Global Film Emperor

Chapter 439 He is looking to the future
"Daze, the new proposal is good. The previous three meetings, including this one, have set the tone for the future development of grassroots actors. It has been decided to adopt your suggestion to conduct pilot basic training for extras, charge a symbolic fee, and issue training certificates after the training. This proposal is excellent."

On the other end of the phone, the old man's voice was steady as he analyzed each point for Lu Ze. Looking at the screen, the two had been talking for almost half an hour, discussing only Lu Ze's autumn report for 2024.

He wasn't looking at the screen out of impatience, but rather out of instinct when his phone vibrated. Seeing that the battery was down to 15%, he went back to the bar, plugged in his phone, and with his other hand busy, slowly wrote down the old man's instructions.

"Master, please continue."

"Because it's a pilot program, there are only two classes, with a total of about sixty people. The teachers from professional institutions will take turns teaching, one term per year, with fifteen lessons per term. The pilot school is located in the office of the Hengdian Actors Guild, and the students are selected from within the Hengdian Film and Television Base. The requirements are that they have been in the industry for less than two years and are under thirty-five years old. The selection of students involves the Hengdian Actors Guild submitting student information, which is then selected and approved by the Film Association. Finally, student certificates are issued. That's the specific process. Of course, this has nothing to do with you. Your main job is to be the lecturer for the first class after the pilot school opens."

"I'll become a lecturer?"

"That's right. Considering that you started as an extra and are very popular among grassroots actors, many actors see you as their role model. So, it's very appropriate for you to teach the first class of the first semester after careful consideration. Of course, your schedule also needs to be taken into account. If it doesn't clash with your schedule, I hope you can come."

"I understand, Master. When will the first session begin?"

"The first class is on December 1st, and then one class every week thereafter."

After writing down the date, he tossed the pen aside, opened his palm, ran it through his hair, and combed the loose strands back to the top of his head, scratching his head a couple of times as he did so.

Actors training classes are not uncommon. As early as the last century, grassroots actors training classes were established. And they are not limited to Hong Kong. Training classes are also established in mainland China every year. Even a small number of well-known artists have come from these training classes.

This is a pretty good networking bridge for grassroots actors. Not only can they learn knowledge, but if they can connect with the teachers in the training class, they will at least give them some pointers and guide them on the right path. Therefore, the number of people enrolling in the training classes of various universities is quite considerable.

Students come from all walks of life, such as singers, dance teachers, behind-the-scenes staff, and even industries completely unrelated to the entertainment industry. As long as you have a desire to become an actor and have free time and decent financial resources, you can apply to participate.

Strangely, in classes that are always full of students, it is difficult to find extras who have appeared on camera many times and can barely be called actors.

Perhaps this isn't strange, because when Lu Ze was an extra, he never thought about attending any training courses. It wasn't just because he didn't have the money or time, but more importantly, the requirements for being an extra were extremely low, and there was absolutely no need for systematic learning. Even if he reluctantly spent money to attend a course, he would still come back and take on half a day's work for a hundred or two hundred yuan.

Learning something won't lead to anything, there really won't be any way out. What you've learned doesn't matter, nobody cares. The production crew only requires you to act like a human being or meet their needs. Make yourself act like you're not human, that's enough. If you bring up Stanislavski, you'll just get kicked out.

When you arrive in Hengdian, you'll quickly become numb, like you're buried in mud and will rot and stink within two days. As soon as you get there, your ambitions when you first get off the train—like becoming a grassroots artist, making a lot of money, or becoming a big star—will soon be slapped awake, or you won't even need to be slapped. Just hang out with the old hands, and you'll naturally wake up.

Going back to work? I'm too lazy to do a 9-to-5 job, and I'm too ashamed to go home. Even though I've woken up from the dream, I can't stand the feeling of being laughed at when I get home.

In order to seek a decent self-image, they slowly erode people's bones, making them feel that, oh, they can get up and work whenever they want, or stay home and sleep whenever they don't want to. It's good enough to make four or five thousand yuan a month to live on.

