Chapter 830

Zhang Yuezhen said: "*Death Stranding* although not a hit, has a group of very loyal fans, especially you. Your fans internationally now mainly come from this show. The audience of *Seventeen Layers: Reboot* on Maxine, background data shows that 14% have watched *Death Stranding*."

Chen Pinhe frowned slightly.

"If this is the case, why does Maxine refuse to raise the salary for the second season of *Death Stranding* to 300,000 US dollars per episode?" Chen Pinhe had some PTSD from the salary controversy before. "If it wasn't because the salary they gave me for the first season was too low, I wouldn't have been mocked so much at that time."

Zhang Yuezhen: "It is indeed a tight budget. The production cost of this show is very high, with a large number of ocean special effects scenes, and there is no way to reserve more space for actors' salaries."

Zhang Yuezhen said again: "Moreover, the salary price of 250,000 US dollars per episode is not low. In Hollywood, many first-tier stars can only get this price. Basically, in first-tier produced American dramas, 1 million US dollars is the ceiling price, and only a few people can get it."

"250,000 US dollars per episode," Chen Pinhe smiled lightly. "Those people in *Friends* get much more per episode than me, right?"

"*Friends* is because it already has hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide," Zhang Yuezhen said. "And they are sitcoms. Their production costs are basically on personnel expenses. Art, visual effects, and post-production don't cost much money."

Chen Pinhe: "It's really going back as I live. When I took *Death Stranding* before, I felt the project was good, and it was the first English drama, so I didn't care about the salary. It's good, the low salary became the place where I was criticized. Now I can't call the price up with them. *Seventeen Layers: Reboot* is said to be broadcast well, but there is no way to let my salary increase by even 50,000 US dollars per episode."

Zhang Yuezhen said: "This price is indeed not low. The second season of *Death Stranding* itself is such a budget scale."

Zhang Yuezhen really has a headache now.

She didn't expect Chen Pinhe to be serious about the salary for the second season of *Death Stranding*.

Chen Pinhe really didn't care much about this area before.

It's not to say he doesn't care about money, but the actors who came from his generation have all been influenced by a concept—

A good project, a good role, is far more important than a high salary.

It seems that the previous attacks on him really made him start to change his concepts.

Indeed, a top Chinese actor acting in an English drama outside, only getting a salary of 50,000 US dollars per episode, is too shameful to say out loud.

Zhang Yuezhen hesitated for a moment and said: "I'll go talk to Maxine again. If they still refuse to loosen their mouths in the end, then I will refuse *Death Stranding 2*, and won't act?"

Chen Pinhe nodded.

"We don't need *Death Stranding 2* that much now, do we?"

Zhang Yuezhen calculated in her heart.

In terms of drama, there is now the *Seventeen Layers: Reboot* series. In terms of movies, there is the new movie by director Asimov for awards, and the commercial one is that romantic comedy movie.

Indeed, *Death Stranding 2* is no longer that important to Chen Pinhe.

"So, *Death Stranding 2* needs to find a new male lead?" Chen Ziyan heard the news almost immediately.

This news came from South Korea.

Zhong Benshuo wants to find a male actor in South Korea with a suitable age and image to replace Chen Pinhe in this role.

Lu Qingzhen: "Chen Pinhe didn't negotiate with Maxine because of the salary. The set you used before is useful. Not only did it pull him off the altar, but it also cut him off from *Death Stranding*."

Chen Ziyan said: "*Death Stranding* is actually considered a niche small hit, and there are still some fans around the world. Chen Pinhe giving up is a bit short-sighted."

"Salary negotiation is a big problem."

"Maxine has already given him a salary of over 200,000 US dollars."

"He's still not satisfied? Then he doesn't know his own weight," Lu Qingzhen changed his words immediately.

Chen Ziyan: "I'm thinking about whether to help Teacher Jiang Jun fight for this role. After *Doomsday*, Teacher Jiang Jun has no other projects except taking the second part of *Doomsday*. The second part of *Doomsday* has already been filmed long ago."

