Tao Mu has always been vigorous and resolute in doing things. Since it was decided that he would be the producer of the mainland remake of "Black and White", he asked Director Xu Musen to bring the screenwriter of "Black and White" to Beijing to meet up that night. Tao Mu also invited Zhou Hong, the director of The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood, and the screenwriter team to serve as consultants.
As expected, when professionals take action, the efficiency is different. Under the personal guidance of Director Zhou Hong and Screenwriter Fan, Tao Mu combined the various professional film reviews he had read in his previous life to give general revision suggestions. The script of "Black and White" took only one week to revise. Screenwriter Fan is best at adapting anti-Japanese war dramas. The characteristic of classic anti-Japanese war dramas is the dramatic twists and turns of the plot. The original script of "Black and White" focused more on the description of human nature. Both the plot and the dialogue are filled with concise but thought-provoking fatalism. Now that the two powerful forces have joined forces, the revised script not only echoes the main values, but the lines are also more sophisticated and capable.
A week later, Tao Mu took the revised script to visit the leader of Optoelectronics. Tao Mu is a man of great social skills and is very good at dealing with people. He likes to be kind to others and pays great attention to maintaining his network of relationships. When they are needed, they will not give people the feeling of currying favor by "using people first and not using them later". In addition, at the Lingxiao Award ceremony, Tao Mu left a good impression on the leaders of Optoelectronics. So after this meeting, Tao Mu took the initiative to bring up the issue of the mainland remake of "Black and White" being reviewed, and the attitude of the Optoelectronics leader was not too tough.
But he couldn't help but complain to Tao Mu.
"...You don't know how difficult those people from Hong Kong are. They have eyes and noses on their foreheads. They look down on mainland movies and think that our mainland cultural system is useless. We spent a lot of money to invite the Hong Kong production team to co-produce a movie. Isn't it because we value the good development of Hong Kong movies that we want to use money and resources to support mainland movies? In the end, what did they do?"
"On the one hand, they look down on us, but on the other hand, they want to make money in the mainland. They want to be treated specially in the same crew. Even if they are a third-rate celebrity from Hong Kong, they want to stay in a five-star hotel when they come to shoot a movie. They look down on mainland actors and say that they are not good at acting in movies and TV series. They say it is a co-production, but in the end, they want to use Hong Kong people as the male and female protagonists, leaving us with only marginal roles."
In the end, even though the mainland has given in to this extent, it is still not enough. The Hong Kong people can still do all kinds of tricks: "... they often unite to exclude and bully our mainland actors. The worst thing is that they can even divide the lunch boxes into two treatments."
So later, Optoelectronics issued another written document. It is clearly stated that in co-productions between Hong Kong and the Mainland, mainland actors must play the main roles. And other miscellaneous terms. The main purpose is to protect mainland actors from being bullied by the Hong Kong crew.
As for the script review, the leaders of the Optoelectronics Department were even more resentful: "... It's clearly something that can't pass the review. Let alone Hong Kong movies, even Hollywood blockbusters are treated equally by us in the Optoelectronics Department. If it can't pass, it can't pass. Isn't this the same process for making movies in the mainland? Why are the people of Hong Kong so noble? When we ask them to change the script, they complain loudly and shout that we don't understand the art of film and give orders blindly. They drag it to the last minute to make a bunch of messy things and perfunctorily shirk their responsibilities. After the release, the response was not good, and they put the blame on us."
"We in Optoelectronics are almost becoming the scapegoat!"
"When the people of Hong Kong wanted to enter Hollywood, how could they take into account the different aesthetics and cultural differences of the foreign devils? When their movies were not popular in the United States and Europe, why didn't they say that the people of the United States and Europe didn't understand the art of film? So we mainlanders don't understand movies, right? Can audiences all over the world be divided into different levels? The Chinese currency is not as valuable as the United States dollar and the euro, right?"
"I think they just worship foreign things. They just bully people. They just look down on us!"
The leader of Optoelectronics was filled with righteous indignation: "We don't need him to look down on us! Our domestic market is so large, and our Chinese consumer market has become the world's largest consumer market. People from any country in the world who want to come to China to make money must abide by our rules. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It's only natural."
