Chapter 433 "30-year-old" Boss
Li Shanghu, Chedun Film and Television Base.
In a retro Republic of China-style villa, people were coming and going at this time, and the hall was full of filming equipment. There was a sign hanging on the door frame at the entrance, which read "Filming of the "Rebel" crew".
"Ding!"
In the lounge, Li Yitong opened the screen of her mobile phone for the tenth time, looking at the still empty message notification bar, and couldn't help but pouting.
Clicking on Meng Bai's avatar in WeChat, the chat box was still stuck on the message "Are you busy tomorrow?" she sent in the morning.
It's okay, she comforted herself in her heart, that childish guy always likes to make some surprise surprises, and this time is definitely no exception-maybe he has already come to Shanghu, just deliberately waiting until she is anxious to suddenly appear.
"Huh-"
Thinking of this, Li Yitong's mood calmed down a little and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, she opened the screen for the eleventh time and confirmed again that Meng Bai still hadn't replied to her message.
The main reason why she cares so much is because tomorrow is her birthday. As her last birthday before turning 30, Li Yitong still hopes to spend it with the man she likes.
But this annoying guy hasn't replied to her messages since morning, and no one knows what he is doing.
The crew just finished filming a scene, and it was time to rest, so she could only look at the script of the next scene bored.
When she was half distracted, the door of the lounge suddenly opened, and then her assistant ran in.
"Sister Tongtong." The assistant said with some excitement: "It seems that someone is coming."
Li Yitong was instantly refreshed when she heard it.
"Did you see him?"
"That's not the case." The assistant shook her head, and then hurriedly said under the boss's gaze: "I saw Director Zhou received a call, and then he and the production teacher went out together, saying that they were going to pick up someone. I think that the only one who can let them go together should be President Meng."
Li Yitong was stunned, and what the assistant said seemed to make sense.
"Let's go out and take a look."
Whether he came or not, we will know after taking a look.
...
On the other side, at the entrance of the villa studio.
"Haha, Senior Brother."
Meng Bai looked at the man with glasses in front of him and said with a smile: "After so many years, we can finally work together again."
"Yes, I finally have the opportunity to work with Mr. Meng."
The man who spoke was Zhou You, and he had known Meng Bai for a long time. When Meng Bai filmed his first web drama "Soul Ferry", he asked him to introduce Wu Bailai to direct it.
But at that time, Zhou You was an executive director of Noon Sunshine, and Meng Bai was a rookie screenwriter who had just started out and had just attracted investment.
Unexpectedly, in just a few years, their respective situations have changed drastically.
"I remember when we were filming "The Pretender", I said that I would call you Mr. Meng in the future." Zhou You said with emotion: "I didn't expect that you are really Mr. Meng now."
Meng Bai smiled: "It's okay, if you are not used to it, I can accept it if you call me boss directly."
"No, then just call me Mr. Meng, haha."
Although they haven't seen each other for many years, and their identities are very different now, they still had a sense of incense and affection at the beginning, so Meng Bai didn't put on airs. After exchanging a few pleasantries at the door and greeting the producers and others in the crew, he went in with a few people.
As he walked, Meng Bai also asked about the situation of the crew.
The drama being filmed now is Arclight's third spy war project after "Peace Hotel" and "Secret and Great", called "The Rebel".
The background of the story began in 1936, when Lin Nansheng, a student of the training class of the Special Service Department of the Renaissance Society, was spotted by Chen Moqun, the stationmaster of Shanghu District, and participated in the task of arresting the underground party lurking in the Renaissance Society. Later, in the process of carrying out many tasks, he was inspired by Red Party members such as Gu Shenyan, Ji Zhongyuan, Zhu Yizhen, and Zuo Qiuming, and then found the real way to save the country.
Speaking of "Fuxing Society", this name is relatively unfamiliar. This organization is an external organization of the "Lixing Society" established by the Kuomintang in 1932. Later, with the continuous reform of the person in charge Dai Yunong, it slowly evolved until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, and finally reorganized into the Investigation and Statistics Bureau of the Kuomintang Military Commission in 1938.
Or, you can change to a more well-known name - Military Control Commission.
Looking at the story outline of "The Rebel" alone, it is actually no different from other spy war dramas. But the most special thing about this drama is that the male protagonist Lin Nansheng's motivation for transformation from a staunch Kuomintang spy to truly agreeing with our party's ideas and willing to take the same path is very rare.
