Chapter 229: Candidates

Lin Nan sat on the sofa, enjoying Watching Shu Chang's shoulder massage service.

"Brother, how about it? I just want a female supporting role; Xixi has already agreed."

"Nonsense, I didn't agree, hehe..."

Liu Yifei pursed her lips and smiled on the side, denying it completely, then pointed to her own shoulders.

"Oh my, Producer Xixi, I'm coming right away."

Lin Nan suddenly felt his shoulders lighten, and turning his head, he saw Watching Shu Chang running to Liu Yifei's side; the two girls were giggling.

"You two."

Lin Nan laughed and teased.

How could he not see that Liu Yifei must have already agreed with Watching Shu Chang; she had even asked him about casting a few days ago.

It's likely that at that time, Liu Yifei was already thinking about letting Watching Shu Chang play the female supporting role.

"Changchang, get this straight, the director is me." Lin Nan teased on purpose.

"Hehe, but Xixi is the producer."

Watching Shu Chang made a face and retorted.

"I think it's quite good. I'll act with Changchang; last time..."

"Last time was *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils*, but we didn't have any scenes together."

Before Liu Yifei could finish speaking, Watching Shu Chang directly interrupted.

"Then might as well say *The Noble Family*."

Liu Yifei smiled and teased, a trace of reminiscence in her eyes; back then, they were just two little girls.

Lin Nan looked at the two of them and felt a bit emotional. This kind of pure friendship is truly rare and precious.

"There is one thing I must say."

"What is it?" Liu Yifei and Watching Shu Chang looked at Lin Nan.

"Director Tong agreed to help me pass the script, but the filming location must be changed to Hong Kong. You must keep it confidential."

"Because of the censorship committee?"

"Yeah, in their eyes, I'm a thorn in their side. Now that they've finally caught me once, they have to hammer me hard, hahaha."

Lin Nan laughed and mocked himself.

"Can't it be filmed as a foreign language film?"

Watching Shu Chang asked foolishly; she knew Lin Nan had Crystal Pictures in Hollywood.

"No, as long as the film wants to be released in the mainland, even if the script isn't restricted, the final film must pass the Film Bureau's censorship.

Only then can you get a public screening permit. And the ones responsible for censoring the final film are still that group of people."

Lin Nan explained to Liu Yifei and Watching Shu Chang.

No matter how big a director you are, or how influential you are, you can't avoid that group of people.

It's just that the bigger the director's name, the harder it is to target them, but it's definitely not impossible.

This is power!

"Now I finally understand why many big directors often scold those people.

Because you can't avoid them either way, you can only bite the bullet, revise time and again, and submit for censorship time and again."

Watching Shu Chang suddenly realized.

"But fortunately, at most two years." Lin Nan remembered Han Sanping's words.

"What two years?"

"At most two more years, those people will have to be completely replaced.

Although the people who replace them might not necessarily change their style, they will definitely be more 'sensible' than this batch of old fogies!"

The next day, Lin Nan personally delivered the script, which he had spent two hours revising slightly, to the Film Bureau.

This time, he kept Tong Gang's instructions in mind, and waited until the latter came out of a meeting before safely handing the script to him.

"Haha, you're acting like we're meeting for a secret deal."

Seeing Lin Nan's cautious look, Tong Gang teased.

"It's not like I'm afraid of running into that group from the censorship committee. Director Tong, I've troubled you this time; I've already selected half the actors."

"Hmm, I won't keep you; go back and wait for news."

Tong Gang threw the file bag containing Lin Nan's script into the drawer casually, then waved his hand and said, very calm and composed.

"Alright, I'll wait for your good news."

*Bad Genius* was delivered to Tong Gang in the morning, and in the afternoon, the news that *Sleepless in Seattle* had passed censorship came out.

"Director/Screenwriter Xue Xiaolu: *Sleepless in Seattle*, announced to have passed censorship!"

The media thought of the time when Lin Nan, Liu Yifei, and Xue Xiaolu met at a coffee shop.

Not long after, reporters either went to the Beijing Film Academy to find Xue Xiaolu or ran to Lin Nan Film Industry to find Yue Jun.

Xue Xiaolu didn't hide it:

"This film was indeed written by me, and I will also direct it. Currently, casting has ended."

Yue Jun's side was much more formal, directly announcing the news on Weibo to save media from blocking the door.

"Lin Nan Film Industry will fully fund the production of Xue Dao Xiaolu's new work: *Sleepless in Seattle*."

"Shan Hai Media artist, Yang Mi, will play the female lead!"

Subsequently, Xue Xiaolu also announced the casting situation to the outside world.

"Male lead: Yu Hewei, Female lead: Yang Mi, Supporting role: Hai Qing..."

As the news spread, many talent agencies and actresses were sighing that this was too confidential.

The industry just learned about this project, and you've already decided on the actors!

The industry all remembered that Xue Xiaolu's previous film was *Love is Not Blind*, which grossed 300 million.

Zhu Yawen solidified his first-tier position because of this, and Wang Luodan was already a first-tier starlet.

Then what about this *Sleepless in Seattle*?!

Among the main actors, Yang Mi's attention was far higher than Yu Hewei's.

*The Four* crew.

Seeing that the film roles were completely decided, Yang Mi and Zeng Jia finally felt relieved.

