Chapter 210 Spring Festival Gala Consultant
Almost at the first moment when Deng Zaijun mentioned "party", a word popped up in Lin Weimin's mind like a conditioned reflex.
"Spring Festival Gala".
For Chinese people born after the 1980s, the meaning of the term Spring Festival Gala is basically equivalent to the Chinese New Year.
Deng Zaijun now holds a very important position in CCTV. It is already late November, and the two major holidays approaching are New Year's Day and the Spring Festival.
Lin Weimin had already learned from Teacher Jinshan that CCTV would make an exception and broadcast the TV series "The Cliff" on New Year's Eve this year, so it was naturally impossible to hold the party on New Year's Day.
Then there is only one possibility, and that is the Spring Festival Gala.
The word "party" was still a relatively unfamiliar term to Chinese people in 1983.
All folk entertainment activities are like shy girls, secretive and timid.
Most people's entertainment life is still limited to open-air movies that can be watched a few times a year, model operas on the radio, or "Lush Mountain Love", "Legend of Tianyun Mountain", "Happy Family", "The Shepherd" and other dramas that young people watch together when they are in love...
If you want to pursue something higher, you can watch dramas, plays, etc., but that’s about it.
The emergence of the Spring Festival Gala can be said to have, to some extent, revolutionized the entertainment life of the Chinese people in the 1980s and 1990s, and this change often only lasts for a brief moment.
Deng Zaijun sat in the editorial office of Contemporary Magazine and told Lin Weimin the detailed information of the evening party she was going to organize.
It all started when Huang Yihe, then director of the song and dance group of CCTV's Art Department, received a call from station director Wang Feng.
In 1978, China Central Television, which had just resumed broadcasting, resumed broadcasting the New Year's Gala, which included singing and dancing performances, crosstalk, storytelling, Peking opera and other programs, as well as game segments.
Since the Buzz Buzz show had just ended, it was broadcast via recorded video.
In 1979, CCTV organized its own "tea house"-style "New Year's Gala", which was co-directed by Deng Zaijun and Yang Jie, who were directors of the song and dance group of CCTV's Art Department at the time.
The opening part of the evening party overturned the long propaganda slogans and New Year greetings of the past, and instead boldly arranged ballroom dances that were rare at the time, which caused a great response.
The song "Toast" sung by Li Guangxi at the party became the most popular song of the year and became famous all over the country.
Since then, there have been Spring Festival Galas of different sizes and forms every year.
In the winter of 1982, Huang Yihe became the person in charge of the "New Year's Gala". He immediately proposed to Wang Feng the bold idea of using live broadcast.
Live broadcast is a feature unique to television, and CCTV’s leadership agreed to the proposal after a brief discussion.
But this is easier said than done. At that time, the Chinese television industry had no experience in broadcasting large-scale evening parties, so everything had to start from scratch.
In order to support Huang Yihe's work, several other heavyweight directors and screenwriters in the station also took action, including Deng Zaijun, who was previously responsible for the "New Year's Eve Gala".
At present, the program arrangement of the Spring Festival Gala has just taken shape. Like previous sessions, it will mainly include singing and dancing performances, crosstalk and storytelling, opera performances, and audience interaction.
"So why did you ask me to come here this time..." Lin Weimin asked.
Deng Zaijun said: "The major parts of this evening show are still similar to the past, but our editing and directing team still wants to bring forth something new. We plan to introduce skits, but the script is a problem. The Spring Festival is a day for family reunion, so the atmosphere of skits must be relaxed and joyful. Few of my comrades are good at this. It just so happens that my daughter and I went to see the play "The Intouchables" written by you before, and the comedy part was very impressive..."
When Deng Zaijun said this, Lin Weimin had completely understood what she meant. "You want me to help write a skit for this year's Spring Festival Gala."
At that time, the name of "Spring Festival Gala" had not yet been officially decided, and Lin Weimin called it according to the name given by Deng Zaijun.
Deng Zaijun smiled and said, "Not only that, I hope you can help coordinate the script and rehearse the skits at the party."
"Teacher Deng, you think too highly of me. I only have a basic understanding of scripts, but when it comes to coordination and rehearsal, I really know nothing about it," Lin Weimin said modestly.
He had originally planned to wait for Lao Guo to leave before going to see his girlfriend, but he was delayed by Lao Guo's affairs a few days ago. If he took this job, he would basically be tied up in Yanjing before the New Year.
"Teacher Lin, don't say that. I am very clear about your ability in literary creation. Although skits are performances, their core is driven by words and language. It's just that the form of expression is different.
And your job happens to be the most core and scarce thing for this kind of program."
Deng Zaijun said this with sincere words and a genuine expression, "Teacher Lin, we at CCTV are very determined to innovate this year's Spring Festival Gala, and we also hope to give the people of the country a refreshing experience. Please come and help."
The other party was very humble and had said this. If Lin Weimin continued to refuse, the people of the whole country would not have a good New Year. He had no choice but to agree.
"Then I'll give it a try."
