Chapter 901: Reunion with Director Hu, Fishing Invitation
After listening to Hu Pei's idea, Xiao He immediately understood the general situation and began to ponder it.
"I'll be staying here with the crew to catch up on the schedule, so I might not have much time to reshoot Director Hu's variety show scenes... But it'll probably be the day after tomorrow. The crew is planning to film the final scenes at the beach, and my character will wrap up then, which will naturally free up a lot of time to participate in your variety show recording. Also, some of the senior actors just invited me to go sea fishing together."
Nowadays, "Travel Notes" is resorting to any means necessary to supplement the variety show content of some guests.
Even just being able to film a personal vlog for a day alongside the guests is worthwhile.
Not to mention going sea fishing!
Isn't this interesting! And since it's Xiao He going sea fishing, we can capture a lot more time on camera—it's a real bargain! It completely makes up for the regret of not being able to use the footage from the Xiang Sheng!
Hu Pei's eyes immediately lit up, and she said, "What a coincidence, Teacher Xiao! The footage we shot in post-production was also of us going on a yacht trip, so the footage from both ends of this shoot is perfect for us!"
Even if it's not with other program guests, it's still a similar type of material.
As long as it works, that's fine!
Hu Pei was eager to try: "Then, Teacher Xiao, could we—"
Xiao He paused, then looked troubled: "I'm sorry, Director Hu, I really can't make the decision on this. The boat belongs to Teacher Du Yuebin, and the production team will probably borrow it for filming. I'm not sure if they will agree to let your production team come on board as well."
If it were the previous "Long" crew, he could have directly asked Zhuang Hongyi, but now that he has joined the "Black Tortoise" crew, the two sides are not very familiar with each other, and Xiao He cannot be sure whether the crew here will agree to "Travels Through Mountains and Rivers" coming to film a variety show.
Moreover, the part of the story filmed on the ship was the finale of "Blackbird." Some production crews are very particular about these things and take stricter measures to maintain confidentiality. Even if the production crew goes up there and doesn't film the scene casually, many production crews might still be concerned.
"Ah, we have indeed considered this situation, so I just wanted to ask if you, Teacher Xiao, could help us make an introduction so that we can communicate with the production team. Of course, please rest assured, Teacher Xiao, we will definitely not let this matter affect your work."
Hu Pei quickly said, "If they mind, we can not board the ship for now. After the crew has finished all their work, we will negotiate with Mr. Du Yuebin separately and firmly support the filming work."
This is so difficult...
To be honest, Xiao He felt a little sorry for Director Hu.
A perfectly good program almost got ruined by going on the Xiang Sheng Hao.
Who could stand that?
There should be a limit to bad luck!
Considering that he had received a press release fee and would eventually have to do things for money, Xiao He simply said, "How about this, you ask your production company if they would be willing to invite Teacher Zhang Zhelin and Teacher Du Yuebin to appear on your program, and then I'll ask them for you. We can just add an extra camera angle and bypass the production team."
If it's just a private conversation with the two senior actors, then it's considered a new work announcement and has nothing to do with the production team. There's no need to discuss so many confidentiality issues with the production team, otherwise it would take too much time and be too troublesome.
As for discussing job offers separately, as long as they are willing to pay a fee, you can make money just by going fishing, so the two seniors shouldn't mind.
Xiao He decided to swallow his pride and ask for Hu Pei's help.
To take it a step further, if the two seniors don't really want their fishing break disturbed by the production crew, then he could consider taking a camera on the boat and filming his own personal vlog. He could film his immersive fishing experience without the two seniors appearing on camera, without disturbing the peace and quiet of others.
"Teacher Xiao!"
Hu Pei's eyes immediately welled up with tears: "Thank you so much!"
Those are Zhang Zhelin and Du Yuebin!
A legendary figure in Hong Kong's entertainment industry, and a young male god for many older generations in mainland China!
Since they've come all the way to Hong Kong to film "Hong Kong Side Story," they naturally want to connect with the local celebrities, but unfortunately, these are not people they can just invite whenever they want!
Besides, both of them are known for not liking to participate in variety shows.
Originally, the idea of talking to the production team was just to see if I could find an opportunity to legitimately get some screen time with these Hong Kong entertainment stars under the guise of helping with promotion.
Now that Xiao He is willing to help them ask the person directly, he couldn't be happier.
"Teacher Xiao, don't worry! Go and talk to them as you please, we'll agree to whatever conditions they ask!"
Hu Pei grasped Xiao He's hand as if he had seen a savior.
Even if the scenes from the Xiang Sheng ship are heavily cut, so what?
Two top Hong Kong entertainment stars, whom we couldn't even see on the Xiang Sheng Hao, were still invited by them, weren't they?!
After a month-long slump, Hu Pei seemed to see hope that his career was about to take off again.
So, carrying Hu Pei's expectations, Xiao He went with Shu Han to find the two lead actors.
...
To Xiao He's surprise, the two seniors, who had always disliked participating in variety shows, agreed to the invitation without hesitation.
Zhang Zhelin didn't even mention asking for an appearance fee; he only said he hoped that "Wandering Through Mountains and Rivers" could help promote "Blackbird" later.
After all this, it turns out it's still related to the production team.
In fact, Zhang Zhelin and his team are well aware that their influence and appeal in mainland China are not what they used to be.
To put it dramatically, now that Xiao He is appearing in the same frame as these two, it's hard to say who benefits from whose traffic. After all, young people who like to watch variety shows are generally not there for them, but more to see Xiao He.
Yes, that's how cruel the era of internet traffic is.
Zhang Zhelin and Du Yuebin were both very open-minded and didn't mind the production crew filming on the boat. This made Hu Pei very happy, and he immediately started making phone calls to call over a few other experienced filmmakers from the production crew so that they could all come on the boat [N O V E L I G H T] together.
And so the matter was settled.
Liu Rulan later learned that Xiao He had taken the initiative to arrange this, but knowing the difficulties of "A Journey Through Mountains and Rivers", she agreed with his actions.
Seeing that the collaboration invitations here didn't seem to involve her, she simply called on Shu Han and He Wenming, who had nothing else to do, to help the two of them choose fishing gear.
At this moment, Xiao He, who had never fished before, belatedly realized: "Huh? I've never fished before, so it shouldn't be too difficult to learn, right?"
Although he often sees videos of people filming "air force" bases while browsing videos, Xiao He thinks that since so many people are still obsessed with this activity, it should mean that not being able to catch fish is just a low-probability event, or that the location was not chosen well.
P.S.: "Air Force" refers to a situation where a fisherman catches no fish and returns empty-handed.
It's just something to laugh about online. Everyone knows that the hype outweighs the reality. You can't really expect someone to sit there all afternoon and not catch any fish, can you?
No way, really?
Xiao He had never actually gone fishing, but he was very optimistic about it: "It's okay, I should have a beginner protection period."
Fishing is something anyone with hands can do, isn't it?
Liu Rulan, who has never fished but often browses her WeChat Moments, said: "...Hehe, then I really wish you good luck."