nodded, "However, billing is not meaningless. We just don't want to compete for it as if it's a great thing. Don't set Little Lu up as some kind of heroic image. I don't want him to be targeted and attacked at a young age. In this circle, there are still quite a few people who care about billing and are fighting for it, and then it will look like Little Lu is very disdainful of this behavior."

The reporter couldn't stop laughing, "Got it, got it. Don't you know what my professional quality is?"

"I know your professional quality, but what I should explain, I still have to explain clearly."

Chen Ziyan hung up the phone, seriously recalled the conversation she just had with the reporter, and confirmed that there was no inappropriate content before she felt relieved.

Although they are friends, no one can make too many guarantees about work matters.

Chen Ziyan is also thinking that since the matter of the billing for "River of Silence" is now making such a big fuss, Lu Yan He will definitely be asked about related topics in subsequent public schedules.

How should Lu Yan He respond?

Chen Ziyan has to worry. Lu Yan He is now a tall tree that attracts the wind, and every word he says is picked apart by people with magnifying glasses, so she cannot be careless.

Lu Yan He and Ceng Qiao met at the script reading meeting, smiled at each other, and neither mentioned the billing controversy.

More than a dozen actors with important roles came to the script reading for "River of Silence."

Everyone exchanged greetings and said hello.

In this drama, most of them are actors Lu Yan He has never worked with.

Only after Lu Yan He heard everyone introduce themselves one by one did he know that most of them were actors who had been acting for many years, but because Lu Yan He didn't know much about the entertainment industry, he didn't know them. In fact, they knew each other.

However, it is quite troublesome for such a group of actors to meet together.

The trouble is that everyone has many ideas about their own scenes and has an understanding of the characters. They often read the lines and are interrupted by someone who puts forward their own opinions.

Regardless of what role this person plays or how much screen time they have, when talking about professional matters, they are very confident, saying one, two, three, four with certainty.

Lu Yan He was quite surprised when he heard it at first, because even when he was filming "Phoenix Terrace" before, he rarely encountered this situation. Of course, he wasn't playing the lead at that time, and every script reading meeting he attended was for the scenes he was in, and he didn't have much intersection with the group of leads headed by Ceng Qiao.

Chen Lingling mostly listened silently, and only stood out to make the final decision and give her own opinions at the end.

And these people who were chattering and giving opinions would not say anything after Chen Lingling had a conclusion, seemingly respecting Chen Lingling very much.

The script reading lasted for three days.

After it ended, they were ready to officially start filming.

"Why is it still not agreed?" Xin Zixing looked at Liu Qiao angrily.

In two years, as Xin Zixing's supervisor, Liu Qiao has been promoted from content editor-in-chief to content producer, while Xin Zixing, who originally had hope for the position of content editor-in-chief, refused this position because of "City Travelogue" and "Jump Up," only having her salary and other treatments raised according to this level.

As a content producer, Liu Qiao's authority and say actually have a great improvement.

In this situation, Xin Zixing originally thought that her proposal to increase the production budget for "City Travelogue" this time would have a great hope.

"Little Xing, I know your mood of wanting to make 'City Travelogue' better, but even if 'City Travelogue' is made into a boutique, its upper limit is there. If you want to increase investment, what about the expected return?" Liu Qiao said, "I watched you walk to this step today. I'm also telling you privately, everyone doesn't think the number of viewers for 'City Travelogue' can be further increased. It has already exceeded many of our expectations to be able to achieve such influence now."

Xin Zixing looked at Liu Qiao in disappointment.

"This program 'City Travelogue' was made by me bit by bit. The production budget for its first episode was even only thirty thousand." Xin Zixing said, "To what extent it can be done, it's not up to me to say, and it's not up to you to say. Just like before this program came out, no one thought this program could have the current achievements. Why don't you even give me a chance to try?"

Liu Qiao looked at Xin Zixing helplessly.

"Little Xing, you are a person with great ability and ideas, we all know this, but sometimes if we want to exert our talent and ability, we must also find the right direction. 'City Travelogue' has reached its limit now. Even if you work harder and innovate more, it is impossible to usher in much growth. Regarding this program, we have specifically done a lot of market research."

