Chapter 11： madness survives

"Good morning, Heath Ledger, it's so early today again!" The middle-aged woman sitting at the front desk showed a big smile, with a hint of flattery on her slightly chubby cheeks, "You It is better to find an exclusive agent than to always look for opportunities in the union."

After speaking, she persuaded: "I have the phone numbers of several agents here, do you need to contact me?"

Heath-Ledger shook his head and said politely, "No, I haven't thought about this, so I won't be busy for the time being." Then he smiled and asked, "So, this week there are Any news updates?"

This is just a small liaison office of the New York Department of the Screen Actors Guild, but life is still being staged.

I think when he first came 3 years ago, no one would care so much, but the release of "Holy War Knight" in March this year has achieved good box office results, and even the status of his male supporting role has risen a lot, and suddenly A lot of people interacted with him.

Heath Ledger knew the intentions of those people, but he valued the market value brought by him in a successful movie. Like him, although he is still not well-known, at least he has made a breakthrough in the film circle. The limelight also has the potential to make friends.

"Look at it for yourself, the announcement is only updated, and there are not many suitable movies that need to recruit actors." The middle-aged woman sighed, "You still suffer from the loss of not having an agent, a movie project like this, good The roles are basically divided up, and there are not many choices that flow into the Actors Guild to release information, but..." The tone of embarrassment couldn't be more obvious, the middle-aged woman still wanted Heath Ledger, a newcomer. Signed an agent through her channel so that she could get a commission.

Heath Ledger didn't respond, as if he didn't understand the meaning of this sentence, he just nodded and smiled, "Thank you." He greeted politely, and walked quickly towards the bulletin board.

Liv Melisse leaned out slightly, looked at Heath Ledger's back, and let out a light breath. Is this person pretending not to understand, or really doesn't understand?

In the past, although everyone always met each other, she didn't have a very good face towards Heath Ledger. Every day, the union received hundreds of unknown actors, who would pay special attention to one person. But now it's different. Heath Ledger has acted in a movie and it's a success, and he doesn't have an agent yet, so the attitude towards him is naturally different. Hollywood is always willing to chase winners, even if it is the success of a small actor, then he stands out from the crowd.

"It's a pity." Liv curled her lips and did not hide her disappointment. He didn't buy this actor.

Heath Ledger naturally didn't know what Liv thought of him, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

Now he is looking at the bulletin board and thinking about it?

The film and television industry in the United States is a huge operating machine. At least thousands of projects are established every year, of which about 500 or 600 projects will be directly put into filming, which also means a lot of performance opportunities. Therefore, in the absence of an agent, the union is the best platform for these little actors to find work.

After the release of "Knight of the Holy War", he has not received a suitable role for several months, and now he finds a free time every week to work around the union in order to catch a good film production.

In 2001, the actor announcement carrier was still an old-fashioned blackboard, on which the latest information of each project was written with colorful chalk. For example, yellow is the focus of film and television production, and the basic investment is above medium. For example, green is just updated. Items, and so on, are obvious at a glance.

Standing in front of the bulletin board, Heath Ledger skillfully found the information he needed on the colorful blackboard. For the past three years, he has been here:

"The Lord of the Rings" directed by Peter Jackson is calling for male actors over 25 years old, all of them are tricks. After a glance, he lost interest. He had already played a significant role, so he didn't want to play tricks. Then he saw that the "Princess Diaries" produced by Warner wanted to recruit two supporting roles, and there were not many roles, but He still wrote down the location of the audition. This is more than a little bit stronger than the dragon trick just now, and it is still worth paying attention to...

Each of the above projects seems to have a good allure, open to actors from all over the United States to participate in the competition.

This is one of the most distinctive features of Hollywood. Different from the conservative and narrow-mindedness of other regions, in the United States, although most of the good resources are still in the hands of those in the high-level circles, there are still many rare opportunities in front of everyone. Heath-Ledger came here to seek development from his native Australia, and it was precisely because he valued the opportunities here.

Even the grass roots that have nothing, there is the possibility of flying to the branches. Although after so many years, Heath Ledger has never been in the limelight, but he has heard of such people or things many times, and it is also the source of motivation for him to persist for a long time.

