The King of Directors 2000

Dots of sunlight slipped through the window glass into the conference hall.

Someone bent down and left quietly, going to the rest room to smoke. When he came back, he smelled of cigarette smoke.

Xu Haofeng was playing Haha, bored, listening to the leader's speech on the stage.

Today's meeting is organized by China Broadcasting Corporation and China Film and Television, and is attended by young directors in Beijing. It is the Lee Sheng Yew Film Seminar.

There were more than two hundred people at the scene.

Most of them are similar to Xu Haofeng, unknown filmmakers in the industry.

China Radio and Television and China Film and Television have special support projects for young directors. Although the money is not very high, it is still very attractive to this group of young directors.

Therefore, when there is a meeting between Radio and Television and China Film, everyone will try to save face.

This time Lee Sung-yew won Best Director at Cannes, setting a new record in the world of cinema.

Naturally, China Radio and Television and China Film expressed their opinions, so they organized this seminar.

I heard that students from major film and television schools in the Mainland still have the task of writing essays on Lee Sheng-yew's films.

Xu Haofeng entered the industry in 2010. He made the movie "Trace of the Japanese Pirates" and became famous.

He then worked as a screenwriter and action consultant for "The Grandmaster", which made him even more famous.

In addition, he writes novels almost every year, which has accumulated a lot of fame for him.

However, the entertainment industry is extremely realistic. If you can't make money, then you are nothing.

Xu Haofeng wanted to prepare his second movie. After searching for several months, no one was willing to invest.

He came here to participate in this seminar just to show off his face, hoping to get support funds for young directors from Radio and Television and China Film.

As a person born in the 1937s with special hobbies, Xu Haofeng naturally knew Lee Sheng-Yew. He didn't like to watch those idol dramas produced by Lee Sheng-Yew. He liked "" and "Parasite".

He didn't like "Three Billboards" very much in the past two years.

Probably because he admires the world in his heart, he likes movies with men as the core.

"Three Billboards" is a women's film.

He was still thinking about the script last night, so he went to bed late and was very sleepy now.

At this moment, someone was chatting in a low voice next to him.

"Lao Bi, master is really willing to invest in you?"

"willing."

"Then you are really lucky. That movie of yours is weird to me no matter how I watch it."

"My story is pretty good, and you don't understand. I want to make movies with a different style."

One of the speakers wore black-rimmed glasses and the other wore ordinary white-rimmed glasses.

The man with black-rimmed glasses has a round face and big eyes, looking naive.

The man with white-rimmed glasses has a big head and small eyes. He looks quite honest, but his eyes are a bit cunning.

Next to these two people, there was a young man wearing glasses who looked quite honest.

Xu Haofeng felt that these three people looked familiar. He thought about it carefully and finally remembered that he had seen it when watching the news. These three people seemed to be Li Shengyao's apprentices, and their names were Dapeng, Bi Gan, and Wen Muye.

There was a voice over there again.

"You're still talking about my script, your Pancake Man, isn't it even more ridiculous? It's just a collection of sketches."

"The master said the same thing and advised me to think of another one, but I can't think of one."

"So don't blame me. Your script is even more unreliable. Lao Wen's script is better. The master said that Lao Wen's script can be a big hit. If you want to invest more money, we can follow suit. Lao Wen, have you invested? ?”

The man who had been silent nodded, "I mortgaged my hometown house and invested one million."

When Xu Haofeng heard this, he thought of Li Shengyao's business vision, which has long been known in the industry.

There is no loss in money for any movie that Lee Sheng-yew likes.

He couldn't help but envy these three people. They were protected by a big shot in the industry. Aren't the funds and publicity just trivial?

He then thought about the new movie he was preparing, "Can Fenghua invest in my movie?"

"Trace of the Japanese Pirates" only had a box office of RMB 320,000, and the investors who lost money scolded him for three months.

Now no one wants to invest in his new movie.

"Maybe I should try it."

Xu Haofeng then took the initiative to talk to Dapeng and others, added his contact number, and chatted about Li Shengyao.

Only then did we know that Bi Gan was going to make a literary film next, but Lee Sheng Yew still invested in it.

Hearing this, Xu Haofeng felt more expectations in his heart.

Not everyone is the King of Sunglasses or Chief Jia, and literary and artistic films can make money.

Even Lee Sheng Yew can invest in Bi Gan's literary films, and maybe he is willing to invest in his action movies.

After the seminar, Xu Haofeng took the script and the plan for the new movie to the headquarters of Fenghua Film and Television Company and found the film investment department.

However, he was very disappointed. He didn't read the script at all. He flipped through the planning book and asked about Xu Haofeng's past experience before rejecting him.

