novellhall Chapter 36 Female Lead Selection
Chapter 36 Female Lead Selection
Chapter 35 Female Lead Selection
For the next three days, Lin Zixuan and Xu Qing did not leave their home.
The two enjoyed exercising, drinking tea, relaxing, and passionately engaging in physical activity in their spacious 300-square-meter apartment.
However, Xu Qing is a top-tier female celebrity, and her work schedule is exceptionally busy.
The TV series "Closer to You, Warmer to Me", starring her, Mei Ting, Ke Lan, Gao Shuguang, and Lin Yilun, will soon be broadcast on Beijing TV and Hunan TV.
As the lead actress, pre-release promotion is an essential and unavoidable task for her.
Three days later, on June 21, she had to reluctantly say goodbye to Lin Zixuan and head to the film crew to start promoting the TV series.
Before parting, Lin Zixuan opened the panel in his sea of consciousness:
Name: Lin Zixuan Age: 21 (123)
人气：126272
Cultivation level: 22/100 (Qi Refining)
Target 1, Popularity: 6746753
It's so awesome! Having the help of my older sister makes all the difference. My cultivation is progressing rapidly, and I can even store my own popularity, which has already accumulated to over 12.
The only downside is that after the news and the online hype ended, my popularity growth dropped to just over 1 per day, although it was still almost double what it used to be.
After much consideration, Lin Zixuan decided to drive his Mercedes-Benz SUV back to the Beijing Film Academy residential area, taking into account that the film crew of "Someday or One Day" was about to start filming and that it would be inconvenient not to have a car.
He finally had time to check the playback status of his three music videos, as well as the status of his blog and Baidu Tieba.
After about 10 days of intense hype from online trolls and reports from three media outlets.
The three music videos, "Autumn Never Returns," "Wait a Minute," and "Damn Tenderness," have all seen their views steadily climb, breaking into the top 20 new videos on several mainstream video platforms, with each platform providing different recommended resources.
. . . . .
To date, the total number of views for the three music videos on major video platforms has exceeded 100 million.
The number of ringtone downloads for all three songs in the month, as shown in the 12530 website's backend data, also saw a significant increase.
"Autumn Never Returns" has been downloaded 465381 times as a ringtone.
"Wait a Minute" has been downloaded 396255 times as a ringtone.
"Damn Tenderness" has been downloaded 388617 times as a ringtone.
The total number of times exceeded 125 million. Judging from this trend, the revenue share from ringback tones in June will definitely exceed 750,000 yuan.
What made him even happier was that his number of followers on Sina Blog and Baidu Tieba Xuanyuan Bar both exceeded 110 million.
The goal of shooting the music video was achieved beyond expectations.
In the following days, he didn't go out and cause any more trouble. Instead, he quietly stayed at home reading and studying directing.
Another aspect is researching roles.
This is, after all, his first leading role in a drama. Even though it's an idol drama, he has to do his best to act well. He doesn't have to show acting skills at the level of an award-winning actor, but at least he can't be a disappointment.
A week later, Lin Zixuan arrived at National Changsheng Film and Television Company to attend the preparatory meeting for the "Someday or One Day" project.
The executive producer of the production team is naturally Zhang Guoli, but he has too many other things to do, including preparing to film the TV series "The New Legend of Ji Gong", which is also a production of his company, mainly to promote his son Zhang Mo, with himself serving as the director.
Therefore, he was only nominally the executive producer of the "Someday or One Day" production team. In addition, a manager named Zhou Haopeng was appointed from the company to serve as the executive producer and be responsible for the specific work.
Following Lin Zixuan's suggestion, the director invited Liu Junjie, an idol drama director from Taiwan.
There are also directors of photography, art directors, costume designers, lighting technicians, makeup artists, and prop masters.
Xu Qing's agent, Zhang Ye, also came to the scene; she was listed as a producer.
Today's meeting didn't cover many specific topics; it mainly focused on team cohesion, clarifying roles, and breaking down the various tasks from the initial preparations.
