Huayu: The director just wants to save money

Chapter 209 Xu Zheng's Ambition, Wang Changtian's Reminder
Late February.

The film market remains stable.

"Lost in Thailand" has already secured the top spot at the box office. The only question now is how much the film will gross in the end.

Shiny.

Wang Changtian's office.

Wang Changtian took out the newly released report.

"From the current situation, it is entirely possible that the final box office of Lost in Thailand will exceed 800 million yuan."

"Pretty much what I expected."

Without the blessing of "1942".

The box office of "Lost in Thailand" is only between 800 million and 900 million, and it is difficult to break through 1 billion.

The two discussed the subsequent publicity and promotion ideas.

In addition to basic roadshows and publicity.

There is no need to cause any more trouble.

After the discussion, Wang Changtian looked at Xu Zheng.

"Old Xu, do you have any ideas for the next step... Old Xu? Old Xu!"

"Ah...ah?!"

Xu Zheng shuddered and woke up from his sweet dream.

He wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth.

Eyes hazy.

Some dark circles under the eyes.

"what happened?"

Wang Changtian gave him an unpleasant look and explained the situation again.

"No problem, of course no problem. It all depends on you two leaders!" Xu Zheng said jokingly.

He has been in great spirits recently, and has seen all the flowers in Chang'an in one day.

"Lost in Thailand" is his first movie in the true sense.

However, it defeated "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" in a head-on confrontation.

He is proud.

When a person becomes proud, he tends to become self-indulgent.

Xu Zheng chose to indulge himself by transforming himself into a small electric motor, wandering around nightclubs and bars every night, wasting his sweat there. (1)

Then, the result of doing this was that Xu Zheng always looked drowsy during the day, which made many of his fans who participated in the roadshow feel sorry for him, thinking that he was worrying about the movie all day long and hoped that he could pay more attention to rest.

Only some people who are more familiar with him know that this guy simply rests too much.

Wang Changtian glanced at Xu Zheng's dark circles and said with a headache: "Old Xu, I feel like you are about to die suddenly. Whether it is for your own health or the promotion of the movie, you need to be moderate in your efforts."

When Xu Zheng heard this, he smiled awkwardly.

He thought about it and found that he had been too carefree recently.

Although he did not have the same worries as Wen Zhang, he was still a public figure and had to pay attention to his image.

He coughed lightly and changed the subject, "You two, I found that one advantage of "Lost" is that it can be made into a series of movies like a unit drama. As long as the characters, conflicts, locations, and time of the movie are slightly changed, it will be a completely different movie.

And there is no need to worry about the audience of the movie. It is a comedy anyway, and even if the plot is a little repetitive, it doesn’t matter as long as it is funny enough.”

In order to hide his embarrassment, Xu Zheng dumped out all the ideas in his mind in one breath.

In fact, he had the idea of ​​making a movie in the "Lost" series since he was filming "Lost on Journey".

But at that time he was neither the director nor did he own the copyright of Lost.

So I had to put my plan on hold.

Until now, the "Lost" series has completely lost contact with the original company, and he has proved the feasibility of making a series of films through "Lost in Thailand".

Besides this, Xu Zheng actually had something else in his mind that he hadn't said.

The next "囧" movie.

He no longer just wants to be a director.

He also wants to be an investor.

As the saying goes, every other line is like a mountain.

Every time before being directed, Xu Zheng actually could not imagine that the director’s status in the crew could be so high. The feeling of “holding power” fascinated him.

Besides this, directors have another advantage over actors.

Can get more money.

A lot of money.

However, before Xu Zheng could immerse himself in the happiness of being a director for just two days, he suddenly discovered something.

Although the director feels great, that is only compared to the actors.

As for investors, the job is countless times better than that of a director.

In that case, why not try being an investor?

Enjoy the pleasure of “not having to do anything, just collecting money at the end”.

Of course, Xu Zheng actually had a good idea of ​​the situation.

Investors are happy though.

But the risks are real.

Without a certain amount of capital accumulation, being an investor in the film industry is tantamount to seeking death.

Therefore, Xu Zheng never thought about investing in other movies, he just set his sights on the "Lost" series.

As the person who created two "Lost" movies, he knows very well whether the movies can make money.

The purpose of proposing the follow-up plan for the "囧" series this time is to make Wang Changtian and Zhou Mo more aware of his importance.

Xu Zheng was very sure that the two people in front of him would not ignore the blockbuster movie that was just around the corner, and would definitely ask about the follow-up plans.