Then the person who once harbored dreams disappeared, turning into a guy who would work to earn a little money when he was broke, gamble away all his money when he had it, eat the crew's boxed meals for three meals a day, was so poor he barely had a few coins in his pocket, and complained all day about how unpleasant masturbation was. He would spend all night scrolling through WeChat groups, hoping to find a cheap but attractive casual sex partner. Eventually, he would get tired of scrolling and fall asleep under the comfort of a dark, sweaty blanket and pillow, another day of being a good-for-nothing.

That's right, he's a scoundrel.

Even Lu Ze was like that back then. Even though he didn't gamble because his family needed money urgently, he was still the kind of slacker who would search his phone for cheap girls in the middle of the night when he was desperate for sex. He even moved across from Yang Dan because of lust. But not long after, he met a woman who was willing to live with him. The two slept in the same bed for several months. After that woman ran away, he became familiar with Yang Dan and was too embarrassed to make a move.

What are the odds of a handsome guy and a beautiful girl being neighbors? Even in Hengdian, it's the same; very few truly beautiful people work as extras. What job wouldn't be more lucrative?
Lu Ze knew those old hands too well; none of them were legitimate. That's why he wasn't very satisfied with the requirement of being in the industry for less than two years in the pilot training program. It was too long. People who had been in Hengdian for two years would find it hard to be ambitious anymore.

His original proposal was for within a year, but now that the telecom agreement has been signed, he can't say anything more. This can't be considered Lu Ze discarding his usefulness after he's done his bidding. He started his business in Hengdian and became successful, but then he started to discriminate against extras.

If he truly discriminated against extras, there was no need for him to propose an official training program to provide them with a way out. What if a talented person actually stood out from it? Who doesn't know that a myth is still better when it's unique? He made this decision with his original intention and an eager desire.

The horizontal comparison between grassroots actors in Europe and America and those in China reveals the extreme lack of professional skills among grassroots actors in China, and the eagerness for them to grow rapidly.

Since becoming a member of the China Film Association, he has always hoped to make some contributions to the domestic film industry, not for achievements or promotion, but simply to give an explanation for the dissatisfaction in his heart. He wanted to give an explanation for the dissatisfaction that arose from only now, sitting in this position, that he truly understood the meaning of cultural export.

The domestic industry is very chaotic, not in the sense of chaos, but in the fact that industry standards are still very chaotic. Compared to the entertainment industry in countries that export culture, it is extremely chaotic. Therefore, he has to learn, learn while working abroad, and then apply the industry standards he learned to the domestic market.

Even if he alone can't make a big splash, the China Electronics Association can't change the entire industry, especially those big-time investors who profit from the entertainment industry. No one will cooperate with an association that can't forcefully change industry rules and risk losing their own interests.

But he can influence the grassroots, a class that has been abandoned by capital and can't be squeezed out of anything, yet is crucial to the essence of film.

This was his first step at the grassroots level. He didn't take too big a step or rush things. He only influenced sixty people, but he believed that in the future, the number of people he would influence would definitely be more than just these pitiful sixty.

But when changes are made, some people will inevitably be hurt, and the vast majority of those hurt are extras. This is a kind of helplessness, after all, Lu Ze has ideals and holds a high position, so he will eventually have to give up some people, these old hands who have made no contribution to the industry.

Although he cherishes his original aspirations, those aspirations cannot encompass everyone. For those who hold him back, he can only abandon them. Perhaps he will harm tens of thousands of people, or even more, by losing their jobs that contain no metals. He will be cursed so much that his ancestors' graves will be turned upside down. But as someone who has the ability to lead a group of followers in the industry to the top of the mountain.

When dealing with people at the grassroots level, we must never discriminate, but we should look down upon them...

This training program isn't for training big stars. The instructors won't teach you how to become a big star; they'll only teach you how to be a qualified entry-level employee.

If you become successful through a training course one day, it can only be considered that you are lucky and have made a name for yourself. It has little to do with the training course.