The fact that Tao Mu was able to produce such good TV series as "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" and "Fashion Storm" at the age of 19 is enough to prove Tao Mu's ability. After all, the profession of producer is different from that of actor. Actors, relatively speaking, only have a single skill and only need to show their best side in front of the camera. Therefore, some actors who are "born with the gift of God" are able to debut as child stars, and their talent alone is equivalent to the hard work of many people for more than ten years. Generally speaking, actors don't need to consider too much about teamwork. Probably the biggest difficulty they face in teamwork is acting with their opponents. As for the rest of the time, others cooperate with them. In terms of team collaboration, actors are relatively the most passive profession. Even when speaking in front of the media, one has to consider the copywriter's opinion. This also means that even the most glamorous star actor on stage may not have as much say in the industry as a director who looks ordinary but has solid skills.
But the producers are different. The producer needs to take charge of the overall situation. A competent producer needs to consider the crew budget and all aspects of the entire crew team. We must also take into account the artistic and commercial value of the film. It's not a job that can be done just by having talent.
If Tao Mu didn't have more than ten years of work experience in his previous life, he would not be able to be qualified for the role of producer. But others don't know Tao Mu's adventure, they only see Tao Mu's success.
What does a successful 19-year-old producer mean to a nascent film market? At least in the eyes of the leaders of Optoelectronics, Tao Mu is definitely a young man worthy of cultivation. This can be seen from the Lingxiao Award ceremony, where "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" and even Tao Mu himself became the biggest winners. The leaders of Optoelectronics absolutely favor Tao Mu and have high hopes for him.
China has a tradition of "heroes emerging from youth" since ancient times. Even the most stubborn old antique will maintain a tolerant and kind heart when facing young talents. What's more, although Tao Mu is young, he is not arrogant; although he is high-spirited, he is not arrogant because of his talent. Being a good person and doing good things makes people feel comfortable. The leaders of Optoelectronics are also happy to train young people like Tao Mu.
They firmly believe that if there are more filmmakers like Tao Mu who promote the main theme and positive energy, there will be no worries about the development of the mainland film market.
"It's a good thing that you accepted the job of supervising the mainland remake of Black and White. You should do it well and seriously, and let the people of Hong Kong see the ability of our mainland filmmakers. Although our mainland film market started late, our mainland filmmakers can also make good films. The reason why people from Hong Kong can't make good films in the mainland is not entirely due to the limitations of the mainland cultural system, but also because they themselves are not serious and have never considered the issue of adapting to local customs."
"China is a vast country. Even people from the south may not be able to adapt to the local climate in the north. What about cultural ideas?" The leader of Optoelectronics said, "If a mature filmmaker only shoots those banned themes and deviates from these vulgar gangster gunfights, pornography, gambling and drugs, he will never be able to make good works. How can we recognize him as a good filmmaker?"
The way of thinking of optoelectronic leaders is simple. Our Chinese imperial examination system, which has lasted for thousands of years, has been able to produce so many brilliant articles. Even the standard eight-part essay has been passed down as a classic. Now I'm just asking you to write an essay on a given topic - I haven't defined the scope of your writing yet, I'm just warning you what not to write.
Such a simple thing can't be done well. It’s our fault for giving too many restrictions!
The leader of the optoelectronics department patted Tao Mu on the shoulder and said earnestly, "You are still young and have great potential for development. Don't learn some bad habits from those bad people. They complain about everything and can say ten thousand different things. If they make a movie, they won't even make 100 million!"
Either they complain about the poor performance of this year's optoelectronics exhibition, or they complain about the poor performance of this year's audience. Anyway, if the movie is not good, it means the whole world has no vision.
The leaders of the optoelectronics department don't want Tao Mu to learn this kind of atmosphere at such a young age. They should have a more positive attitude and produce more classic works like "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood" that are both popular and have a special main theme.
In order to express their support and encouragement, the leaders of Optoelectronics also carefully studied the remake of the script of "Black and White" brought by Tao Mu. I studied it carefully and confirmed that there was nothing sensitive that might be reported. It was approved right away.
