Chapter 384 There is an unexpected gain
office.
A short-haired lady with fair skin and good looks sat on the sofa with a cup of steaming coffee in front of her.
She crossed her legs and looked at Gu Wei opposite her with anticipation.
"Are you calling me here because you're going to start preparing for [Dying to Survive]?
I heard that Xiaowen's movie was finished a while ago and is still in post-production. Does he have time?"
The person who spoke was Han Jianu, the daughter of Chairman Han of China Film Group, and also the screenwriter of the movie "Dying to Survive".
"Don't worry, good things come late. I take the film 'Dying to Survive' very seriously, and I will make sure to make the most thorough preparations in all aspects before we start filming.
I have high expectations for this film!"
Gu Wei said with a smile on his face.
He is not in a hurry to shoot "Dying to Survive". Although this movie is good, it is essentially a realistic drama.
Although the domestic film market is becoming more and more mature and huge, and the highest box office record has been pushed to 3.3 billion by "The Mermaid", if you observe carefully, you will find that the really popular movies are either comedies or action movies.
Realistic dramas will be classified as art films, and even if they have good reputations, they will not get high box office.
Just like when Gu Wei just entered the circle 4 years ago, he attended the premiere of his first movie "Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart" starring Li Xian.
Can you say that the movie is not good? It has a Douban score of 8.9. The heroine Yan Bingyan won four Best Actress trophies at the [Beijing International Film Festival], [Huabiao Award], [Chinese Film Media Awards], and [Beijing University Student Film Festival] for her outstanding performance in the movie.
However, the final box office of "Thousand Arrows Piercing the Heart" was only 2.491 million.
What does it matter if it's well filmed and well acted if the audience doesn't like to watch it?
Of course, the reasons for the film's box office failure include the unpopular subject matter, the lack of big-name stars, and poor post-production promotion, among other factors.
However, the general situation in the domestic film market at that time was that audiences did not like to go to the cinema to watch feature films. This was the most fundamental reason.
As for whether this feature film is a good movie, no one cares.
At that time, when people went to the cinema, they either wanted to watch some funny comedies to have fun, or watch blockbusters with good visual effects to experience the sensory stimulation. Very few viewers really paid attention to the plot of the movie.
However, this situation has gradually changed as the domestic film market has become larger and the movie audiences have become more mature.
Everyone's movie-watching habits are slowly returning to their original state.
After the domestic film market was brought to over 5 billion by "Wolf Warrior 2" in 2017, movies that truly tell a good story have become increasingly accepted by the audience.
Later, many movies that had no special effects and were not pure comedies were able to achieve very good results in the market because they could tell a deeply touching story or capture the joys and sorrows of ordinary people.
"Dying to Survive" is the best example.
The original version of "Dying to Survive" relied on Xu Zheng's fame in its early promotions, but after it was actually released, it relied entirely on word of mouth and quality to break through the circle, and word of mouth from netizens brought up the box office.
So even if he wants to shoot the film, Gu Wei plans to wait until 2017. Anyway, the copyright of the script is in his hands, so he is not in a hurry.
If due to time constraints, "Medicine God" failed to achieve the same good results as in the original time and space, Gu Wei would not forgive himself.
He really thinks that "Dying to Survive" is a good movie, and making money is secondary. If it can have better box office, more people will see it, and this is the best reward for an excellent movie.
"Then why did you ask me to come today?"
Hearing that it had nothing to do with her movie, Han Jianu became a little bored again.
Gu Wei smiled and didn't care.
"Senior Sister, you and Director Wen are classmates, and you are also top students who graduated from the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy.
Now that your classmates can direct their own films, don’t you feel like giving it a try yourself?”
Han Jianu looked at Gu Wei in confusion.
"You mean you want me to be your director and make a movie for you?"
Gu Wei smiled and nodded.
“No, no.
I haven't made a single film since I graduated, so you're kidding me by asking me to be your director?"
Han Jianu waved her hands repeatedly.
"We are both graduate students from the directing department of Beijing Film Academy. He started making movies right after graduating from the literary director program. What's wrong with you, senior sister?"
Gu Wei began to use provocation.
"I can't do that. Xiaowen was a top student in school, and the short films he made during his graduate studies all won awards. He's talented.
I have some ability in writing and screenwriting, but I really don’t have confidence in directing.”
Han Jianu smiled bitterly.
