Super-rich: Spending money is just a job!

To be honest, shooting short dramas is not a big project compared to shooting regular TV series, and even if the revenue is high, it won't be much higher.

The heated discussion was simply driven by a desire to watch the excitement and join in the commotion.

If you present a well-known director with a legitimate film project proposal seeking investment, their attitude will be different; they might carefully consider the return on investment.

Xiao Cheng, this fledgling director, clearly lacks experience and confidence. If he were to propose raising funds to make an art film for an exhibition, people would just casually contribute a little spare change out of respect for Qingqing.

People say it's a long-term project, but no one has the patience to invest in his studio for the long term.

Xiaomeng and Xiaocheng hit it off immediately and moved to a quieter corner with the young couple to start discussing revising the script.

Expanding a short story into a complete short play with more than ten episodes is not difficult for Xiaomeng.

After figuring out what needed to be expanded, she said goodbye to the two men and went back to her room to work. When she went out for dinner that evening, she had a printed copy of the script in her hand.

When Xiao Cheng received the script, he saw that it was already quite well-made and couldn't help but applaud. "Alright," he thought, "with this detailed script, we can find actors and locations to start filming. It's so fast to have the original author adapt it."

Finding actors was naturally the sole responsibility of director Xiao Cheng, because he had connections and could contact friends in the industry to directly select actors from among art school students.

Coincidentally, both Xiaomeng and Qingqing thought tall, handsome guys from Northeast China were great, so Xiaocheng decided to hire students from local universities. There are a few decent film and television arts schools in Northeast China.

To ensure Xiaomeng's satisfaction, he specially brought Xiaomeng and his girlfriend along when casting the role.

The three of them sat in a small conference room in the hotel, projecting the actor information that his friend had sent onto the wall and discussing it one by one.

These materials include still photos of the actors, as well as some videos of them.

Xiao Meng never imagined that the modern film and television industry's upstream and downstream sectors had become so complete.

Directors no longer need to painstakingly search for actors; they can simply pay a fee to an intermediary like Xiao Cheng's friend, and the intermediary will help find suitable actors.

The director will send out job offers to the actors who are interested in the script. If the actors like the script and are willing to come, they will then arrange a time to meet.

It's really very convenient.

Of course, recruiting actors this way can only bring in average performers; whether you can find an actor who perfectly matches the script depends entirely on luck.

Moreover, the actors in the talent pool are all unknown minor actors. Those actors with some fame have their own channels and would never end up in the hands of such intermediaries.

However, no one had any objections; it was good enough that there were actors to choose from.

Soon, Xiaomeng and her team selected several handsome men and beautiful women as candidates.

Xiao Cheng took the initiative, having an agency help contact actors. He personally went to the city to audition and assess the actors' skills. Finally, he selected a few lead actors and submitted the script.

These young actors all cherished the opportunity to act. They responded quickly after receiving the script.

Once Xiao Cheng's crew has all the equipment and personnel in place, he will give them a call and they will head to the film and television base to begin filming.

The planned short series is quite concise, with each episode lasting 10 minutes, for a total of 20 episodes. The total runtime is only 200 minutes.

Seven or eight days' worth of footage is more than enough.

Xiao Cheng can finish the post-production editing in about fifteen or sixteen days.

In summary, the overall cost of this project was not high.

Renting professional filming and sound equipment costs over 20,000 yuan per day. The main actors earn 2,000 yuan per day. The extras playing demons and monsters earn 500 yuan per day. On-set staff also earn 500 yuan per day.

The costumes, props, and sets were all from the private collections of Xiaomeng and her group of investors.

For example, the gorgeous Hanfu worn by the main characters—the two girls among the four main characters—were all contributed by Xiaomeng. The fancy Hanfu she bought from the Hanfu store was modified by Zhenzhen, who added many accessories, making the fight scenes even more visually appealing.

The outfits worn by the two boys were provided by Xiao Cheng. He also had several flying fish outfits and the like. With some modifications and the addition of accessories, they looked much better.

The costumes and props for the extras and supporting characters were all rented.

The project, which includes renting filming locations, post-production special effects and dubbing, and renting recording studios, is expected to cost 50 yuan.

Xiaomeng invested in the project, produced the script and the IP, and incidentally acquired songwriting and composition skills, creating the theme song and ending theme herself. She just needs professional composers to rearrange and perform them.

The rest—directing, filming, action choreography, on-set coordination, editing, and so on—were all handled by Xiao Cheng himself.

Xiaomeng and Qingqing spent a few days skiing in Northeast China before leaving. Xiao Cheng stayed at the local film and television base in Northeast China until the short film was completed before leaving with all the footage.

All of this happened in just over ten days.