Chapter 408: Hurried preparations.
Although Xin Changkong didn’t have any requirements and just wanted to be the director as well as taking in the producer role, Chen Huan didn’t treat him badly.
In the contract they signed, his remuneration as the director and producer would be 5% of the profit.
Xin Changkong didn’t say anything about this or say any word of gratitude.
Since Teacher Lu and Teacher Chu valued him that high, he would use his hard work to finish this TV series as a thank you to them.
The funding problem was also easy to solve.
Chen Huan originally had 60 million and just received the overseas box office shares of ‘Love Letter’, which was 13 million, so he had around 80 million now.
Chen Huan didn’t know how much money was spent to film ‘Princess Returning Pearl’ in his past life but in the 2000s and with the personality of Aunty Qiongyao, it was impossible for them to be willing to spend 80 million for a TV series.
The people in the original weren’t very well-known and the one playing Xiao Yangzi was just a newbie so their salaries weren’t very high.
In addition, their costumes were all over the place and the scenes weren’t good. If it wasn’t for the fact that Chinese people at that time hadn’t seen this type of series before, the rating wouldn’t be that high.
So 80 million was more than enough to cover the initial expenses.
However, Chen Huan’s pockets had almost been completely drained as only 2 million remained.
This amount of money seemed a lot to Chen Huan a year ago but now it seemed a bit less.
After all, Yongxing Supermarket would enter their second phase next month as the School Flowers’ families would gather up to discuss how much they would invest in and if Chen Huan bought this 2 million, it would be an utter disgrace.
For this budget, Lai Haijin specially helped them make a dummy company called ‘Fengxiang Film’ with Chen Huan as the legal representative.
It was definitely impossible to make a movie without a company as a start.
All the finance must go through the company’s account to make it formal or the tax clearance and investigation would bring out a lot of troubles.
The money was put into the account of the company and Lai Haijin also assumed the responsibility over the fund.
He knew he made a mess this time and even if Bu Yiyi didn’t say much about it, but if he didn’t make anything to remedy it, Bu Yiyi would maybe fly away in a year or two.
Lai Haijin felt immense pain by just thinking that his biggest star and cash cow was leaving him.
So even though Chen Huan decided to not use any other of his actors, Lai Haijin still gave his best to help.
Chen Huan naturally did the casting himself.
Xiao Yangzi’s role was for Bu Yiyi and that wouldn’t change.
The second female lead, Ziwei, had a gentle and virtuous personality, she was also smart and knew to endure. It was the most used model for Aunty Qiongyao’s heroine in her other books.
So even if Chen Huan decided to not use actresses like Lin Xinru, he must still use actresses like Lin Qingxia or Miss Mei.
This role was actually quite suitable to Chen Qian.
But Chen Qian was already a somewhat first-tier movie star in China, so how could she come and play the second lead in a TV series?
It would be like Bu Yiyi taking the supporting role.
Of course, if Chen Huan asked her, she would come.
She couldn’t be regarded as an absolute beauty but she was absolutely beautiful to other people and her acting skills were great so she would bring the character to life if she came.
But with that said, Chen Huan couldn’t sabotage her.
Bu Yiyi the Small Flower Dan that still relied a bit on her looks was completely different from Chen Qian that relied on great roles.
Moreover, if Chen Qian came to play Ziwei, he was afraid that Bu Yiyi couldn’t hold up against her and wouldn’t be able to fully bring out the greatness of Xiao Yangzi.
After some thought, Chen Huan called Zhu Mei and asked her to help out so that actresses that fitted the criteria could send out their resume to Fengxiang Film.
Jinsuo was easier to choose since they were going to have an audition for Ziwei, Jinsuo could be done together.
The Empress’ role, Chen Huan had his eyes on the first-tier actress Cao Nihui who had auditioned for ‘Love Letter’ before but she was a big name in the industry so it was unknown if she wanted to play such a supporting role.
If she wasn’t willing, Chen Huan felt that Zhou Lexiang, who had also auditioned for ‘Love Letter’, would definitely be willing.
Although Zhou Lexiang was a bit young and was only 23 years old, with some heavy makeup and a little bit of dress up, she could pull off being in her thirties.
The most important supporting actress role wasn’t Jin Suo or the Empress but Mother Rong.
The most hated, vicious and memorable old woman in ‘Princess Returning Pearl’ was the ultimate villain in the TV series.