After the script was approved, the leader of the optoelectronics department remembered the previous tricks of Director Xiangcheng and could not help but remind him: "When shooting, you must follow the script. Don't give us one script and come up with another one when shooting. The final review is still required before the film is released. If you do this and the film fails the review and the release date is delayed, don't complain that we didn't inform you in advance."
Tao Mu almost laughed out loud. It seems that the leaders of Optoelectronics have also suffered psychological trauma from these outrageous operations. Otherwise, he wouldn't have said such words in front of him, complaining and warning at the same time.
It sounds like a heart-wrenching pain from the bottom of my heart.
What else could Tao Mu do? Of course he agreed obediently. He said that as the producer of the mainland remake of "Black and White", he would make sure to keep an eye on the crew and prevent them from doing anything rash. Try to catch up with the Spring Festival schedule.
"Then I wish your movie a big hit in advance." The leader of Optoelectronics continued to pat Tao Mu on the shoulder to encourage him.
By the way, he secretly reminded Tao Mu that when he supervised the mainland remake of "Black and White", he must learn from the Hong Kong Film Team. Although the leaders of the optoelectronics industry hate some of the work styles and habits of Xiangcheng filmmakers, they have to admit that the production level of Xiangcheng filmmakers is still very impressive. Therefore, the leaders hoped that Tao Mu could learn from him and then make a blockbuster movie that would be both well-received and popular in the mainland.
There was even a leader who had a sudden idea and suggested that Tao Mu could also make a movie version of "The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood". I think the TV series has such high ratings and such good reputation. The audience base is so strong. And it’s also an explosion and gunfight movie, so there’s no reason why it can’t be as good as Hong Kong gunfight movies and Hollywood blockbusters, right?
Tao Mu was a little surprised. Following the trend and remaking big IPs will be the development direction of the mainland film and television industry in the next few years. Could it be that there were signs of this from this time on?
Tao Mu agreed with a smile. He said that he would study hard and make progress every day. Most of the leaders who are able to hold power are in their forties, fifties, or even sixties or seventies. In their eyes, Tao Mu was about the same age as their own children, nephews, and grandchildren. Elders like children who are humble, polite and good at studying. Tao Mu showed this side of himself, and indeed won the favor of all the leaders.
So when the leaders congratulated Tao Mu on his movie's success, they also reminded him not to neglect the filming of "Soldier King". Someone suggested: "Cooperating with the military to film a propaganda drama about conscription is also a political task. You must focus more on this drama. If you can't do both, you'd better relax the supervision of "Black and White" and focus on filming "Soldier King"."
This is a heartfelt statement from a person who has only just met for a short time. Tao Mu understood.
However, when Tao Mu tried to propose to invite the leaders of Optoelectronics to dinner. The leaders of Optoelectronics refused without hesitation. The leaders said that they didn’t want to deal with the director of Xiangcheng who said one thing to their faces and another behind their backs, looked down on them for not understanding the artistry of films and always made them take the blame for having a meal!
Tao Mu had never been exposed to this level before, and he really didn't know that the two sides hated each other to this extent.
However, even though many filmmakers complain about the shortcomings of the leaders of optoelectronics. But Tao Mu still thought that the leaders were cute from his own standpoint. Just like the old man in their family, although he is old-fashioned, stubborn, and conservative, it is sometimes difficult to communicate with him. But as long as you find the skills to communicate, you will find that these old grandfathers are still easy to talk to. The most important point is that grandpas and grandmas are very protective of their own people. Once you decide to support someone, you will give the maximum tolerance and support within your authority.
As everyone knows, Tao Mu, who just became the biggest winner of the Lingxiao Award, is his biological son. It's nice to sit under a big tree and enjoy the shade. Under the shadow, although Tao Mu knew that some of the bigwigs' review requirements really restricted the artistry and integrity of the film, he still couldn't say anything bad about the bigwigs. Moreover, he sincerely feels that the leaders of Optoelectronics are easy to communicate with.
At least it was easier to communicate with than those he had experienced in his previous life.
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