Chapter 381 The Scourge of the Film Industry
That day, Liang Xiaosheng came to the editorial office of Contemporary Magazine to find Lin Weimin.
"Xiaosheng? Why are you here?"
"I have something to ask you."
Liang Xiaosheng sat down, drank a sip of tea, and talked about the purpose of his visit today.
It turned out that director Xie Tieli was going to shoot a movie version of "Dream of Red Mansions" and wanted to ask Lin Weimin if he was interested in being the screenwriter of the movie.
"Why are you looking for me?" Lin Weimin asked.
Liang Xiaosheng said, "Aren't you a consultant for CCTV's TV series? And I heard that you also helped with the script. Director Xie thinks you have experience and are capable in drama creation."
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "I just went there to make a cameo appearance in CCTV's TV series, and I didn't help with anything specific."
Liang Xiaosheng didn't understand what "dajiangyou" meant, but he understood what Lin Weimin meant, "But you are a consultant after all."
Lin Weimin sighed, "I understand. Director Xie is planning to use me as a scapegoat?"
Liang Xiaosheng stopped talking and gave him a look. You said all this yourself, I didn’t say it.
"Dream of the Red Chamber" is one of the four great classics. If a director wants to make a film about it, no matter whether it is a movie or a TV series, the people will naturally be concerned.
Whether the photo is taken well or not is one thing, and the attitude is another.
CCTV has recruited a group of experts to form an advisory committee. It is not easy to invite so many experts, and CCTV has put in a lot of effort.
Besides, even if Xie Tieli could invite more people, could he have invited more people than CCTV? In the end, it would have seemed like he was just repeating what others had said.
But Xie Tieli always had to express his opinion, so he thought of Lin Weimin, the youngest consultant in the advisory group of the CCTV version of "Dream of Red Mansions".
It's just a job anyway, and Lin Weimin's screenwriting ability is well-known, so why not invite him to be a screenwriter?
Lin Weimin knew very well that being a screenwriter for a famous work was definitely a thankless task.
If the film is good, it's because the original novel is good. If the film is bad, the director and screenwriter are rubbish.
He would never do such a thing even if he was beaten to death.
After being rejected outright, Liang Xiaosheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Director Xie asked me to come because he foresaw this situation."
"It turns out he doesn't have much sincerity!" Lin Weimin said in a light tone.
Liang Xiaosheng said, "You don't know your reputation among the directors of Yanying Department, do you?"
Lin Weimin stopped talking.
Previously, Yanjing Film Studio and Xie Jin had both approached him to discuss the adaptation of their works, wanting him, the original author, to be the screenwriter. However, as a screenwriter, he was more powerful than the director, and no director could stand him. Now his reputation as a difficult person has spread throughout the Yanjing film circle.
At the end of last year, there was news that he had kicked out more than a dozen people from the crew of the mainland-Hong Kong co-production he had put together. The director and producer were so suppressed that they dared not say a word, which made everyone even more frightened.
This kind of screenwriter is simply a scourge to the film industry!
Xie Tieli asked Liang Xiaosheng to invite Lin Weimin with the mentality of giving it a try.
Anyway, he wasn't the one who came. If the deal went well, he, as a director, would have face and could invite Lin Weimin. If the deal failed, it would just be Liang Xiaosheng's fault.
Liang Xiaosheng's words choked Lin Weimin so much that he was speechless. He stood up and said, "Then my mission is accomplished."
After saying that, he wanted to get up and leave, but was stopped by Lin Weimin, "Don't leave yet!"
"Anything else?"
"Manuscript, do you have any recently?"
"No."
"Really? The remuneration standards of our editorial department have increased a lot recently!" Lin Weimin tempted.
There was a hint of excitement in Liang Xiaosheng's eyes, but he had to be realistic and if there was no emotion, there was no emotion.
"I'll definitely send it over when I finish writing it."
Lin Weimin was very satisfied with Liang Xiaosheng's attitude, and he took Liang Xiaosheng aside to chat a few more words about "Dream of Red Mansions".
——
In early April, after half a year of filming, "Legend of a Female Doctor" was finally completed, and Lin Weimin specially invited his colleagues in the crew to have a meal.
Quanjude was almost booked out by Teacher Lin, and the staff praised Teacher Lin for his generosity.
After half a year, even the staff in Hong Kong knew that Lin Weimin was rich.
During the meal, Zhang Guorong came to toast again, "Mr. Lin, I hope we can have the opportunity to work together again."
He was thinking about the role of Cheng Dieyi, and Lin Weimin naturally knew it. He smiled and said, "There will be a chance."
The day after the banquet, the Xiangjiang team left Yanjing. The post-production of "The Female Doctor" will be done at TVB. The two places have already formulated a broadcast plan. Both TV stations have their own broadcast plans, and the time cannot be completely unified.
The broadcast is expected to be in mid-June, no more than a week away.
There was no Internet back then, and TV stations didn't worry at all about the time difference in broadcasting.
After Xiangjiang’s team left, Tao Huimin began to feel melancholy.
She was an actor seconded by CCTV. Although she had finished filming her part, the play was not over yet. The troupe was unaware of the situation, so she took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy some time alone in Yanjing.
Now that the filming has been completed, it won’t be a big deal if it is delayed any further.
So these two days, Tao Huimin was in a very worried mood.
"There is good news! And there is bad news! Which one do you want to hear?" When he returned home in the evening, Lin Weimin said to Tao Huimin.
"What good news?" Tao Huimin looked gloomy. When she thought of the impending separation, she lost the energy to do anything.
In the past, I was separated from my boyfriend for half a year or a year, but I never felt this way.
"You chose good news?" Lin Weimin teased her deliberately.
Tao Huimin rolled her eyes at him and became more and more charming, which made Teacher Lin want to teach her a lesson.
After a lesson, Lin Weimin said to Tao Huimin in his arms: "Director Xie Tieli is going to shoot A Dream of Red Mansions. I recommend you to audition."
"Dream of the Red Chamber? Hasn't it already been filmed?"
"That was the TV series Dream of the Red Chamber produced by CCTV. The one I'm talking about is the movie version of Dream of the Red Chamber produced and invested by Yanying Studio."
Tao Huimin asked: "Who can I play if I go there?"
"Sister Lin!"
She looked unconvinced, "Don't lie to me, how can I play Lin Daiyu?"
"What? Even if you don't have confidence in yourself, you have to have confidence in my vision!"
Tao Huimin looked puzzled: "What do you mean?"
"My creed for finding a girlfriend is to find a stunningly beautiful woman!" Lin Weimin said flowerily.
Tao Huimin blushed when he praised her.
After joking, Lin Weimin turned serious and said, "Sister Lin is a real lady from a noble family. You have a gentle and delicate temperament, so you can definitely play the role."
Tao Huimin felt very insecure when he praised her, and she couldn't help feeling a little nervous when she thought about auditioning for such an important role.
"By the way, you just told me the good news, but what about the bad news?" Tao Huimin asked.
"The bad news is that even if you pass the audition, you won't stay in Yanjing forever. The Yanjing version of A Dream of Red Mansions has an investment of over 10 million yuan, and the filming needs to be done in several cities across the country."
Tao Huimin was indeed disappointed when she heard this. When she heard that she could act in "Dream of Red Mansions", she was most happy that she could stay in Yanjing again under the pretext of filming, but she didn't expect the reality to be like this.
"Don't frown like that!" Lin Weimin touched her cheek, "I won't stay in Yanjing forever, nor will I never leave Yanjing. It's just that I can't do it like I did when I filmed "The Legend of the Female Doctor" before."
Lin Weimin's consolation made Tao Huimin happy again. He continued, "Although I am not optimistic about the Yanying version of A Dream of Red Mansions, it is a rare opportunity for a fledgling actor like you."
"Why don't you think highly of the Yanying version of A Dream of Red Mansions?" Tao Huimin asked curiously.
"There is an inherent conflict between a huge work like Dream of the Red Chamber and the art form of film.
The extraordinary thing about Dream of the Red Chamber is the emotions, as well as the various characters and social conditions depicted by Cao Xueqin. However, the length of a movie is limited, so how can it fully present the vast content of the novel?