She was the origin of all the bad events while the Queen was only the one giving the order, the level of hatred she received from the people was much less than Mother Rong.
Chen Huan also decided on the person for it.
It was Teacher Jia Lei, who played Male Fang Shu’s mother in ‘Love Letter’.
The 52 years old Jia Lei was a Huhai Opera graduate and was also a first-tier actress when she was younger and now was a famous supporting actress so she should certainly perform well in this role.
On the actor side, the main male role wasn’t Fifth Brother that was against Xiao Yangzi but Erkang, who was played by Teacher Zhou.
When he thought about it, Aunty Qiongyao really thought a lot about it.
If the Fifth Brother was too important, it would suppress Xiao Yangzi.
But a good male role was still needed.
So Xiao Yangzi was accompanied by the trusty Erkang.
Like that, a couple would be formed.
That was why the actor choice of Erkang was as important as Xiao Yangzi.
Cough, cough…
Unsurprisingly, Chen Huan’s first thought of Guo Hang.
Guo Hang’s acting skill was unquestionable and he also wasn’t handsome just like Teacher Zhou so he wouldn’t steal the limelight from Xiao Yangzi.
But there was the same problem as Chen Qian since Guo Hang got three best actors!
Best actor at the Venice Film Festival, Best actor at the Busan Film Festival, Best actor at the Tokyo Film Festival.
Although the latter two weren’t as big, how big were they when the three were put together?
Not to mention ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ had a crazy start so he would probably win two or three other best actor awards in domestic award ceremonies.
With all those awards and the box office as well as review of ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’, Guo Hang sat firmly at the top of first-tier actors!
He just needed to stay in the limelight and have another outstanding role, then Guo Hang would become the seventh Heavenly King.
Such a big star and he wanted him to come star in a TV series, was he going to ruin his status?
Although Guo Hang would be like Chen Qian and come play without any remuneration, Chen Huan couldn’t be insensible like that.
Only by respecting and appreciating others that a relationship would last.
Except Guo Han, Chen Huan had his eyes on Wen Qi, a piercing newcomer.
Wen Qi was the least handsome of all the specialized handsome roles.
He had sharp features with small eyes and big mouth.
It was due to him being in a sitcom when he was small so he could step into the TV and Film industry.
It would be weird if someone like that didn’t have any acting skills.
Fifth Brother was handsome but he wasn’t the most outstanding of the few male roles so a handsome guy would fit the image.
Ertai’s was basically a background role in the first part so among the trio, he was pure seasoning.
Chen Huan was ready to use this role as a gift and let Aunty Cui choose one of their contracted artists.
The last actor to take account for was a supporting role that could keep pace with Erkang— Huang Ahma.
The original actor of Huang Ahma was very good.
He then simply became a pro at emperors roles and gave a great performance in ‘The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan’ and could be regarded as finding his actor’s path.
Chen Huan originally considered Teacher Li Zixu, who played male Fang Shu’s father in ‘Love Letter’, but his appearance was too kind and ordinary without the shrewd and funny style of Huang Ahma.
The most suitable actor was actually Sun Dahe.
Regardless of image or acting, he was even superior to the original.
However, he was a long time established heavenly king so how could he come play a supporting role in a TV series?
Even Hao He wouldn’t do that.
Let alone a TV series by Chu Liuxiang.
Maybe he would have considered it if it was a movie from Chu Liuxiang.
So it could only be someone else.
Chen Huan’s thought went to Kong Xiangjun, one of the five TV series male superstars.
He was 44 years old, which was the age when men were the most prosperous, and many of his roles were distinguished and bold in character so it suited the role of Huang Ahma.
However, he rarely laughed and his laughs were mostly smiles.
Huang Ahma’s great laugh was like a shining part of ‘Princess Returning Pearl’ so it was absolutely indispensable!
So it would depend whether he would be willing to change.
If Kong Xiangjun was willing, Chen Huan would get him even if he had to pay more.
Superstars in TV series weren’t as peculiar as movie stars. They would generally accept as long as the script was good and the pay was good.
After that much thought, Chen Huan realized after watching the list that only so few roles were decided.
There were still many roles that must be chosen.
So they must hurry up.
Because he gave Xin Changkong a week but after a week, he still couldn’t give a list of actors, wouldn’t that seem incompetent?
