China Entertainment 2004

Chapter 26

late at night.

Ning Hao huddled in the room without turning on the light, smoking one cigarette after another.

The mottled neon light came in through the window and fell on Ning Hao's sculptural figure, the flame of the cigarette butt was flickering.

This is his third time as a director, but this is his first time directing a commercial film.

Some people say that a director needs at least three films to pass the novice period. In other words, if he has made three films and still doesn't make a name for himself, then his life is basically useless.

Ning Hao thinks he can do it by himself.

The biggest problem is lack of money.

He wrote the script of "Crazy Stone" five years ago, but he had no money to shoot. Later, he got the support of Liu Tianwang. He originally wanted 600 million, but Liu Tianwang was not rich, so he only invested 300 million.

Later, I heard that Jiang Yu made a lot of money by writing songs, so I put my idea on Jiang Yu, saying that he was sorry for others.

What if you lose?
Dare to let others invest.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yu actually agreed, and did not interfere with the creation.

This made Ning Hao very grateful.

It has been filming for almost a month now, and more than half of the 350 million yuan has been burned, and every penny has to be saved.

No matter what, you must not lose money.

You can't be sorry to investors, let alone your brothers who believe in you.

Ning Hao secretly made up his mind.

"Clap clap clap!"

There was a knock on the door.

"I'm coming in," Jiang Yu pushed the door open and turned on the light, "What do you want from me?"

Ning Hao said: "Xu Zheng will come over tomorrow, you can go pick him up and drive that BMW there, it seems that our crew is more respectful."

Jiang Yu immediately agreed: "Okay, give me your driver's license."

"Why do you want my driver's license? Don't you know how to drive?"

"I can drive, but I didn't get a driver's license." Jiang Yu took it for granted.

"Fuck, get out!"

Co-authoring for so many days, this kid is driving without a license in the crew.

"Negative energy value from Ning Hao, +55!"

Ning Hao was so angry that he drove him away.

This kid doesn't know if it's real or fake.

Every time you feel touched by him, he will choke you abruptly, which makes your emotions incoherent.

……

In Jiang Yu's previous life, due to the serious shortage of funds for "Crazy Stone", the crew stopped working for a while. Ning Hao not only included his director's salary of 10,000+, but also went to Yanjing to shoot more than a dozen commercials before saving enough Money, successfully finished the film.

With Jiang Yu as a bogus rich man in this life, the funds are barely enough, but the remuneration that can be distributed to the actors is also terribly low.

The biggest stars are Sun Honglei and Guo Tao, who each received [-] yuan in salary.

Huang Bai only had [-] yuan, but Wang Xun was even more popular than him. He took [-] yuan, and when he came to Jiang Yu and Xu Zheng, he simply starred with zero pay.

Originally, Ning Hao had his eyes on the big star Tao Hong, and sent someone an email, wanting to invite him to come and play a guest role, and specially attached the script, so he pointed out that the script was empty-handed.

As a result, Tao Hong didn't get involved, but instead got Xu Zheng involved.

At this time, Xu Zheng became popular with "Li Wei as an Official" and "Brilliant Spring Pig Bajie", but he was not satisfied, and he wanted to enter the film industry.

After reading the script, he was immediately moved, so he brought his own dry food to the crew and acted with zero pay.

The next day, Jiang Yu picked him up again, but took a taxi.

When we arrived at the hotel, there were no more vacant rooms, so Jiang Yu arranged a three-person room, and the other two roommates were Guo Tao and Sun Honglei.

"Mr. Xu, don't mind, I really have no money," Jiang Yu explained: "Yesterday our director just crashed into a BMW and lost more than 1 yuan, so we can only save money."

"Understood." Xu Zheng looked at the dilapidated hotel, but he didn't dislike it.

It's a low-budget movie, so it's naturally short of money.

Anyway, he came here for the script, so he didn't need to care too much about the accommodation.

After putting down the luggage, he simply packed up and followed Jiang Yu to the scene without saying a word.

Huang Bo was wearing tights, flopping on the ground like a gecko.

Seeing Xu Zheng approaching, the first thing he said was, "Hey, Zhu Bajie is here."

Jiang Yu hurriedly stopped him, "Don't worry about him, he is from the countryside and has no education."

"It's okay," Xu Zheng smiled politely.

At this time, Xu Zheng was not the old driver later, and he was not that fat. He looked quite shy, and he was a small boy.

"Come on, I'll take you to meet the director," Jiang Yu led him to Ning Hao.

Ning Hao was very enthusiastic. He took his hand and said, "Mr. Xu, it's great that you can come there. I'm your fan. I really like you playing that Zhu Bajie."

Xu Zheng: ...

Can we not mention Zhu Bajie?
Jiang Yu drove Ning Hao away with a wave, and said, "These people are all uneducated, and they only know Zhu Bajie. As for us, we are educated people with different levels. We have to talk about something elegant. I'll make a debut for you." How about a math problem?"

"What math problem?" Xu Zheng asked.

"In the whole world, what is the number of hairs of all men multiplied together?"

Xu Zheng really thought about it, the hair of all men in the world... how can this be calculated.

