director of the millennium

"I'm actually quite optimistic about Brother Baoqiang's new movie." Wu Yuan held up his phone in one hand and said in an intriguing tone.

The call was from Li Xiaoping, and the topic was the release of Brother Baoqiang's new movie.

Working online did not hinder Brother Baoqiang from finding a publisher at all.

There is no doubt that Guangying Times is now one of the largest distribution companies in the country.

Every year, Guangying Times is responsible for the distribution of about 20 films. Although it cannot compare with companies like China Film and Alibaba in terms of quantity, it is superior in terms of quality.

Because Guangying Times only selects the best and never distributes bad films.

Yes, with Wu Yuan at the helm, he is able to accurately select excellent films from the ones released by Light and Shadow Times every year.

Moreover, this kind of thing is not troublesome for him. It just requires him to read a few more documents every year, and it takes less than an hour.

There is no reason for him not to insist on doing something that is so beneficial and free.

But today's situation is a little special.

In fact, this is not the first time that Brother Baoqiang has approached Guangying Times to discuss the distribution of the movie "Octagon Cage".

In fact, when the first version of the script of "Octagon Cage" was made, Brother Baoqiang had contacted Guangying Times, but when Li Xiaoping heard that it was Brother Baoqiang's new movie, she simply refused.

In Li Xiaoping's opinion, Brother Baoqiang is really not a suitable person to be a director.

Let’s not talk about cultural level or anything like that. The entertainment industry never cares about that.

The main reason is that Brother Baoqiang has always been working in the field of acting. Not every outstanding actor can successfully transform into a director. After all, this is a very rare case.

Brother Baoqiang proved that he was indeed not capable of being a director with the movie "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 3".

If the reputation of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons 3" was a little better, and it didn't win the Golden Broom Award, even if it still made a loss but gained publicity, Guangying Times would be willing to take another gamble with Brother Baoqiang.

But who made "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" lose so badly?
Li Xiaoping firmly believes that it would be better for Baoqiang to just be an actor. He can act in comedies to make audiences across the country laugh, and he can also act in art films. A scene of Shu Ge smoking was even studied repeatedly by the Performance Department of Beijing Film Academy.

There is really no need to go into the field of directing.

So when he first approached Guangying Times to discuss cooperation on "Octagon Cage", Li Xiaoping directly rejected it.

But more than half a year later, Brother Baoqiang did not give up and came back with the latest version of the script, and also invited a lobbyist, Wu Yuan’s old senior, Chief Jia.

The story of Brother Baoqiang knowing Section Chief Jia is complicated.

It started with the movie "Hello! Mr. Tree". At that time, this movie was invested by the Tianyi Project organized by Section Chief Jia, and Section Chief Jia also served as the producer of this movie.

It can be said that this movie was personally taken care of by Section Chief Jia, and Brother Baoqiang’s performance in the movie also caught Section Chief Jia’s eye. Later, when Section Chief Jia was filming "A Touch of Sin", he found him.

It can be said that the two breakthrough roles that Brother Baoqiang made on the big screen were both related to Chief Jia.

It was Chief Jia who discovered the non-comedy side of Brother Baoqiang, and he was considered his mentor. Chief Jia was very optimistic about the script of "In the Octagon Cage" written by Brother Baoqiang and liked the story very much.

So when Brother Baoqiang asked for help, Chief Jia contacted Wu Yuan through personal connections, hoping that Wu Yuan could help Brother Baoqiang distribute this new movie.

Whether a movie’s final box office performance is good or not, publicity and promotion are actually very important.

Since everyone is pessimistic about Brother Baoqiang, even if Brother Baoqiang finds a company willing to help him distribute "Octagon Cage", they may not necessarily do their best to help. It is very likely that they will just use a standard publicity and promotion strategy.

It’s not that the standard level is not good, but for Brother Baoqiang, "Octagon Cage" is his last chance. If this movie fails again, it will be impossible for Brother Baoqiang to continue his career as a director, so he must have a company that fully supports his publicity and promotion.

Then Chief Jia must contact Wu Yuan personally, and preferably get support from Wu Yuan, so that Brother Baoqiang can give it a try.

Wu Yuan was also surprised to hear the news. He actually didn't know what the final outcome of the movie "Octagon Cage" would be.

In his dream life, as a director in the industry, Wu Yuan knew that Brother Baoqiang had spent six years honing his skills.

But before he could see the release of "Octagon", he woke up from his dream and returned to the age of 18. He didn't know whether this movie would help Bao Qiang succeed in his comeback.

Therefore, his opinion of the film was no longer supported by any memories of his previous life, and he had to make his own judgment.

After reading the latest version of the script sent by Brother Baoqiang, Wu Yuan was indeed surprised by the excellence of the script.

The narrative in the first half of the script is very solid, interconnected, steady and unhurried, and it describes in detail a series of events, such as how Xiang Tenghui, who opened a battlefield, met the orphans, how he had to take them in, how he made money by performing fake boxing, and how he turned the fake into reality and set up a fighting club.

The causes and consequences, the ins and outs of the whole process are clearly told in the compact plot, which is concise, clean and neat.

The second half of the film is a bit hasty, with a lot of plot jumps, fierce conflicts, and dramatic plot twists, which makes the first half lose its life texture and rich heritage.

As a result, the plot in which Sumu sweats in the ring and wins the championship is a common plot in many fighting films and lacks novelty.

But being used doesn’t mean being bad. For a commercial film, lack of novelty is definitely not a big problem. The plot that is the same as most fighting films can be regarded as a good result of seeking stability.

Because there are no excellent fighting movies in our country!

The last fighting film that was popular in China was the Indian film "Dangal".

Brother Baoqiang did not choose the so-called novelty, but chose the same plot as excellent foreign fighting films. In fact, this is a good thing for domestic releases. It is not shameful to learn from the routines of excellent movies.

Although this film is a realistic work, it is also full of artistic expression.

The dialogues of the characters in the script are also excavated and refined from life. They not only fit the identities and personalities of the characters, but also have a heavy power that comes from life itself.

It can be said that this script completely surprised Wu Yuan. After reading the script, Wu Yuan found it hard to imagine that Wang Baoqiang, who made "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", could actually make such a good realistic film.
Although this is also due to the credit of the screenwriter Wang Baoqiang found, it is not something he could have done alone.

But being able to achieve this level is really surprising, and it even makes Wu Yuan feel like he has re-acquainted himself with Wang Baoqiang.

Just for the sake of this script, we must give Wang Baoqiang a chance to show his talents!
"We have accepted this film, and we must fully cooperate with Wang Baoqiang in the publicity and promotion. I believe he will bring a surprise to the national audience!" Wu Yuan said confidently on the phone. (End of this chapter)