Zhang Ran got the mobile phone card and came out of the store and saw a familiar face, it was his ex-girlfriend Qi Jie. He was a little surprised, he didn't expect to meet here.

Qi Jie's face is still so beautiful, wearing an OL suit, the whole person is very energetic, and there is not much change from the past.

"Zhang Ran, long time no see. Didn't you go back to China?" Qi Jie was slightly stunned, and then greeted Zhang Ran with a smile.

"Come over and make a film, are you okay?" Zhang Ran replied with a smile.

At the beginning, Zhang Ran wanted to return to China, but Qi Jie thought that there was no future in returning to China, and he wanted to stay in the United States for development. It started as an argument, then as an argument, and eventually had to break up. There is no right or wrong in this, it's just that everyone pursues differences.

"It's good. A few days ago, I saw that your film won an award at the film festival, congratulations!" Qi Jie sighed slightly in her heart, and then introduced the man next to her to Zhang Ran, "This is my boyfriend Tang Yi, he works at Lehman Bank! Tang Yi, this is Zhang Ran!"

"Hello, I didn't hear your name when I was studying at USC before, but now I finally know each other!" Tang Yi smiled and stretched out his hand to Zhang Ran.

"It's all infamy!" Zhang Ran shook Tang Yi's hand.

This kind of meeting is a little awkward after all, everyone doesn't have much to say, and after chatting a few words, they say goodbye to each other and go their separate ways.

Just walked to the parking lot and sat in the car, Zhang Ran sighed unconsciously. Isn't it good that everyone has found what they want? He smiled and took out the phone and dialed Zhang Jingchu's number. After connecting it, the voice was very noisy, it should be at the shooting site, and asked, "Are you still filming so late?"

Zhang Jingchu let out a "grace" and asked, "You went smoothly along the way, right?"

Zhang Ran said: "It's smooth, it's just that when I see others and me, I miss you a little!"

Zhang Jingchu pursed her lips and smiled: "Really, how much do you want to?"

Zhang Ran said, "Can you look up at the sky?"

Zhang Jingchu glanced up at the sky above her head. smiled: "You don't want to learn from Takeshi Kaneshiro, saying that this is the sky when you miss me, right?"

Zhang Ran knew a plot in the movie "Heartbeat" that Zhang Jingchu said, the male photographer took a lot of photos of the sky and gave them to his girlfriend, and said to her, this is the day I miss you, give it all to you. smiled and said: "It's a pity that I don't have a camera in my hand, otherwise I would have taken a picture of this longing sky for you, in fact, I mean that my miss is as big as the sky above your head!"

"Oh, it's so numb!" The smile on Zhang Jingchu's face couldn't stop, Zhang Ran was a little serious when he was with her, and rarely said intimate words, and said with a smile, "But I like to listen, you can say it again!"

"I can't tell. I've been soured to death by myself!"

"No, if you want to die together, you will also sour me to death!"

Beverly Hills, a dream destination for the world's richest and richest of the world, is located in the west of Los Angeles, on the crisp Pacific coast and at the foot of Beverly Hills, where Hollywood stars and the rich Los Alike live. Every year, it attracts countless tourists from all over the world to explore the streets with curiosity.

Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills' main thoroughfare. It is home to banks and commercial buildings, and there are countless top department stores on this street. The nearby Beverly Mall is also a favorite of many celebrities. There are nearly 180 specialty stores in the center, and the appearance is quite special, with two major features: transparent escalators on the periphery and heavy rock restaurants, where you can see various celebrities.

Zhang Ran drove to Wilshire Avenue and found Building 5757. I walked into the elevator and pressed the button on the seventh floor. The elevator sped up quickly. Walking out of the elevator door, Zhang Ran saw a sign that read "American actor worker".

Founded in 1933, the Screen Actors Guild is the largest screen actors union in the United States, with more than 120,000 members. The meaning of the existence of the Screen Actors Guild. It is to seek benefits and rights for union members, such as introducing actors to job opportunities, defending rights, and being responsible for labor contract negotiations with producers' associations.

However, the actors' union does not pay money to join, and the requirements are stricter. According to the regulations, in order to join the Actors Guild, you must have played a role in a union film, and you must have joined the Actors Guild or the Television and Radio Artists Association, paid a fee for one year, and appeared in the association's films.

However, new actors are generally not in a hurry to join the actors' union, and they usually choose to join after accumulating a certain amount of experience. Because according to the rules of the Screen Actors Guild, union members cannot take on non-union films, which also means that newcomers to the industry have lost a lot of acting opportunities

Joining the Screen Actors Guild has many benefits for actors who aspire to Hollywood, such as when the crew wants to save trouble and directly entrust the union to recruit actors, the actors who have already joined the union can get more convenience in auditions; for example, the union actors have insurance to be extras and are paid more; in addition, the Screen Actors Guild often holds various lectures, which members can attend for free.

When he was studying in the past, Zhang Ran ran to the Screen Actors Guild a lot, and he was familiar with it, and walked directly to the front desk.

As soon as I walked to the front desk, the reception staff stood up with a faint smile on his face: "Welcome to the Actors Guild, is there anything I can do to help you?"

