Chapter 491 Applause for Your Self-Awareness (7,000-word update!)

In a small room.

Lin Suyang and Li Zhibai sat facing each other.

Li Zhibai rubbed his face vigorously.

Seeing his actions, Lin Suyang immediately sighed and said, "Can you please stop messing with your face? Bro, we make a living based on our looks."

Li Zhibai lowered his hand, looked at Lin Suyang, and said, "Brother Yang, do you think I brought this on myself?"

“Learning to be a producer isn’t about making things difficult for yourself. You might suffer a little when you’re young, but you can enjoy life when you’re older,” Lin Suyang said. “To be honest, all the people coming to you now are idol dramas, right? For a show like ‘Nineteen Years of Crime Records,’ unless you produce it yourself, no one else will come to you. That’s the advantage of being your own producer. You don’t have to wait for others to send you scripts. It’s great, even if it’s a little tiring.”

"I'm not tired at all..." Li Zhibai said, his eyes gleaming with dark circles from exhaustion. "The problem is, neither of them is willing to compromise. What can I do?"

The two people Li Zhibai was referring to, the original author Liu Jiazhen and the screenwriter Qin Yiwen, were unwilling to compromise.

Since reaching a cooperation agreement with Lighthouse Video, Lighthouse Video has acted swiftly, immediately assigning its top-tier screenwriter Qin Yiwen to adapt "Nineteen Years of Crime Records".

However, before the script was even started, Liu Jiazhen and Qin Yiwen had not reached an agreement on the direction of the adaptation.

"Knock knock knock".

Liu Jiazhen knocked on the door and came in.

Li Zhibai called out, "Teacher Liu."

Liu Jiazhen walked in looking sullen and said to Li Zhibai, "Zhibai, can't we really change the screenwriter? I feel like the screenwriter you found is particularly unreliable. She insists on adding a lot of scenes that I didn't write to my original story. Actually, I'm not against her adding some original content, but you can't change the original tone of the characters. This is originally a very serious, dark suspenseful crime story, and you insist on adding some comedic and funny elements. Isn't that just ridiculous?"

This wasn't the first time Li Zhibai had heard these words.

He acted as a mediator for these two last night, mediating until 2 a.m. without resolving the issue, so he got up early this morning to hold a meeting.

The meeting had barely lasted ten minutes when Liu Jiazhen and Qin Yiwen started arguing again.

Li Zhibai really didn't want his head to keep buzzing anymore, so he escaped just now.

Now they've been found by Liujia Town.

Li Zhibai looked to Lin Suyang for help. He really didn't know what else to say; he had said everything he could eight hundred times, and his mouth was practically burning with exhaustion.

Lin Suyang finally managed to calm Liu Jiazhen down and sent him out, but then Qin Yiwen came in.

“Zhibai, does Liu Jiazhen really have to stay here and nitpick the script? If we’re going to film it exactly like the original novel, then what’s the point of having me as the screenwriter?” Qin Yiwen crossed her arms. “His original novel is only so long. If he doesn’t enrich the details and add some things, it’ll be finished in five episodes. Can we film our drama like that? I know this drama has a very serious theme, but when can’t serious themes be interspersed with some funny comedic elements? In the past two years, which drama hasn’t included some of these elements? If the audience’s nerves are on edge from beginning to end, who would want to watch it?”

Li Zhibai stared blankly at Qin Yiwen, then looked at Lin Suyang.

Lin Suyang started working on Qin Yiwen again.

After Lin Suyang finally managed to coax Qin Yiwen away, Li Zhibai sighed and said, "Being a producer is really not for humans; there are just too many troubles."

Lin Suyang: "Since I've chosen to be a producer, I have to persevere, adapt, and not give up halfway."

Li Zhibai: "I must have lost my mind to try and become a producer like Yan He. What a joke! I should just be a star and live a comfortable life."

"Isn't this great? Others want to do this but don't even have the opportunity. Look at these actors between twenty and thirty years old, how many have the opportunity and resources to become producers? You can count them on one hand." Lin Suyang earnestly advised, "This shows that the platform and investors recognize you, which is why they are willing to give you this opportunity. Do you think this is something anyone can do just because they want to? Look at the other artists I manage, they are all still struggling to take it a step further and maintain their popularity. As long as an artist doesn't become an investor with initiative, you can't escape the fate of being chosen by others. No matter how famous you are, you're still the same."

