Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years
Chapter 62 - 0061: Such a Heavy Taste! (Request for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 62: Chapter 0061: Such a Heavy Taste! (Request for Monthly Tickets)

Qi Hao finished reading the script and found that Li Dawei was actually reading a book too, and it was the one he had bought, glanced at, and never touched again.

Heavy taste indeed!

Qi Hao was a bit worried. Don’t lead astray a middle-aged director who has contacts and resources and whose skill level isn’t too bad.

For that book "Possessive President’s Private Treasure", as a Penguin shareholder, I feel some sense of involvement.

Where does a director get a sense of involvement?

"Director Li... Director Li... Director Li!"

Qi Hao raised his voice to finally wake Li Dawei from his reading.

"Haha, finished already?"

In the past, Li Dawei would have doubted Qi Hao, after all, how could a middle schooler read so fast?

However, once he realized that Qi Hao, just like him, was a book lover, he no longer looked down on him.

"Almost..." Qi Hao decided to remain low-key.

Managing to act high-profile once made him completely offend Su Mang.

Of course, offended is offended, even though Su Mang is the editor-in-chief of Bazaar, she can’t do anything to him, being affiliated with the Four New Talents, Best Actor, Penguin shareholder, Mrs. Hua shareholder, Coal Boss’s agent... Do you want a gang fight or a solo duel?

"Haha, have you read all these books?" Li Dawei laughed and pointed at the bookshelf.

"Almost..."

Except for the book "Possessive President’s Private Treasure" in his hand, Qi Hao had finished reading all the others, so saying "almost" wasn’t against the facts.

"Then you’re quite knowledgeable among celebrities, I’ve hardly met any who truly love reading..." Li Dawei mumbled, then asked seriously, "What do you think about the script?"

"Hmm, I think the script is pretty good and I’m very interested, I just don’t know when Director Li plans to shoot."

If there weren’t so few good scripts at hand, Qi Hao wouldn’t necessarily have to continue being involved with "October Fortress", after all, it’s a film with an investment of hundreds of millions, one careless mistake, and you could lose everything.

"No set time yet, with fewer actors we could accommodate your schedule as much as possible. Unfortunately, there are donkeys in this film, otherwise it could be shot in a dozen days."

Li Dawei himself didn’t know how long it would take to finish.

It’s difficult to control animals and children’s emotions and performances, thus there’s a saying in the film industry: "Don’t work with animals or children."

"There are really donkeys, real donkeys?" Qi Hao was quite surprised.

Jinmen people are not unfamiliar with donkeys, after all, donkey meat barbecue is an everyday delicacy.

Just like Shaanxi’s meat sandwiched bun and Lanzhou’s hand-pulled noodles.

After chatting for a while, they finally had to discuss money matters.

If Li Dawei didn’t need Qi Hao to lower his pay, they wouldn’t need a director and an actor to discuss such matters.

It’s really too inelegant.

"This movie has pulled in three million in investment, spent 500,000 on Comment, which means there’s only 500,000 left in the budget for hiring actors... you see..."

Li Dawei had a troubled look on his face.

Comments are certainly worth 500,000, but isn’t Qi Hao also worth it?

His implication wasn’t even to give Qi Hao 500,000.

500,000 for actors... it’s not possible to hire only Qi Hao, there are also the donkeys, and those two donkeys cost money too.

Li Dawei was almost planning to get talents for free.

Qi Hao had a supporting role in "October Fortress" with a pay of two million, which was considered a friendship price.

Even for "Heavenly Dog", he got fifty thousand.

However, Li Dawei wasn’t trying to exploit Qi Hao, many art films are able to start by squeezing actors’ pay.

Therefore, small-budget art films like to use amateurs.

A completely inexperienced amateur can be paid ten thousand for the lead role.

It’s cheaper if you ask family members to help.

"Director Li, how about this, I’ll help you pull in another two million investment and you give me a million pay."

Before shooting "Heavenly Dog", Qi Hao was eager to transform from a young talent.

Now Qi Hao is not only a young talent but also a Best Actor.

Be it art films or commercial films, if the actor’s status rises, you inevitably have to raise the price.

If neither I raise nor you raise, how can we raise in the future?

"Heavenly Dog" earned him fifty thousand, for "The Tale of Two Donkeys" he gets twenty thousand, then the Golden Rooster Best Actor title would be wasted, belonging to ineffective status elevation.

"Add two million investment?" Li Dawei hesitated.

You can’t make a movie without money, but having more money isn’t always better, after all, if the box office is small, the more you spend the more you lose.

However, with an additional two million, the budget would be raised from three million to five million.

Even after deducting Qi Hao’s pay, even if it’s just an extra one hundred twenty thousand, it will have an immediate effect on improving the movie quality.

