China Entertainment's whatever you want

Chapter 761 New Movie

Just as Zhao Liying said, Hengdian Film and Television City, which was closed down at the end of January, reopened half a month later, and more than a dozen film and television dramas such as "A Flowing River 1", "Legend of Fei", "Thank You Doctor", and "Growing Up with the Sun" have resumed work one after another.

However, some dramas were completely stopped due to lack of follow-up funds.

Many TV dramas and movies that were started in preparation last year have been delayed in getting off the ground due to lack of funds due to the overall environment.

At this time, all practitioners in the domestic film and television industry have truly experienced what it means when winter comes.

The Chinese film and television industry began to enter a golden age of rapid development around 2011, which happened to be Gu Wei’s first year at the Beijing Film Academy.

At that time, domestic cinema construction was gradually completed, and the Chinese film industry ushered in an unprecedented period of rapid growth, repeatedly setting box office revenue records.

Since 2011, the growth rate of the film and television industry has been more than double the average growth rate of all A-share companies.

At that time, traditional industries such as steel, chemicals, and textiles were all on the decline, profits were gradually falling, and stocks were sluggish.

As a result, some listed companies began to focus on the film and television industry, looking for investment opportunities.

Film and television is actually a small industry, but when the profits of this small industry are much higher than those of other industries, capital will flow in. This is determined by the profit-seeking nature of capital.

Data shows that there were 2013 mergers and acquisitions in the cultural industry in 96, which increased to 2014 in 159 and 2015 in 196, an average of one merger and acquisition every two days.

So much so that a joke was circulating in the industry at the time: "What do enterprises in different industries such as catering, animal husbandry, dairy products, machinery manufacturing, and fireworks have in common?

The answer is that they have all become film and television companies.

Alibaba's acquisition of Youku for US$45 billion and Wanda's acquisition of Legendary Pictures for US$35 billion both took place during this period.

It was also from this stage that domestic entertainment entered a golden age of prosperity.

Various film and television dramas have been launched and filming has begun, and the pay of celebrity artists has skyrocketed.

The so-called traffic era also began during this period.

But no one can be good forever, and no flower can be red forever.

Since 2016, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has issued relevant documents on many occasions to regulate the fields of film and television, games, Internet finance, etc. that were popular in the capital market at that time.

In October 2018, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a document to refine the refinancing review and once again proposed the review requirement that listed companies’ raised funds should not be used for cross-border investment in film, television or games.

The various measures taken by the CSRC are seen by the industry as an effort to cool down the capital boom, allow capital to "shift from virtual to real" and flow back to the real economy.

Since then, capital has retreated on a large scale and the film and television industry has slowly entered a cold winter period.

Now that the epidemic has hit, the film and television industry has been hit again.

Countless small companies have had to close down due to financial problems. Most grassroots actors and practitioners have difficulty finding job opportunities and can only live on their savings.

However, when the tide goes out, you will find out who is swimming naked.

As long as the film and television industry exists, truly high-quality projects will never lack money, and top celebrities will never lack roles to play.

In 2019, the tribute film "My Motherland and I" was a huge success, with a total box office of 31 billion yuan, and it achieved both box office success and good reputation, making a lot of money.

At that time, there were voices within China Film Group Corporation that wanted to refer to the "Founding of a Nation Trilogy" and shoot two similar tribute films in the same format.

Now, several months have passed, and China Film Group has invited Ning Hao as the chief director, Zhang Yibai as the chief planner, and Zhang Yimou as the chief producer.

At the same time, the theme of the new film was determined - by telling hometown stories that took place in China's five major regions of east, west, south, north and center, it will show the country's recent achievements in poverty alleviation and present the hilarious stories and deep emotions between the Chinese people and their homeland.

The large conference room of China Film Academy.

The China Film Group, led by producer Xu Jianhai, discussed the preparations for the film with Ning Hao, Zhang Yibai and others.

“.Now that we have a theme, the most important thing now is to choose the director.

Then you can write the script, select actors and start filming as quickly as possible.

Although the overall environment is not very good now, as a tribute film, "My Hometown and Me" has been scheduled to be released on this year's National Day.

We are running out of time."

“There are five stories in total, I will shoot one, and now we are still short of four directors.

I think Xu Zheng is good. He did a good job in the film "Winning" in "My People, My Country".

And I know he has time recently, so it shouldn’t be a problem for him to finish a unit.”

Ning Hao recommended his best friend Xu Zheng right away. The two of them became good friends after they met on "Crazy Stone". Over the years, in addition to their feelings, they have formed a community of interests.