In the past, the male protagonists of most spy war dramas, if they were from the Kuomintang, the initial reason for them to embark on the red road was mostly because of the inspiration and sacrifice of a female protagonist or supporting role.
This design was actually intended to show the human side of the male protagonist at the beginning. After all, in the spy war dramas of the early period, the protagonists either appeared with firm beliefs or awakened immediately after hearing the inspiration. The audience felt that this kind of role was very "fake" after watching it for a long time.
However, as the saying goes, "anti-routine" becomes a new routine after watching it for a long time. After there are too many spy war dramas with "humanized male protagonists", the audience gradually got a little tired of it.
In addition, as this group of young people in the Internet age began to grow up and mature, they gradually understood the spirits of "patriotism" and "red" that they once sneered at, and naturally began to feel dissatisfied with the setting of this "humanized protagonist".
Just like the trend is reincarnated, the new generation of young audiences have begun to have a demand for the feelings of "spiritual inspiration" and "belief identification" again.
Just like the male protagonist Lin Nansheng in "The Rebel", although he has many Red Party members around him and sympathizes with these people, he always believes that the Kuomintang is the real way to save China.
But when he saw that the stationmaster Chen Moqun was wronged because of internal fighting and then betrayed to the enemy, when he discovered the various conflicts among the top leaders of the Kuomintang, he finally wavered in his persistence. It was not
until he heard Comrade Desheng's "On Protracted War" on the radio while recuperating in Hong Kong that he had a new spiritual guidance. At the same time, it also made him really understand why only the red road is the only way to save the country.
It was from that time that the male protagonist Lin Nansheng finally decided to join the Red Party, overthrow the rule of the Japanese invaders and the Kuomintang, and establish a new country.
This is also the biggest difference between the core of "The Rebel" and other spy war dramas-only faith is the deepest power.
This drama is produced by Tianqi Entertainment, and Meng Bai did not serve as a producer. When I saw that the director was Zhou You, I thought it was the same name at first. It was not until I asked clearly that I found out that it was the same person.
Like most other film and television companies, Noon Sunshine was affected by the film and television winter, and the number of projects established since last year has also been greatly reduced. Although it is a "head brand" of Chinese drama like Arc Light, it can't resist the fact that the TV drama market itself is also on a downward slope.
In the past few years, Noon Sunshine has tried web dramas, and the reputation is good but the benefits are average. In addition, the online dramas at that time were also relatively low, so they later returned to the field of TV dramas. But now the entire TV drama market is declining, and it is said that Hou Hongliang and others have begun to discuss whether to reopen the online drama project.
Of course, before that, the company's income must be guaranteed to be normal. Since there are not many projects of their own, they might as well take on external dramas.
So starting from the second half of last year, except for the top directors Kong Sheng and Li Xue, the rest of the creative staff began to connect with external resources.
The same is true for "The Rebel" this time. This is the second "non-noon" external drama directed by Zhou You.
Walking in with Zhou You and others, Meng Bai can see a few familiar staff members from time to time. After all, half of the staff of the entire crew are from the Arclight team.
The leading actors are similar. The actor of the male lead Lin Nansheng is Zhu Yilong, who previously played the male lead Lin Mo in the web drama version of "Detective Chinatown". The second male lead Chen Moqun is Wang Yang, an actor from Arclight.
Then there is the heroine Zhu Yizhen. When preparing for the film, Li Yitong had just finished filming the film "The Great Girl" with her bestie Jin Chen, and Meng Bai gave her the role.
Thinking of this, Meng Bai couldn't help but recall the WeChat message that the girl sent him in the morning.
"Are you busy tomorrow?" This way of not saying it clearly but playing it straight at the same time is really in line with Boss Li's character.
Of course, Meng Bai deliberately didn't reply to her message, just to give her a sudden surprise.
But then again, after knowing each other for so many years, she can probably guess what he is thinking.
Just thinking about this, Meng Bai's footsteps suddenly stopped.
Not far from the set, Li Yitong, wearing a retro little dress from the Republic of China, was standing there, looking at him with affectionate eyes.
Meng Bai couldn't help but smile, and then quietly said "wait for me" with his mouth.
Li Yitong naturally understood the silent message, nodded with crescent-shaped smiling eyes, and opened her mouth to silently lip-sync "You go first".
Meng Bai smiled back, and then he regained his focus.
He patiently checked the crew's filming situation with Zhou You, and checked the production team's financial records. Fortunately, everything was fine.