As long as the two of them asked, he could take the opportunity to ask for investment.

Xu Zheng could already imagine the expressions of the two at that moment.

However, what surprised Xu Zheng was that the two people in front of him did not change their expressions after listening to his speech. Instead, they looked at each other. Wang Changtian spoke first, "Old Xu, what a coincidence. Director Zhou actually mentioned this idea to me, and it was about ten days ago."

Mentioned it?
Xu Zheng was shocked.

He quickly looked at Zhou Mo.

Zhou Mo saw the surprise on Xu Zheng's face and coughed lightly: "Rather than saying it's a coincidence, it's better to say that great minds think alike."

On the other side, Wang Changtian had already taken out a document from the drawer.

"This is the idea that Director Zhou sent me earlier. Old Xu, take a look."

Xu Zheng quickly took the document.

I opened the first page and saw a few big words.

A skin-changing movie in the "Lost" series.

I roughly scanned the content and found that it was not much different from his ideas, but the details were far more complete than his ideas.

In addition to the details, there are some aspects of the movie's funny moments that even Xu Zheng himself did not expect.

After a while.

Xu Zheng slowly raised his head.

There is a bitter taste in the mouth.

It has to be said that the document in his hand was far better than he had imagined.

If the suggestion he just put forward was just an idea that needed to be continuously improved, then Zhou Mo's file could even be used directly as a script, and he only needed to find some random names to fill in.

From this perspective, let alone getting investment through the film plan, whether he will still be the next film director is another matter.

Combined with Wang Changtian's previous reminder to him...

For a moment, Xu Zheng had a lot of thoughts in his mind.

He spoke slowly.

"I wonder who you two are going to ask to star in your next movie?"

After hearing this, Wang Changtian and Zhou Mo looked at each other, and Wang Changtian spoke again: "Old Xu, why do you ask that? Of course, you will be the director of the next "囧" series movie."

Xu Zheng looked up suddenly and found that the two were not joking. He felt relieved but also a little confused.

He weighed the document in his hand.

“Then this…?”

Zhou Mo said, "It's just my idea. I was planning to show it to you a few days ago, but you've been busy day and night in this short period of time, so it was delayed."

Wang Changtian took over Zhou Mo's words and added: "Old Xu, don't let your imagination run wild. You are the soul of the Lost series. As long as you are willing to shoot, the directorship will always belong to you.

But you don’t have to be too anxious. Lost in Thailand hasn’t even been released yet, so it’s too early to discuss the next movie. You should focus on Lost in Thailand first, and we can deal with the rest later.”

Wang Changtian’s words were the final decision.

Xu Zheng reacted this time.

The random thoughts I had just now were, after all, just scaring myself.

After his mood tensed and relaxed, his previous desire to become an investor completely disappeared. At this moment, Xu Zheng had only one thought in his mind.

It would be great to be a director.

……

After Xu Zheng left.

Zhou Mo joked, "Boss Wang, Director Xu was really scared today."

Wang Changtian glanced at Zhou Mo.

"Director Zhou, don't forget that it was you who came up with the skin-changing plan for Lost in China."

Zhou Mo spread his hands: "But this is what you asked me for."

Hearing this, Wang Changtian said helplessly, "I didn't expect that Lao Xu would suffer from literary youth disease. Think about what he told me some time ago. The current sentiment of the "囧" series is not enough. If he is given another chance, he will definitely add more warm plots. Even sentiment is more important than comedy...

In a comedy film, saying that feelings are more important than comedy plots, isn't this a literary youth disease? "

Today's communication was actually planned by Wang Changtian.

The reason was that a few days ago, during a conversation between Wang Changtian and Xu Zheng, Wang Changtian heard that Xu Zheng was not satisfied with some plots in "Lost in Thailand".

The points of dissatisfaction are as mentioned above.

Fewer jokes.

More feelings.

Wang Changtian has been deeply involved in the film and television industry for so many years, and he can see Xu Zheng's condition at a glance.

This was Xu Zheng's first film that performed so well and received so much praise in a short period of time that it started to become "literary and artistic".

Wang Changtian had seen the same situation with another great director.

Small cannon.

After achieving some success, they no longer want to make movies that the audience wants to watch, but instead make movies that they want to make.

Commonly known as teaching the audience to watch movies.

Wang Changtian did not approve of Xu Zheng's current condition.

Numerous examples from the domestic and international film circles have shown that once a comedy director starts to play with sentimentality in a comedy film, the work is likely to fail.

Of course, there are also some strong people who are good at both ends.

But Wang Changtian didn't want to bet on this possibility.

He is a businessman who invests in movies to make money.

Instead of helping people realize their dreams.

Especially the "Lost" series, which can keep the movies going for a long time just by changing the skin, and each one makes more money than the last.

There's really no need to take that risk.

That’s right, in fact, Wang Changtian had already seen the potential of the “Lost” series a long time ago.

It's just that he didn't think about the specific content of the shooting.

Fortunately, he can still find others to help.

then.

Zhou Mo, another copyright holder of "Lost", was invited by Wang Changtian to write a concept for the filming of the movie.

Zhou Mo has no objection.

It's just a movie with the idea of ​​"Lost" series, not a movie of the level of "Kung Fu", so it's still within his ability.

But he never thought of copying "Lost in Hong Kong".

The previous "Lost" series actually only ended with "Lost in Thailand". In the next two works, Xu Zheng did not want to make comedies, but instead started teaching the audience life philosophy, so it became a failure.

Zhou Mo also didn't want to follow the same path as his previous life.

Moreover, after changing the script, when filming really begins, it can be recorded as a task by the system.

Why not?
So I worked with Wang Changtian to write a semi-finished product.

I just didn't expect to use it so quickly.

And the effect is not bad.

Based on Zhou Mo's estimation alone, after today's wave of "reminders", Xu Zheng will most likely not have the idea of ​​adapting the "囧" series in the future.

"Boss Wang, Director Xu is a director you personally discovered and supported. Will it affect your relationship if you 'scare' him like this today?"

When Wang Changtian heard Zhou Mo's "tea-like" words, he almost choked on his water and choked on it in his throat. He coughed several times before he recovered.

"Director Zhou, please stop talking like that. It's too outrageous. My heart can't take it."

Zhou Mo spread his hands.

"I'm serious, aren't you afraid that Director Xu will have some resentment when he realizes what's going on?
"Hard feelings?" Wang Changtian laughed and said, "Movies are a commercial activity anyway, and everything comes down to money. Making money is good for you, me, and everyone else.

As for love? Talking about love costs a lot of money."

Wang Changtian is very open-minded about this.

Just like the county magistrate's wife, who only wants to be the county magistrate's wife and it doesn't matter who the county magistrate is, Wang Changtian only cares about the box office of the movie.

As for who the director is.

He didn't really care.

"Besides, Old Xu has been a little too arrogant recently."

Zhou Mo heard something wrong from these words.

"what happens?"

Wang Changtian didn't intend to hide it, and said directly: "'The Detective' is going to start promoting soon, so I talked to Lao Xu some time ago and told him to relax the pace on Wen Zhang recently, but Lao Xu's first reaction after hearing it was actually that he disagreed."

Zhou Mo completely figured out the real reason why Wang Changtian came today.

It turns out that Xu Zhengwen’s illness is not the only cause.

There are also conflicts of corporate interest.

For Xu Zheng, Wen Zhang had been the one who set the pace for him before, so Xu Zheng wanted to sue him.

But for Wang Changtian, "Lost in Thailand" is about to be taken off the screen.

He also helped to fulfill Xu Zheng's request.

Now that "The Mummy" has begun to promote, the film's investment company is glamorous.

The leading actor of "The Mighty Detective" is Wen Zhang.

It is normal for Wang Changtian to want to stop the pace against Wen Zhang.

Xu Zheng opposed this matter because he actually wanted Wang Changtian to continue to support him.

It is normal for Wang Changtian to have opinions.

"Besides, we have you here." Wang Changtian said with a smile.

Zhou Mo raised his eyebrows and said, "Boss Wang, don't forget that I haven't really filmed a comedy movie so far. I may not be able to film "囧" well."

Wang Changtian waved his hand and said, "Director Zhou, I believe that as long as you are in the Lost series, this movie will not be worse than Lost in Thailand."

Compared to Xu Zheng, Wang Changtian trusts Zhou Mo more.

After all, if the "Lost" series were really to be filmed, with the same box office results, Zhou Mo would earn more than Xu Zheng.

Thinking back to the beginning, he had gone to great lengths to obtain the copyright to the "囧" series, and after getting it, he wanted to split it equally with Zhou Mo.

Isn't it just to be able to successfully tie up Zhou Mo one day?
It now appears that his plan was successful.

(End of this chapter)