Gu Wei ignored her excuses and took a script with a white cover from the desk next to him and handed it to Han Jianu.
"This is the movie I want you to make. It's called [Take My Brother Away]. It's a light-hearted campus fantasy comedy that tells the story between a brother and sister.
The story is very simple. I think the unique perspective and emotional delicacy of a female director are more suitable for this film. That's why I thought of you, senior sister.
The investment in the film is not huge, and even if the box office doesn’t perform well, the loss won’t be much, so you don’t have to worry about it at all.”
Gu Wei had seen the film "Take My Brother Away", but he couldn't remember who the director of the original film was. He seemed to have the impression that it was a female director.
The plot of the movie is very simple and it is adapted from a comic, so the story is clearly laid out and it will be easy to shoot.
So he simply asked Han Jianuo to try. After all, she was a top student in the directing department of Beijing Film Academy and a classmate of Wen Muye. She was able to write the script for "Dying to Survive", so how could she not have any skills?
Furthermore, as Gu Wei said, this movie really doesn't cost much money. The main actors are all kids in their teens and twenties, and the scenes are either at home or in school. The estimated shooting cost given by professionals at Gu Wei's company is 15 million to 20 million.
This amount of money is less than half of Gu Wei's personal salary, and it is considered a truly low-cost small investment in the film industry at this time.
Although she said no, Han Jianu still took the script and read it carefully.
Gu Wei sat opposite, saying nothing, and slowly drank his coffee.
After a while, Han Jianu seemed to be attracted by the story of the script, and Gu Wei simply took out his mobile phone to check the news.
There is something really hot on the Internet recently.
Recently, when Dong Jie and his son Dingding participated in the recording of the reality show "Mom is Superman", when faced with the question "Has Dingding ever asked you questions about his father?" Dong Jie responded calmly: "There is no way. We all have to accept reality. I have to accept reality, and Dingding has to accept reality. No one can change fate."
Late at night on April 25, Pan Yueming posted on Weibo: "If we really want to face reality, do we dare to tell the truth..."
Ever since the reality show became popular on the Internet, the loving interaction between single mother Dong Jie and her son has touched many people. The comments on Dong Jie's Weibo are full of such remarks: "Get back together with the child's father for the sake of the child."
But the netizens’ beautiful fantasy had not yet ended overnight, and this former couple who once loved and hurt each other started to quarrel again, forcing netizens to “accept reality”.
Gu Wei silently liked Pan Yueming's Weibo post.
"This story is really good, full of the warm love between brother and sister, and it conveys the emotions in a fantasy comedy style. Wow, the story design is really good."
From the screenwriter's perspective, Han Jianv praised the script.
"Since Senior Sister likes it so much, what are you hesitating about?
You've read the script, the storyline is clear and there's nothing difficult about it."
Gu Wei put down his phone and gave him some more advice.
Han Jianu put down the script, picked up the coffee in front of her and took a sip, frowning slightly as she thought about it.
Gu Wei did not say anything else, waiting for her final reply.
He decided to find director Han Jianu on a whim. Even if she didn't agree, it wouldn't matter much. The script was here, so he could just find someone else.
Finally, she seemed to have thought of something, her brows relaxed, and a smile appeared on her face.
"Okay, since you trust me so much, I'll take on this movie!"
"Congratulations, Senior Sister. The crew can start preparations right away. I have all the staff available, and I've even chosen the male lead for you."
Gu Wei said with a smile on his face.
"Don't rush yet"
Han Jianu reached out and interrupted Gu Wei's speech.
"I can take the film, but to be responsible to you as an investor and our film, I have to find someone else to co-direct it with me. After all, this is my first time and I don't have enough confidence in myself."
"No problem, Senior Sister, which director from the China Film Academy are you looking for?"
Gu Wei thought that the other party wanted to find an experienced old director in China Film to help him. After all, with her father's status, it would be the easiest to find such a person.
“He’s not from China Film Group, but a friend of mine, a young stage director.
He just wrote and directed his first film, Hello, Crazy!, earlier this year. I think he, like Xiaowen, is a genius director!
Han Jianu spoke to herself.
Gu Wei asked in confusion as the movie title sounded familiar.
"What's your friend's name?"
"His last name is very special. It's Rao, which means forgiveness. His name is Rao Xiaozhi!"
Gu Wei listened to Han Jianu's narration without any reaction on the surface, but he was ecstatic in his heart. This was a completely unexpected gain.