Li Zhibai: "Of course I understand the reasoning."

“You understand the道理 (principles/reasoning), but when you start complaining, you become completely ruthless.” Lin Suyang glanced at him sideways.

Li Zhibai looked at Lin Suyang in disbelief, "How can you speak so viciously?"

Lin Suyang: "Perhaps it's because everyone has realized that only this method can subdue you."

Lin Suyang readily admitted it.

Li Zhibai: "Alas, people's hearts are no longer what they used to be."

Lin Suyang smiled slightly.

Lin Suyang and Li Zhibai have been working together for almost a year now. After this year, Lin Suyang has only one feeling: Zhou Ping'an was a complete idiot to choose Ma Zhiyuan over Li Zhibai.

It's a blessing to meet an artist like Li Zhibai; Zhou Ping'an doesn't cherish it and instead gets involved in all sorts of other nonsense.

In the past, Li Zhibai was portrayed as quite difficult to deal with in the media and on camera, and of course, he's pretty much the same in real life. He has a bad temper, and you have to appease him. When he starts nagging and complaining, you just want to block him.

But what else?

Such a lazy person never stumbles at work. Even if you complain to the point of exhaustion, his grumbling will never translate into negligence in his actions.

Humans are also deeply emotional beings. Once you've spent a lot of time together and become familiar with each other, they'll start to see you as one of their own.

Lin Suyang never said anything, and when there were work opportunities, he would take the initiative to bring along other artists that Lin Suyang was managing.

As for the jobs Lin Suyang arranged for him, Li Zhibai was actually a very easy person to talk to. As long as you were frank with him, explaining why he accepted one job out of personal favor, another because he saw it as a good opportunity, and yet another, while not a great opportunity, had a very talented producer, and it would be good to build a good relationship through it, Li Zhibai didn't care about social niceties. Once you explained things clearly, he wouldn't throw a tantrum and refuse to accept them.

This person was completely beyond Lin Suyang's expectations.

Li Zhibai never hid anything from him. Sometimes, Lin Suyang would hear from other places that someone was contacting Li Zhibai, wanting to discuss cooperation on XX projects. At first, Lin Suyang was quite nervous, worried that Li Zhibai would bypass him and take these jobs, just like Ma Zhiyuan had done before. But basically, Li Zhibai would give him the projects that Lin Suyang heard about shortly afterward, saying he wanted to take some and didn't want to take others, asking Lin Suyang to find a reason to refuse.

Lin Suyang gradually relaxed. He really wasn't a controlling, strict, or overly controlling manager; he wasn't the kind of manager who was self-serving and exploitative of artists. Before, because of Ma Zhiyuan's incident, he was so angry that he almost completely lost hope in the industry. After meeting Li Zhibai, Lin Suyang realized that sometimes, don't blame the harsh environment; it's just that you've met the wrong person.

Later, Li Zhibai trusted him more and more. Besides work-related matters, Li Zhibai also asked him to handle other things. For example, this "Nineteen Years of Criminal Records" which had little to do with him.

During the production process, Li Zhibai would always call him over, acting like a spoiled child, calling for "Brother Yang" whenever he encountered a major problem.

Lin Suyang couldn't help but curse him, but he still tried his best to help him solve the problem. Even though he couldn't actually get a cut from Li Zhibai's efforts. Li Zhibai's production work had nothing to do with his identity as an agent.

After calming both sides down, Lin Suyang said to Li Zhibai, "This kind of appeasement is not a long-term solution. We need to reach a consensus on the script as soon as possible before we can start writing. Let's think of a way to get the two of them to reach a consensus."

Li Zhibai waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about that for now. I sent a message to Yan He and asked him to help me think of a solution. Take a look at this first."

He pulled an agreement from his bag, which was wrapped in a plastic stationery bag.

"What is this?" Lin Suyang asked.

Li Zhibai said, "I'm really tired of being a producer. I can't handle it. I overestimated myself. Can you help me?"

When Lin Suyang opened it, he found it was the producer contract for "Nineteen Years of Crime Records".

"The reward I'm giving you isn't much, and the budget is limited, so just consider it helping out." Li Zhibai put his hands behind his head. "Help me."

Co-producer, received a salary of 500,000 yuan, and did not receive any subsequent profit sharing.

Lin Suyang was taken aback.

An agent of his caliber can earn around two million a year. When Li Zhibai is doing well, his commission can be as high as four or five million.

This was the first time Lin Suyang had received an invitation to a position like co-producer.

A salary of 500,000 yuan—

This is certainly not a small amount. Lin Suyang himself is an agent, so he knows very well what the typical proportions of personnel and budget are in a film.

There were nearly eight or nine co-producers in this film, and Lin Suyang guessed that he must have been one of the biggest contributors.

Lin Suyang glanced at Li Zhibai in surprise.

"You're finding all sorts of ways to make extra money for me."

Li Zhibai said, "What extra income? You have to do a lot of things for me. I don't want to be a producer anymore, but I'm on this pirate ship now, so I have to finish this job."

Lin Suyang smiled, pushed the agreement back, and said, "I'm doing these things for you, so I don't need this agreement. You're my artist, and if you do well, I'll benefit too. There's no need to calculate so clearly."

Li Zhibai frowned. "Take it. It's not like I'm paying you a salary myself. Lighthouse Video is paying you, so why not take it?"

Lin Suyang paused for a moment, then smiled, "Okay, then I'll sign it."

“Also, there’s a college student role in this show that I think would be a good fit for Chen Jing. Didn’t you say before that he wanted to try acting? This college student role doesn’t have many scenes, but it offers a lot of room for performance. You could let him give it a try,” Li Zhibai said.

Lin Suyang looked at Li Zhibai intently, and after two seconds, nodded.

"good."

-

Lu Yanhe took some time to visit the lighthouse video site.

Looking at Li Zhibai's utterly dejected expression, he couldn't help but laugh for almost a minute before he finally stopped.

"Where are Brother Jiazhen and Teacher Qin?"

"We just had a fight, and now we've all gone home," Li Zhibai said.

Lin Suyang brought Lu Yanhe a bottle of mineral water.

"Thanks."

Lu Yanhe received it and thanked him.

He asked Li Zhibai, "Leaving aside their thoughts for now, what about yourself? What are your thoughts on adapting this drama into a web series?"

Li Zhibai: "I actually think that Teacher Qin's adaptation idea makes sense. This is not a movie, so it is impossible to tell a story in such a concise way, especially since the original story has a very tragic tone. I also hope to intersperse some passages that can soothe people's emotions and add some funny parts. Of course, it will not affect the main tone."

“I actually quite like the overall gloomy atmosphere of the original work,” Li Zhibai said. “But if it’s made into a TV series and it’s gloomy from beginning to end, it’s definitely high-class, but as a viewer, I just can’t watch it.”

Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Okay, I understand what you mean. I'll talk to Brother Jiazhen."

Upon hearing Lu Yanhe's words, Li Zhibai hesitated and said, "Don't try to persuade Teacher Jiazhen. I'll go instead. I just wanted to ask you how to proceed. You have a good relationship with him, so don't let this upset you."

“It’s not that bad,” Lu Yanhe said. “Actually, Jiazhen is a very easy person to communicate with. He’s particularly wary of others changing the style or adding elements that aren’t in the original work because that’s what the previous film version did, and it ended up being a hodgepodge. Jiazhen is a novelist and doesn’t understand film and television production. So, he suffered a loss in this regard, and he feels that such approaches are problematic. I went to explain it to him clearly, explaining it to him from the perspective of film and television creation. He’s not a stubborn person.”

Li Zhibai then understood what Lu Yanhe meant.

“I’ll go with you,” Li Zhibai said. “I’ll observe and learn from you.”

-

Just as Lu Yanhe said, Liu Jiazhen is not the kind of writer who does not allow others to change a single word of his original work.

He was once bitten by a snake, and now he's afraid of ropes for ten years.

"Teacher Qin Yiwen is a very experienced screenwriter. Although she is young, she has already created several excellent works. Brother Jiazhen, you can go and check out her past adaptations."

Lu Yanhe said to Liu Jiazhen, "I just looked into what Teacher Qin's adaptation plan is, and I roughly understand why you're unwilling. It's probably because Teacher Qin's adaptation plan is similar to many of the approaches taken in the film version, making you worried about repeating the same mistakes, isn't that right?"

Liu Jiazhen sighed and nodded.

“You know what I’m thinking,” Liu Jiazhen said. “It’s not that I don’t want her to make innovative adaptations, but at least don’t change the overall storyline and style. Otherwise, readers will definitely still feel cheated.”

