34 King Guan Entertainment

"Fat Chow, you're in a good mood today. Is it because Yin Fenghua is coming to the set?"

Du Jinghai continues the topic, trying to strike while the iron is hot. He takes out a packet of cigarettes and hands one to Chow Mingrun, then turns to Amélie, "Do you mind?"

"No, go ahead."

Chow Mingrun takes the cigarette and, unable to contain his excitement, says, "Don't worry about that Yin Fenghua business. It can wait. You guys had better listen to the good news first! Liu Sang dragged me to see the Guan family yesterday. Guess what it was about? I've finally met the current head of the family. He's officially taking over the reins of Guan's Pictures since he returned from abroad and is making drastic changes to the business these days to prepare for a new movie! This is a big event that will shake up the entire entertainment industry!"

Yuan Ge chimes in, "I've heard of it. This man you're talking about is Arthur Guan, right? The second son of the Guan family in this generation. He's been living in America for the past ten years and is the most liberal and avant-garde of the Guan family. He is taking over the family's entertainment business in full now that he's back in China."

Du Jinghai blows a smoke ring and laughs, "Guan's Properties, that is the number one property developer in the country. It's hard for ordinary guys like us to speculate on its financial power. Think about it, more than half of the cinemas in the country are owned by that family. Although the second young master Guan studied business, I heard that his interest was in film and television, so the first thing he did when he returned to China was to restructure Guan's Pictures and even changed its name. It's now called King Guan Entertainment. What an ambitious name that is!"

Amélie nods in agreement, "I believe the predecessor of Guan's Pictures was Beijing Film Studio, which had quite a long history. Now renamed as King Guan Entertainment, he probably wants to manage it with newer and more modern concepts to achieve a dominant position in the entertainment industry. I just don't know if this second young master Guan is a pretender or a real contender. Whether he has the ability to lead his gigantic family business to become the industry's trendsetter is still unknown."

"Gee, I can't believe you all know quite a lot about it." Chow Mingrun shakes his head and can't help but laugh as he listens to everyone's chatter, "But, do you guys know that his King Guan Entertainment is about to pitch a big production movie?"

"Yeah I know. It's said to be a period drama set in the Ming Dynasty, an adaptation of a big Webnovel IP, fully produced by KGE. From the playwright to the entire cast and crew, they are all supposed to be the best in the industry, creme de la creme. The base investment is 1 billion! I heard that the audition for the lead roles will start after the Lunar New Year."

"Old Dude, you know quite a lot! Always appearing so harmless and quiet, I didn't expect you to be such a know-it-all!" Chow Mingrun laughs.

Du Jinghai smiles, "Don't forget that I'm a Quarroer. I read all kinds of posts on Quarro every day. It's hard to miss any news even if I don't want to know."

"A billion? Wow! If they invest that much in pre-production, plus post-production and distribution, they're heading for at least one and half billion! What a difference it makes to have a property company as a financial backer. Our production budget for a film can't even reach ten million." Yuan Ge feels a little envious.

Chow Mingrun sees right through Yuan Ge's mind and pats him on the shoulder, "Don't be so sour, our chance has come! When the second young master Guan met with me, he had given me the green light to bring a team to the audition."

"Audition? Isn't it supposed to be held after the New Year? Actually, I've always thought that our Waylon, Stephen and Chestnut are all very good in terms of looks and personalities. If they can go to the audition, they might have a chance. Jinghai, how about taking a few good photos for them and passing them on to KGE's casting? But I don't know if KGE will like the actors recommended by such a small company like ours."

Although Du Jinghai is reluctant to oppose Amélie's proposal, he can't resist giving her a reality check, "Amy, you don't know much on how the domestic show business works. For big productions like this, the lead roles are all decided behind the scenes. The so-called auditions are just a means of publicity. How could they really take a serious look at a small timer like us? There's no need to try, because there's no chance at all. It's going to be a waste of time."

"What are you two talking about! Look at TweeChat, the news is all over the internet today! The audition has been moved up to the day after tomorrow! As soon as KGE released this audition date, TweeChat's servers almost grind to a halt!" Chow Mingrun interrupts the two with an excited look on his face.

Du Jinghai hurriedly takes out his phone and scans the trending topics list, and sure enough, it is all about the audition and casting for KGE's new movie. "Holy shit! King Guan is the King after all! It's clearly stated here - they are going to have 3,000 people in the audition, only proper actors allowed, no celebrities or TV idols … 64 go into the second round and so on, with Arthur Guan himself as the audition judge in the final round!"