"Yes, if the budget is not increased, then I don’t want any pay, just give me 20% movie shares."

Having mixed in the circle for years, Qi Hao is very familiar with various ways.

If it’s a movie with a budget of 3 million, Qi Hao takes a 20% share, which is equivalent to a payment of 600,000, 100,000 more than "Heavenly Dog."

Fair and reasonable.

However, this kind of movie finds it hard to recoup costs unless it can win international awards and sell overseas rights.

So, the 20% Qi Hao wants is likely not going to be much money.

What he wants is just a status.

"Alright, I’ll go back and discuss with the investors, thanks a lot this time, brother."

Li Dawei also understands that this is Qi Hao giving him a friendly price.

He can also understand Qi Hao’s concerns.

Either take what’s due, or just treat it entirely as a favor and not take a dime.

"Brother Li, don’t be so polite, we’re all here for the film!" Qi Hao thought for a bit, and asked, "At the banquet that day, didn’t you approach Huang Xiaoming?"

"I did, he seemed interested, but also hesitant..."

Li Dawei attended the premiere of "King of Kung Fu," clearly to scout actors, with Qi Hao, Huang Xiaoming and others as his targets.

Both of them have some acting skills.

If they could act at a lower price, with their huge fan bases, the film might not lose money.

"I see." Qi Hao sighed in relief.

He thought Xiaoming was going to go all out, but it turns out he wasn’t.

Xiaoming, as someone who’s been through this, my advice to you is, don’t come here.

After this village, I’ll wait for you in the next one.

Qi Hao and Li Dawei roughly reached an intention to cooperate, and took him out for drinks.

If the affection is deep, bottoms up.

In a place like the entertainment industry, drinking and the bed are the fastest ways to deepen relationships.

Such a pity for Huang Xiaoming.

Qi Hao finished work a little after three today, intending to use this time to watch "The Deer and the Cauldron."

This series has already aired several episodes.

Qi Hao was "fortunate" enough to watch four disjointed episodes and thought it was truly eye-scorching.

Perhaps it was due to the rivalry, Qi Hao always felt Huang Xiaoming in "The Deer and the Cauldron" was too sleazy, with an extremely vulgar smile, which was not the street vibe Jin Yong wrote about, but rather a weirdly sneering, devoid of any rogue aura.

Qi Hao thought about his own acting... it seemed tricky too.

Mainly because both he and Huang Xiaoming belong to the type with more proper features, playing this kind of rogue vibe is inherently lacking.

Someone like Chen Xiao Chun who is naturally more homely, has a great advantage.

Moreover, Wei Xiaobao is indeed lascivious, but Huang Xiaoming’s flirtation only lingers at a surface sleaze, rather than a kind of innate, natural lustfulness.

When encountering someone with strong martial arts skills and being coerced, Huang Xiaoming should be scared and worried, but he ends up showing fear with a sleazy smile, making people suspect if he broke character while acting.

In addition, there are issues with the drama itself.

It seems the director and screenwriter are always thinking about catching the eye with large-scale scenes, and the carefully selected beauties made to look like special workers.

With the airing of this big series "The Deer and the Cauldron," Qi Hao and Huang Xiaoming have been compared by many.

Especially their respective Jin Yong dramas also became the main material for comparison.

Qi Hao’s Yang Guo...

Huang Xiaoming’s Wei Xiaobao...

Both have a large fan base of popular idols, so it wouldn’t be one-sided, and "The Deer and the Cauldron" still has more rounds to sell, a one-sided situation isn’t permitted.

So, it’s quite back and forth on the internet.

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Huang Xiaoming’s broadcast this time is ineffective.

Originally thought this year would be his comeback, unexpectedly, it’s sticking to the pan.

At least not reaching his expectations to surpass Qi Hao.

He played Wei Xiaobao to compete with Qi Hao’s Yang Guo, both in skill and deciding their fates.

In addition, Qi Hao grabbed the best actor award with "Heavenly Dog" and filmed "Oath of Allegiance" with Li Lianjie and Liu Dehua, clearly surpassing Huang Xiaoming.

There are rumors in the circle that Huang Xiaoming latched onto Chen Kaige.

Highly likely to star in Chen Kaige’s new film "The Orphan of Zhao," determined to make a comeback on the big screen.

Due to this, he might very well back out of playing the antagonist he originally planned to play.

Not everyone can let go of the idol burden like Qi Hao.

Besides, Qi Hao only played the fool, never the antagonist, whether it was Li Tiangou or Jiang Wuyang, these were pretty righteous images.

Those who’ve been through it know, you won’t die if you don’t make trouble.

Messing up playing the antagonist would be ridiculed, doing it well could get you beat up.

PS: Another Chapter later, rolling on the floor begging for monthly tickets, please support more this month!!!