Chapter 270
“I was born to climb”
Ling Suisui could probably understand what Tang Bao meant.
In fact, the previous question was not asking whether she was willing to play such a role. The subtext of that sentence should be: Can you accept the audience's criticism, judgment, or even attack and slander of this role?
In today's domestic film and television drama market, there are roughly only two types of roles: good guys and bad guys.
The villain is not necessarily evil. The script can have a lot of space to describe the reasons why he turned evil. And because he is a villain, it is reasonable for him to be evil. Being scolded by the audience shows that the actor played the role well.
But it’s different when you play the leading role. The morals and conduct of the protagonist must be flawless. If there is even one thing that "cannot satisfy everyone", he or she will be put on trial. There will also be people who will take advantage of the situation and want to direct the dissatisfaction with the character towards the actor.
The more popular a drama is and the more famous the actors are, the more people will find fault with it. When Ling Sui played Cheng Yimo and Qiao Xintong before, she was often criticized by the entertainment team for having "incorrect values".
These two characters were just not perfect enough and neither of them escaped criticism. Many people always think that it is the fans who control the topic square, but even the top stars do not have high-intensity patrolling and real-time online fans. Most of the time, it is because her acting skills are good enough to establish the likable side of the character, which makes many viewers spontaneously refute those brainwashing packages.
However, listening to Tang Bao's description just now, Yun Zheng's image is very different from the virtues that many viewers believe a heroine should have.
Not to mention a paper man, even an emperor who has made outstanding contributions to Chinese civilization would be attacked from the perspective of "personal morality". Of course, Ling Suisui is not saying that these problems do not exist and cannot be raised. Even the greatest people have limitations.
What she has to consider now is whether to let Tang Bao continue to create, risking the role's achievements being ignored and the controversy being infinitely magnified?
If Tang Bao can write an excellent political creature, it would be very easy for those who want to discredit the protagonist. They don't even need to take his words out of context. The character's behavior must be inconsistent with current values.
Ling Suisui thought about it for a while and then nodded.
"But there is a prerequisite," she said. "I hope that all the decisions made by the heroine are the most beneficial choices for her or the goals she wants to achieve. As long as this condition is met, I will accept any means used by politicians. Just don't do bad things just for the sake of doing bad things. The ancient officialdom attached great importance to reputation."
Tang Bao was extremely excited. Although she knew Ling Suisui would not refuse her, she still felt much more at ease after getting her personal promise.
"No problem!" She said excitedly, "There are actually two sets of rules in the officialdom, one in the open and one in the dark. Let me give you an example. Luxury goods will never publicly say that they need to match goods, but when you want to buy a bag, the salesperson will use the excuse that it is out of stock, and then recommend you something with a high commission, and it will be available after you buy it."
"If this kind of behavior is placed in the political field, we would call it rent-seeking, and this will also become one of the main lines of the heroine's political struggle."
Next, Tang Bao introduced Ling Suisui in a torrent of words, saying that the heroine was the daughter of a military general, and many of the elders in her family had died on the battlefield. After a war, almost all of the Yun family's capable generals died.
The heroine was heartbroken, but unexpectedly learned that the defeat was due to her husband's family surrendering to the enemy. Seeing that the enemy was too strong to defeat, they decided to exchange General Yun's life for wealth and glory for the rest of their lives.
After the heroine found out, she immediately contacted the surviving members of the Yun family, and killed her husband's entire family with the help of internal and external forces. She also cut off her husband's head as a sacrifice to express her loyalty to the country. Under the leadership of the heroine, the grief-stricken and angry Yun family army fought to the death and successfully defended this important city.
This is the beginning of the story, the starting point for the heroine to enter the political stage. Although the ministers in the early days disliked her, they still gave her some meager support, hoping that she could accomplish the great task of fighting foreign enemies with just a little money.
Once she actually did it, these people started to trip her up. The situation at the front had just improved a little, and they wanted to cut off her food supplies and undermine her military power. Although there was no Qin Gui, there were still peace advocates jumping around. Why go to war when they could just send annual tribute? We can't let a woman like her dominate everyone.
So, the heroine is facing a hellishly difficult script. Her act of killing her own husband will always be criticized, and her means of fighting for power are not so glorious. In order to achieve her own political demands, she will take the initiative to eliminate dissidents and is an expert in both internal and external fighting.
Moreover, since the fictional world set in the script is based on the Song Dynasty, in the context of valuing civil officials over military officials, even if her official position was promoted to Privy Councilor, court officials still looked down on her and literati firmly distanced themselves from her.
"Oh, right." Tang Bao said with a bit of evil humor, "The first battle the heroine fought was because there was really no one who could lead the troops, so everyone listened to her. Later, a member of the Yun family's side branch showed up and wanted to take her position."
"Although the heroine is from the main family, she is a concubine's daughter. Although the side branch is a side branch, she is the legitimate son of the family."
Ling Suisui: ...
"You're worried that there aren't enough elements and those self-media and marketing accounts won't have room to play, right? This is meaningless. There's no need to emphasize who gave birth to the heroine. This isn't a family feud. The Yun family factions have plenty to argue about just biological gender."
Well, Tang Bao shrugged. She actually just thought of it at the last minute and mentioned it casually.
At present, she has only finished writing the detailed outlines of the first three episodes. After reading it, Ling Suisui felt that all those densely packed words were not words, but the crazy burning of funds. Filming war scenes is very expensive, and a large number of horses are required.
When Ling Suisui was filming "Zhao Jiang" that year, he used real horses in all the shots that could use real horses. It's impossible for the quality of the work to deteriorate over the years, right?
