China Entertainment’s rescue plan is hard to come by

Chapter 704 Script Reading and Final Preparations
"Brother Hua, from what you said, this year's Asian Rising Star Director Program encountered some minor difficulties in financing?"

Sun Yi was a little curious, and there was a hint of inquiry in his words.

The two of them started chatting during breakfast. Now that the breakfast period was over and they were the only two left in the restaurant, they still showed no intention of stopping.

Sun Yi was quite interested in Liu Dehua's experience.

Liu Dehua told Sun Yi about his original intention and process of hosting the "Asian Rising Star Director" event.

Some are proud, some are frustrated.

This includes the difficulties encountered when the plan was first implemented, who helped, who was pessimistic, how to choose talented and capable directors, etc.

He even recounted an experience in which he almost had his investment defrauded by a scammer when the plan was being implemented, which made Sun Yi sigh.

The waiter in the restaurant was very considerate. Seeing that the two were sitting there chatting happily, he did not ask any questions but took the initiative to help them clear the dishes away, and then specially prepared a cup of coffee for them.

Apparently the service has changed from breakfast to afternoon tea.

Who makes Sun Yi the boss? That’s why he gets this treatment.

Liu Dehua talked eloquently. In his opinion, it was a matter of honor to have an excellent director like Sun Yi listen to his story.

Just when my mouth was dry, I saw the waiter bringing me coffee, I nodded politely to express my gratitude, and then took a sip very elegantly.

After putting down the coffee, he smiled at Sun Yi and said:
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Director Sun. There was indeed a problem with the financing this year."

"Although I still have some influence in the industry and some bosses can give me face, you also know that it costs too much to make a movie of above-par quality nowadays."

"Even if we don't hire famous actors and stars, it will still cost nearly 10 million yuan."

"Don't worry if you make fun of me. I've been working on this new star director project for the past few years and I've put all my salary into it."

"If I continue like this, I'm afraid my wife at home will give me a hard time."

Liu Dehua gave a self-deprecating smile.

Sun Yi fully understood what he was saying.

Even though Ning Hao's "Crazy Stone" was a huge success, the money earned from this movie was not enough to fill the hole in the entire new star director plan.

You know, for his first support plan, he selected six directors from the best, but what happened in the end?

In addition to Ning Hao's "Crazy Stone", there is also "Drink Tea When You're Free" by Hong Kong director Lam Chi Chung and "Sun Shower" by Malaysian director Ho Yu Heng.

Director Ning Hao's film made money, the films of the last two directors have some fame, but the remaining three have no fame at all.

It can be seen that he lost everything.

However, as the old saying goes, don't hit someone in the face, and don't expose someone's shortcomings. Sun Yi definitely couldn't bring this up at this time, so he just made a joke.

"Brother Hua, that can't be possible. My sister-in-law is such a reasonable person. She will definitely support you."

The relationship between Andy Lau and Lisa Chu was officially announced last year, so it was harmless for Sun Yi to make a joke about it.

Sure enough, when Zhu Lixi was mentioned, Liu Dehua's face was full of smiles and he looked very happy.

Sun Yi picked up the coffee and took a sip like Liu Dehua.

After this conversation during breakfast, Sun Yi can be said to have a general understanding of the Asian Rising Star Director Program that Liu Dehua has been promoting in recent years.

An idea gradually came into my mind.

Different from what I imagined before.

It is not enough to just discover talented directors. This program should also expand Star Sky's influence throughout Asia.

Just like last year, Jia Zhangke also launched a young director support program similar to the "Asian Rising Star Director", named the "Wings Plan".

It aims to give wings to outstanding young directors who have talent but no opportunities, and help them realize their dreams.

Chief Jia’s “Adding Wings Plan” is one step closer than Liu Dehua’s “Emerging Asian Guide”.

He raised nearly 100 million RMB from Japan, South Korea and other places to support young directors. Not only did he provide investment, he also served as the film producer and participated in all aspects of the support plan.

It is said that the preparation for the second film of this project has been completed and it will soon enter the shooting stage.

The film is also familiar to everyone, called "Mr. Tree".

