Chapter 131: Arrogant at first and respectful later Noon
Sunshine initially positioned "The Disguiser" as a small- to medium-cost spy drama with a total budget of approximately 30 million.
"With a cost of 30 million, as long as we can sell it at a price of 1.2 million per episode, we can double the return on investment." This was a beautiful fantasy when Hou Hongliang and Meng Bai were chatting.
Unfortunately, when the official preparations began, they found that there was basically not much left after paying the actors' salaries out of the 30 million budget.
So Noon Sunshine had to contact new investors for additional funds, and the final production cost doubled to 60 million.
"Chen Qian and his team were the second wave to participate, and they invested about 8 million." Li Xue said.
Meng Bai snorted and laughed: "Good fellow, with an investment of eight million, he pretends to be worth eighty million."
Although Li Xue was also very unhappy with Chen Qian's attitude, as a director, she had to consider the overall situation of the entire project, and she also comforted Meng Bai: "Forget it, as long as he can cooperate with the filming, who cares how he pretends."
"Hehe, this kind of person will sooner or later do something weird." Meng Bai said with a sigh.
"Ha, don't worry, I know." Li Xue smiled, but didn't care.
But what he didn't expect was that Chen Qian really started his "performance" very quickly.
Because Wang Yuejun didn't come before, many shots involving her on the "Mingtai Line" couldn't be shot.
Now that she has joined the crew, Li Xue adjusted the shooting plan and concentrated on shooting the shots related to her.
However, the crew made a shooting plan, giving priority to weather and time for outdoor scenes, and venue for indoor scenes. Therefore, although it was a concentrated shooting, there were still many shots of other leading actors.
"Director Li, we agreed on this before. As soon as our Yuejun joins the crew, we will shoot her part first. Why is there such a long interval between the schedules?"
In the director group on the set, Chen Qian sat on a chair with his hands folded, looking at Li Xue with dissatisfaction.
Li Xue frowned, but still tried to be calm and said: "Agent Chen, the crew has a mature plan for the shooting. It's not that we can shoot whoever we want in a few days. And then again, we have tried our best to concentrate the shooting. Now on the 'Mingtai Line' side, the plots of other characters have been moved to the back, just to make time for Xiao Wang."
"Our Yuejun is the heroine, and she should be given priority." Chen Qian pretended to complain casually: "Besides, the plots of those supporting characters are a bit too much. In this way, when it is finally broadcast, the audience will easily misunderstand the role ranking."
Li Xue heard this and laughed a little angrily.
He finally understood. It turned out that this guy's complaint about the shooting plan was fake, and what he really wanted to say was the problem of the role.
As for the "too many supporting roles in the plot", isn't it obviously referring to "Yu Manli" played by Song Zhi?
Let's not talk about the relationship between Song Zhi and Meng Bai, and Meng Bai's identity as a screenwriter. Just look at himself - you, Chen, are just a representative of the petty bourgeoisie. Who gave you the face to interfere with the filming of the crew?
Li Xue's attitude obviously became serious, and she said in a cold tone: "First of all, when I gave you the script, I told you clearly that there is no female lead in this drama. If you have to say, the female lead should be the character of 'Ming Jing', and 'Cheng Jinyun' can only be regarded as the official match of the male lead at most."
"Secondly, the plot of the characters and the number of roles have been determined in the original script. If you think there is a problem with any part, you can bring it up and we can discuss it. But if it's just an individual who wants to modify the plot, then I can tell him in advance, just shut up."
Normally, directors or producers are unlikely to have conflicts with investors, after all, they are the ones who pay.
However, this also depends on the specific size of the capital on both sides. For a "big second party" like Noon Sunshine, which has no shortage of investment in projects, just because they tolerate you doesn't mean they really dare not scold you.
Chen Qian was obviously a little uncomfortable with Li Xue's tough attitude. He coughed lightly and put down his arms.
"Hey, Director Li, I didn't mean to change the plot. It's just that the character of Yuejun has less plot with the male lead, so the emotional development is a bit stiff. So you think, can we add a few shots to show more interactions between the two characters?"
Compared with his attitude when he just entered the door, he was obviously much more docile now.
If Meng Bai was present, he would have to say - he was arrogant at first and respectful later, which makes people laugh when they think about it.
Seeing the change in the other party's attitude, Li Xue's expression eased a little. After thinking about it, he felt that what Chen Qian said was not completely unreasonable, so he frowned and said, "If it's just adding a few shots, it's okay. However, I have to discuss with the screenwriter to see how to modify it specifically."
"Well, let's discuss it and notify him. The screenwriter..."
Chen Qian was halfway through his words, and when he saw Li Xue looking at him coldly, he stopped talking and made a "please come in" gesture.
Li Xue took a long breath, pondered for a few seconds, and dialed Meng Bai's number.
"Hey, Meng Bai..."
"Hello, Director Li, this is Hua Yan. Are you looking for President Meng?"
The phone was connected, and a girl's voice came from the other end. Li Xue heard the name and realized that it was Meng Bai's assistant who looked like a high school student.
After asking, she was told that Meng Bai was in a meeting. Fortunately, there was no rush for this matter. They agreed to call back after the meeting. Li Xue hung up the phone and then found an excuse to send Chen Qian away.
Meng Bai naturally didn't know why Li Xue was looking for him. He was currently discussing cooperation with Wu Bai, Wang Wei and others.
As early as last year when "Psychological Crime" was being filmed, Meng Bai had invited them to join Arclight Films.
It was just that at that time, everyone had not cooperated much, and Wu Bai and others didn't want to be constrained by other companies, so the matter was delayed.
However, although they did not agree, the idea of ​​continuing to cooperate has always existed on both sides. So after many discussions, it was finally decided to form a cooperative alliance in the form of partners.
This alliance is based on Meng Bai and Arclight Films. Wu Bai, Wang Wei, and the photography directors and action directors who worked together in the previous dramas also joined as film and television companies or individuals.
The alliance's work mainly has two points. One is to cooperate on online drama projects with "suspense" themes, and the other is to absorb and cultivate new "suspense" type directors or behind-the-scenes personnel.
As for the name of the alliance, it is based on the name of Arclight Films as agreed before, and is called "Arclight Alliance".
(End of this chapter)
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