Chapter 215: Making Money During the Writing Period!
Chapter 215
Objectively speaking, while films like "Bloody Past" are rare in the current film market, they are not entirely absent. Male directors are pouring their hearts and souls into expressing their rural sentiments or lingering sorrows—it's just that not all similar works have a role like Wei Liang's that allows actors to fully showcase their talents.
Many works are just pointless moaning.
But "In Love" is extremely rare. There have been almost no films that so bluntly and nakedly depict women's revenge and portray them as executioners.
In particular, "In Love" tells the story of resistance after oppression, and the desperate situation is also depicted.
In Lin Yuan's view, the revenge carried out by a group of complete strangers is even more shocking than the revenge in "Bloody Past".
Lin Yuan watched the movie in the cinema, and a few days later, he went to see it again, contributing to the box office a second time.
The first time he went, the cinema he went to was a bit out of the way, and the showtimes were also quite limited. He arrived at the cinema in the morning, and there were only two other viewers in the entire theater besides him.
On his second visit, Lin Yuan went to the cinema closest to his home, where the film was showing on a weekend after lunchtime—clearly, the number of screenings and the schedule for "Love in the City" had improved.
As an actor, there are fewer and fewer movies that can move Lin Yuan these days. He has seen too many characters go through joys and sorrows, and when he watches movies, his subconscious tells him that the characters' expressions and actions are all acted out and are fake.
"In Love" is one of the few films that can move him deeply, and generally, a work that can move him will also move other viewers.
"In Love" suddenly became a hit.
This kind of success is different from "Bloody Past," which was a success relative to director Ren Maoxing's other works.
The popularity of "In Love" is absolutely phenomenal.
The box office on the first day was 3.12 million.
On its second day of release, the box office rose to 14.25 million.
On the third day, the number reached 24.22 million.
On its fourth day of release, "Love in the City" broke the 30 million mark at the box office for the first time, reaching 36.96 million.
Since then, the film has been on a fast track, with the characters' empty eyes—the cruelly harmed children, the vengeful mothers, the conspirators—being repeatedly shown on social media, in theaters, and on television.
"In Love" is another award-winning film, so its quality is naturally above average.
On its fifth day of release, "Love in the City" grossed over 60 million yuan, a significant leap from the previous day. For the next ten days, the box office of "Love in the City" never fell below 50 million yuan, and even broke 100 million yuan on two separate days.
In terms of screen time, "Love in the City" was never particularly outstanding.
In the first four days after its release, the total box office of "Love in the City" did not even reach 100 million yuan. However, on the fourteenth day, the total box office of the film reached 800 million yuan or more.
When "Love in the City" won the Fit Award, Yu Ying publicly thanked Lin Yuan, saying that Lin Yuan had almost single-handedly funded the investment for the film.
The total investment for "In Love" was 40 million yuan, with producer Yu Ying contributing 10 million yuan and Lin Yuan contributing 30 million yuan.
The overseas distribution rights for this film had already been sold, and it had essentially recouped its costs before its domestic release. All Yu Ying hoped for was that it could earn a little more.
Unexpectedly, "Love" gave her such a huge surprise.
Now, everyone knows that Lin Yuan has made a fortune once again.
Many netizens don't understand how a small-scale film like "Love in the City," without grand special effects and only filmed on location in several regions over a period of time, could gain so many fans.
Lin Yuan could probably give an answer—"Love" would evoke pity in the audience.
"...Lend me some money to spend."
Recently, whenever Lin Yuan pops up in the group chat, He Xun always sends him this message.
"I won't come next time." Lin Yuan tagged Yu Ying, "She's made quite a bit of money, you know."
"You have more."
The total box office of "Love in the City" has exceeded 1 billion yuan, and Yu Ying's act of paying out of her own pocket has brought her the biggest income since she entered the industry.
She really wanted to film this script back then, but unfortunately she didn't have much money.
Yu Ying has never acted in popular TV series; her works are mostly low-budget films. This 10 million yuan was scraped together from various sources, including loans.
Lin Yuan was willing to cover everything for her, but Yu Ying felt embarrassed to pay a single cent, as if she were using Lin Yuan to fulfill her own wishes.
Now that "Love in the City" has made a lot of money, Yu Ying can only say that good people are rewarded.
She's a good person, and Lin Yuan is a good person too. They deserve to make a lot of money together.
Lin Yuan: "...A very good theory, I agree."
He Xun: "...Please consider my feelings, okay? Okay."
He Xun was a little envious of Lin Yuan and Yu Ying making money, but not jealous. He was quite happy, mainly because it gave him more material to brag about.
Secondly, given that these two people have excellent financial luck, his own financial luck should also be good if he mingles with them.
Birds of a feather flock together; this is exactly the point.
"If I had known, I would have joined too," He Xun remarked.
"Regret it now, don't you?"
A little.
Because "Love in the City" was a huge success and even became the biggest dark horse of the summer movie season, Lin Yuan was once again harassed repeatedly. On the one hand, the media was curious about the story behind "Love in the City," and on the other hand, because of Lin Yuan's special ability to make money no matter what he invested in, more and more colleagues in the industry were trying to get him to invest.
“I never expected anything in return from ‘Loving Each Other’,” Lin Yuan sighed. “What could I do?”
"You're being too obnoxious," the agent said bluntly. "Keep it down."
"Reality makes it impossible for me to keep a low profile."
He received several messages on WeChat from actors he had worked with, all hoping to share in his good fortune.
This year, Lin Yuan didn't take on any new dramas or movies, and was generally in a state of idleness.
But even under these circumstances, Lin Yuan was still able to earn over 100 million.
