Entertainment: From the Octagon to the big screen

Chapter 276 - Two people swearing in the street

"Thank you for your hard work. Please come and pick us up in person. Please allow us to treat you to lunch later to express your gratitude."

Although Chen Sicheng knew very well that Chen Yu only ate nutritious meals, he had to show due courtesy and attitude.

Chen Yu was not an idiot who was new to the world and didn't understand, so he took the opportunity to introduce a restaurant to Chen Sicheng and others.

The location happened to be one of Chen Sicheng's preset locations: Chinatown in New York.

New York's Chinatown is inferior to San Francisco on the west coast of the United States in both area and prosperity.

The types of stores and the various products sold are inferior to those in Houston, Chicago, and Seattle.

From the perspective of scenery, San Francisco’s Chinatown is like a condensed replica of Hong Kong;
The one in Houston is called "Chinese City" by Chinese students and tourists;
Portland Chinatown in Nevada is even more professional, being designed and built directly after the Suzhou garden model.

Therefore, New York’s Chinatown can only be said to be a golden addition, and it is marketed by bundling it with New York.

"Chinatowns in Manhattan (Lower City) and Flushing, Queens, are the two places I recommend more." Chen Yu took a sip of slightly cold soda water and raised his fingers.

The reason is that the mess of people and shops is rarely conducive to filming and filming, and the underground forces that control the streets are all single Chinese groups.

It is very convenient to communicate by language or hire them to do odd jobs through an agency.

On the other hand, Chinatown in Brooklyn is a bit chaotic.

But the electronic products and Chinese and Korean food sold there are absolutely high-quality, low-priced, and honest.

Many Chinese students and compatriots from Chinese-funded institutions choose to go shopping here during the day in their spare time.

"But the Chinese and Korean communities always have minor frictions with the surrounding niggas. If you want to incorporate that into the location and set, you'd better be mentally prepared in advance."

Why did the crew of "Knives Out" hire a team of Korean martial artists?

In addition to their cost-effectiveness advantage, this group of people also provide free escort services.

When filming on location, the team of Korean martial artists will take the initiative to maintain order among the onlookers. Anyone who causes trouble will be quietly dragged to a corner or alley to repair it.

In addition, they often use their own money to buy some Korean candies and distribute them to children and the elderly.

This gave the crew of "Knives Out" a very positive overall rating for them.

Therefore, the crew went through the labor union and followed due procedures to outsource many of the trivial tasks on the set to them.

In addition, Mr. Rian Johnson, who is also a producer, screenwriter and director, also wrote a letter of recommendation full of praise to the Korean martial arts team to facilitate their acceptance.

"The tricks and routines used by the Korean martial arts team are actually leftovers from previous Chinese martial arts."

Chen Yu twitched his lips and glanced at Chen Sicheng, who had a complicated expression, and then lightly clinked his glass with Shang Yuxian, who was looking at him.

As for the mixed-race girl Liu Chengyu, who lowered his head and was deep in thought, Chen Yu didn't bother him. He just slowly pushed her order of fried pork rinds with spicy peppers and turtle paste towards her hand.

Chen Sicheng's chopsticks were sliding back and forth on the edge of the fried noodle plate. It was ridiculous to say that he actually didn't want to hire a team of Korean martial artists to join the crew because of his feelings for his family and country.

As a commercial producer and director, it is simply unqualified to disregard financial interests in this matter.

But having said that, Chen Sicheng couldn't overcome this seemingly low hurdle. Nowadays, if he wants to do good special effects and good synthesis in China, he has to spend money to find Korean or Australian companies.

Domestic companies' competitive prices also compromise on quality, and reputation is indeed limited by scale and manpower, and it is simply impossible to undertake three medium-sized projects at the same time.

Chen Sicheng originally wanted to hand over all the special effects of "Detective Chinatown II" to Mojing Tianhe, a domestic company that did post-production for "The Wandering Earth", for follow-up and production.

But Mo Jing Tianhe, Louis Koo's Tianyi Group, and Wu Jing's Focus Painting are all saturated with business.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu gently shook the fork in his hand at Chen Sicheng.

Chen Sicheng took a sip of fried noodles and slowly waved his hand. The people in front of him were all big and prestigious projects. Even if he was willing to pay a high price, he couldn't get into the queue.

"When starting a movie in the United States, according to the Constitution and intercontinental laws, a certain proportion of American citizens must be hired. Do you think it's okay to recruit Korean martial arts masters into the team?"

Chen Sicheng raised his head and drank the Coca-Cola in the glass, then whispered to Chen Yu.

To be honest, Chen Yu didn't quite understand what Chen Sicheng was expressing.

Although 90% of the Chinese martial arts team have returned to China to make quick money by following the trend.

However, there are still those who remain in the European and American film and television circles and continue to earn US dollars with professional and top-notch services.

"The more active Chinese martial arts teams at present are all used by big studios and high-budget productions. You should carefully consider whether you have enough money before hiring one."

Even though the Chinese martial arts team took advantage of the brutal growth of the Chinese film and television industry, they all chose to return to China, easily handing over the European and American markets that their ancestors had built with the sweat and blood of their ancestors.

This in turn allowed Korean and Southeast Asian martial arts teams to quickly seize the mid- to low-end market.

However, serious luxury projects still recognize the Chinese martial arts team, which in turn makes the latter more and more picky.