Chapter 408: Hurried preparations.
Although Xin Changkong didn’t have any requirements and just wanted to be the director as well as taking in the producer role, Chen Huan didn’t treat him badly.
In the contract they signed, his remuneration as the director and producer would be 5% of the profit.
Xin Changkong didn’t say anything about this or say any word of gratitude.
Since Teacher Lu and Teacher Chu valued him that high, he would use his hard work to finish this TV series as a thank you to them.
The funding problem was also easy to solve.
Chen Huan originally had 60 million and just received the overseas box office shares of ‘Love Letter’, which was 13 million, so he had around 80 million now.
Chen Huan didn’t know how much money was spent to film ‘Princess Returning Pearl’ in his past life but in the 2000s and with the personality of Aunty Qiongyao, it was impossible for them to be willing to spend 80 million for a TV series.
The people in the original weren’t very well-known and the one playing Xiao Yangzi was just a newbie so their salaries weren’t very high.
In addition, their costumes were all over the place and the scenes weren’t good. If it wasn’t for the fact that Chinese people at that time hadn’t seen this type of series before, the rating wouldn’t be that high.
So 80 million was more than enough to cover the initial expenses.
However, Chen Huan’s pockets had almost been completely drained as only 2 million remained.
This amount of money seemed a lot to Chen Huan a year ago but now it seemed a bit less.
After all, Yongxing Supermarket would enter their second phase next month as the School Flowers’ families would gather up to discuss how much they would invest in and if Chen Huan bought this 2 million, it would be an utter disgrace.
For this budget, Lai Haijin specially helped them make a dummy company called ‘Fengxiang Film’ with Chen Huan as the legal representative.
It was definitely impossible to make a movie without a company as a start.
All the finance must go through the company’s account to make it formal or the tax clearance and investigation would bring out a lot of troubles.
The money was put into the account of the company and Lai Haijin also assumed the responsibility over the fund.
He knew he made a mess this time and even if Bu Yiyi didn’t say much about it, but if he didn’t make anything to remedy it, Bu Yiyi would maybe fly away in a year or two.
Lai Haijin felt immense pain by just thinking that his biggest star and cash cow was leaving him.
So even though Chen Huan decided to not use any other of his actors, Lai Haijin still gave his best to help.
Chen Huan naturally did the casting himself.
Xiao Yangzi’s role was for Bu Yiyi and that wouldn’t change.
The second female lead, Ziwei, had a gentle and virtuous personality, she was also smart and knew to endure. It was the most used model for Aunty Qiongyao’s heroine in her other books.
So even if Chen Huan decided to not use actresses like Lin Xinru, he must still use actresses like Lin Qingxia or Miss Mei.
This role was actually quite suitable to Chen Qian.
But Chen Qian was already a somewhat first-tier movie star in China, so how could she come and play the second lead in a TV series?
It would be like Bu Yiyi taking the supporting role.
Of course, if Chen Huan asked her, she would come.
She couldn’t be regarded as an absolute beauty but she was absolutely beautiful to other people and her acting skills were great so she would bring the character to life if she came.
But with that said, Chen Huan couldn’t sabotage her.
Bu Yiyi the Small Flower Dan that still relied a bit on her looks was completely different from Chen Qian that relied on great roles.
Moreover, if Chen Qian came to play Ziwei, he was afraid that Bu Yiyi couldn’t hold up against her and wouldn’t be able to fully bring out the greatness of Xiao Yangzi.
After some thought, Chen Huan called Zhu Mei and asked her to help out so that actresses that fitted the criteria could send out their resume to Fengxiang Film.
Jinsuo was easier to choose since they were going to have an audition for Ziwei, Jinsuo could be done together.
The Empress’ role, Chen Huan had his eyes on the first-tier actress Cao Nihui who had auditioned for ‘Love Letter’ before but she was a big name in the industry so it was unknown if she wanted to play such a supporting role.
If she wasn’t willing, Chen Huan felt that Zhou Lexiang, who had also auditioned for ‘Love Letter’, would definitely be willing.
Although Zhou Lexiang was a bit young and was only 23 years old, with some heavy makeup and a little bit of dress up, she could pull off being in her thirties.
The most important supporting actress role wasn’t Jin Suo or the Empress but Mother Rong.
The most hated, vicious and memorable old woman in ‘Princess Returning Pearl’ was the ultimate villain in the TV series.