"Can you tell me the secret?"—This was the message He Mian sent.
Lin Yuan sincerely refused.
He Mian said that he had also invested in some projects in the industry, and almost none of them had given him a positive return: "Am I just unlucky?"
"Very likely."
He Mian invested some money in "Double Edge," which is his biggest income this year.
As He Mian has gotten older, his requirements for collaborative projects have become higher and higher. The number of projects has decreased, but the number of high-quality projects has increased. As a result, his endorsement income has dropped sharply.
Fortunately, He Mian did not live a lavish lifestyle and was not very interested in spending money.
That's why he and Lin Yuan got along well.
It has been more than a month since "Double Edge" was released. Although the focus of the film and television industry is now on "Love in the City", "Double Edge" has not been ignored either.
Lin Yuan received invitations from several fashion magazines, hoping that he and He Mian would shoot a double cover together.
After discussing it, the two ultimately refused.
The magazine wanted to capitalize on Lin Yuan and He Mian's popularity, but for the two of them, constantly being linked together wouldn't be beneficial.
Each of them received a solo envelope.
...
By September, Lin Yuan had written five songs, which was halfway to his goal of creating an album.
After listening to Zheng Huinong's album "Lyric" and even being a guest performer at one of his concerts, Lin Yuan had the idea of holding his own concert.
Two albums, plus singles and OSTs he sang, are more than enough for a concert.
As time went on, Lin Yuan's desire to hold a concert grew stronger. In addition to the calls from fans, he also realized that some songs are better sung when the singer's voice is at its best.
We can't wait until he's 40 or 50 to hold a concert, can we?
Lin Yuan believes he has a bit of singing talent, but he can't maintain that level of dedication like a professional singer for ten years.
“Start working hard now, write one song a day, and you’ll have enough for a concert in a month,” Feng once encouraged him.
"Don't just copy my fans' lines," Lin Yuan said speechlessly. "If I could write them out, do you think I wouldn't want to?"
Writing songs is much harder than making movies.
When Lin Yuangang first met He Xun, he was a good actor and singer, and his friend always spoke of him with admiration.
He Xun was originally a very reserved person, so his admiration... could greatly satisfy Lin Yuan's vanity.
After getting to know him better, He Xun saw through Lin Yuan's true nature and stopped admiring him altogether!
But now, He Mian has taken on that role.
Although they were already friends, they both maintained certain boundaries when dealing with each other.
After all, they are of similar status and are in a competitive relationship to some extent, so he naturally doesn't speak as casually as he does with He Xun.
He Mian praised him very restrainedly.
Because of restraint, there is sincerity.
Clearly, He Mian believed that he was a very talented person.
"They lost themselves amidst the praise," commented He Xun.
"You'll be easily surpassed if you keep going like this," Yu Ying said speechlessly. "Wake up, aren't there plenty of people who admire you?"
You don't understand.
Yu Ying & He Xun: "..."
This person is hopeless.
Perhaps because he had a long enough rest, Lin Yuan wrote these songs without much effort. He is the kind of person who draws strength from his works. During this time, Lin Yuan watched many movies, listened to many songs, and was deeply moved by works like "Love Each Other," so writing songs became a natural thing for him.
One night, Lin Yuan felt inexplicably down and couldn't fall asleep. The wind blew in through the window, and Lin Yuan saw the river not far away, with the lights reflected in it.
At that moment, the melody of a song called "Neon" echoed in Lin Yuan's mind.
After watching "Loving Each Other" twice, Lin Yuan wrote a poem called "Scars".
Another song was written by Lin Yuan while he was taking a shower. He suddenly had an inspiration while showering, so he quickly ran out and sat there motionless for two or three hours, and then he caught a cold.
There was another shoot the next day. Lin Yuan was yelled at by his manager for half an hour while being pulled by the ear. He didn't dare to talk back. Most of the time, his manager was very kind, but when he got angry... he was super scary.
Anyway, I can control him.
But Lin Yuan felt it was worth it; that song was, in his opinion, the most emotionally rich song he had ever written.
Perhaps because he has been living a relatively happy life these past few years, none of these five songs are particularly dark or cruel; Lin Yuan has actually become more and more cheerful as he writes.
“Pain is the nourishment of life,” Lin Yuan uttered with a poetic sentiment.
"Shall I give you a slap so you can experience the taste of pain?" the agent suggested.
"Vulgar! Violent! Heartless!!" Lin Yuan shouted in condemnation.
Feng felt that Lin Yuan didn't need to work so hard for himself, and that even if he didn't write the songs, the fans wouldn't mind.
However, Lin Yuan has his own principles, especially when it comes to his works.
The agent felt that this was a manifestation of a controlling nature. Lin Yuan's strength lay in his lack of controlling tendencies towards people or other things, which were only expressed in his work.
On this point, Feng Zeng would not interfere with him, allowing Lin Yuan to act freely.
The agent had also seen Lin Yuan break down.
For example, he had dark circles under his eyes from staying up for two days without any inspiration, or he wrote a song many times but it was still incomplete. Lin Yuan was unwilling to give up those fragmented inspirations, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere, making him seem eccentric.
At this time, Lin Yuan would feel jealous of those talented creators, as if their casual writing was a masterpiece, while he dared not show his own work.
Lin Yuan, who is known as a genius and is always the envy of others, is actually jealous of other geniuses, but this side of him is unknown to others.
However, Lin Yuan will still try his best to make up for the gap between himself and the genius he considers to be.
All Feng Zeng could do was invite a few more talented musicians to give Lin Yuan some guidance.
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Author's note: [doge][doge] Here I am!
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