"For Teacher Jiang Jun, a salary of 200,000 US dollars per episode is low, right?"

"Yes," Chen Ziyan shook her head. "Forget it, it can't stand careful thinking, it's unnecessary. Why should Teacher Jiang act in someone else's sequel?"

Lu Qingzhen said: "The roles Hollywood gives to Chinese actors are really few. Teacher Jiang already has such powerful achievements, but he can't get good roles."

"Yes, the scripts that come are all ones that look like bad movies," Chen Ziyan said. "Otherwise, he can only go to play supporting roles. It's just unnecessary. After all, there is the second part of *Doomsday* behind."

Lu Qingzhen asked: "Don't those overseas streaming platforms have the intention to help Teacher Jiang build a drama?"

"There have been several ideas discussed, but they are not very mature. Now Teacher Jiang's status has been raised very high, but because the foundation is not stable, it feels a bit bound and tied by this price," Chen Ziyan said. "The route I set for Teacher Jiang is very clear. Except for top big productions or top big directors, otherwise he won't act if he is not the lead."

"Isn't there a derivative movie to be developed with Teacher Jiang Jun's role in *Seventeen Layers* as the protagonist?" Lu Qingzhen said. "Actually, it is enough. If the box office of this derivative movie is good, then Teacher Jiang Jun holds the *Seventeen Layers* series and the *Doomsday* series, plus the second part of *Squid Game*, the next few years will be very stable."

Chen Ziyan nodded and said: "I don't just want him to be stable. I hope he can go further. He has good acting skills and some action foundation, and his acting path is very wide. Plus the widespread popularity brought by *Seventeen Layers* and *Squid Game*, he has the possibility to rush to a position that truly makes Hollywood open a project for him alone."

Lu Qingzhen: "*Death Stranding 2* is indeed a bit weak, and it's not a global big hit, so it can't give Teacher Jiang too much blessing."

"Hmm," Chen Ziyan nodded.

"*Death Stranding 2* Chen Pinhe withdrew. Either change the script or find an actor to replace him. Now the filming time of *Death Stranding 2* has not been set, so there is still time to adjust."

Wu Bai said to Li Yuefeng: "If you are willing, I will go to negotiate and communicate with Maxine to see if I can fight for a main role for you."

Li Yuefeng said: "Small supporting roles forget it, the protagonist group can be considered."

"But I heard that Chen Pinhe withdrew because the salary was not negotiated, so if you act, the salary may not be very high," Wu Bai said. "The only show you have popularity in Europe and America is *Seventeen Layers*."

Li Yuefeng: "It's okay if the salary is low for a while, I don't mind, but try to help me compress the filming time. Don't give me little money and let me film in the crew for hundreds of days. I'm at this age too. In a few years, I'll be on the middle-aged track. I don't have so much time to spend with them."

"Hmm," Wu Bai nodded. "Now that this news has spread, what I worry about most is that Maxine will eventually let a Korean actor play this role. Zhong Benshuo, the person in charge of Maxine in Asia, is a Korean-American and is very familiar with the Korean entertainment industry."

Li Yuefeng said: "*Death Stranding* was not broadcast in China, and the Chinese market has no attraction for this show."

Wu Bai: "Yes, fortunately, your *Corpse Phase 2* has been approved. The gold content of Jiang Jun and Lily Williams starring with you still makes your resume more beautiful than ordinary actors. Not to mention that *Be With You* starring you is very popular in Asia."

"The popular one is Yan Lingyu. I also counted as eating some dividends, but it's just that much, not much," Li Yuefeng said. "*Death Stranding* actually doesn't have high attention in China, I'm quite surprised."

Wu Bai: "This subject matter is indeed not something Chinese audiences are interested in, destined to be niche."

Li Yuefeng: "But overseas, the attention is still quite high."

"Yes," Wu Bai nodded. "Overseas have a traditional love for this kind of adventure drama with ocean plus a little fantasy elements."