Xin Zixing looked at Liu Qiao, looking at him silently.

"Brother Qiao, I thought that no matter what others are like, at least I could get your trust. I didn't expect that I couldn't even get your trust."

Liu Qiao was stunned, showing a look of surprise and doubt.

He didn't expect Xin Zixing to say this.

"Actors must trust each other." On the day of the start of filming, Chen Lingling emphasized this matter again, "In this drama of ours, there are old actors, new actors, actors who have become famous, and actors who have not become famous. Regardless of what kind of actor you are, you are now an actor of 'River of Silence.' We are filming this drama together, it is fate. And, a good work will bind all of you together forever, so I hope that in the days of filming that follow, every one of us will trust each other, help each other, and complete this work well together."

Chen Lingling's speech drew continuous applause from everyone.

Lu Yan He also couldn't help but think that Chen Lingling's speech was indeed good, especially on the day of the start of filming.

Since the director set this tone, as an actor, naturally, one has to follow the director.

With so many veteran actors in the crew, no matter what their own style is, they will take care of the young actors in the crew a little bit because of these words from Chen Lingling.

Similarly, Lu Yan He also didn't expect that on his first day of filming, the first person to visit the set was neither Chen Ziyan, nor Chen Siqi, nor Li Zhibai and Yan Liang, but Xin Zixing.

Xin Zixing appeared on the set, and Lu Yan He thought it was because there was something about Wang Zhong's short film that she came to find him.

However, Xin Zixing did not come to find him for this matter.

Before Lu Yan He finished work, Xin Zixing had been waiting for him on the side.

After Lu Yan He finished work, Xin Zixing said: "Let's go have a drink."

Lu Yan He was a bit surprised and nodded.

Xin Zixing told Lu Yan He that the senior management of Ye Mai Network refused to increase the production budget for "City Travelogue."

"Very depressed." She said.

Lu Yan He only then knew why Xin Zixing came to find him at this time.

"They don't look favorably on it, there's no way." Lu Yan He said, "Do you have any ideas?"

Xin Zixing said: "Sigh, what ideas can I have now? I'm not senior management. It's meaningless for me to complain about anything. They won't pay attention, they won't care."

Lu Yan He heard this, smiled, and said: "Who told you to refuse the position of content editor-in-chief before? You want to put all your energy into making content, but if you don't have enough say to protect your content, then even if you put in 100% of your energy, it may become 100% wasted effort because of someone else's word."

Xin Zixing sighed deeply.

"That's heart-piercing."

Lu Yan He said: "You want to do a short film project, this is also a very good idea, but to be honest, Sister Zixing, I feel that with the current traffic of Ye Mai Network, your family can't eat it all. If you insist on doing exclusive content, the short film project is also very likely to fall into the situation of 'City Travelogue.' In the future, when you want to do better, Ye Mai Network will also feel that it is not worth further increasing the production budget, still positioning this short film as a work to attract traffic to the website rather than a work that can walk out of Ye Mai Network."

Xin Zixing understood the meaning in Lu Yan He's words instantly.

The encounter of "City Travelogue" made her fall into deep thought.

Lu Yan He's words were actually very straightforward.

Xin Zixing asked: "Do you think I can cooperate with other video websites?"

"Yes." Lu Yan He nodded, "This way, the power you can use will not be limited to Ye Mai Network."

Lu Yan He's words gave Xin Zixing many ideas.

Xin Zixing took a deep breath, "I know."

After she finished speaking, she reacted and looked at him somewhat incredulously.

"You can think of so many things now, it's really a bit of 'the younger generation is to be regarded with respect'." Xin Zixing said with a tone of teasing and banter, sighing from the bottom of her heart.

That young man who was completely unfamiliar with these things before can now see through her predicament at a glance and give effective suggestions.

Xin Zixing could not help but be surprised.

Only two years have passed.

Lu Yan He's progress is too fast.