Deng Zaijun said happily: "This is great. Now our comrades in the director team can rest assured."
Lin Weimin said: "Teacher Deng, you think too highly of me."
"I'm not looking up to you, I'm respecting you. At least among the people I know, no one has achieved your accomplishments in literary creation."
When Deng Zaijun was speaking, his admiration for Lin Weimin was self-evident in his eyes.
Lin Weimin couldn't help but think of Zhou Meng who had written to him before. This girl still insisted on writing letters. Lin Weimin would occasionally write her a letter in reply. He could only regard Deng Zaijun's words as a compliment.
After making an appointment to attend a meeting at CCTV next Monday, Deng Zaijun left the Guowen Publishing House.
After she left, her colleagues joked, "She was fine for the people, but now she's working as a consultant for CCTV."
When Deng Zaijun asked Lin Weimin for help, he must have given him a title. He is now the chief screenwriter and consultant of the skit program of CCTV's New Year's Eve Gala.
There wasn't even a letter of authorization, just a verbal one.
There was no such thing as "language programs" at that time, otherwise Lin Weimin would now be considered the chief director of "language programs".
It’s quite exciting to say it out loud!
On Monday morning, Lin Weimin rode his motorcycle to the radio compound on Nanlishi Road in XC District.
At this time in 1982, there was no sign of the "Big Pants" that would later become famous throughout the country. CCTV was still working in the radio compound on Nanlishi Road, Yanjing XC District, together with China National Radio and the China Broadcasting Art Troupe Rap Group.
In a wooden bungalow on the west side of the radio building is the office of the song and dance group's directors, and also where today's meeting is held.
Lin Weimin was sitting casually at a desk, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand.
The other people in the room were sitting in the same casual manner as him.
Huang Yihe looks very capable. He is in his forties and belongs to the young generation of CCTV. He has been entrusted with important tasks by the station, so naturally he will take the lead in today's meeting.
The preparation for the New Year's Eve Gala, also known as the Spring Festival Gala, was carried out in the form of a director group. In addition to Huang Yihe, there were also Deng Zaijun, Yang Jie and others.
When Lin Weimin saw Yang Jie, he couldn't help but think of his youthful and frivolous days. He was so busy looking at the monkey that he ignored so many beautiful women.
As he was thinking, Lin Weimin's thoughts began to diverge again. What would Zhu Lin, the Queen of the Kingdom of Daughters, do now that she has finished filming "The Cliff"?
"This is Mr. Lin Weimin, our director team specially invited him to be the screenwriter and consultant in charge of coordinating the skit program."
While Lin Weimin was daydreaming, Huang Yihe introduced him to everyone present, and Lin Weimin quickly stood up and nodded to everyone.
A person's reputation is like the shadow of a tree. Lin Weimin is now famous. All the members of the preparatory group know him, but not many people have seen him.
"Teacher Lin, this is Teacher Ma Ji. You should know him. He is mainly responsible for the crosstalk program of the evening party. You two can communicate more in the future." Huang Yihe introduced a smiling middle-aged man to Lin Weimin.
As for the Universe brand cigarettes, of course Lin Weimin knew about it.
Ma Ji is a member of the Spring Festival Gala preparatory group. He is in his forties and is already a heavyweight in the domestic folk art world. However, what really made his name famous throughout the country and made him a leading figure in the crosstalk world was his participation in several Spring Festival Galas in the 1980s.
Lin Weimin shook hands with him and exchanged a few words.
Today's meeting was mainly for the director team to call the main behind-the-scenes personnel of the entire Spring Festival Gala preparation team to get everyone familiar with each other and arrange the division of labor and tasks for each person in the future.
Lin Weimin is the screenwriter and consultant of sketch shows, and the person he has the most contact with is Deng Zaijun.
At the end of the meeting, Huang Yihe presented the program arrangement plan for this year's Spring Festival Gala.
There are a total of 55 programs, which basically cover all the program formats of the later Spring Festival Gala. Only a small part of them have confirmed the detailed information of the programs, and most of them are just drafted without any details.
Lin Weimin's task was to ensure that at least three skits would be performed on the stage of the evening party. Huang Yihe did not give him a specific number, but asked that it would be better to prepare more scripts.
When Huang Yihe said this, Lin Weimin raised his hand and said, "Director Huang, I want to say a few words about the script..."
Huang Yihe stood in the middle of the room and said, "Teacher Lin, don't feel pressured. If you really don't have time to create, you can first come up with an outline and discuss it with our director team to see which one to use and which one not to use."
Lin Weimin smiled modestly, "Thank you Director Huang for your understanding. I just wanted to say that Director Deng came to see me a few days ago, and I happened to have nothing to do at night, so I wrote a few scripts. How about you take a look first?"
Huang Yihe: ...
Everyone: ...
Ten thousand words have been written today, that's all for today. Tomorrow's update will still be live code, so the time is not fixed. Please bear with me. I will try to write more tomorrow and fix the update time back to 8 am.
(End of this chapter)
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