She was the origin of all the bad events while the Queen was only the one giving the order, the level of hatred she received from the people was much less than Mother Rong.
Chen Huan also decided on the person for it.
It was Teacher Jia Lei, who played Male Fang Shu’s mother in ‘Love Letter’.
The 52 years old Jia Lei was a Huhai Opera graduate and was also a first-tier actress when she was younger and now was a famous supporting actress so she should certainly perform well in this role.
On the actor side, the main male role wasn’t Fifth Brother that was against Xiao Yangzi but Erkang, who was played by Teacher Zhou.
When he thought about it, Aunty Qiongyao really thought a lot about it.
If the Fifth Brother was too important, it would suppress Xiao Yangzi.
But a good male role was still needed.
So Xiao Yangzi was accompanied by the trusty Erkang.
Like that, a couple would be formed.
That was why the actor choice of Erkang was as important as Xiao Yangzi.
Cough, cough…
Unsurprisingly, Chen Huan’s first thought of Guo Hang.
Guo Hang’s acting skill was unquestionable and he also wasn’t handsome just like Teacher Zhou so he wouldn’t steal the limelight from Xiao Yangzi.
But there was the same problem as Chen Qian since Guo Hang got three best actors!
Best actor at the Venice Film Festival, Best actor at the Busan Film Festival, Best actor at the Tokyo Film Festival.
Although the latter two weren’t as big, how big were they when the three were put together?
Not to mention ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’ had a crazy start so he would probably win two or three other best actor awards in domestic award ceremonies.
With all those awards and the box office as well as review of ‘Miracle in Cell No.7’, Guo Hang sat firmly at the top of first-tier actors!
He just needed to stay in the limelight and have another outstanding role, then Guo Hang would become the seventh Heavenly King.
Such a big star and he wanted him to come star in a TV series, was he going to ruin his status?
Although Guo Hang would be like Chen Qian and come play without any remuneration, Chen Huan couldn’t be insensible like that.
Only by respecting and appreciating others that a relationship would last.
Except Guo Han, Chen Huan had his eyes on Wen Qi, a piercing newcomer.
Wen Qi was the least handsome of all the specialized handsome roles.
He had sharp features with small eyes and big mouth.
It was due to him being in a sitcom when he was small so he could step into the TV and Film industry.
It would be weird if someone like that didn’t have any acting skills.
Fifth Brother was handsome but he wasn’t the most outstanding of the few male roles so a handsome guy would fit the image.
Ertai’s was basically a background role in the first part so among the trio, he was pure seasoning.
Chen Huan was ready to use this role as a gift and let Aunty Cui choose one of their contracted artists.
The last actor to take account for was a supporting role that could keep pace with Erkang— Huang Ahma.
The original actor of Huang Ahma was very good.
He then simply became a pro at emperors roles and gave a great performance in ‘The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan’ and could be regarded as finding his actor’s path.
Chen Huan originally considered Teacher Li Zixu, who played male Fang Shu’s father in ‘Love Letter’, but his appearance was too kind and ordinary without the shrewd and funny style of Huang Ahma.
The most suitable actor was actually Sun Dahe.
Regardless of image or acting, he was even superior to the original.
However, he was a long time established heavenly king so how could he come play a supporting role in a TV series?
Even Hao He wouldn’t do that.
Let alone a TV series by Chu Liuxiang.
Maybe he would have considered it if it was a movie from Chu Liuxiang.
So it could only be someone else.
Chen Huan’s thought went to Kong Xiangjun, one of the five TV series male superstars.
He was 44 years old, which was the age when men were the most prosperous, and many of his roles were distinguished and bold in character so it suited the role of Huang Ahma.
However, he rarely laughed and his laughs were mostly smiles.
Huang Ahma’s great laugh was like a shining part of ‘Princess Returning Pearl’ so it was absolutely indispensable!
So it would depend whether he would be willing to change.
If Kong Xiangjun was willing, Chen Huan would get him even if he had to pay more.
Superstars in TV series weren’t as peculiar as movie stars. They would generally accept as long as the script was good and the pay was good.
After that much thought, Chen Huan realized after watching the list that only so few roles were decided.
There were still many roles that must be chosen.
So they must hurry up.
Because he gave Xin Changkong a week but after a week, he still couldn’t give a list of actors, wouldn’t that seem incompetent?