[My Country, My Parents] has laid a good foundation, and [My Hometown and I] will surely be a hit. Recently, Xu Zheng has been caught in a whirlpool of public opinion and has been attacked by many people in the industry. He wants to help his good brother.

Xu Jianhai was a little hesitant.

Logically speaking, with Xu Zheng's qualifications and talents, there should be no problem for him to be a unit director.

However, his outrageous behavior in "Lost in Russia" caused his reputation in the industry to plummet sharply.

In addition to theaters, many conservative filmmakers are also dissatisfied with him. They feel that Xu Zheng's messy behavior and destruction of the industry's unspoken rules will bring chaos to the film and television industry.

Seeing Producer Xu frowning, Ning Hao knew why and quickly added a sentence.

"Xu Zheng has a very good reputation among the audience. He is from Shanghai and is just right for filming stories in the Oriental Unit."

Seeing Ning Hao's enthusiastic recommendation, Xu Jianhai had to give face to the director and nodded slowly.

"Then send an invitation to Director Xu and confirm it as soon as possible so that we can start preparing for the filming."

After deciding on Xu Zheng, chief planner Zhang Yibai also recommended his good friends Deng Chao and Yu Baimei.

"I started to want to ask Guo Fan to direct a unit. I contacted him a few days ago, but he said he was busy preparing for [The Wandering Earth 2] and didn't have time, so he refused.

I think I can contact Gu Wei and ask him if he has time."

Connections in the film and television industry are the primary productive force. Ning Hao recommended Xu Zheng, Zhang Yibai recommended Deng Chao, and Xu Jianhai is the producer of "The Wandering Earth". He is good friends with Guo Fan and Gu Wei, so he naturally recommended them.

No one had any objection to Producer Xu's idea. With Gu Wei's fame, even if he was a director, he could greatly boost the box office of "My Hometown and Me".

Four of the five directors have been temporarily chosen, and after discussing the last spot for a long time, no definite result could be reached.

[My People, My Hometown] is different from the previous one [My Country, My Parents]. The main tone of [My Hometown and I] is comedy, and the directors who have just been confirmed have all made comedies.

Some people in the conference room suggested looking for Feng Xiaogang, a comedy master, while others suggested inviting Xue Xiaolu, who would need a female director.

Finally, Zhang Yimou, who had been listening, said, "Yan Fei and Peng Damo, who starred in [The Richest Man in Xihong City], are good. You can contact [Happy Twist]."

Everyone looked at each other, and Xu Jianhai made the final decision: "Then let's listen to Director Zhang!"

Bay, Penghu Island.

After more than a month of filming, [Zhou Chu Eliminates Three Evils] has reached the final stage.

The crew moved to a sanatorium on Penghu Island to film the scene where the spiritual sanatorium kills the cult leader, Zun Zhe.

After killing the Aberdeen man, Chen Guilin searches for Lin Luhe, nicknamed "Bull Head", who is number one on the wanted list.

Following clues, he came to a beautiful spiritual temple, where the spiritual leader, the Venerable, told him that Lin Luhe was dead.

Chen Guilin was confused and didn't know what he could do.

At this time, the Venerable used drugs and deception to make Chen Guilin believe that his cancer had improved. He took out all his money and planned to shed worldly things and start a new life as the Venerable said.

It was soon discovered that everything was fake. On the surface, these evildoers in the spiritual retreat appeared to be dignified, selfless, and benevolent, but in reality, they were thieves and prostitutes, extravagant, and deceitful.

Lin Luhe, who transformed himself into a venerable monk, changed from a violent criminal to a trickster who pretended to be a god. He also knew how to combine the "shame culture" of Eastern ethics with the "sin culture" of Western religion to brainwash believers, and formed a group to efficiently rob money and kill people.

So the "villain" Chen Guilin came online again.

This part will provide the most exciting scene in the whole film, where Chen Guilin kills all the stubborn cult members one by one in the hall of the spiritual temple.

"Cut! It's over. Let's take a break and move on to the next shot!"

The director's voice came, Gu Wei finished a shot, and walked to the rest area next to him wearing the clothes of the spiritual temple.

Zhou Ye was concentrating on playing with his phone. When he saw Gu Wei coming over after finishing his work, he immediately stood up with a smile.

"Brother Wei, drink some water~"

She was wearing a blue lace dress, her fair face full of collagen, and she handed me a bottle of water.

"Thank you~"

Gu Wei took it, sat down, unscrewed the lid and took a sip.

Zhou Ye's scene was finished filming a few days ago, but she did not leave the group. She planned to return to China with the crew after the film was finished.

These days she stayed in the crew like Gu Wei's personal assistant, helping him pass water and get things after he finished his performance.