"Congratulations, this play hasn't ended yet, and the female lead for the next film is already arranged."

Zhao Wenzhuo smiled and congratulated.

"Thank you, Brother Zhuo. Didn't I see you also talking about the next play two days ago? Any results?"

To be honest, over the past month, there were many action scenes, and Yang Mi received quite a lot of care from Zhao Wenzhuo.

"Haha, it's alright, it's alright. It's almost negotiated; I'll sign in two days."

Tang Ren, Cai Yinong's mood was not very good right now.

After the news of *Sleepless in Seattle* was announced, the "Honey Bees" ran over to mock them again.

"Any news from Enlight Media? With the popularity of *Scarlet Heart*, it shouldn't be a problem for Liu Shishi to get the female lead."

Cai Yinong asked her assistant. At the beginning of the year, Yang Mi relied on *Palace* to get *White Vengeance*.

Tang Ren wanted to replicate this routine, so they took the initiative to contact some production companies.

Among them, Enlight's *Sad Fairy Tale* best met the requirements; after all, Enlight didn't have any top-tier actors.

The assistant said with slight joy, "President Cai, I was just about to tell you, the vice chairman of Enlight has already agreed."

Hearing this, Cai Yinong was immediately very happy, "Good. Didn't say when it starts filming?"

"In January."

"Hmm, not bad. After Liu Shishi wraps up from *The Patriot Yue Fei* crew, the time will be completely sufficient."

Cai Yinong hesitated and called Yue Jun.

These "Honey Bees" coming to find trouble all day long is not a solution.

Yue Jun felt Cai Yinong's brain had a problem, was it flooded?

Clearly, Tang Ren was the first to find trouble, stepping on this one, stepping on that one, and now they can't hold on? What were they doing earlier!

"Lin Dao, Xue Dao's side set the start time for mid-January, after the Beijing Film Academy exams end."

Lin Nan nodded; Xue Xiaolu was different from other professors; she really had to teach classes. Choosing to start filming at that time was very reasonable.

"Also, Xue Dao said that for this film's filming locations, she chose Vancouver and Seattle; 90% of the scenes will be filmed in these two cities."

"Fine, this crew is even going abroad for a trip; interesting."

Lin Nan didn't have any opinion on this. He remembered business again.

"Let the people below start making the budget for *Bad Genius*."

Yue Jun was stunned for a moment and asked a very important question.

"Should your and Yifei's salaries be included?"

"No need."

"Hmm, then I understand."

Regarding the film filming location, Lin Nan finally chose to let Yang Shoucheng help arrange it.

In Hong Kong, relying on Emperor's energy, finding a school to film is definitely no problem.

Having made up his mind, Lin Nan dialed the phone.

Yang Shoucheng was listening to reports from several senior executives.

This year, Emperor's revenue was okay in other areas, but in film, the losses were a bit heavy.

There were more losing films than profitable ones, and copyright couldn't make up for it either.

The phone suddenly lit up, attracting Yang Shoucheng's attention. His originally angry face softened a bit after seeing the caller ID.

"Stop for a moment, I'll take a call."

Huo Wenxi and the others looked at each other and quieted down.

"Hello, Lin Dao?"

"Yang Dong, my new film is going to be filmed in Hong Kong, and I'd like to ask you to help me find a place."

Hearing this, Yang Shoucheng's eyes lit up and he turned on the speakerphone.

"Easy to say, what are Lin Dao's requirements for the filming site?"

"I need a high school as a filming site, and I also need the SAT test center in Hong Kong. Yang Dong knows, my new film is called *Bad Genius*."

Hearing Lin Nan's words on the phone, not only was Yang Shoucheng stunned, but Huo Wenxi and the others were even more shocked.

"Good, no problem, leave it to Emperor to handle. When Lin Dao comes to Hong Kong, I will host a banquet for the crew."

"Thank you."

After the phone hung up, Yang Shoucheng smiled.

"Heard it? Send someone to prepare."

"Alright, Yang Dong."

Huo Wenxi was still a bit shocked:

"No wonder the Film Bureau rejected Lin Dao's script; he still touched upon the college entrance exam, just the American college entrance exam.

According to the mainland's habits, it's definitely better to kill by mistake than to let go..."

"Alright, he can ask me, this is a good thing. First, it shows he is confident in getting the script passed, and second, it deepens our relationship and adds a favor."

Yang Shoucheng waved his hand; he was in a very good mood right now.

"By the way, the actors for Lin Dao's new film?"

Huo Wenxi couldn't help but mention it.

"Don't think about it, high probability no chance. This person doesn't like to owe favors. If there was a chance, he would have said it on the phone just now. But it's also good..."

Yang Shoucheng saw it very clearly and was not in a hurry at all. In the circle, favors are sooner or later repaid, and Lin Nan's favors are very valuable.

Regarding the male lead of *Bad Genius*, Lin Nan had no thoughts; this time he just wanted to be a director.

Zhang Yi and Lei Jiayin didn't have the schedule, and the key was they were too old, not in Lin Nan's consideration.

Suddenly, Lin Nan had a candidate in his mind.

"Since they are all classmates in the play, then, isn't there someone right here!"

"Hmm, don't let fertile water flow into outsiders' fields. This time you have to call me 'Dad', hehe..."

End of chapter ===== CHAPTER 230 =====