Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 762: Xiao He: "Then What Was All That Hard Work Memorizing Lines For?!"

"Ah-choo—Ah-choo—"

In the office at Linghui Entertainment, Zhan Min sneezed several times in a row.

The person beside him immediately pulled out some tissues and handed them to Zhan Min.

Zhan Min sniffled as he took the tissues, then thanked the person in front of him: "Thank you, President Lin."

"You're welcome."

Lin Cheng wore a gentle smile as he began organizing the documents on his desk. Once Zhan Min had composed himself, he continued the earlier topic, stood up, extended his hand to Zhan Min, and said solemnly, "Director Zhan, please guide us well from now on! Our latest project will also rely on your direction."

"Of course, of course."

Zhan Min quickly stood up and shook hands with Lin Cheng, his tone unable to hide his emotion: "I never even dared to dream of this project before. I also want to thank Linghui Entertainment for giving me this opportunity. I will definitely lead the team and work hard!"

Lin Cheng's smile deepened a few notches.

If it had been the old Linghui Entertainment, they probably wouldn't have had so many projects to offer for collaboration, nor could they have supported multiple teams working simultaneously.

But now, thanks to Jingyou Entertainment, Ling Hui had picked up many major bargains besides "Imperial Enterprise."

So right now, they had more projects than they could handle, and they had even brought in several partners and investors along the way.

As for Zhan Min, the director of "Let the Mistake Slide," Xiao He had specifically reminded Lin Cheng earlier to keep an eye on him and see if they could try to poach him.

As expected, as soon as Ling Hui reached out, Zhan Min came over without a second thought. Hanbei Entertainment wasn't even that angry about it—they just took the opportunity to ask Linghui Entertainment for a few more projects, hoping to get a piece of the Jingyou Entertainment pie as well.

It wasn't like Ling Hui could swallow everything in one bite anyway, so trading a few projects for a director who could independently lead a team was a pretty good deal, right?

Well, in the end, everyone was satisfied. Every party had taken advantage of the situation.

As for what Jingyou Entertainment thought?

Who cared about them?

...

In the following days, Xiao He returned to his busy life on set.

After Elder Qian and Qian Wenhao stayed in Hengdian for a few days, Qian Wenhao suddenly had a change of heart. With the recommendation of Screenwriter Qin and Elder Qian, he went to work as a calligraphy teacher for the neighboring crew, actively finding something to do for himself while rediscovering his former passion.

Xiao He believed that it wouldn't be long before Qian Wenhao found his old self again.

As for the crew, since Yun Ziqi had withdrawn, they quickly found a new actor to replace him for the role.

Xiao He spent a few more days doing reshoots, and after that, everything officially got back on track.

After experiencing the mid-shoot pause, combined with the lengthy filming of "Imperial Enterprise," the crew once again cooperated seamlessly, pushing forward the remaining plot with high efficiency.

Xiao He's daily routine became: wake up, memorize lines, shoot, memorize lines, eat, sleep, and repeat the cycle.

...

One day, a short-drama crew shooting a one-day stint showed up next door, also filming a scene of a battlefield camp setup and battle.

Since the opposing crew had fewer people and little privacy, Xiao He and his team could often see what was going on when they passed by—

"You say: 'General Li, this absolutely cannot be done!'"

The director stood behind the camera, holding the script and shouting loudly.

"General Li, this absolutely cannot be done!"

Another young man repeated it in a somewhat wooden tone.

"Good, now the female lead steps forward with her hands behind her back and says: 'You don't need to worry about this. I have a plan in mind.'"

Then came the voice of another woman, following step by step: "You don't need to worry about this..."

Xiao He stopped in his tracks, his face filled with shock as he leaned against the railing to watch the neighboring shoot.

Xiao Chen also stopped and peered over the railing alongside Xiao He.

Based on the scene before him, it was a brainless male-oriented power fantasy—probably about a modern male lead who time-travels to ancient times, climbs the ranks through wit, wins over three thousand beauties, and becomes the ultimate winner in life.

This was pretty normal. Everyone loved watching this kind of stuff these days. The crew churned out episodes as easily as drinking water, producing a full series in just a few days—a guaranteed feast of quantity and satisfaction.

But—

"They don't even have to memorize their lines anymore?"

Xiao He raised a trembling finger and pointed. After just a few moments of watching, he already felt a crisis of faith.

Their filming equipment wasn't even that advanced. The only things that might be useful were a few light reflectors and big lamps placed nearby. Then the director stood off-screen, feeding lines to the actors one by one—including the actions and expressions they were supposed to make. The actors didn't even need to memorize their lines. They just stood there, following the director sentence by sentence and mimicking the corresponding movements.

No wonder their shooting speed was like flowing water. A scene that "Imperial Enterprise" might take days to perfect was finished in less than half an hour.

Heavens! How was this even considered acting? The food was practically being spoon-fed into their mouths!

Then what was all his hard work memorizing lines for?

He'd been tortured to death by that mountain of lines lately!

"Has the outside world already evolved this much?"

Xiao Chen sighed in amazement, but then quickly comforted Xiao He: "Brother Xiao, it's fine. At least they still have someone feeding them lines to lip-sync. We used to have actors who just opened their mouths and counted sheep."

"Huh?" Xiao He was stunned. "Counting sheep? Why count sheep?"

"It's not just counting sheep, actually. They could say other things too—" Xiao Chen pursed his lips. "And Brother Xiao, don't be too shocked just because short dramas have turned out like this. The truth is, this kind of shooting model was actually brought over by people from the long-form drama side."

Hehe, don't be surprised. Did you think this model only started now?

It's been around for a long time, and it's even worse. Some people just can't remember their lines, so they simply refuse to even try.

But now that the short-drama market has expanded, more people who couldn't make it in the mainstream industry have moved over there to mooch off, bringing all sorts of bad habits with them. And because there are so many people, their discretion has decreased, and to attract attention, the internet has finally caught a glimpse of the ugly truth.

Xiao He had heard about actors counting "1234" on set before. But in all his years in the industry, despite working on countless big and small productions, the overall atmosphere had been decent. Even the actors he knew who had issues never went so far as to blatantly not memorize their lines during filming.

Take Su Shengxi, the worst actor Xiao He had ever encountered—even he wouldn't dare to do something like that. The lines had to be memorized, not a single word missing.

How to put it? This had indeed lowered the bar for becoming an actor, but conversely, it had also raised the bar for being a good actor.

If you didn't want to be replaced, you had to keep polishing your craft and making yourself more competitive.

Otherwise, there was no way you could last long in this business...

Xiao He let out a long breath. The frustration he felt from seeing others take shortcuts had dissipated. He decided to go back and memorize a few more scenes' worth of lines.

Beside him, Xiao Chen was still comforting his boss: "It's okay, Brother Xiao. Fast-paced shooting models will eventually be replaced by even faster AI. What they're doing is essentially consuming their own value—it's completely unsustainable."

"I know, Teacher Xiao Chen." Xiao He smiled helplessly. "I was just opening my eyes to the world."

The two of them chatted as they walked back.

But during the afternoon shoot, Xiao He just had to go talk to Director Chou about the neighboring crew's one-on-one line-feeding method, letting out a melancholy sigh.

As expected, he nearly got a kick to the backside from Director Chou. "You little brat! You can't learn the good stuff, but you've got your eye on the garbage? Looks like you've got too much free time on your hands, huh? You have the nerve to go watch the neighboring crew shoot? Come on, come on, let's add some more scenes—"

Xiao He immediately covered his ass and bolted: "Director Chou, no, no! I was just kidding around! Lightening the mood!"

Damn old man! Can't take a joke at all!