Casting plays a pivotal role in large-scale productions and sophisticated film and television dramas.

In Hollywood, the status of casting directors is equivalent to that of assistant directors, acting as multiple roles of artist review, agent, and talent scout.

The casting director starts by reading the script, identifying each role that needs to be recruited, and making a list of the required actor traits and requirements for the main role.

After that, I will discuss the casting ideas and direction with Li Zhifan, and understand what specific needs Li Zhifan has as a director, whether to lock in famous actors or conduct traditional auditions.

If it's the latter, the casting director can start recruiting actors and organizing audition meetings, and select the most suitable candidates for Li Zhifan's review.

Therefore, their existence is also the most important part of the pre-production of a movie or TV series.

Perhaps for Chinese audiences, casting director is a strange and familiar generic term, after all, the casting topic of "unspoken rules" in the entertainment industry has never stopped.

But Hollywood's casting directors have their own rhythm and planning, whether it is producing TV or TV series, they have a mature operating system, and usually after the script is completed and the funding is determined, the casting will begin.

Like a newly planned and produced American drama, it will start two or three months before the start of filming, because the actors need to be there early to rehearse, but if it is a new role in the sequel of the new season, it can be done a week before the start of filming, and it can even be selected while filming.

The casting of a film generally starts from 6 to 12 weeks and lasts until the moment before filming starts.

Some films require a large number of external recruitment, especially when there are special needs for the lead actor or children are included, which can be months in advance, even months before the main filming.

"This Killer Is Not Too Cold" needs to be used as a child actor, and it is also an important profession of the heroine, so at first Li Zhifan wanted to insert a lever, but in the end it was completely handed over to the casting director to deal with, and he was only responsible for the final review.

It is really difficult to choose a child star with aura, strength, and highlights, not only in the United States, but also in China and all over the world.

U.S. law restricts minors to only a few hours of work in front of the camera, depending on their actual age.

And how many hours of school time they need to ensure when they are not on camera are all things that need to be taken into account when casting.

Casting directors typically start with agents and managers and send them "breakdons" because they represent professional actors and new actors from all over the country who haven't acted yet.

Breakdon is a list of information compiled by the casting director to recruit actors, listing relevant criteria such as appearance, special talents, etc.

Hollywood has a number of sites where industry insiders can share breakdons, and casting directors announce the content of their projects and the required actors, and all subscribers receive these messages.

In addition, the casting director will also dig up some actors who have no agent by themselves, through ordinary universities, drama schools, and online recruitment.

Especially now that science and technology are so developed, the Internet is also a way, and the Internet celebrity group is a treasure trove of excavation.

It is not as conservative and biased as the attitude of the Chinese film industry towards Internet celebrities, on the contrary, the casting directors in the United States are now very open to selecting actors who can be reached through all channels, and the whole process is wider and more open.

Li Zhifan doesn't have much demand for the actors in this play, anyway, it is enough for him to have a leading role.

Therefore, the only requirement is only "good actors", they don't need to bring their own investment, and they don't need to have box office attraction and appeal, as long as they act well and act smartly.

At today's audition, Li Zhifan also came.

However, he did not appear at the scene, but in the office next door, observing the audition actors through video surveillance.

In a big room, there are children, and their parents are outside the door, this is to test their flexibility, without the presence of their parents, whether they can independently complete the basic requirements of a child actor.

The young actors who came were varied, each of them had a particularly beautiful face, and most of them were mixed-race.

There are those who mix China, those who mix Japan, those who mix South Korea, and those who mix Southeast Asia.

There are also non-mixed-race people, these are all selected by the casting director, and some are oriental faces, and their parents brought them from China on a special trip, as for how these parents got the news, Li Zhifan is also very puzzled.

Some people are to be determined, some people are eliminated, it's like a draft, but in one day, you have to complete the workload of those talent shows for a season.

So compressed to every actor, in fact, there is a lot of time for auditions, and many times there are more than a dozen auditions together, if Li Zhifan is asked to choose, he will definitely be dazzled and overwhelmed, but it is much more convenient to hand it over to the casting director, they are used to these, and they can see at a glance who has bright spots, who is more prominent, and who is not so good.

Just as Li Zhifan was staring at the monitor, there was a knock on the door of the room.

"Please come in!"

Li Zhifan shouted casually.

The door opened, and a man and a woman stood outside.

"Hello, hello, I'm sorry to come to you. ”

The man who came turned out to be the Chinese chef of Ma Tengyun's Dream Factory restaurant.

Because Li Zhifan has been there for a long time, he often eats the food he cooks, and he has to talk a few words every time he eats, so he can't say that he is not familiar.

"You're ......"

Li Zhifan pointed to the woman beside him and wondered.

"Anihesseyo!"

The woman immediately took the initiative to wave and shout, her appearance was quite beautiful, but when she heard that it was Korean, Li Zhifan became vigilant, and at the same time looked at her face, and she felt like she had plastic surgery.

In fact, plastic surgery is not a big deal, and it is understandable that human beings pursue beauty and make some small changes in themselves.

But Korean plastic surgery is world-famous, and a large part of their beautiful women are of the magic type, not micro-plastic surgery, which is difficult to accept.

"It's ...... Your wife?"

Li Zhifan smiled and looked at Ma Tengyun embarrassedly.

"Oh no, it's my landlord. ”

Ma Tengyun also smiled embarrassedly, "I brought her here this time because I have something to ask for, Mr. Li, aren't you busy?"

"Oh!"

Li Zhifan nodded and asked, "Do you want to make a corner?"

"Yes! uh, but not her!"

Ma Tengyun pushed the Korean woman, and then said, "Introduce yourself!"

"Hello!"

