Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Hollywood was in the northwest suburb of downtown LA. The headquarters of many major studios were located in this area, and it was also one of the most famous tourist attractions—a “Holy Land” of the movie industry.
When Wang Yang had first arrived in LA, he had to have a tour in Hollywood. He was wandering around Paramount Studios, roaming on the Walk of Fame, and also appreciating the footprints and handprints of the Hollywood stars near the Grauman’s Chinese Theater. However, today, he was not here for fun, but to find the leading actor and actress for the movie “Paranormal Activity”.
The process of finding the actors didn’t happen on the street. A director wouldn’t wander around trying to observe the passersby. That was the job of the talent scouts. In fact, there was a completed system in Hollywood on how to cast the actors. Today, Wang Yang planned on going to SAG, the Screen Actors Guild.
SAG was founded in 1933 and it was the biggest guild in the United States, having over 120 thousand members registered to it. Another guild, which had 70 thousand members, was the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). These two guilds included all the actors all over America.
The purpose of the guilds was to help the actors protect their rights and interests—for instance, helping the actors to find the job opportunities, protecting their legal rights, and negotiating the actors’ contracts with the association of producers.
Several decades ago, Hollywood was still under the control of the studio system. During that time, all of the directors, actors, scriptwriters, and so on had to sign contracts with the studios when becoming their employees. Those big studios had all the power in their grip, so it became a breeding ground for evil and dark business.
However, with the establishment of various associations and a much more improved system, the market had become more mature. The directors and actors did not need to sign the employment contracts with the studios but, instead, the movie contracts. The relationship between them had become a kind of cooperation from the ownership. Under such a positive transition, people’s rights in the movie industry had been more comprehensively protected.
Take casting, for example. The process was under a system called “Checks & Balances”. None of the directors, producers, or the studio boss had absolute power. When you wanted to cast an actor, you could seek help from an agency, and the agency would contact SAG in order to find a suitable actor who met all of your requirements, and then you all could set up an audition. The audition panel would consist of the director, producer, and agent from SAG.
Only with the agreement of these three parties could they then assign the role to the actor. In fact, the agent was mainly in the role of supervision, but as long as the agent disagreed, the actor wasn’t able to obtain the role.
Therefore, even if the director and the actor made a deal under the table, they could hardly pull the trick off, because the director alone did not have the power to make the decision. Furthermore, as the professional reputation was the most valuable asset in the movie industry, as long as a producer or a director was busted by SAG, his or her reputation would be ruined. Therefore, in the industry, there wouldn’t be any chance for this person to get any job anymore.
The American market was a rather mature one. There were countless movies being produced every year. Also, there were countless employees in the movie industry. Within such a competitive market, the directors were all under the grave pressure of making a profit.
Just take a look at Hollywood movies. Tens of millions of dollars were invested in just one movie, and sometimes the number could be as high as several billion. The investment could come from dozens of companies. The requirement from those companies was simple—making a profit. The minimum requirement was to recover the cost and avoid money loss. In this case, if someone abused the power that led to the failure of the movie and loss of money, the investors wouldn’t let him or her pass too easily. The easy way out would be destroying his or her reputation. The worst-case scenario would be to take this person to court and put him or her in jail.
Besides, there were so many directors who hadn’t acquired a chance to shoot a movie in years. Therefore, if the opportunities knocked on their door, they wouldn’t allow themselves to fail. They wouldn’t be so stupid as to risk their future on a spur-of-the-moment affair. In fact, there were so many other ways to woo the girls, but a box-office fiasco would definitely put an end to their entire career.
The importance of achievements and reputation was unparalleled to directors and producers. If they were ever considered as box-office bombs or notorious people, no investors would ever put the money in their hands.
Because if the movie failed, the investor themselves wouldn’t be able to survive the loss. Let’s take a look at the movie “Windtalkers”, directed by John Woo and produced by MGM Studios. The investment of this movie was as high as 120 million, but the box office was only 77 million globally. The failure made MGM Studios fall into a severe financial deficit, and its stock dropped massively. In the end, the company had to reorganize the high-level executive team. John Woo had lost the trust of the investors for good and went back to China, directing “Red Cliff”.