"Mr. Xu, after careful evaluation, we feel that your project does not meet our cooperation requirements for the time being. Thank you for coming. We hope to have the opportunity to cooperate again in the future."

A very official rejection.

Xu Haofeng knew that although Fenghua had only been around for about ten years, it had already contracted the problems of large groups. They had their own way of looking at people and doing things. Without a stepping stone, they would not be able to attract their attention at all.

He nodded in disappointment, packed his things, and then strode out. Just as he stepped out of the door of Fenghua Headquarters with his right foot, there was a rush of footsteps behind him.

"Mr. Xu, our boss wants to see you."

Li Shengyao wanted to see him.

Xu Haofeng didn't expect that Li Shengyao would know about him. He guessed that it was Dapeng and others who talked to Li Shengyao about him.

Secretly glad for his decision in the morning, he followed the others and re-entered Fenghua Film and Television Company, and then met Li Shengyao in the conference room.

I saw that Li Shengyao was tall and straight. When he walked, his steps were steady and powerful, and he had a special sense of rhythm.

This is a feeling experienced by people who exercise all year round, especially those who practice martial arts regularly.

I have long heard that Li Shengyao was a martial artist when he first entered the industry and had a lot of kung fu. Now it seems to be true.

Xu Haofeng couldn't help but have more expectations. His new movie tells the story of the Jianghu of Ming Dynasty. Maybe Li Shengyao would be interested in it.

After the two sat down and exchanged a few pleasantries, Xu Haofeng then stated his purpose, and then handed the script and planning book to Li Shengyao to read.

Li Shengyao took the plan and script and read them carefully.

Xu Haofeng's story tells the story of the martial arts battles in Tianjin during the Ming Dynasty. It is no different from the "Master" in his memory.

Li Shengyao quite likes Xu Haofeng's movies. Although his movies are not profitable, he feels that the Chinese film market needs action movies produced by Xu Haofeng.

Moreover, Xu Haofeng's film investment is not large, so even if he loses money, he won't lose too much.

Just like Bi Gan wanted to make a literary film, he invested money in it.

There are some movies that should be supported even though they know they will lose money.

Xu Haofeng had been waiting for Li Shengyao, and when he saw that he had finally finished reading the script, he carefully asked: "Director Li, what do you think of this story?"

"Very good, very interesting."

Li Shengyao said directly: "Fenghua can invest, but the copyright must belong to Fenghua 100%."

During this time after he returned to China, he was very busy, in addition to various interviews and official activities.

There are many people who want to cooperate with him.

He has participated in many movies, such as Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior", Wen Muye's "I'm Not the God of Medicine", Dapeng's "Pancake Man", and Bi Gan's "Roadside Picnic".

Some movies make money and some don't. As always, Fenghua wants full copyright.

When Xu Haofeng heard this, he was already prepared and said without any hesitation, "Of course, Director Li, you have the full copyright."

He then turned his head slightly, as if listening, and planned to change whatever the donor said.

If it were an ordinary donor, he would not be happy.

However, Li Shengyao's ability to tell stories was there, and he felt there was no need to doubt it.

Li Shengyao smiled and said: "Okay, that's it. I'll let the people in the film department contact you. Just tell them how much it will cost."

No need to revise, Lee Sheng Yew is very satisfied with his story?

Xu Haofeng was a little dazed. After a few seconds, he noticed Li Shengyao's smiling eyes and came to his senses. He quickly stood up and said gratefully: "Director Li, thank you for your support."

"It's okay, I like your style very much, keep working hard."

Xu Haofeng didn't expect that Li Shengyao had watched "Trail of the Japanese Pirates". Thinking that Li Shengyao had never lost money in the movies he invested in in the past, he couldn't help but look forward to it. "Director Li, do you think "The Master" can be a big hit?"

"It can't be a big hit, but your movie type is very important and enriches Chinese action movies. I think you should support it."

It turned out to be because of this reason.

This pattern is amazing.

……

Li Shengyao has been really busy recently.

It will be June soon, the Shanghai Film Festival is about to start, and he will go to Shanghai by then.

And "La La Land" will be released in the middle of next month, and there will be some publicity then.

The box office of "Dalian by the Sea" has gradually declined recently, and the total box office is expected to be around 260 million.

He hopes that "La La Land" will have a box office of 300 to 400 million yuan.

In his previous life, when "La La Land" was released in the mainland in 2017, the box office was only over 2023 million. However, when it was re-released in , it took in another million.

He feels that if the publicity is in place, "La La Land" will have no problem reaching 300 to 400 million yuan, and it will at least set a record for domestic musicals.

In addition, this movie had a global box office of US$440 million back then. Naturally, the Chinese version of "La La Land" cannot have that much now, but it may have an overseas box office of tens of millions of US dollars.