That’s right, it’s the later movie “Hello, Mr. Tree” starring Wang Baoqiang.

This movie immediately pushed Wang Baoqiang into the camp of talented actors, and director Han Jie also made a name for himself.

Sun Yi still remembers the famous scenes in the movie.

Wang Baoqiang held a cigarette between his legs and waved his hand in an extremely ecstatic manner.

"Hello, Brother Shu~"

Back to the "Add Wings Project", although people have mixed opinions about Chief Jia and his group of fifth-generation directors.

But he was able to raise 100 million yuan to support young directors. This act alone can be said to be worthy of the Chinese film industry that nurtured him.

Moreover, the fact that Section Chief Jia personally served as the producer is also worth learning for Sun Yi.

Directors are all artists and love money deep down, but no one will admit it.

The so-called promotion of rice favors and fighting against rice hatred.

It is not enough to just invest money. Losing money is fine, but if you make money, it is easy to turn against others and ignore them.

There are too many ungrateful people like this in the entertainment industry.

However, Chief Jia’s model is relatively much better.

Serving as the producer personally can be regarded as a nominal master and apprentice, or at least a mentor, and his moral restraint will be greatly increased.

Thinking of this, Sun Yi also had different thoughts.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when Star Sky's industrialized films are beginning to gain momentum and the influence brought by its own Oscar-winning work, it will discover and train more cutting-edge directors to occupy the entire Asian film market.

"Brother Hua, I'm very interested in your Asian Rising Star Director Program and would like to work with you. What do you think?"

After Sun Yi sorted out his thoughts, he asked softly.

"This is a good thing!" Hearing this, Liu Dehua's eyes lit up and he immediately said:

"Director, if you spread the word that you want to participate in the Asian Rising Star Director Program to support young directors, the threshold will definitely be broken." "Nowadays, your influence in the director circle is much greater than mine."

"No matter how famous I am, I am just an actor. Many young directors think that I will interfere and influence and modify their works, so they dare not submit their scripts to me."

"But you are different. You are now a well-known director in the entire Chinese entertainment industry. They must be very confident in investing in your scripts."

Liu Dehua is right.

Nowadays, Director Sun is an idol-like figure among directors, especially young directors.

At such a young age, he has created so many films that were both box office and critically acclaimed, and he has also won many awards, not only the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but now he has also won an Oscar.

I would like to ask which young director in China does not want to become a top director at a young age like Sun Yi.

If he were to step forward and say that he wanted to invest in a young director, and serve as the producer of the film, participating in the guidance from beginning to end, then Starry Sky Image's work mailbox would probably be flooded with various scripts in an instant.

Even Liu Dehua envies Sun Yi's influence among young directors.

With the joining of Sun Yi, Xinxingdao's plan will definitely be taken to the next level, and even the financing problem will be solved. After all, everyone knows that Starry Sky Image is wealthy.

From Sun Yi's perspective, he really wants to discover some buried directors.

In the huge mainland film industry, with nearly a hundred students graduating from the directing departments of the three major colleges every year, are there really only a few talented directors like Ning Hao, Li Ruijun, Han Jie, Yang Fan, and Xin Yukun in the past ten or twenty years?

impossible!

It’s just that many talented and gifted directors are buried due to lack of investment, inability to attract investors, and lack of opportunities.

Even taking a step back, there are a lot of directors who have no talent in screenwriting but are talented in shooting and directing.

Isn’t Sun Yi himself a good example?
After all, he only studied at Beijing Film Academy for more than three years, and half of that time was spent in the acting department.

But with a good script and a good opportunity, you can still succeed.

Sun Yi could have invested a few hundred to ten million yuan in each movie, selected eight or ten young directors, and supported them in shooting their first works. Then he could have selected 2-3 directors who were above the passing line, strengthened their training, and when the time was right, fed them one or two good movie scripts for the future.

If we train them in this way for three to five years, we cannot say that we can produce European top three level directors, but we can definitely train a few qualified commercial film directors to conquer the world for Starry Sky Image!
And not only in China, but also throughout Southeast Asia through Liu Dehua's personal channels.

If this plan is led by Liu Dehua, it would simply be about supporting young directors.