Why did some of the movies fail in the box office? The reason was quite simple. Facing the choices of hundreds of movies per year, the aesthetic level of the American audiences had been improved largely. Among all those movies, which one was the best? As a result, before entering the movie theaters, they would usually skim the movie reviews. Therefore, bad movies would stay bad movies. No matter how much money they had spent on the promotion, or how gorgeous the leading actress was, the movie critics wouldn’t show any mercy, because the only way to keep their job was to write genuine and popular reviews.
There were also numerous women who were willing to reveal their bodies; just look at the models of Playboy magazine. But they still couldn’t be chosen as the leading actress in any movie—maybe not even a small role, because the criteria for choosing an actress was different.
Of course, many dark sides of the movie industry still existed, such as discrimination against homosexuality, against different skin colors, and against women.
Let’s take an example of the role difference between a 70-year-old actress and a 70-year-old actor. The old actress could only play the role of a grandmother. In contrast, the old actor could still date a 20-year-old girl in a romance movie.
“Welcome to SAG.” Upon Wang Yang’s arrival at SAG, the receptionist at the front desk greeted him passionately, said, “Would you like to enroll in SAG? It only costs 1,500 dollars per year to maintain membership. Then, we will purchase the insurance for you, provide you with job opportunities, and protect your rights.””No, thank you. I’ll probably join the Directors Guild of America in the future.” Wang Yang shook his head and smiled, and then he clarified his intention. “I’m preparing for an independent film shot by DV camcorder. So I need two actors—the leading actor and leading actress. Around 20 years old, not fat nor thin, medium build, and I don’t have any specific requirements on their appearances. Oh, by the way, it is a horror movie, which would last for about a week. The salary for both roles is $4,000.”
After listening to Wang Yang’s description, the receptionist frowned a little and then smiled. “Okay, 4,000 dollars isn’t too much, but I believe there will be many people who need it. Well, I have written it down, so let’s set up an audition time and location. We will inform all of the actors who fit the roles. But it is totally their choice to go or not. So, time and location?”
“As soon as possible. How about tomorrow? Is it okay to hold the audition in my apartment?” said Wang Yang. The scenes in the movie were actually in his apartment, therefore, it would be best to cast the actors within the scenes.
“I’m afraid not. You know, the location of the audition should be somewhere public.” The receptionist shrugged and then continued, “And I’m afraid the time is too soon. Some of the members might miss the notice. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss any suitable candidates.”
Wang Yang nodded. It was true that he needed to make every second count, but rushing into decisions would only make things worse. Thinking for a while, he said, “How about three days from now? And the location is the ‘Sweetheart Cafe’ on Sunset Boulevard.”
“Okay, may I have your name and phone number, please?”
After finishing all the procedures for the registration, Wang Yang paid 200 dollars. Everything had been done, and now he just needed to wait.
During the three days of waiting, Wang Yang stayed at home the whole time. He watched horror movies in his head, one-by-one, in order to collect more materials for his own movie. Naturally, he got the hell scared out of him. He even had a hard time falling asleep at night. Thanks to all those horror movies, he always heard some creepy noises during the night.
American horror movies were actually not that scary. Most of them were quite bloody, which would make their audiences feel disgusted and thrilled. However, “Paranormal Activity” was more like a psychological game due to its theme and production cost. Therefore, he put his emphasis on the horror movies produced by RB Studios, because RB horror movies were the most terrifying ones—the ones that could make the audiences feel suffocated during watching. No matter if it was “Ringu”, which had been published in February, or “Ju-on”, which was going to be published in 2003, every movie was so scary that they almost drove Wang Yang crazy.
Fortunately, he was able to talk to Jessica through the phone every day, listening to her sweet laughter. Otherwise, Wang Yong would have already lost his mind.
On the day of the audition, the script created in horror was finally finished. Wang Yang had applied plenty of terrible ideas from the future. It was undoubtedly a big melting pot of horror movies. Moreover, Wang Yang had adapted those ideas to an American style. If watching the future “Paranormal Activity” could make people pass out because of horror, then this adapted “Paranormal Activity” could certainly scare the audiences to death!
The scheduled audition time was 9 o’clock in the morning. Wang Yang, as usual, got up in the early morning, practiced the “Bajiquan”, and ate some breakfast. Then, he set out to the Sweetheart Cafe on Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood.
Wang Yang walked into the cafe and discovered that Jessica had arrived even earlier than him. She sat by the table, waving at him happily. Wang Yang walked toward her, murmuring in his head, “Joshua, what a poor boy. He has to go to class today, so he’ll have to miss the audition. Keep an eye on me? Haha, what a joke!”