Lu Yanhe: "No, what Teacher Qin excels at is taking other people's stories, maintaining the core and theme of the original work, and adding new elements to give the audience a sense of novelty. Because many people are already familiar with the story of 'Nineteen Years of Crime Records,' with Zhi Bai playing a murderer, everyone knows he's a murderer the moment he appears. So, the adaptation of the series inevitably needs to be adjusted to keep the audience looking forward to it and feeling fresh. Teacher Qin wanted to add some such elements and innovative content to the script, firstly to enrich the story, and secondly to use these comedic elements—of course, these must be placed in appropriate places to create a strong contrast, so that when the final somber emotions reach the audience's hearts, they will be more moved."

Liu Jiazhen looked at Lu Yanhe with a mixture of belief and doubt.

Seeing this, Li Zhibai said, "Teacher Liu, although I am now the producer and lead actor of this drama, I am first and foremost a reader. I read the very first script of the movie version—not the rubbish that was finally shown—and I liked it very much, so I bought and read your original work as well."

He nervously crossed his hands together.

“As a reader, I am very clear about the theme and core elements of this story,” Li Zhibai said. “I certainly won’t change these crucial parts, but as Yan He just said, your original novel is very popular and a bestseller. Secondly, it was adapted into a movie, and many viewers have seen it and know what the story is like. If we want to make the adaptation of this drama still enjoyable and fresh for viewers who know the story, we will definitely have to make some major changes.”

"Teacher Qin doesn't want to turn the whole story into a comedy. If that were her idea, I would definitely be the first to disagree, let alone you," Li Zhibai said. "She won't change the characters' personalities to make them funny or quirky, let alone make it a parody. Instead, she will add some everyday and lighthearted segments on that basis."

“How do we add this? It’s actually easy to turn it into a hodgepodge, isn’t it?” Liu Jiazhen asked.

Li Zhibai: "For example, when the police were searching for my whereabouts, there were many investigation and inquiry stages. In those stages, they could have used ordinary, down-to-earth people to add some shameless thugs and hooligans. They refused to cooperate and were extremely arrogant, but they didn't expect to kick a hornet's nest. They immediately changed their tune and begged for mercy, something like that."

Liu Jiazhen was silent for two seconds, then asked, "Did Teacher Qin say this? She just added these contents in these places?"

“That’s right.” Li Zhibai nodded. He could tell that Liu Jiazhen’s attitude had softened.

Lu Yanhe smiled and looked at Liu Jiazhen, "How about we write the script for the first episode following this idea? What do you think?"

Liu Jiazhen took a deep breath and said, "Okay then."

-

Having finally resolved the conflict between Liu Jiazhen and Qin Yiwen, Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai went to have dinner nearby.

"You're treating tonight," Lu Yanhe said. "You've come all this way, so treat me to a nice meal."

"Eat whatever you want." Li Zhibai hooked his arm around Lu Yanhe's neck, his tone unusually relaxed.

"I've noticed that you've really changed since you became a producer. You speak so eloquently and have managed to persuade people in Liujia Town so quickly."

“I told you long ago, he’s not the stubborn type,” Lu Yanhe laughed. “Now you know how annoying it is to be a producer, right?”

"It's so annoying. When I'm acting, I don't have to deal with so much trouble. I just go to the set, act out the scene, and leave. It's so easy," Li Zhibai said. "I never expected that just writing a script would cause so much trouble, before I even started writing it."

“Think about it, a project with a production cost of nine figures, a film crew, from the director to the production assistant, involves hundreds of production staff. How could there be no trouble?” Lu Yanhe said. “Anyway, when filming on a film crew, it’s impossible not to encounter some trouble or problems. All the producers and directors have told me the same thing.”

Li Zhibai: "Aren't you annoyed?"

“It’s annoying, but there’s no use being annoyed,” Lu Yanhe said. “Unless you stop being a producer and just become an actor, then you can focus solely on acting.”

Having done well as an actor, the decision to become a producer at this point is undoubtedly due to having more ideas and hoping to gain more control.

Lu Yanhe didn't know if Li Zhibai would be willing to persevere, or if he would give up after experiencing the difficulties of being a producer.

For them, especially for them personally, transitioning to becoming producers is a really tough job.

They are still so young, they don't need to think about transitioning at all.

They could easily enjoy another seven or eight years of comfortable life, accumulating more experience, social connections, and resources before starting to plan their career transition.

Lu Yanhe knew that if it weren't for his role as a producer, Li Zhibai probably wouldn't have come up with this idea so quickly.