A *Death Stranding 2* has attracted a lot of attention in the industry.

The news of Chen Pinhe's withdrawal was also released by the Chinese media first, and then foreign media followed suit and released this news.

This is good.

For fans of any show, changing an actor for a role is a taboo. It is the emotion that has already been projected onto a certain image in the early stage, and it has to be projected again.

Many viewers will feel "betrayed" because of this and directly abandon the show.

Fans of *Death Stranding* expressed their protests one after another.

Chen Pinhe is not any other major character; he is the first protagonist.

Changing an actor for such a role is too big a problem.

Maxine saw this, the first reaction was that this problem was a bit big, and the second reaction was, is this thing done by Chen Pinhe's side behind the scenes, in order to force them to reuse him and agree to his conditions.

Zhong Benshuo was very annoyed.

Because thousands of viewers around the world even sent protest letters to Maxine's headquarters.

This show, which is not very outstanding in data, showed an inexplicably huge fan power at this moment.

Maxine's headquarters even came to ask about the situation here.

The voices boycotting the second season of *Death Stranding* are getting more and more.

Zhong Benshuo also faced great pressure because of this. Should he bring Chen Pinhe back? Maxine insisted on disagreeing with the salary of 300,000 US dollars per episode. In fact, it was because once Chen Pinhe was raised to this figure, the heroine would also ask to be raised to this figure. For Maxine, the performance of *Death Stranding* is not enough for them to open a higher budget, which will cause a bad demonstration.

After Maxine discussed it once internally, they decided that they still couldn't open this opening.

——The main reason is that *Death Stranding* is far from being Maxine's pillar.

Not profitable enough.

If it were a profitable project, it wouldn't be the same thing.

For Maxine, this show has to face a problem.

Whether to continue developing the second season.

If they continue to develop, in the current situation, should they insist on changing an actor to play Chen Pinhe's role?

Or, modify the script from now on, hide Chen Pinhe's role in the second season, and introduce new characters.

After some discussion, Maxine decided to modify the script.

Split half of the functions and scenes of Chen Pinhe's role to the heroine Wang Jiaqi.

Then, introduce two new characters to take on the next half.

Zhong Benshuo very quickly set one of the roles to the Korean actor Kong Lingfan at this time.

And for the other role, Zhong Benshuo was originally prepared to give it to a Japanese actor.

*Death Stranding* is not broadcast in the Chinese market, so using Chinese actors is of little significance.

However, at this time, Li Yuefeng's agent took the initiative to find him.

This male actor, relying on *Be With You*, became famous in South Korea and has high popularity.

Zhong Benshuo also knows him.

Looking again, in Li Yuefeng's resume, the guest appearance in *Raise the Red Lantern*, the second male lead in *You Are the Apple of My Eye*, the *Seventeen Layers* trilogy cooperated with Lu Yanhe, the first male lead in *Corpse Phase* and *Be With You*...

Next, he will also star in the China-US cooperation project *Corpse Phase 2*.

Seeing that this actor is likely to become popular globally next.

Zhong Benshuo put forward a condition.

Li Yuefeng needs to sign a three-part performance agreement with *Death Stranding* in one breath.

Li Yuefeng's agent replied directly: Is it the male lead?

Zhong Benshuo became sober instead.

For a role that is not even the male lead, why ask Li Yuefeng to sign three parts in one breath?

He felt it was ridiculous himself.

"Li Yuefeng certainly doesn't need to sign such an agreement with Maxine," Lu Yanhe said after hearing about this from Chen Ziyan. "Li Yuefeng doesn't have to have this opportunity. Zhong Benshuo is bullying customers because the shop is big. Seeing that Li Yuefeng took the initiative to come to the door, he opened his mouth like a lion."

Chen Ziyan: "I have the same thought as you, Wu Bai can't agree either."

Lu Yanhe: "Besides, Li Yuefeng has two big male lead movies next, why go to play a supporting role for *Death Stranding*."