It simply teaches you some basic acting skills that grassroots actors should know, and you can apply them in real-life situations on set, improving your delivery of lines and changing your stiff limbs. Unlike most extras who stiffly pose, recite their lines expressionlessly, and then leave, like the extras in "Happy Planet".

It's a grassroots talent-generating system that will supply high-quality basic components in the future, making film and television works more complete and preventing audiences from being distracted. It also prevents production teams from having to cast veteran actors in minor, important roles due to a lack of talent. Good resources should be used wisely, and good actors should be used in the same way. Experienced actors with good skills should mentor younger, talented actors to prevent a talent gap or generational shortage in the domestic acting industry.

"Alright, that's all I have to say. Daze, the first lesson is very important. You have to make the grassroots actors feel that they have learned something before they will be willing to attend the class. You have to make a good start. Also, the document needs to be issued. You must emphasize repeatedly that in the future, students who hold a graduation certificate will have three priority audition slots in each film crew, and the role must have at least five lines. However, if three directors are dissatisfied with their performance and give them a poor score, the graduation certificate will be revoked, and they will not be allowed to retake the exam within three years."

This was something Lu Ze hadn't considered in his proposal, so it's not surprising that the Electric Association supplemented the proposal. After all, Lu Ze's one brain can't possibly outthink a group of brains.

This makes the training course incredibly attractive to extras, since they only need to pay a very low tuition fee and, after fifteen weeks of study, they can get audition opportunities for roles that allow them to appear on screen, which means their income is much higher than before.

Furthermore, the fact that the certificate can be revoked greatly increases the sense of crisis among graduates. While others are making progress, you are standing still, which is equivalent to regressing. As a result, directors who choose you to act in movies will naturally feel cheated. They will not be happy to hire a mediocre person for the same price. In the end, you can only say goodbye to your graduation certificate, and that separation will last for at least three years. During these three years, you can only watch others make a fortune while you barely make ends meet.

This will, to some extent, change the laid-back attitude of extras, turning them into a highly competitive profession where everyone is scrambling to get a job. The better you are, the more you earn; the better you act, the more work the union will assign you. In the future, there may even be extras earning 100,000 yuan a month. This kind of healthy competition is not only what the China Film Association wants to see, but also what the production team wants to see. After all... wouldn't a director be annoyed watching extras dryly reciting lines?

If you were the director, would you choose a perfectly capable extra or a completely clueless extra? For the production crew, the only extra trouble is to take out their phone after filming and rate the certified extra as excellent, good, or poor on the union's website, and stamp their resume with a seal. That's all.

With just one phone call, the actors' union can send trained professional extras who fit the character to your film crew. They come with name tags, carry small suitcases, and call out "boss," waiting for you to choose. How many directors' urgent problems has this solved? And how much does it enhance the work? The answer is self-evident.

This could even lead to graduation certificates becoming highly sought after and coveted by extras. If the admission criteria for training courses are tightened, with the number of times an extra joins a production crew throughout the year as the selection standard, and only the top few hundred extras in the industry are admitted, then the enthusiasm of the entire industry could be mobilized.

Going further ahead, what if a lead actor with mediocre acting skills gets outshone by a background extra... Whether or not the lead actor causes trouble is another matter, but do you think the lead actor would be able to save face? Once there are more background extras with decent acting skills, can you handle all the trouble? Even if you can, the actors' union isn't just sitting idly by.

If union members who introduce extras to the group are allowed a fixed percentage of the commission, and this is reported, it's hard to say who will cause trouble for whom.

As for how many gray industry chains this will generate, Lu Ze doesn't need to know. He just needs to crack them down as soon as they are discovered. This kind of thing can't be stopped, so he can only ensure that they don't become too rampant.

There's no need to go any further. In short, extras may seem insignificant, but they are actually the foundation of most works. Once the structure of the foundation changes, the superstructure must also change to prevent the building from collapsing. Therefore, when changing something, there is no need to start with the most difficult steps. Often, removing the supporting pillars below will solve the problem.

