We've basically covered the issue of character design.

Although somewhat disappointed that she couldn't play a villainous protagonist, Shang Yechu accepted Gu Wenhua's changes. As for whether Sheng Wenzhi would accept it or not, Shang Yechu had already given up hope.

Even if Sheng Wenzhi wants to reclaim the copyright, the lawsuit will take a year and a half, by which time "Rules General Store" will have already been filmed. If all else fails, they can just use a fake script to get by. Ji Juntao is good at this, so let's leave it to her.

With the character designs finalized, the next crucial element is the plot.

Shang Yechu picked up the plot modified by Gu Wenhua and started reading.

"Dessert shop rule: Please bring your smile, it's the key to sweetness..."

Shang Yechu read one line and immediately sensed something was wrong. She put down the page and turned to the next, only to find that the rules on the following pages were also quite varied. Bookstores, barbershops, CD and video stores, roast duck shops, ice cream shops—Shang Yechu flipped through several pages before finally landing on the general store.

Shang Yechu immediately understood: Gu Wenhua had expanded the story's setting to the entire commercial street!

“A single grocery store lacks depth and is not attractive enough to the audience,” Gu Wenhua explained. “Few viewers would pay to watch a story that takes place in a small shop of a few dozen square meters. But if it’s an entire street, it will be much better.”

“Besides,” Gu Wenhua hadn’t forgotten why Shang Yechu wanted to make this film, “grocery stores are all over the country and don’t really have much of a connection with Happiness Commercial Street. But if the story is set on an entire street, or even if the set is built and filmed on Happiness Commercial Street, then the connection will be very strong! As soon as the audience sees this movie, they will think of this old street.”

Shang Yechu certainly knew that Gu Wenhua was right. But, but!

If the story's setting is expanded to encompass the entire commercial street, then the original script's plot will obviously need to be selectively edited; otherwise, it will become unbalanced. In addition, a significant amount of new plot material centered around other types of shops will need to be rewritten!

Shang Yechu is not a great writer, and Gu Wenhua is a director, not a screenwriter, so it's impossible for them to come up with so many plots.

Therefore, the person who needs to shoulder the responsibility of supplementing the plot is already clear...

Shang Yechu's vision went black, then white. The Yin-Yang Contract in her imagination grew wings and flew away, turning into a buzzing, strange mosquito.

Shang Yechu rubbed her aching temples, put down the paper, and said calmly, "Xiao Gu, what else did you change? Tell me everything in one go."

She can handle it.

Gu Wenhua's eyes widened: "Ye Chu, did you not sleep well last night?"

It's not that I didn't get enough rest last night; I won't be able to get enough rest for the next few months.

Shang Yechu nodded listlessly. Talking to Gu Wenhua about this was pointless; it would only add to his troubles and exacerbate the conflict between the director and screenwriter.

“Then I’ll get straight to the point,” Gu Wenhua said immediately. “Besides that, the order in which the main characters appear also needs to be changed. In the original script, the characters appear one after another. The next person only appears after the previous one dies, which is too thin and too slow. It lacks the conflict and drama of an ensemble cast.”

Shang Ye's head was buzzing when he heard this.

"I plan to get straight to the point, quickly assembling all the characters within the first ten minutes and sacrificing one as cannon fodder. This will rapidly draw the audience into the tense situation and immerse them in the story."

"Of course, creating characters in such a short time is a challenge. But these characters are very typical film and television figures, so they don't actually need much characterization. Just a few lines and plots that fit the stereotypes will automatically fill in the blanks in the audience's minds..."

Gu Wenhua's theory, known as the Character Archetype Schema in film and television creation, is a fairly common narrative technique, or rather, a lazy technique. It uses the audience's preconceived notions about certain things to evoke the characters in the audience's minds.

For example, seeing a white coat and stethoscope, the audience knows it's a doctor without explanation. Seeing an old man in sunglasses telling fortunes, his clothes fluttering in the wind, the audience automatically imagines him as a reclusive sage. This phenomenon is also common in the West, such as Hollywood's infamous hair color discrimination—all blonde beauties are assumed to be brainless idiots; assassins must have facial paralysis.

It sounds a bit like a hyperlink in a document.

This method of character development is time-saving and labor-saving, and it also makes the plot more concise and the pace faster, without having to spend time on character development. It can be said to be the bible of commercial films.

Gu Wenhua's plan to use this method in "The Rules General Store" was both unexpected by Shang Yechu and gave Shang Yechu a feeling of "Oh, I knew it".

Too professional, too commercial.