Of course, there was another major reason. At the time, Li Zhibai wanted to act in the film version of "Nineteen Years of Crime Records," but Ruyi Pictures rejected him and took Chen Ziliang instead. Looking back now, Ruyi Pictures must be kicking themselves, but being rejected at the time must have been quite a blow to Li Zhibai.

Li Zhibai said, "We'll see if we do it later. But we've already started this time, so we can't just give up halfway. We have to grit our teeth and keep going."

Lu Yanhe laughed.

"It's not easy for you to say something like that. Yan Liang should hear it too."

"Get out of my way." Li Zhibai glanced at him sideways. "In your eyes, I have no redeeming qualities, do you?"

Lu Yanhe: "The most valuable quality in a person is self-awareness; your self-awareness is a fine quality."

-

The two of them hadn't eaten together for quite some time.

Since returning from filming, Li Zhibai has been busy with the production of "Nineteen Years of Crime Records".

Originally, both of them were not on set and had relatively free time.

Li Zhibai said, "The Lingyun Award invited me to participate. Do you think I have a chance to win this time? If I don't have a chance, I won't bother going. It's pointless."

Lu Yanhe asked curiously, "We're inviting you to present an award?"

“Hmm,” Li Zhibai said. “I’ve never won an award myself, not even been nominated. How can you expect me to present an award? It’s not righteous.”

"That's because they value your influence, right?" Lu Yanhe laughed. "Isn't that great? Go ahead and you can meet a lot of people. When you're making the drama 'Nineteen Years of Crime Records,' don't you need to find a lot of actors? Right now, you and Teacher Jiang Jun have been cast, but there are still many roles that haven't been cast yet."

"Can those movie actors even appreciate TV dramas?" Li Zhibai questioned. "I've noticed that those in the film industry really hold their noses high and can't stand TV dramas."

“Who are those people? I don’t know many people like that. Don’t let their prejudices affect you,” Lu Yanhe said. “Look at Sister Bige, she’s practically a movie queen, but she still acts in TV dramas. She acted in the first season and she’s going to act in the second season.”

“That’s you guys. Let me tell you, you just have a really good team to work with, so you don’t have many chances to encounter those monsters and demons,” Li Zhibai said. “Of course, I’m not qualified to say I’ve encountered a lot, but I have encountered a few. Oh my, I’ve acted in a few movies, and, well, I’ve even acted in movies by big directors. They were so arrogant, they practically had garlic sticking out of their nostrils and were being carried around like that.”

Lu Yanhe asked, "You encountered this while filming a TV series?"

"Um."

"What's the point of saying anything then? If he's so capable, he shouldn't be acting in TV dramas." Lu Yanhe said speechlessly.

Even if a hierarchy of disdain for movies over TV series still exists in the industry, not many people would openly display it.

Only the most superficial people would put on such airs.

Li Zhibai: "Haha, I tease them like that too."

Lu Yanhe: "You're not afraid of offending people."

"What am I afraid of? I've never been afraid of anyone since I was a child."

"Give me a break, aren't you afraid Meng Li will continue to harass you?" Lu Yanhe asked.

Li Zhibai: "...Why did you suddenly bring up that madman when we were having a perfectly good conversation?"

"Then you're bragging, acting like you're fearless." Lu Yanhe retorted.

Li Zhibai: "Who's bragging? You're just deliberately picking a fight."

Lu Yanhe laughed.

"What's so funny?"

Lu Yanhe: "I've never seen anyone call themselves a fart."

"Damn it." Li Zhibai cursed. His phone suddenly rang. He picked it up, glanced at it, and then put it down again.

But then, the phone suddenly rang again.

This time it was a phone call.

Li Zhibai frowned and said irritably, "Why is this never going to end?"

Upon seeing this, Lu Yanhe asked, "Who is it? Is this a nuisance call?"

"Yeah, it's a spam call." Li Zhibai put down his phone and hung up immediately.

Lu Yanhe: "Then be careful not to let anyone recognize you as Li Zhibai. It would be troublesome if your number were leaked."

“No.” Li Zhibai pointed to his phone. “He’s not a stranger, I know him. He just keeps bothering me, it’s really annoying.”

Lu Yanhe was taken aback, looking at Li Zhibai in surprise. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "A woman?"

Li Zhibai nodded.

-

"The Idealist Lu Yanhe" (3) has been updated, in the same place~

(End of this chapter)