"Okay, Master, I'll hang up now?"

"Oh, right, the national-level actor selection has started this year. You haven't been very enthusiastic about this, so I took the initiative to promote you. The meeting has already passed, and the certificate will be in my hands when it comes. Remember to come and pick it up when you have time."

The certificate could be mailed to Lü Hua. Of course, it would be best to pick it up in person to show that one values ​​this honor. However, given Lu Ze's relationship with his second brother and his own achievements, it doesn't matter whether he picks it up personally or not.

Grandpa Chen was also a man who couldn't bring himself to refuse. Usually, it was just the two of them and a housekeeper at home. Perhaps feeling that the house was too quiet, he thought of keeping the certificate so that he could find a reason to get Lu Ze to come over.

It is said that people love their youngest child, and Old Master Chen was no exception. He would more or less favor his youngest apprentice. This apprentice suited his temperament and had exceptional talent, making him the best among the younger generation. He had completely and undisguisedly shown this favoritism.

Now everyone in the industry knows that, apart from the deceased eldest disciple, Old Master Chen likes the ninth disciple the most among the eight disciples. He treats the ninth disciple better than his own son. He cares about everything concerning the ninth disciple. Lu Ze also understood the old master's hint, breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded to the old master over the phone.

"Okay, Master, I'll come to see you in a few days."

"That's more like it. Okay, I'm hanging up."

Having received a satisfactory reply, Old Master Chen hung up decisively, so quickly that even Lu Ze didn't have time to react. He put the phone aside, returned to the guest seat outside the bar, sat down in front of his laptop to think for a while, trying to reconnect with the train of thought that had been interrupted by the phone call. Sometimes he pondered deeply, and sometimes his fingers flew across the keyboard, typing line after line of text.

This wasn't a new quarterly report, nor was it storyboarding for Fatini's script "Atonement." This time, he was writing something entirely his own, but... it still wasn't a script.

He was dissatisfied that the Chinese market could only accept cultural imports, so he hoped to gain as much support as possible to start making changes from within and eventually bring about a qualitative change in the industry. However, relying solely on his master and a few senior brothers was not enough, since his family was only considered to have a lot of influence in the industry, and they were far from being able to control everything.

Therefore, winning the support of other academics and investors who have plans for the future of the industry is of paramount importance in formulating future industry standards. However, being merely an actor and a member of the film association is not enough; he still needs certain achievements to enhance his reputation and make others willing to support his reforms of industry rules and unspoken rules.

The previously agreed-upon "sound film volunteer organization" is one part of this, and the work we are currently busy with is also part of it.

Lu Ze had pondered for a long time how to achieve something that would be recognized both domestically and internationally. This was not something that could be accomplished simply by making a few classic films. After much deliberation, he finally had a breakthrough.

Everything has to start with the system...

Over the years, within the system, he has learned far more acting techniques than he has shown so far. It can be said that the talent he displays today is merely the tip of the iceberg of his acting abilities and qualities. No matter how brilliant the script, it cannot squeeze him to his full potential. As long as he wants, as long as the script requires, he can push himself to another level. And if needed, he can push himself to another level. Whatever effect you want, he can produce it, even to the point of being somewhat superhuman.

It's fair to say that Lu Ze would be the most suitable for any role in any script written by any screenwriter in the world. This sounds a bit like boasting, or rather, even if he's not suitable, he'll be suitable after a few hours when he comes out of the system's simulated character biography.

However, while the script cannot showcase all of Lu Ze's abilities, there is a book that can. The author of this book can only be Lu Ze himself, which is what Lu Ze is currently doing.

He will write down everything he has learned in his life in the book, whether it is something that others can learn, something that others cannot learn, or even something that makes others feel that Lu Ze is not human. He will take a different approach from the method acting method proposed by Stanislavski in "An Actor Prepares" and write down his unique acting style in the book.

That's right, he wanted to create something outside of the three major theatrical performance systems...

The fourth major theatrical performance system.

"..."

(End of this chapter)