“Hello, are you Yang?” It was almost 9 o’clock. The staff sent by SAG arrived at the cafe. He was a middle-aged white man wearing a pair of black glasses. He pulled out his ID, and the name on it was Mark Slate. He grinned at them and said, “I’ll be responsible for the audition today.”
“How are you, Mr. Slate?” Wang Yang and he lightly hugged each other, and he also greeted Jessica and shook her hand.
Upon laying his eyes on Jessica, Mark Slate said, “Wow”, seemingly having discovered a hidden gem. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “Beautiful lady, are you here for the audition?”
Jessica shook her head and said, “No, sir. I’m the producer of the movie.” She smiled, looking at Wang Yang, and she said, “I’m just kidding. I’m here for fun. Yang is the interviewer of today’s audition. He is in charge of it.” Wang Yang spread his hands and made a face.
“Oh, I see.” Mark Slate sat down, ordered a cup of coffee, and continued his observation of Jessica. He said, “Miss Alba, actually I am also an agent. You are very pretty and have a special charm. In my professional opinion from being in this industry for so many years, I bet you could be an actress.”
Wang Yang and Jessica both laughed. Jessica said, “As a matter of fact, I’m already an actress now. I’m also a member of SAG.”
Mark Slate immediately burst out laughing and said, “I knew it. I always trust my taste.” He looked at Wang Yang and then looked at Jessica, asking curiously, “That’s interesting, young director. Why don’t you just hire your girlfriend to be the leading actress in your movie?”
“Oh, oh! No, no…” When hearing that Mark Slate had mistaken their relationship as a couple, Jessica denied it immediately like some conditioned reflex. She said, “I’m not his girlfriend.” After the denial, she took a quick glimpse at Wang Yang, with her heart thumping. Why was she expecting something?
When Jessica denied Mark’s assumption so fast, Wang Yang was a little disappointed. He smiled and said, “We are just good friends”
“Uh-oh.” Mark Slate shrugged and said, “Even though she is not your girlfriend, she can still play the part.”
Jessica sipped her coffee in order to hide the stiff expression on her face. But, after all, she had learned how to act, so she quickly pulled herself together, explaining with a smile, “Yang said I am a little too young to play the leading role of this movie.”
“Exactly. I need an actress who looks like she is in her mid-twenties.” Wang Yang added. In fact, he had seriously considered the possibility of Jessica being the leading actress, but he still stuck to his original thought. He had watched several horror movies of Jessica taking the leading role in the future, but her performances were just ordinary. In other words, horror movies were not her type.
It looked like Mark Slate had already become Jessica’s fan, so he said discontentedly, “I think she is a good fit, though.” But, later, he curled his lip and said, “Well, of course, the young director has the final say.”
Apparently, Jessica was a little upset. Wang Yang couldn’t help blaming Mark Slate for it. Why did he keep giving him a hard time? He really wanted to explain the reason to Jessica, but he didn’t know where to start.
Luckily, at this moment, the first interviewee finally showed up and broke the strange silence over the coffee table. The first candidate was a white actress with long, blonde hair. She had an elegantly beautiful face with some freckles on it. She passed her resume to Wang Yang and started to introduce herself nervously. “Hi, guys. My name is Annie Dalen.”
Wang Yang went through her resume—born in 1978, 20 years old, had taken the performing class in high school, also had participated in the musicals of the local theater, came to Hollywood for more opportunities. But, during the two years, she had only played some walk-on roles, meaning roles that had no line in the movies.
He looked at Annie Dalen, sitting across from him, and asked, “Annie, if you came across a ghost in your home in the middle of the night, how would you react?”
Annie Dalen thought for a while, and then she frowned and answered cautiously, “Maybe I’d scream.”
Just scream? A big “no” emerged in Wang Yang’s head. But, Annie, coming to the cafe so early, must be taking this audition very seriously. So he continued without any change of his facial expression. “Let’s say it was late at night. You and your boyfriend were in bed, sleeping soundly. But suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway just outside of the bedroom, and then you were awakened.” He made a gesture of “Please” to her and said, “Please show us the expression you would make after waking up to this.”
“Okay, okay, let me think.” Annie Dalen kept blinking her eyes constantly and later took a deep breath and said, “I’ll begin my performance now.” Wang Yang nodded and watched the performance with Mark Slate and Jessica.