Zhang Ran said with a smile: "I am a film director and producer, and I have a project in my hand, and the actors who are going to use the union need to sign the general union agreement. ”

According to the regulations of the Screen Actors Guild, union actors are not allowed to perform in non-union films. If a film wants to use unionized actors, it must sign a corresponding agreement with the actors' union, be recognized by the union, and become a unionized film, otherwise it is a non-union film. Of course, this is not absolute, the laws of each state in the United States are different, and 21 of them have the right to work freely, and can freely decide whether to sign a union actor or not, and the union has no right to interfere.

Zhang Ran's film is going to be shot in Vancouver, and it stands to reason that the Screen Actors Guild can't control it. However, he still had to sign a contract with the union to make his film a union film. Because it is not a union, the film insurance company is not insured, and the insurance company is not insured, Zhang Ran will not be able to sign the guarantee agreement for the completion of the film, and without the guarantee agreement for the completion of the film, even if he gets the pre-sale contract, he will not be able to get a loan from the bank, so if the film wants to be financed in the United States. The first step was to sign an agreement with the Screen Actors Guild to make your film a union film.

The receptionist continued to smile, convincing Zhang Ran that the smile was professionally trained: "You're a student, right? ”

Zhang Ran knows that there are four types of low-cost agreements for the union: low-cost agreements for films with less than 2.5 million yuan, revised low-cost agreements for less than 750,000 yuan, ultra-low-cost agreements for less than 200,000 yuan, and short film agreements with less than $50,000 for less than $50,000. There are differences in the content of different agreements, such as a minimum daily wage of $504 for a low-cost agreement and a minimum daily wage of $100 for an ultra-low-cost agreement.

Zhang Ran smiled and said: "We have a relatively large investment in this film. Will Hollywood A-list stars be invited to join, no need to sign a low-cost agreement, an ordinary agreement is fine, I don't know who should sign this agreement?"

The staff was taken aback when they heard Zhang Ran's words, and subconsciously glanced Zhang Ran up and down. There are very few Chinese directors in Hollywood, and they are basically making small-budget literary films, and it is really surprising that this young person in front of him is a project joined by a first-line star. She pointed to the opposite side of the workbench, "Please go this way." There are dedicated staff there to serve you!"

Zhang Ran smiled and nodded, and then walked towards the union. The Screen Actors Guild is a lot like a regular company, with desks and computers filling the entire office. It's hard to believe that this is home to 120,000 actors across the United States, including superstars like Tom Cruise and DiCaprio.

Zhang Ran walked to the position dedicated to providing consultation, and asked with a smile: "Hello, I am the director of the movie, and there is a film that needs to sign an agreement with the union to facilitate the use of the union's actors." ”

"Please wait. The staff looked up at Zhang Ran's eyes and smiled. Then he took out a form and put it in front of Zhang Ran, "This is the review permission form." Please fill in truthfully according to the situation of the movie!"

Zhang Ran took the form and looked at it, it was all some basic information, including the name of the film, contact person, collaborator, etc. He took out his pen and filled out the application form, then handed it back to the staff.

The staff took notes of Zhang Ran's form, and then asked Zhang Ran to produce relevant documents, including the registration documents of the script writers union. and other relevant power of attorneys. When the staff saw the producer contract signed by Luc Besson, they showed a look of surprise. Although Luc Besson is not a master, he is also a famous director, and it is not easy for an independent film to attract him. It seems that this young director is not simple!

After the staff confirmed the documents, they reminded: "If the crew needs to use non-union actors." Then every non-union actor must fill out a special application form for the Taft Hartley Act. If an actor shoots for more than 30 days, he must join the Actors' Guild. At the same time, the Taft Hartley Act special application form must be sent to the union within 15 days of the actor's signing of the contract, subject to the postmark issued, and your film will be fined after 15 days! Even in states with the right to work freely, non-union actors used in union films must still fill out the Taft Hartley Act special application form!"

Zhang Ziyi should be a member of the trade union, and last year she filmed Jackie Chan's "Rush Hour 2", she should join the union. Liang Jiahui should not, there are many other actors, and there are a lot of forms to fill out. But these are all producers' jobs, and he, as a producer, doesn't need to worry about it.

Zhang Ran nodded and asked, "Is there anything else I need to pay attention to?"

"In the Taft Hartley Act application form, you have to state your reasons for using non-union actors, and if you don't have to hire non-guild actors, you may be fined. The application form can be downloaded from our website!"

"Okay, we'll make it clear!"

After that, the staff talked about many regulations of the union, after all the actors were finalized, they needed to fill out a detailed report to register with the union, and during the filming, they had to fill out the shooting form of the union actors every day, including the time for the set, the time for leaving, the time for makeup, the audition for removing makeup, the time for eating, and so on.

Hearing the back, Zhang Ran's head was big, these regulations were too detailed, so detailed that it was a headache.

After tossing for more than an hour, after communicating various issues and reviewing the documents, Zhang Ran finally signed an agreement with the trade union, and his film officially became a trade union movie.

Coming out of the building, Zhang Ran looked at the time, it was already eleven o'clock, and decided to find a place to eat. In the afternoon, I had to complete the preliminary preparations before the start of filming, and there were a lot of agreements that needed to be signed for this kind of film that needed financing, and I had to run them one by one.

Of course, for Zhang Ran, the most important thing now is to register a company. (To be continued.) )

PS: Gao Xiaosong said that movies below 3 million are non-union films, which is not right. Even if the cost of your movie is only tens of thousands, as long as you sign an agreement with the union, it is a union film, and you can hire union actors. For example, the cost of "Frozen River" is only 1 million, and the heroine was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress.