Chapter 355 Magnolia Award
Mid-June, Shanghai.
The 24th Magnolia Award was held at the Oriental Art Center tonight. The eyes of TV drama practitioners and media from all over the country were almost all projected here.
In the spacious hotel room, Meng Bai, Qin Lan and Yang Lei sat on the sofa in the middle. Around them, there were more than a dozen Arclight staff members busy.
"I heard that you have been trying to build relationships with the jury recently?" Yang Lei looked at Meng Bai and asked casually.
"Yes." Meng Bai did not shy away and nodded, "After all, this is the first time I have participated in such a formal award, I have to say hello to them first."
Award nominations represent recognition of the quality of the work. But whether or not you can win the award in the end, there are many factors that can determine it.
The most famous one is the Oscars. Every year, major film producers in the United States have formed a complete industrial chain of public relations activities for the judges.
Don't underestimate the power of public relations. Back then, "Shakespeare in Love" relied on Weinstein's operation to beat "Saving Private Ryan" and "Life is Beautiful" to win the Oscar that year.
The final result is that the Oscars have been criticized by countless viewers online for more than ten years, calling it the "most watery little golden man", and the female lead Gwyneth Paltrow (Little Pepper) has also been labeled as the "Oscar Water Queen".
Although it is a bit of a rollover, it is enough to prove that the "public relations" judges are really helpful to the award selection.
The "public relations" here are naturally not straightforward bribery, but more about building relationships and friendships, and occasionally some interest exchanges.
Although Arclight is participating in the selection of the "three major awards" for the first time, as a leading film and television company in the industry today, it is naturally impossible to be a complete layman.
The chairman of this year's Magnolia Jury is Liu Heping, a senior boss in the domestic screenwriter industry. Meng Bai had met him once before in the crew of "No Quiet in Peking".
Last year, when he served as the chairman of the TV Series Screenwriter Working Committee of the China Radio, Film and Television Social Organization Federation, he also invited Meng Bai to join the Screenwriters Association.
However, because most of these organizations are reviewed every one to two years, they are temporarily in the process.
It was also on this pretext that Meng Bai had a chat with the other party a few days ago.
Of course, it was just a normal chat, and they tacitly did not mention the Magnolia Awards.
In addition to the chairman Liu Heping, the jury also has four judges: Gao Qunshu, Xu Fan, Xu Jizhou and Zhao Lixin. Here, Xu Fan and Xu Jizhou are both from the Central Academy of Drama, so they are considered to be senior brothers and sisters.
Meng Bai doesn't have much friendship with them, but he has a good relationship with the Central Academy of Drama now, so he got to know them through the school.
Although Arclight has done a lot of work, it does not mean that the nominations for "Peace Hotel" are stable.
The biggest disadvantage of this drama is that it has nothing to do with the Shanghai circle.
As we all know, the Magnolia Awards have always been more inclined to local forces. Whether it is a work or an actor, if it is mainly related to the Shanghai circle, the probability of winning the award will naturally increase by three points.
Noon Sunshine also has a good relationship with Shanghai, so it has been able to win at the Magnolia Awards in recent years.
Yang Lei is also a director who has been in the industry for many years. He is also very clear about the usual style of the Magnolia Awards: "Although there are four nominations, the only one that really has hope is your "Best Screenwriter." "
You can't say that." Meng Bai said: "Sister Qin Lan's "Best Actress" is not without a chance."
"Haha, although I also think that I played the role of "Chen Jiaying" well this time, it's a bit too difficult to win the award." Qin Lan laughed at the side and said very self-awarely.
It's not that she has no confidence in herself, the key is that the competitors are too strong.
Look at the nominations for "Best Actress" - Sun Li, Qin Hailu, Ma Yili, Hao Lei, any one of them is a "big flower" who can take the lead.
In comparison, although Qin Lan's popularity has been hovering between the first and second lines in recent years, her strength and professionalism are far behind.
She herself knows that this time the nomination for the Magnolia Awards is almost entirely due to the outstanding personality and popularity of the role of "Chen Jiaying".
So from the beginning, she never imagined that she could win an award. There were
four nominations for "Peace Hotel". The competition for "Best Film" was too fierce, "Best Actress" was not strong enough, and the selection methods for technical awards such as "Best Art" were different.