"We have been filming on Penghu Island these days. The scenery here is very beautiful. If you have nothing to do during the day, you don't have to stay on the set. You can go out for a walk."

“No matter how beautiful the scenery is, it’s meaningless if I’m alone.

Brother Wei, how about we go out together after the show tonight!"

Zhou Ye had a pair of big watery eyes, full of anticipation.

Gu Wei took another sip of water and thought about it.

"There's no night scene tonight, so it shouldn't be too late to finish work this afternoon, so we can go out for a walk."

"Great!"

When Zhou Ye heard Gu Wei's agreement, a huge smile appeared on his face and he almost jumped up with joy.

Gu Wei looked at Zhou Ye's excitement and smiled.

"Mr. Gu, Mr. Xu from China Film Group just called you and said he has something to discuss with you. I hope you can call him back when it's convenient."

Yang Dan handed Gu Wei's phone over from the side and said.

Gu Wei thought about it, then dialed the number directly and waited for a few seconds before the call was connected.

"Mr. Xu~"

"Mr. Gu, I'm sorry to interrupt your filming~"

After the call was connected, the two exchanged a few polite words.

"What's the matter, Mr. Xu?"

“It’s like this, China Film Group is preparing a new movie [My Hometown and I], which is in the same series as last year’s [My Country and I].

This play has a total of 5 story units, and I would like to invite Mr. Gu to be the director of one of the units.

Of course, it would be even better if Mr. Gu could perform in person!"

Xu Jianhai didn't say anything more and went straight to the point stating the purpose of his call.

"【My Hometown and I】Ah" Gu Wei hesitated.

This movie was indeed a big hit at the box office, but for him personally, filming or starring in it didn't mean much.

"My schedule is too full here, I really don't have time~" Gu Wei meant to refuse politely.

"Mr. Gu has filmed "My People, My Country" before, so he should know that each unit of our puzzle film is very short, so it can be filmed very quickly and doesn't take long.

Moreover, Mr. La is very much hoping that Mr. Gu will take over. He hopes that this series of movies will not be like the “Founding of a Nation Trilogy” where each film is inferior to the last.”

Xu Jianhai was not talking nonsense when he mentioned La Peikang. China Film Group really hopes that Gu Wei can join. As long as he is there, there will be a minimum guarantee for the movie box office.

"Is that so?" Gu Wei hesitated.

"I want a portion of the investment!"

Being a director and completing the filming of a unit independently is different from only having a few minutes of performance in "My People, My Country". He has to get what he deserves.

Xu Jianhai was silent for two seconds on the other end of the phone.

"I'll talk to Mr. La about it. I think he can give me a share, but it won't be as much as for ordinary movies. After all, [My Hometown and Me] is a tribute film. I hope Mr. Gu can understand this."

Xu Jianhai was not surprised that Gu Wei wanted to invest.

This has become an unspoken rule in the industry, and China Film Group has been working with Gu Wei like this for many years.

However, he cannot decide the specific amount, and the final decision still needs to be made by La Peikang.

Moreover, among the five directors of "My Hometown and Me", except Gu Wei and the chief director Ning Hao, the other directors will not have a share.

Even Ning Hao's ratio would not be higher than Gu Wei's.

There is no way. This society is so realistic. Whoever can make money is qualified to get benefits.

Judging from past performance, no one in the entertainment industry can make more money than Gu Wei.

"I know. Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Xu. I will ask the people in our company to contact China Film Group."

After confirming the matter, the two chatted for a few more minutes.

Xu Jianhai briefly talked about the theme of "My Hometown and Me" and what it wants to express.

I told Gu Wei that this time the essay was assigned a topic and he needed to write a story about his hometown in the southern region, which needed to show the recent achievements of the motherland in poverty alleviation and the relationship between the Chinese people and their hometown.

Of course Gu Wei knew what "My Hometown and Me" was about, but he still listened to Xu Jianhai's words patiently.

After hanging up the phone, Gu Wei thought for a moment and called Yang Liwen who was far away in Beijing.

".I understand, Mr. Gu. I will contact China Film Group right away.

Does the script department need to start writing now? "

"I already have a draft of the script in mind. I will write an outline and send it back in the next two days. You can ask the screenwriter department to enrich it according to what I wrote."

This kind of compilation movie doesn't require too much effort, just follow the original version.

“Once the script was completed, we started preparing the crew and selecting locations, and time was tight on my end.

The crew should let Director Li Xin be responsible~"

Gu Wei planned to be a hands-off boss, and let everything be done, and he would just go and shoot.

This way it won't waste much time.

(End of this chapter)