Even if Director Xie could film all of this, movies are different from TV series. You can't watch them at home by turning on the TV. You have to go to the cinema to watch them. Such a grand movie, no matter how short it is, has to be divided into several parts before it can be released.
This is where the problem comes in. Even though there are so many people watching movies now, it seems like a popular art form that you can watch as long as you go to the cinema.
But it is precisely because of this threshold, which does not seem to be a threshold, that most of the audiences interested in "Dream of Red Mansions" are blocked from entering the cinema.
In addition, if the film is released in several parts, it will be difficult for the audience to follow them one by one. These are the problems that the Yanying version of "Dream of Red Mansions" will face."
After listening to Lin Weimin's words, Tao Huimin nodded in agreement, "So according to what you said, doesn't it mean that the TV version of Dream of Red Mansions has a much higher chance of success than the Yanying version?"
Lin Weimin nodded, "Not bad!"
Although CCTV's TV series version of "Dream of Red Mansions" was launched early, in fact, before the two different versions of "Dream of Red Mansions" were tested by the public, the popularity of the Yanying version had always been far greater than that of the TV series version.
Xie Tieli is a famous domestic director. Yanying Studio invested over 10 million yuan in this film, setting a record in the domestic film industry. Even the extremely popular Liu Xiaoqing could only play Wang Xifeng in the movie. Isn't this much more interesting than the bland and unknown young people in the TV series?
But when the movie and TV series of "Dream of Red Mansions" were fully presented to the audience, it had nothing to do with the artistic form, but the difference in the channels of dissemination made the two completely not on the same level in terms of influence.
After all, the Yanying version of "Dream of Red Mansions" is a movie and can only be shown for a month or a few months, but the CCTV TV series can be rebroadcast continuously.
At this moment, a cartoon image of Wang Fulin with a devilish smile flashed through Lin Weimin's mind, and he said to Xie Tieli, "What can you use to fight me?"
Many younger audiences in later generations were amazed by the 1987 TV series "Dream of Red Mansions" after watching the 2010 version.
Many people have never heard of the Yanying version of "Dream of the Red Chamber". When they hear that there is a Yanying version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", they naturally think that they have not heard of it because the movie was poorly made.
In fact, the TV version of "Dream of Red Mansions" received really bad reviews when it was first broadcast. Because of the magical changes to the forty chapters and the fragmented plot, the TV series was criticized by many viewers when it was first broadcast.
But after all, this TV series was filmed by CCTV and Wang Fulin with great effort and energy, and the quality is guaranteed. After the initial wave of bad reviews, its reputation has slowly reversed over time.
The difference between the Yanying version of "Dream of Red Mansions" and the TV series is that it had a very good reputation when it was released, but after the movie was taken off the screen, once the popularity had passed, almost no one discussed it anymore, not to mention the current domestic film promotion and publicity methods that are so poor that they are useless. It is normal for no one to care about it after it is released.
So sometimes, hard work is really not important, what is important is the choice.
How can a movie that disappears after being released once be compared with a TV series that can be replayed at any time?
The seemingly insignificant threshold and narrow dissemination channels determine that the Yanying version of "Dream of Red Mansions" is destined to only gain temporary popularity.
The huge mass base of the TV drama also determines that the TV version of "Dream of Red Mansions" is a classic of its time.
Reality is often so weird!
The audition for the Yanying version of "Dream of Red Mansions" is still more than two months away. "The Biography of a Female Doctor" has already been completed. It is impossible for Tao Huimin to stay in Yanjing all the time. She can only return to Zhijiang temporarily and come back when the audition is time.
That day Lin Weimin sent her to the train station, and Tao Huimin was reluctant to leave.
"It's okay to stay there for a while. I may go to the United States in a while. Even if you are in Yanjing, we have to separate. You also have the key to the house. If you go back to Yanjing and I haven't come back yet, you can live by yourself for a while."
After Lin Weimin's consolation and instructions, Tao Huimin nodded obediently.
After seeing Tao Huimin off, Lin Weimin returned to Guowen Publishing House to work. Coincidentally, Mo Yan and Zhang Yimou came to Guowen Publishing House together.
Chapter 318 has been reviewed and is waiting to be unblocked
(End of this chapter)
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