"It's equal to zero," Jiang Yu revealed the answer, "because someone is bald."

Xu Zheng: ...

This culture is really different.

Instead of talking about Zhu Bajie, talk about hair with labor and management.

What kind of broken crew is this, is there still time to run away?
"Negative energy value from Xu Zheng, +99!"

After making a few small jokes, Jiang Yu led Xu Zheng around the crew.

When Ning Hao first came to Yuzhou to scout, he fell in love with this fragrant hall. The hotel is next to it. Although the scene is simple, it is convenient to shoot and the rent is cheap.

What surprised Xu Zheng was that this small and poor crew took things very seriously.

The entire crew, whether it is actors or other staff members, is running at high speed.

Especially that black skin, who looked ugly, crawled out from under the sewer, like a monkey, but his acting skills were really good, and all his roles were basically one-off.

This made Xu Zheng look at him with admiration.

Soon, it was Xu Zheng's turn.

Naturally, the poor crew couldn't afford costumes. Xu Zheng still appeared on camera in his own suit, looking like a dog in front of the camera.

It is said that Boss Feng fell in love with the land of the craft factory and wanted to buy it to develop real estate, but the craft factory dug up a piece of jade, which was priceless, so the boss of the craft factory was unwilling to sell the land.

In order to get this piece of land, Boss Feng spent 200 million to hire an international thief Mike to steal this piece of jade.

But I never expected that the Celestial Dynasty has its own national conditions. After the international thieves came, they were tricked to death by profiteers and hooligans.

There was no other way, Boss Feng had no choice but to pay for the piece of jade, and thus successfully won the land of the craft factory.

"I knew it. That old man will give in sooner or later. He can't escape from our clutches." The secretary Wang Xun had a look on his face, bragging to Xu Zheng.

Xu Zheng's demeanor changed immediately, and he just started with a few big ears, "The business of 200 million yuan has become 1000 million yuan, you still have the face to mess with me, get out!"

That arrogant and domineering energy is completely different from usual.

"I really can't tell, this Zhu Bajie's acting skills are not bad, not worse than yours," Huang Bai stood on the sidelines watching, quite surprised.

He originally looked down on this kind of creamy niche, thinking that they just rely on their looks to be handsome, but he didn't expect that Zhu Bajie really has two brushes.

Jiang Yu thought to himself, you are now called Zhu Bajie, and in the future you will also play Monkey King, which just happened to be a Journey to the West.

……

It's hard to imagine that a movie like "Crazy Stone" was shot in a total of 44 days.

By mid-August, it was announced that it was done.

Ning Hao was in a hurry, and finally finished filming the script before the funds ran out.

Huang Bai had a great time acting and found it very enjoyable. For Jiang Yu, it was like scratching the surface of the ear, and there was not much room for him to play.

Xu Zheng also felt the same way. He came to Yuzhou for a trip, and it was over after only a few performances. It was a lonely performance.

But the finale banquet still needs to be prepared.

"How much money is left?"

In the room, Jiang Yu, Ning Hao, and Yu Weiguo, the producer sent by Xiangjiang, made accounts together.

Yu Weiguo held the account book: "The total remuneration is more than 40 yuan, equipment rental, staff salaries, venue fees, and car repair fees. Add up the total cost of more than 280 million yuan."

Ning Hao said: "In other words, there are more than 20 left, which is okay."

He is quite pleased with himself.

Jiang Yu reminded: "You have to deduct your director's fee."

Before the filming, it had been agreed that Ning Hao's director's fee was 10,000 yuan, so with this deduction, only [-]+ would be left.

You know, the post-production of movies also burns money.

Ning Hao pondered for a while, and was a little worried, "That's enough, I don't need the director's fee, and it will be converted into the investment, so it will be more than 20. You can cut a sample first, and then find investors after you have the sample."

Jiang Yu naturally had no objection.

He knew that the movie had grossed more than 2000 million at the box office, and the film studio could recover more than 600 million.

A 50% rate of return is not low.

Yu Weiguo said with a sigh of relief: "Of course we hope that it will be screened, and it would be best to find new investors."

He is a member of Liu Tianwang, who came to supervise on behalf of the management.

Liu Tianwang has lost a lot of money in order to invest in movies over the years. This time, he took 300 million to support new directors. Naturally, it is not for charity.

And Ning Hao is the only mainland director supported, so he can't let him lose money.

So Yu Weiguo was very happy that Ning Hao voluntarily gave up the director's fee and tried his best to ensure the post-production.

"What about the finale banquet? There is no money here." Jiang Yu said in her heart, you can't let labor and management pay for it.

"I'll pay for it myself. Brothers have worked so hard for so many days, so you should have a good meal and celebrate."

Ning Hao, as the boss of the crew, naturally has to have the air of a boss, he can only slap his swollen face to pretend to be fat, and he can't lose face.

The three of them were discussing when they heard someone knock on the door. Jiang Yu went to open the door and saw that it was Sun Honglei.

"At the Jianguo Hotel tonight, I have invited you all to the final banquet. Everyone, please come."

A big man's style.

Jiang Yu turned around and looked at Ning Hao, this guy can get along!
(End of this chapter)