After a while, he will take Li Lianhua and Yue Ming to Europe, the United States, Hong Kong Island, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to promote.

This morning, Li Shengyao met Han Sanping and Yu Dong in the company conference room.

Han Sanping looks much older than before. At first glance, his hair is still black, but if you look closely, you will find that it is black and white, with white hair accounting for a large area.

There is still a smile on his face, but he is much stiffer and not as cheerful as before.

He retired in March this year.

Yu Dong is very high-spirited. Although Bona's stock market in the beautiful country has never been successful, he has received a lot of resources in the past two years, made several positive blockbusters, and received recognition from above.

"Director Li, we have a big project here and we would like to invite you to direct it."

Yu Dong then handed a planning book to Li Shengyao.

This planning book is very thick and looks very weighty.

"China Film and we, Bona, will invest. If you come to direct, Fenghua can also invest."

Li Shengyao nodded, started to look at it, and found that it was the planning document for "The Great Cause of Army Building".

After the success of "The Founding of the People's Republic of China" and "The Founding of the Party" in the past few years, due to the decline in box office and reputation, China Film Press pressed the pause button and planned to film again after a few years.

At that time, Han Sanping approached Li Shengyao and asked him to film "The Founding of an Army".

But Li Shengyao refused.

I didn’t expect to get it again now.

He already has ideas about the next movie, so he will naturally not consider "The Founding of the Army". The director of such a movie has too many restrictions, which is not the working environment that Lee Sheng-yew wants.

"Director Han, Mr. Yu, I already have a new movie plan. I don't have time to shoot "The Founding of the Army"."

When Lee Sheng-yew was walking in Paris that day, he thought of two movies and a TV series.

These two movies are the famous "Joker" and "Barbie".

The TV series is "Squid Game".

"Squid Game" is a patchwork TV series that copies plots from several TV series, so there is no need to worry about the copyright issues of the original work.

The reason why this TV series became a big hit and helped Netflix earn more than 5 billion is because of the huge influence of Korean dramas and the promotion of Douyin.

"Squidward Game" is the first TV series to become a hit on TikTok, surpassing "Game of Thrones" in various statistics.

Li Shengyao plans to find someone to start building a short video website starting this summer. He wants to build his own Douyin.

He doesn’t even plan to change his name. The mainland version will be called Douyin, and the overseas version will be called TikTok.

By then, all Chinese TV dramas will be bombarded on Douyin, and he will make Fenghua Online the dominant player in Southeast Asia, surpassing Netflix.

We must maintain cultural influence in China’s back garden.

As for the filming of "Joker" and "Barbie", it was totally Lee Sheng-yew's bad taste.

Now he wants money, fame, and awards.

He no longer has much pursuit of film honors. In fact, now that he has retired, he is the most successful film director after the millennium.

In this case, he plans to make two more interesting movies, one to make money, and the other to make the country disgusting and beautiful.

"Joker" profoundly depicts the corruption and unbearability of capitalism.

Moreover, this movie resonated deeply with the people of the beautiful country. That year, the Oscar awards had not yet been announced, and the vast majority of people believed that the best movie was "Joker".

As a result, the awards revealed that the Oscar for Best Picture was not awarded to "Joker".

At that time, many viewers were very disappointed and thought the Oscars were unfair.

Now he comes to film, and the Oscars don't award the best film, so he publicizes it, saying that the Oscars suppress mainland directors, which is obviously jealous of his talent.

Furthermore, he has a special status, and it is even more topical for him to take pictures of the terrible social phenomena in the beautiful country.

As for "Barbie," this female boxing movie is entirely designed to intensify conflicts.

In Lee Sheng-yew's previous life, "Barbie" was not released until 2023. At this time, due to the major battles, the female boxing scene around the world was actually slightly weakened.

If it had been released before the big battle, this movie would have sparked greater discussion.

Lee Sing-yew is about to film in a beautiful country, which is disgusting for the old beauty.

Of course, both "Joker" and "Barbie" have character copyrights, and he needs to go to the beautiful country to fight for them first.

After he finishes this period of work, he will fly to the United States to fight for the filming rights of these two movies.

At that time, even if you make less money, it will be fine if you don’t have copyright.

Anyway, he went to make movies with the intention of causing destruction.

Time was limited, so he naturally didn't have time to film "The Founding of an Army".

Han Sanping and Yu Dong heard Li Shengyao's words at this time and immediately said several points, all of which were the benefits of filming "The Founding of the Army".

However, once Lee Sheng Yew has made a decision, he will not change it easily.

In the end, Han Sanping and Yu Dong had no choice but to leave.

Han Sanping couldn't help but ask: "Director Li, what movie are you planning to make next?"

"Go to a beautiful country and shoot a Hollywood blockbuster."

(End of this chapter)