Annie closed her eyes and slowly opened them, then frowned. Her expression was very frightened. She looked to left and right, feeling completely helpless. After the performance, she took a long exhale of relief and then turned to Wang Yang nervously, but also expectantly. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
The feeling of acting was too obvious. Apparently, she was deeply influenced by the performance methods of the musicals and not suitable for the day-to-day role in a DV camcorder shot movie. The big “no” emerged in Wang Yang’s head again, and he shook his head and said, “I’m very sorry, Annie, but it seems that you are not quite suitable for this role…”
“Oh, my God!” Annie, under crushing disappointment, held her head immediately, and her voice became shaky. She almost burst into tears and said, “May I have another chance? Please, please? Let me do it again.” Even before Wang Yang gave her his answer, she instantly put on a terrified face and started her performance again.
“No, no. I’m really very sorry. I’m so sorry…” Wang Yang handed over her resume anyway. In his heart, he really felt sorry for this girl, but now it was the time for him to stick to his decision resolutely. So he said, “Annie, in my opinion, your performance was very much influenced by the musical performance style, but my movie is a DV movie. I need the actress to be more natural. Therefore, this is it. Your audition is over.”
Annie’s eyes turned red and her face was covered with dismay. She stood up and said, “I appreciate this opportunity very much.” After she finished her word, she left desolately.
Jessica developed a deep empathy for her and shook her head sadly. She frowned and said, “I know how hard this must be for her. Every time I got turned down in an audition, I would always get so frustrated. I always felt like I was useless and abandoned by God.”
“I’m sorry…” Wang Yang sighed sadly. It was never easy to be an actor. SAG alone had 120 thousand members in total, but how many of them could really make a name for themselves?
According to the statistics of SAG, among these 120 thousand members, only fewer than 5% of people could earn more than 100 thousand dollars per year. What was the actors’ ratio of the annual salary from 1 to 4,999 dollars? The number was 72.1%.
Wang Yang’s offer to the actors was 4,000 dollars. And the project would last one week. Therefore, the daily salary was 571. In Hollywood, however, a walk-on, without the guild membership, could make 80 dollars per hour. And a walk-on who had the membership could make 120 dollars per hour. In this case, Wang Yang’s offer wasn’t a big deal, but for a walk-on, the salary wasn’t bad at all. Not to mention, this role was the leading actress, which made it a rare opportunity. The director was Wang Yang? Who was he? The production cost was only 10 grand? Were you kidding me? But whatever, at least it was a leading role, plus four thousand dollars.
Therefore, plenty of people came to the audition. That morning, Wang Yang had already interviewed nearly two hundred people. But none of them were good enough. No one could meet all his requirements.
Now, facing a muscular, black man, who sat in front of him, Wang Yang asked, “If you were sleeping, and suddenly awakened by some weird noise, how would you react to it? Please start your performance.”
“I guess I would shout aloud, F*CK!” The muscle man cursed loudly and said aggressively, “Who the hell did that?! Why wake me up in the middle of the night?!”
Wang Yang couldn’t help with whining. If his actor performed like this in the movie, the horror movie would become a comedy! He shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, sir. You are not the actor I’m looking for…”
“What? I am not the one you are looking for? Man! Are you kidding me?!” The muscle man slapped the table and stared at Wang Yang. “My performance was impeccable! What do you mean by I’m not the one?! Hey, seriously, are you playing me now?! This is such a fraud!”
“Sir, could you please calm down?” said Wang Yang, distorting his eyebrows.
“Calm down? What calm down?” The muscle man kept yelling loudly, and, all of sudden, all the customers in the cafe looked at them. He pushed the table and stood up, leaning toward them and saying, “You son of a b*tch. You think your pathetic movie is really something? I’m not the one? F*CK!”
This man scared Jessica severely. Wang Yang tried his best to repress his rage. “Are you looking for trouble?” he asked.
At this point, Mark Slate said to the muscle man composedly, “Hey, buddy. I know your name, so if you keep doing this, I’ll have to inform the guild about this incident. “F*ck!” The muscle man cursed again but finally withdrew his momentum and prepared to leave the cafe. Before he left, he took a glance at Jessica. Almost every actor did it before they left the cafe. Of course, this muscle man was the most cheeky one of all. He mocked Wang Yang and said, “Pretty girl. If the Chinese toothpick cannot satisfy you, come to me! I’ll make you very happy!”