Money is not a big deal, as there are brand sponsors willing to pay for her work, but when she thinks back to the horses that get off work on time, she always feels that the shooting period will be very long, because you can't reason with the horse and ask it to be kind enough to work overtime. If it doesn't want to do it anymore, it will just throw you off.
She has been considering how much time she should reserve for this play. Is half a year enough?
The production cost of "Ru Meng Ling" must reach at least one or two small targets, and this does not include her salary. Movies can negotiate box office dividends, and TV series can actually be calculated based on revenue, which can reduce the cash flow pressure in the early stages.
If the show doesn't go well, then she deserves not to make any money. What else can I do if the audience doesn’t like it?
Fortunately, she no longer lacks money and doesn't care that much about this aspect.
Tang Bao went back happily to continue writing, and Tong Xiaoman chatted with Ling Suisui for a while.
"In fact, you don't have to take risks." She said bluntly, "If you just want to challenge more complex roles, you can shoot whatever you want in the art film track. The audience can tolerate even the most bizarre plots, because they don't watch them anyway."
"This kind of TV series, which is aimed at the general public and has obvious commercial attributes, is too easy to be labeled as a single label. Short videos that pursue popularity only show one side of the multifaceted. Audiences who have watched the series may be able to distinguish it, but not everyone has watched it."
Tong Xiaoman would certainly have concerns. Ling Suisui stood too high, and many people wanted to see her step down from the altar in order to satisfy some dark sense of pleasure in their hearts.
To be honest, if Ling Suisui said she wanted to retire immediately, Tong Xiaoman would definitely support her with both hands. The classics in our memory will become more beautiful the more we savor them, and the specimens sealed in museums will remain eternal.
Ling Sui has already earned enough money to last her a lifetime, and has received honors that many of her predecessors have never received. What else does she need? If she had a more conservative personality, she would have quit while she was ahead.
But Tong Xiaoman would not bring up such things on her own initiative, because she knew that if she did that, she would no longer be Ling Sui.
Ling Suisui spread his hands: "I have thought about this. Sister Tong, I know what you said is very likely to happen, so the works of domestic entertainment are becoming more and more like model operas, and they are so homogenized that they wish they could produce cubes on an industrial assembly line, so that they look the same from all sides."
"But it's meaningless. To be arrogant, such works cannot reflect my value."
"If we link actors to value, many people may think of film pay and advertising revenue, but from my perspective, it should be the audience's expectations of the work, the confidence of investors and platforms, and the role itself."
"Can another actress play the role of Yun Zheng? Would she dare to play the role? I have done things that others cannot and dare not do beautifully. This is the value of a top actor."
"I was born to climb up." Ling Suisui said in a relaxed tone, "I have been resting for the past few months. Staying where I am, I always feel like something is missing. Just think about it, I don't have any TV series left. How can I do this?"
Everyone else is celebrating, which means that there will finally be no TV dramas starring her next year. The champion of views and ratings can be replaced, and there is also a vacancy for the nominees and winners of Best Actress.
But this joy is only temporary - Ling Sui has never said that she will not film TV series in the future. She has not won the Grand Slam yet, and has not won the Magnolia and Golden Eagle awards twice. How can she quit easily?
Please, she is a trendsetter in TV dramas, and many of her peers are counting on her to start a new trend so that they can follow her to make a living and get some benefits.
"I don't dare to take the photo, and others don't dare to take the photo either, so I must take the photo."
Ling Suisui smiled and said, "Speaking of which, many period dramas started filming last year, and there are also many fairy tales being approved this year. I heard that the concentration of love in fairy tales has also decreased. Everyone likes to follow my trend so much, will power struggle become the next outlet?"
"It's probably a bit difficult." Tong Xiaoman was not optimistic. "There are a lot of ancient puppets disguised as political schemes."
"Not necessarily."
Ling Suisui's thoughts are more optimistic than Tong Xiaoman's: "It depends on the broadcast of Ru Meng Ling... The root cause of shoddy idol dramas is that the platforms want to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and test the bottom line of the audience. If the bottom line can be raised a little higher, the investors will know what to do without the audience's appeal."
When it comes to following the money, DeLand is the best example. The image of the princess has changed from generation to generation. It seems to be an artistic innovation, but in essence it is based on understanding the audience's psychology and catering to market demand.
On the surface, it seems that the film companies have started a new trend, but in fact they just understand what they want to see in the cinema earlier than the audience themselves.
Dilande's situation also applies to domestic entertainment platforms and film and television companies. At least in the past few years when Ling Sui has been firmly in the top position, the number of works with real female protagonists has been increasing. Even in idol dramas with love as the main line, the heroine's subjective consciousness is gradually improving.
These are all things that the audiences welcome, and the producers can also make progress in terms of revenue. If film and television works develop in a direction that the audiences like, how can they not make money?
Tong Xiaoman sighed. She should have thought of it earlier. There was no limit to Ling Sui's goals.
For her, having a hit drama is already a basic operation, and if the average box office per episode does not exceed 100 million, then there is something wrong with the work. What she cares about is not whether it will become a hit or not, but how big a hit it will be and what kind of changes it will bring to the industry.
At the very least, it can set a milestone on the path to high-quality long dramas, and buy more time for long drama production studios to resist the impact of short dramas and move towards transformation.
"By the way." Ling Suisui also said, "Let's go find Yan Siling. I'm going to the United States next month, and Dragon Slayer is expected to be filmed until the Spring Festival, so the schedule for next year should be finalized."
A TV series or a movie should be able to be completed within a year, right?
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