But if we add Sun Yi and Xingkong, we can dig up a lot more things.

For example, by supporting directors from Thailand and Malaysia, does that mean that the forces behind Star Sky can easily penetrate the local market?

You know, ASEAN, which is based on the entire Southeast Asian countries, will become the world's most economically and trade active region in the near future.

This indirectly shows that the economic development momentum is good, so just like the domestic market, its film market will also rise. Starry Sky will be able to take this opportunity to usher in another wave of development.

Moreover, Sun Yi himself can also add a "founding a sect" buff for himself, which is completely killing three birds with one stone.

In later generations, the "Asian Rising Star Director 2.0" version, which produced countless outstanding directors, was born in a small restaurant.

After discussing the general framework with Liu Dehua, the remaining specific cooperation content will be completed by the staff of both sides.

Sun Yi and Liu Dehua also shifted their attention to movies.

At the same time, after a few days of extra adaptive training, Liu Yifei's physical condition has been getting better and better, and she has basically adapted to the movements of the robotic arm.

At this time, Sun Yi felt that the time was almost ripe for the official filming of the movie.

The only thing missing is an in-depth analysis of the script.

This "Gravity" is not just a simple commercial film, the core of the story is still very profound.

In order for the two leading actors to better understand their characters, Sun Yi specially called Liu Yifei and Liu Dehua to hold a small script seminar before filming began.

As for the content of the script, there is no need to say much. Even Liu Yifei, who is usually lazy, has no objection in this regard.

Not only did he know the script by heart, he could even recite the key plot points by heart.

What Sun Yi needs to do is to give an in-depth explanation of the characters in the script.

First up is the space team captain Ma Wen, played by Andy Lau.

As an experienced astronaut, he played a leader role in this mission. His command, decision-making and leadership abilities were crucial to the success of the team. He saved the heroine many times at critical moments. Finally, at the critical moment of life and death, he chose to sacrifice himself and left the hope of survival to the heroine.

This is a nearly perfect image. He represents wisdom and strength in the film. He is the guide and spiritual mentor of the heroine. He is the image of the "old captain" who appears in countless stories to give the younger generation the opportunity to grow up on their own, and then dies at the most appropriate time, place and event.

With Liu Dehua's many years of experience in the film industry and his ability to handle different roles, this role is not a big problem for him.

As for the heroine played by Liu Yifei, Liu Rui.

It's rare to find such a sharp girl in a name.

First of all, she was very young and had an unhappy childhood. Her father was a soldier who loved his country more than her small family. He didn't even show up when her mother was seriously ill at her bedside.

At this point, the father and daughter broke up.

The background information of these characters will be conveyed to the audience through the dialogue between the two in the movie.

The purpose of Sun Yi's adaptation of this character is different from the original work in order to highlight the growth of Liu Rui. Through this national mission and the self-sacrifice of captain Ma Wen, she completed a transformation and finally understood the meaning of responsibility.

Both of them benefited greatly from Sun Yi's analysis. At the end of the seminar, Sun Yi raised another question.

"Sissi, do you know why the story is called "Gravity"? "

Liu Yifei frowned and thought for a moment, then answered tentatively:
"Um, is it weightlessness?"

Sun Yi nodded encouragingly, "Go on."

"My film Gravity is about weightlessness. Weightlessness in space brings many challenges, and my goal is to overcome all these difficulties and adjustments and return to the gravitational field of the earth."

"Yes, you are right, but this is just the surface meaning."

"Surface? Is there something deeper?"

Liu Yifei stared and asked back.

“It is the weightlessness of the spiritual level, the weightlessness of human individuals in the entire civilization and the long river of life.”

"It is a life without attachment, lacking the warmth of being loved and the energy of loving others, without goals, without expectations, imprisoning oneself in a cage with no escape, and life entering a helpless, hopeless state of suspension."

"The character of Liu Rui expresses this kind of people, who rekindle their passion for life and their desire for life, overcome difficulties and obstacles and return to the ground. It allows them to live in the present, face life head-on, muster up courage, and move forward step by step with their feet on the ground~!"

(End of this chapter)