The Korean woman said in Chinese, and then began to continue in English, "Director! I admire you very much, I know that you are going to shoot a new drama, so I begged Brother Tengyun to bring me over, but it is not me who wants to act, it is my daughter, I hope she can participate, she is already next door, can you discuss with the casting director and give her more opportunities, maybe you can?"

"Ahem!"

Li Zhifan coughed lightly, then looked at the display, "Which one is your daughter?"

"I'll point it to you!"

The Korean woman said, walking towards Li Zhifan.

Because she was wearing a long trench coat, she couldn't see her figure, and it wasn't until the moment she bent over the monitor that her surging figure was dented.

At this time, Ma Tengyun said: "Then, Mr. Li, I won't delay, you can talk!"

"Okay!"

Li Zhifan didn't take it seriously, and instructed, "Close the door and tell Const not to let anyone else in!"

"Uh, good, good!"

Ma Tengyun heard the meaning of Li Zhifan's words, and knew that his visit this time was very inappropriate, so he was even more embarrassed and went out immediately.

"This is my daughter!"

As soon as the door closed, the Korean woman pointed to a girl standing in the corner on the screen.

Li Zhifan's enlarged surveillance is a little girl of mixed American and Korean descent, with long black hair, but her appearance is European and American, and she can't see the appearance of Asians, but there is still a big gap with ordinary pure-blooded Europeans and Americans.

"Oh, pretty little girl, let her audition herself! ”

When Li Zhifan said this, he was ready to thank the guests.

But the Korean woman suddenly knelt down and begged: "Director Li, I know it's not appropriate to do this, but I hope to have one more guarantee, for the sake of the child, I can sacrifice anything, I was originally a member of a Korean girl group, and the child inherited my artistic cells, and I have skills in singing and dancing performances." ”

"No, no, no, you misunderstood me!"

Li Zhifan hurriedly waved his hand and wanted to help her up, "Don't kneel! Get up, you make me very embarrassed like this, our crew is not like that, we treat everyone equally, don't worry!"

This Korean woman doesn't look young anymore, although the lifespan of the girl group is generally very short, but it will take at least 25 years old to completely fade out, plus her child is almost ten years old, this woman is likely to be 35 years old, but she is very well maintained, and her face seems to be only in her twenties.

Just when Li Zhifan said this, the Korean woman's expression suddenly became solemn, as if she had made some major decision, she suddenly stood up and said, "Director!

"Uh......"

Li Zhifan was stunned for a moment, and saw that the other party suddenly ripped off his long windbreaker, and the clothes left his body directly.

Inside, there was nothing but two knee-high black stockings and a pair of high heels.

"Get dressed and get out!"

Li Zhifan stood up suddenly, didn't linger on this scene for a second longer, he pointed to the door and said, "I'll only give you five seconds, otherwise your child's audition qualification will be cancelled directly!"

"Huh......?

The Korean woman seemed surprised and strange Li Zhifan's choice, and glanced at Li Zhifan's crotch suspiciously.

I saw that there was already a bulging bag, and I couldn't help laughing: "Director, why are you bothering!"

Li Zhifan turned around, his eyes avoided the other party's body, picked up his mobile phone, and began to look for the number: "I'm going to call the police, your behavior like this has constituted a very serious Xin harassment, if you don't want the child to watch you being arrested by the police like this, hurry up and put on your clothes." ”

As he spoke, the number had already been dialed out.

"Hey, security guards, come to room 1042 on the 6th floor, there's a crazy woman here!"

After speaking, Li Zhifan continued to turn his back to her and asked, "I heard it, I called the security guard, and you still don't leave?"

"Click!"

Hearing only a soft sound, Li Zhifan glanced at the glass window in surprise, and saw from the reflection of the glass that this Korean woman actually locked the door.

Then I heard her laugh: "Director, why are you doing this? I bite you back, and you can't do anything with me?"

When Li Zhifan heard this, he laughed angrily: "Hehehe!"

He turned around, sat down on the chair, stared at her without fear of temptation, his eyes wandered over her body, and continued to sneer: "I'm sorry, you're too old! Look at your RF, it's all sagging, and your belly is full of fat, it's like coming out to tempt a man?

"Oh!" Li Zhifan immediately made a bright expression, "I know, is it from the Korean entertainment industry? That's normal, you just like this, but sorry, this is Hollywood, this won't work!"

"You, you ......"

The smile on the Korean woman's face gradually solidified and disappeared, instead of embarrassment, she was very resentful and annoyed, she looked down at her figure, and actually smiled bitterly: "You're right, I misunderstood!"

As she spoke, she actually picked up her clothes and put them on neatly.

Outside the door, the footsteps of security guards were also heard at the same time.

"Knock knock!

There was a heavy knock on the door, and the Korean woman took the initiative to open the door and said outside: "Wait a minute, I have one more thing to say." ”

The security guard outside looked at Li Zhifan and waited for his instructions, because what this woman said didn't count, Li Zhifan was their boss.

"Let her talk!" Li Zhifan was already very calm, and his mood calmed down.

The Korean woman was annoyed and said: "Sorry, director, I have caused you so much trouble, in fact, I thought if the child can win this role, can I also play the role of her mother? I joined the company as a trainee at the age of 13, and made my debut at the age of 17......

"Unexpectedly, in just three years, we lost the market and had to withdraw from the circle and consider marrying, because the past was unbearable, so we had to marry a very ordinary American doctor. But there's not a day I don't want to be able to return to the entertainment industry and let those who liked me look at my work again, even if it's my child, she is the most perfect work in my life. But, I ruined it all...... I apologize again to you for what just happened, Director! I'm sorry!

After saying that, she went out in despair......