So in comparison, only Meng Bai, the "Best Screenwriter", was more promising.
"The competition pressure was not small." Meng Bai sighed, "especially my senior sister. In comparison, she had everything going for her."
The final nominations for "Best Screenwriter" were also five. In addition to Meng Bai, there were also Chang Jiang, the screenwriter of "The Advisors Alliance", Qin Wen, the screenwriter of "My First Half of Life", Shen Jie, the screenwriter of "White Deer Plain", and Wang Zhili, the screenwriter of "The Love in the Courtyard".
This drama, like "Peace Hotel", was a hit TV series from last year to this year.
And what Meng Bai was most concerned about here was Qin Wen, the screenwriter of "My First Half of Life".
"My First Half of Life" is not only very popular, but also has the shadow of the Shanghai circle from the actors to the producers behind it. As for this Qin Wen, she is Meng Bai's direct senior in the Department of Drama and Literature at the Central Academy of Drama, and she is also from Shanghai.
In a sense, it can be said that she has a lot of buffs.
Let alone a "Best Screenwriter", if it weren't for "White Deer Plain", I'm afraid few awards tonight would have "escaped" the drama "My First Half of Life".
"It's a pity that the story background was not set in the Peace Hotel in Shanghai." Qin Lan said with some regret: "With such a representative regional symbol, plus the quality of our drama, winning the award is a sure thing."
Meng Bai smiled when he heard this, and what this sister said was indeed true. If the "Peace Hotel" was really moved from Harbin to Shanghai, then his current buff would not be much worse than that of the senior sister.
But then again, sometimes too much buff is not necessarily a good thing. After all,
the Magnolia Award is still an industry-wide award, and it is impossible not to consider "dividing the cake" at all.
As one of the "three major awards", if all the awards are won by one or two dramas, it will eventually give people a reason to criticize.
As for how to distribute them, it depends on how the organizers balance them. It is also because of this consideration that it is hard to say who will win the award until the final announcement. After
several people chatted in the room for a while, Meng Bai's mobile phone suddenly rang.
He took it out and took a look, then put it aside calmly, and then looked at Qin Lan: "Sister, don't you have to prepare for the red carpet in the afternoon?"
Qin Lan glanced at the time: "It's almost time, I'm going to go over to put on makeup and try on dresses."
"Then let's stop here first." Meng Bai stood up, "Everyone go back and pack up, take a break at noon, and wait for the red carpet in the afternoon and the awards ceremony in the evening."
The staff naturally agreed, and began to pack up their things and rushed out of the room one after another.
Qin Lan slowed down a bit and deliberately fell behind.
"What's wrong?" Meng Bai asked.
Qin Lan raised her lips and glanced at his phone in an ambiguous way: "I remember that this year's "White Deer Plain" seems to have been nominated for a 'Best Supporting Actress'... It seems that I am not suitable to disturb you tonight."
"It doesn't matter." Meng Bai raised his eyebrows, "I don't mind you coming with me."
"Bah, you are so beautiful. If you have the guts, say this to other girls." Qin Lan rolled her eyes, "Let's go!"
After saying that, she waved her hand and left as well.
...
Meng Bai waited in the room for a while, and finally heard a knock on the door.
He walked to the door and opened it, and Li Qin's beautiful little face appeared from behind the door.
"Are you here alone?"
"No, the crew is here too."
Like Meng Bai, Li Qin also came to attend the Magnolia Awards. "White Deer Plain", which took her more than half a year to participate in, earned her a nomination for "Best Supporting Actress", which was worth her half a year of suffering in the northwest.
However, like Qin Lan, she also faced a group of powerful competitors for this award. Veteran and powerful actress Jiang Shan, Wan Qian, who won the Golden Horse Best Supporting Actress Award, and Wu Yue and Xu Di, who became popular with "My First Half of Life".
In comparison, Li Qin is the youngest among all the nominated actors, so you can imagine how difficult it is for her to win the award.
But this girl has a good mentality. From the beginning, she thought that "it's good to be nominated." Coming to the awards ceremony today is just to give face to the Magnolia official.
Although she had no idea about her own award, she was very concerned about whether Meng Bai could win.