After carefully scanning the bulletin board, Heath Ledger found another movie project that interested him.

On the huge bulletin board, there is a message marked with white chalk in the lower right corner. The movie "Buried Alive" is recruiting a male lead, and those who are interested will be interviewed.

The so-called white chalk characters are only painted in this color by the Actors Guild for those who are uncertain about investment costs, uncertain investment companies, and uncertain distribution companies. Generally speaking, it is likely to be the kind of independent film with a small investment cost.

After all, if you want to publish recruitment information in the Actors Guild, you only need to go through official channels and pay a sum of money to advertise.

In this way, it is possible to encounter any kind of situation in the Actors Guild.

Such marked works are also notoriously unreliable. After filming, they cannot be released. During the filming process, the crew closed down, and the pre-filming projects were cut off...

In short, this is also an out-of-the-box gamble for the chosen actors, and there is absolutely no guarantee what the outcome will be.

But Heath Ledger was moved. After all, this is also the hero of a movie. As an actor, who doesn't want to play the most important and prominent one.

This kind of opportunity doesn't come across a few times a year. Whether it can be done or not is another matter, but if he doesn't try it, he always feels unwilling.

Returning to the front desk, he asked Liv, "Is there any more detailed information about the movie called "Buried Alive" on the bulletin board? I want to know."

"Written in white chalk?" Liv was a little puzzled, but still had a slight impression of the name.

"Yes, it's that one."

"I'll look for it." Saying that, Liv bent down and took out a large report from the drawer, which was the original copy of the information she would mark on the bulletin board every day, "I found it, it said it was a report. For the film called Mann Studio, the investment budget and production cycle were not written, but the director was written, where the interview was, and nothing else.”

Hearing this, Heath Ledger was a little disappointed. He was planning to get more useful information from Liv, but the result was not at all different from the small amount of information marked on the bulletin board.

"You don't want to take this movie, right?" Seeing Heath Ledger's expression, Liv kindly advised: "Most of this kind of movies are those rookie directors who are dreaming of movies, just do something. Funds are vainly trying to rely on talented and famous fools, and even the chance of release is slim, you better not waste time in the past."

"I still want to try." Heath Ledger responded.

"This is going to Cannes, France for a trial employment. The to and fro travel expenses are not marked to be reimbursed. At first glance, it is a pit. You must not spend money without getting any benefits." Liv is still more concerned about him, after all It was from her subordinates that she started to have a little potential, so she continued to persuade.

"Thank you for your concern, but I still want to give it a try." Heath Ledger smiled politely, bowed his head, and walked out the gate of the New York branch of the Screen Actors Guild.

"Still a fool, no wonder he doesn't understand the hints." Liv muttered in her heart.

Choosing "Buried Alive" is undoubtedly a very risky act. Even Liv, who has been publishing project information all year round, said this, which is enough to see how despised it is without a production background, but Heath Ledger still wants to bet A bet.

Ever since he started his career as an actor, he has always dreamed of playing the leading role, and now the opportunity has come, even if the road ahead is unknown, he still has to try.

It doesn't matter if there is no script, it doesn't matter if you don't even know the basic shooting conditions, it doesn't matter if you can't judge the quality of the work, he just wants to play the leading role.

Even if the salary is low or not, even if the movie is difficult to release, Heath Ledger has certain preparations in his heart.

He is already 22 years old, and after three years of running, he was replaced by a male supporting role. I don't know how long it will take to play an important role in a reliable project.

He had had enough of those days of waiting and having no chance.

He didn't understand Liv's intention to introduce him to an agent, but he still chose to pretend to be confused.

Doesn't he know the benefits of having a broker? No, he knows, that's why Heath Ledger wanted to sign a contract with a very powerful brokerage company, not those with a little bit of connections. After signing him, apart from an extra expense, what else could he give him? What about the future? What choice will be given to him?

He is not an ignorant rookie, he knows the cruelty of the circle, so he needs a strong back, not an agent like a single runner who is almost as poor as him.

If you want to change, you must prove yourself. Since the success of the supporting roles can't impress those big shots, try the protagonist. This is Heath Ledger's consideration.

For my dream of being an actor...