“Hey, man, you asked for it!” Wang Yang’s fury started to burn up, and he dashed to the muscle man in a blink of an eye.
“Yang! Yang!” Jessica swiftly reacted to this situation and tried to drag Wang Yang back. However, her strength was not enough. Dragging wouldn’t stop him. Under such an urgent circumstance, she wrapped her arms around Wang Yang’s waist trying so hard to hold him back. Her head was buried in Wang Yang’s back, and she shouted, “Don’t go! Don’t do it!”
“Jessica, let me go!” Wang Yang also tried his best to rush forward. His rage was at the peak. Not only did this muscle man insult Jessica, but he also reminded him of Terrance Ben—the same build and same disgusting expression!
The black muscle man, seeing Wang Wang rush at him so fiercely, didn’t dare to move forward. He sped up his leaving the of the cafe. Of course, he didn’t want to get in a real fight. If the situation deteriorated, the guild would investigate the whole incident. By then, he would for sure get kicked out.
Seeing this jerk run out of the cafe and then disappear, Wang Yang gradually loosened up. He sighed and turned to Jessica, bitterly saying, “Jessica, why are you always like this? You were like this before, and you haven’t changed a bit now. Why didn’t you just let me handle that jerk?”
“Yang, don’t do it…” Jessica still held Wang Yang tightly. At this moment, it seemed that she was thrown to a flashback of 9 years ago. Back then, Wang Yang was about to beat up Peter and his gang, but she held him back just like today. Suddenly, all of the emotions from nine years ago flashed back. All the plots were so similar to today. Her heart was filled with nervousness and happiness. This feeling was beyond words.
“Wow, what an epic movie shot right there!” Mark Slate, standing beside them, started to joke around. Then, Jessica finally woke up from the flashback and instantly let go of Wang Yang in a flurry. She gave Wang Yang a smile, both awkwardly and shyly. Wang Yang, in return, smiled at her, too. Mark Slate said, “Don’t worry, you guys. I’ll report that guy’s name to the guild. I’m pretty sure that he’ll get what he deserves.”
Then he knocked at his watch and said, “Young director, it’s already the noontime now. Shall we take a break?”
Wang Yang took a look at his watch. It was almost 12 o’clock. So he said, “Yeah, it’s lunchtime now.” He told one of the waitresses in the cafe, “If anyone shows up for the audition, please tell them we are out for lunch, and that the audition will be continued at 1 o’clock sharp.”
“Where shall we have our lunch?” asked Mark Slate.
During this special period, Wang Yang needed to make every dollar count, so he would certainly not squander his money on lunch. Then he shrugged and said, “I’ll go to the nearby diner and grab a burger.” Jessica said, “Yeah, me too.”
Mark Slate nodded indifferently and said, “Well then, let’s meet at the cafe at one o’clock. I’ll have my lunch at the street corner…” He looked at these two young people and said, “I’m gonna get out of your way.”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go!” Wang Yang said impatiently. Mark Slate teasingly said, “Okay, okay.” And then he left. After Mark Slate left for real, Wang Yang and Jessica started to feel a little awkward, so Wang Yang had to make a joke. “Why did you held me back in the cafe? You know, now is the best time for fighting, ’cause there won’t be any teacher to punish me anymore.”
Jessica rolled her eyes and said, “Oh? It is true that no teacher will stand in your way now. But, guess what? The police will find you.”
They chatted for a little while and asked for the coffee bill from the waitress, then walked out of the cafe, talking and laughing.
While they were walking out of the cafe, a very pretty girl with long, blonde hair rushed into the cafe. Wang Yang didn’t even see her clearly but felt she looked familiar to him. Was she here for a cup of coffee or participating in the audition?
With the question on their mind, Wang Yang and Jessica walked for fewer than ten steps and heard somebody shouting from a distance, “Wait up! Wait up, please!”
Wang Yang and Jessica stopped and turned around. Expectedly, it was the pretty girl just now catching up to them. She was about 165cm tall and wearing a pair of flats. When talking to Wang Yang, she needed to raise her eyes. Then, she said, “Hi, how are you? Are you Mr. Wang Yang?”
“Yes, I am he.” Wang Yang nodded.
The pretty girl smiled and said, “Actually, I’m here for the audition of your movie. May I take the audition now?”