"I analyzed it and I think you still have a great chance."
"What do you mean?"
Li Qin sat next to Meng Bai and said seriously: "I counted the award data of the works in the previous Magnolia Awards. The most was three awards, and there must be a technical award among them."
"This year's hot favorites, in addition to our "White Deer Plain", are "My First Half of Life" and "Peace Hotel". Even if those two dramas take all the seven major awards, they only occupy four places. Among the rest, there must be one left for you. "Best TV Series" is unlikely, so the only thing left is your "Best Screenwriter." "
..."
Meng Bai touched his eyebrows. Don't say it, this girl's logic is obviously the same as the "dividing the cake" theory he had thought of before, and it does sound reasonable.
"I hope the jury will have the same idea as you."
"Don't worry, it's OK."
Li Qin had an expression of "just trust me" and patted Meng Bai's shoulder.
"By the way, don't you need to prepare makeup and dress or something?"
"I'm already prepared." Li Qin stood up and showed her, "This is the dress for the red carpet."
Meng Bai then noticed her outfit. She was wearing a pink top with layers of lace mesh on the sleeves, and black leather pants on the bottom. Maybe because her legs were too thin, they looked a little empty. She was barefoot in chain-strap high heels.
"How is it?" Li Qin grabbed her clothes and shook them at Meng Bai: "Does it look good?"
"Hmm..."
Meng Bai frowned and looked up and down with an indescribable expression: "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"
"Haha, what's a lie?
" "
It's
ugly." "What about the truth?" "Very ugly.
" "..."
"Has your styling team been dragged out to sacrifice to the gods? They can match such a set of clothes for you."
Li Qin was choked and looked up and down with her mouth puffed: "They said this is a 'mixed style' and a new style attempt."
"Come on, those gay people among gays don't know anything." Meng Bai complained mercilessly.
Li Qin opened her mouth, but felt that what he said was right and couldn't refute it.
"Wait for me for a while."
Meng Bai said to her, then got up and made a phone call.
"...Yes, I'm in Shanghai... Well, who knows the result before the award ceremony. I have something to trouble you... Dior? That's fine, I'm not picky... It doesn't have to be couture, just a normal dress will do... OK, then send me the contact information later."
After hanging up the phone, he waited for a while. Until he saw a string of numbers sent by Yang Ming on WeChat, he forwarded it to Li Qin.
"Let your team contact you later, and change into a dress while there is still some time."
Li Qin looked at the number on the phone. Although she didn't hear what was said on the other end of the phone, she heard everything Meng Bai said clearly.
Did this guy just say Dior?
Seeing the girl looking a little overwhelmed, Meng Bai said: "Time is too urgent, and I can't borrow couture, so I can only make do with a regular dress for now."
"It doesn't matter, it's just an award ceremony, and I haven't won any awards yet, so a normal dress is most suitable."
Li Qin hurriedly said, but her eyes were full of stars.
That's Dior! Although the brand's status has slightly declined due to its development path in the past two years, it is still one of the old brands after all.
Even ordinary dresses are not so easy to borrow. After all, in such public occasions, the brand must also weigh the impact of the artist on the brand value.
Anyway, Li Qin felt that she would definitely not be able to borrow it based on her current popularity and status.
However, she was only excited for a moment, and looked at Meng Bai with some worry: "Will it be troublesome?"
"It's okay." Meng Bai said: "If you can sign with Taiyang Chuanhe after your contract expires, it will be even better."
Hu Guang is in the film and television industry and has nothing to do with these fashion circles. So he just contacted Yang Ming and used his resources.
Yang Ming also agreed. Not to mention Meng Bai's relationship, Li Qin herself is considered to be a relatively popular "90s flower", and her image is not negative. As long as you don't force high-end customization, other regular dresses are not a problem.
"By the way, I remember your contract will end this year, right?" Meng Bai asked, "How long will it be?"
"Almost until the end of the year." Li Qin said, "Aunt Li asked me about renewing the contract some time ago, but I didn't agree. She was a little disappointed, but didn't say anything."
She signed a ten-year contract with Rong Xinda when she was filming "Dream of Red Mansions", and it just ended this year.
As for where she would go after her contract expired, she had been booked by Meng Bai a long time ago.
(End of this chapter)
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