At the start of the meeting, Zhang Guoli first introduced everyone, focusing on the director Liu Junjie, as well as the screenwriter, male lead, and assistant director Lin Zixuan.
He then briefly mentioned the current progress: the 600 million yuan funding has been fully in place, the script registration has been completed, and the filming permit has been obtained.
To save costs, the production team chose Beijing as the filming location, and the location shooting team has already started contacting filming locations in Beijing.
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The meeting quickly completed most of its agenda.
The last topic was the selection of the female lead, which was also Lin Zixuan's suggestion to Zhang Guoli.
Because "Someday or One Day" is an urban idol drama, other roles can be decided later, but the male and female leads must be confirmed as soon as possible.
Only after the male and female leads are confirmed can the production team start soliciting sponsorships for product placement; therefore, it's better to do it sooner rather than later.
Zhang Guoli first stated the requirements for the female lead:
First, a popular celebrity, preferably a top-tier female celebrity;
Secondly, she must be beautiful, but she must be either innocent or radiant.
Thirdly, one must be able to portray both a sophisticated and mature female white-collar worker and a girlish and charming high school student.
Fourth, she needs to have chemistry with the male lead, Lin Zixuan.
After finishing speaking, he directly called out, "Lin Zixuan, you wrote the script, and you're the male lead. So, what are your thoughts on the female lead?"
Lin Zixuan didn't mince words, "My ideal leading lady is Fan Xiaopang."
Fan Xiaopang is indeed quite good. As one of the top actresses among the "Four Dan and Two Bing" (referring to four top actresses and two top actresses in China), she perfectly fits the bill in terms of popularity, beauty, age, and acting skills. As for the chemistry between her and Lin Zixuan, we'll have to see them standing together to make a judgment. However, with one being handsome and the other beautiful, there's no reason for the audience not to like them.
This choice was approved by everyone.
Zhang Guoli nodded. "Okay, Fan Xiaopang is the first choice. Let's suggest two more as backups."
Director Liu Junjie spoke up, "I'd also like to suggest someone, Liu Qianqian."
Zhang Guoli had some concerns: "Liu Qianqian is certainly good; in terms of popularity and beauty, she's no less than Fan Bingbing. But she's only 19 this year. Can she portray the image of a sophisticated urban professional woman?"
In fact, it wasn't just Zhang Guoli; Lin Zixuan himself also had this concern.
Liu Junjie, however, had his own opinion: "The key is that she is beautiful. She perfectly matches the image of Chen Yunru in the script. What is the most important factor in choosing male and female leads for urban idol dramas? It is appearance. Appearance is the biggest selling point of idol dramas."
Moreover, she is about the same age as Lin Zixuan, only one year younger. When the two stand together, their chemistry is absolutely amazing.
As for acting skills, idol dramas are precisely the genre that demands the least amount of acting skill; I'll take care of the coaching.
Upon hearing director Liu Junjie's suggestion, everyone agreed to make Liu Qianqian the second option.
The director of photography also suggested someone: "How about Zhou Xun?"
Lin Zixuan and Liu Junjie exchanged glances, both seeing dissatisfaction in each other's eyes. Lin Zixuan spoke first: "Zhou Xun is not good enough. Her acting skills are naturally the best, but the director just said that the most important thing for the female lead in an idol drama is her appearance, and her appearance is a bit lacking."
Liu Junjie chimed in, "Also, her voice is terrible, completely unsuitable for idol dramas. Unless dubbed, the audience will definitely be pulled out of the story."
Then someone suggested, "What about Li Bingbing?"
"It won't work. Li Bingbing is too old and can't portray the girlishness of a high school student."
Where is Xu Jinglei?
Everyone commented on several top female celebrities one by one, and in the end, only Fan Bingbing and Liu Qianqian received unanimous approval.
Finally, Zhang Guoli concluded, "Okay, let's make Fan Xiaopang our first choice and Liu Qianqian our second choice. Zhou Haopeng, you should send them audition invitations as soon as possible. Ideally, we can hold the auditions in three days and finalize the female lead as soon as possible."