Chen Yu estimated that Chen Sicheng wouldn't be able to invite anyone even if he was willing to spend money.

After all, "Detective Chinatown II" is not a cool project. "Hey, do they still think that the price and status of my job have been reduced?" Chen Sicheng shook the Coke bottle with a surprised expression.

Chen Yu tilted his head and smiled. According to Yuan Heping, today's Chinese martial arts teams in the European and American film and television circles straighten their backs with contempt when facing Chinese crews to make money.

In fact, Yuan Heping's original words were: You are a dead man, you think being a slave to a foreign devil is very intimidating, arrogant and condescending!
Therefore, Yuan Baye would rather write a letter of recommendation to the Korean martial arts team than go to the banquet hosted by the Chinese martial arts team.

"I'm just telling you the differences between the two groups. You can make your own decision on how to choose the subject." Chen Yu pointed to the kimchi and pickled melon dices on the table.

In fact, "Detective Chinatown II" does not require a professional martial arts team at all. Wang Baoqiang can just lead people to design three or four sets of moves, which saves money and trouble.

But now it seems that Chen Sicheng is a bit important.

It took a lot of effort to save up and even come to New York for filming. If the production team lacks a team of world-class action directors and martial artists, it would be a flaw!

Even though "Detective Chinatown II" doesn't have real action scenes, Chen Sicheng wants to make the supporting package the most awesome!
Furthermore, Chen Yu guessed that there might be a small issue of money involved.

How much can Chen Sicheng spend on hiring a team of outstanding domestic action directors and martial artists? How many points can the latter get back?

Only by raising costs within a certain limit can Chen Sicheng and his partners earn rich and safe profits.

When Chen Kexin was filming "Martial Arts", he made broken straw hats an intangible cultural heritage and raised the unit price to thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan each.

This is a classic example of being bold, careful, and daring to operate.

Chen Sicheng wanted to show off his face and didn't want to make blind accounts of props and costumes, so he had to rely on people to pull money into his pockets.

Chen Yu also had a bad idea, but the implementation depends on Chen Sicheng's connections.

"Help me get a bottle of water from the car." Chen Sicheng turned to Shang Yuxian and said, who immediately pulled the stunned Liu Chengyu away from the table.

When Chinese Kung Fu was popular in Europe and the United States, many small-budget productions would hire Chinese action stars as action directors in order to sell their video tapes or CDs well.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li would definitely disdain to take this money because of their status.

However, Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen, who regarded themselves as action directors from the beginning, have always relied on this kind of income to make money.

So as long as they can negotiate, Chen Sicheng can use this trick, and it is more convenient and safer to talk to those old guns about rebates and cash withdrawals.

It doesn’t matter if you hire Sammo Hung or Donnie Yen, and then find an action director and a team of professional martial artists.

After all, "Detective Chinatown II" is a comedy movie, and there is nothing wrong with the action design being funny, messy, and exaggerated.

The film "Rivals" filmed by Yuen Woo-Ping and Donnie Yen in the 1980s was even more damn eye-catching.

"Hey, it's very maneuverable." Chen Sicheng thought about it for a while.

He had never thought before that Chen Sicheng, who had never directed a pure action movie, would never break through this layer of paper as long as he was limited and constrained by his thinking.

Moreover, people who are not colleagues with whom they have a good relationship will not tell them about such crooked tactics.

In the Chinese director circle, Chen Sicheng is, at best, a maverick; in fact, he has no friends.

Being able to be on the same frequency band as Chen Yu is also because the latter was rejected by seniors and teachers in the Chinese entertainment industry.

At the same time, both Chen Yu and Chen Sicheng have little interest in awards and other things, believing that money in their pockets is the embodiment and proof of their strength.

Even if you win the Golden Horse, Golden Rooster and Golden Statue, if you lack business and endorsements, it means that the market does not recognize you.

Today is a market economic system, and even the market doesn’t look down on you. What’s the use of just talking about art and other nonsense?

Chen Yu doesn't believe that those seniors and teachers in the Chinese entertainment industry who point fingers at him all day long still have the heart to curse after their quality of life has declined?
"Yes, that's right. Those old fools simply eat too much." Chen Sicheng praised and applauded Chen Yu from the bottom of his heart.

If the country pushes them all to the market and lets them find their own jobs, it is estimated that these seniors and teachers in the entertainment industry will have to kneel down.

What bothers Chen Yu the most is that he claims to be indifferent to fame and fortune and emphasizes that he only values ​​art, but in the end he secretly wants to rank the so-called old, middle-aged and young actors.

Chen Sicheng was startled when he heard this, then slapped the table repeatedly and gave Chen Yu a thumbs up.

He knew and worked with such a Mesozoic actor before!
Chen Sicheng and Chen Yu are very similar in that they both put the word "pretend" on the surface and do not hide it.

But that brother showed humility in every word and lowered his attitude in every sentence. At the same time, he had to earn a certain position before signing a contract for every film and television drama.

Moreover, he is also a master who bullies the weak and fears the strong.

When you work with a big director, you give up the fight for position;
Even if he is in the same frame as a big shot, he never mentions his rank.

"When that lazy guy was being interviewed, he was all talk of being indifferent and giving in, but in reality he was just doing all kinds of sneaky things. In the end, a group of fans and passers-by recognized him."

Chen Sicheng cursed incessantly.

Chen Yu already knew who he was talking about.

Come to think of it, that person's appearance is really sinister.

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(End of this chapter)