"Yes," Chen Ziyan said. "I also had a phone call with Wu Bai. After all, Li Yuefeng will star in *Corpse Phase 2* and the *Seventeen Layers* derivative movie later, so there is no need to lower his status."

Lu Yanhe: "What is Wu Bai's attitude?"

"He was angry and replied to them, acting in three parts in a row, is it the male lead?" Chen Ziyan laughed. "Maxine probably won't use Li Yuefeng in the end. Compared to Li Yuefeng, Japanese and Korean actors are much cheaper. They don't have so much budget to give a supporting role lead a salary. No matter how low Li Yuefeng's salary is, it can't be low."

"Then what are we talking about, wasting time."

Chen Ziyan: "Li Yuefeng's side originally thought it was to take the role after Chen Pinhe withdrew, which is a big male lead. Li Yuefeng must still be tempted. Who knows that Maxine changed the script."

Lu Yanhe: "Li Yuefeng is really able to toss."

"Indeed," Chen Ziyan said. "A young man with no background and no excellent talent can reach this position so quickly, which is indeed his ability. So many actors watch you guys eating dividends overseas and follow suit, but there are few who can directly find their door like Li Yuefeng, especially since he is already a first-tier popular actor in China. People all have some airs more or less, but he doesn't care about these airs at all."

Lu Yanhe: "If he cared, he couldn't have taken the initiative to be friends with me at the beginning."

"He is really a freak in this regard."

"I agree very much," Lu Yanhe laughed.

"By the way, there is a piece of news, although it is not very good, but I still have to synchronize with you."

"What news?" Lu Yanhe asked.

"Chen Pinhe's performance in *The Pianist* was rated by *The Hollywood Reporter* as one of the top ten performances worth paying attention to this year," Chen Ziyan said. "*Storm Calmer No. 1* was not included."

Lu Yanhe showed some surprise.

"Oh, okay," Lu Yanhe said. "It seems that the resistance faced by *Storm Calmer No. 1* is even greater than we imagined."

"Hmm," Chen Ziyan said. "That is North America after all, not China."

Lu Yanhe: "Then is there anything we can do now?"

"Not for the time being," Chen Ziyan shook her head.

Lu Yanhe: "Then we can only continue to wait and see."

"In early November, we will know which movie the Film Bureau will select this year," Chen Ziyan said again. "*Storm Calmer No. 1* will definitely sweep the domestic film awards this year, there is no doubt about this. It depends on whether you win Best Actor or Teacher Wen. Chen Pinhe will definitely join the competition, but my personal judgment is that he should not be able to complete the sweep relying on *The Pianist*. The quality of the movie itself is too average."

Lu Yanhe: "Maybe none of the three of us can win, and it will be taken by others."

"Judging from the situation this year, there has not been a better performance than the three of you."

"But the three of us have already won major awards," Lu Yanhe laughed. "According to convention, they must want to reward people who have not won awards more."

"You haven't won all three major awards," Chen Ziyan said. "Domestic film awards this year are bound to be won for you, especially since you and Chen Pinhe are competing. Are you willing to give it to others?"

"Domestic film awards don't look at this set of PR, and we have nothing we can do."

"We don't have PR on the table, but the small movements behind the scenes have never been less," Chen Ziyan said. "At least we have to keep an eye on Chen Pinhe's side, and we can't let them have small movements."

Lu Yanhe: "This is completely out of my range, and I can't keep an eye on it."

Chen Ziyan: "I didn't ask you to keep an eye on it. I just told you, don't look back when someone comes to ask if you want to win an award, and you say it doesn't matter. Once the wind that you say it doesn't matter spreads, it will be unfavorable to you. Now is not the time to express humility."

"Got it," Lu Yanhe said. "I want to win an award, I really want to win an award."

Chen Ziyan smiled.

"Yes, that's the momentum," Chen Ziyan nodded. (End of chapter)