He called Hua Yan behind him and announced that all the crew members would have an extra meal in the evening. Meng Bai ended his "temporary raid" amid the cheers of the entire crew.
"Oh, isn't this President Meng!"
Li Yitong looked at Meng Bai who came in, with a smile on her face, but she was still teasing: "You actually condescended to come to the crew to visit us little actors in person. It's such an honor."
Meng Bai was not moved at all. He waved his hand to let the little assistant who was trying to hold back his laughter go out, and closed the door of the lounge with his backhand. He looked at the other party and said: "Since you know it's an honor, why don't you come over and let President Meng hug you. Maybe this little actor can get more resources for the female lead."
"Wow, so a hug can get the female lead!"
Li Yitong walked over slowly, then pinched Meng Bai suddenly, trying to make a vicious look and said: "Teacher Meng is very skilled in this business. It seems that he has used this reason to deceive other girls many times."
"There are so many." Meng Bai took her hand, and while talking nonsense, he pulled her into his arms, "Isn't there one right in front of you."
Feeling the familiar and warm breath, Li Yitong's expression of joy that she had originally suppressed suddenly broke.
"You didn't trick the girl in front of you. She wanted to do it herself."
The two hugged for a long time before they finally ended, but they didn't separate. Meng Bai found a chair and sat down. Li Yitong faced him directly, hugged his neck and sat on his lap.
"Why didn't you reply to my WeChat?" Li Yitong stared at him and asked.
"I was busy getting on the plane at the time. When I was about to reply to you, a call came and I forgot about it for a while." Meng Bai said, "When I remembered it later, I thought that since I was about to arrive in Shanghai, I might as well come to see you directly." "
I thought you wouldn't come."
"How could it be?" Meng Bai said in an exaggerated tone, "Boss Li's 30th birthday is such a big event, how could I not come."
"Twenty-nine! Twenty-nine!"
Li Yitong patted him lightly twice in anger: "It's obviously twenty-nine years old, how can it be thirty?"
"We Shandong people pay attention to the age of the virtual age."
"In this place, we can ignore these traditions for now!"
"Okay."
After Meng Bai swore that he would never mention "thirty years old" and admitted that "Boss Li is always twenty-nine years old", Li Yitong smiled again.
"I have two more scenes this afternoon, and they may not be finished until the evening."
"I know, I just asked your director." Meng Bai was not surprised: "It just so happens that I have to go out in the afternoon. I will pick you up after you finish shooting in the evening."
"That's fine."
Li Yitong nodded, and asked casually: "What are you going to do in the afternoon?"
"I had an investment project in Shanghai before, and I made some money this year. It just so happens that I came here for a meeting these two days." Meng Bai replied in a flat tone.
Li Yitong knew that Arclight had a lot of investments in addition to film and television, so she didn't take it seriously, and instead started talking about where to eat in the evening and celebrate her birthday at midnight.
"Don't worry, you just follow me obediently when the time comes." Meng Bai smiled mysteriously.
Li Yitong knew that this guy must be deliberately keeping her in suspense again, so although she was curious, she still resisted asking. It
's just one afternoon, I can still resist.
Meng Bai remembered another thing: "You didn't ask Daxi to come with you now?"
"No, she also took a new drama some time ago, and it's still being filmed now. She told me yesterday that the crew is tight on time, so she probably can't come. She'll make it up to me after she finishes filming."
"What drama did she take?" Meng Bai asked casually.
"It seems to be a costume drama, I didn't ask too much." Li Yitong said.
Because she was delayed by the company for nearly two years, Jin Chen's popularity has dropped sharply. Although she has signed with Taiyang Chuanhe now, it is still difficult to get the resources of the heroine, so she can only start again as a supporting role.
Li Yitong was afraid that her best friend would feel uncomfortable, so she didn't ask in detail.
"It's just a supporting actress, it's good to have a role to shoot." Meng Bai said: "Let's see if there is a suitable role later and introduce it to her."
"Why are you so concerned about Daxi? Are you trying to attract my best friend's attention again?" Li Yitong looked at him suspiciously.
"...Didn't I tell you that no one is interested in her plainness." Meng Bai said naturally.
"Don't say that about my bestie!"
"Hey, you've said all these good and bad things, right?"
"Yeah, I'm just hypocritical, hehe... Hey, I was wrong, I was wrong! Don't stay here, wait until tonight..."
(End of this chapter)
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