The later work "The Unknown" directed by Rao Xiaozhi is still very famous.
Like Lu Yang and Wen Mu, they are all excellent directors of the new generation. If they can be brought into the company, there will be no shortage of talented directors for filming in the future.
Wen Muye and Rao Xiaozhi can serve as his right-hand men and women. Just let them shoot if there are any good themes and ideas.
He now remembered that the producer of the film "The Unknown" that would make Director Rao famous in the future seemed to be Han Jianuo in front of him. So it was not surprising that they had known each other for a long time.
"To be praised by my senior sister, I believe this Director Rao is definitely not an ordinary person. When you have time, please bring him here for me to meet."
"Don't worry, since I plan to get him to co-direct, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."
With the script she got from Gu Wei in her bag, Han Jianu walked out of the "Wei Ming Tian Xia" building with a lot on her mind.
Ever since Gu Wei bought the office building where his company is located, he renamed it after his company.
It was not yet noon, and Gu Wei had originally invited her to have lunch together, but she declined, saying she had something to do.
Although she has accepted the film, it is her first time after all. She is not in the mood to eat now and just wants to finish the most important thing first.
She walked to the parking lot downstairs of the office building and got into her car. Instead of starting the engine, Han Jianu took out her cell phone first.
"Hello?"
"What's wrong, Miss Han?"
A slightly tired male voice came from the other end of the phone.
Han Jianu frowned.
"What's wrong with you? Are you sick?"
“No, I stayed up late last night editing the film, and finally finished the remaining post-production.
Damn Lao Guo, he agreed to be my producer, but he just put his name on it and didn't help at all. He just went about his own business.
I was the only one who worked on the film, both inside and outside."
Han Jianu knew what was going on as soon as she turned around.
"Don't complain. Guo Fan has taken on such a big project from China Film Group. He's already worked very hard preparing his own film. It's normal that he can't help you."
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
"I know that, but the key is that he hasn't raised enough money for the project yet. What's the point of drawing so many sketches if you don't have the money to build them?
This is a small project of mine, so it's easy to shoot. Besides, he clearly agreed to it when we were drinking last time, but he only stayed on my set for two days and then disappeared.
”
Hearing Rao Xiaozhi's constant complaints on the phone, Han Jianu quickly interrupted him.
"How long will it take you to finish this film?"
“Um~ the post-production is almost done, it will be all finished in another ten days or half a month.
The producer plans to release this movie during the Lunar New Year holiday this year.
Hehe~ This is my first movie, you really think highly of me."
Rao Xiaozhi is a bit of a chatterbox, answering ten questions for every one he is asked. Han Jianu obviously knows his character, so when she talks to him, she will interrupt him after she finishes listening.
"Okay, hurry up, I've found another job for you!"
“What kind of work?
Miss Han wants me to make a movie?
What new projects does China Film have?
"It's not China Film, have you heard of [Wei Ming Tian Xia]?"
"[Defending the Ming Dynasty]?
The company of the famous star Gu Wei, the producer of "The Richest Man in Xihong City" and "Detective Chinatown"?
At this time, [Wei Ming Tian Xia] is no longer an unknown small company. In addition to the famous boss Gu Wei, the company has produced several well-made film and television dramas, and the achievements it has made have attracted the attention of many people in the circle.
"Yes, Gu Wei is my junior fellow apprentice, and we have a good relationship."
Han Jianu is also very proud when talking about Gu Wei.
"He asked me to direct a new movie, but I'm really not confident enough. You've just finished your current movie and you're free, so why don't we co-direct it?"
Han Jianu and Rao Xiaozhi have always had a good relationship, and she has helped each other a lot before, so she doesn't beat around the bush when she speaks.
"Well, I definitely can't refuse your request. No need for co-directing, I can just be your executive director. I'll definitely make the movie perfectly clear for you when the time comes!"
Rao Xiaozhi not only agreed directly, but also took the initiative to downgrade himself.
Co-directing can be considered the work of two people, but being an executive director is simply working for Han Jianuo. What he means is that he will do the work and you, Miss Han, will get the fame.
But he was willing to do so. Rao Xiaozhi was just an unknown little director. Although he and Han Jianu were friends, he owed her a lot of favors before.
Moreover, he knew that with the other party's status, it would be very easy for him to find a mature director to help make a movie, and asking him to join was just giving himself an opportunity.
"No need, don't do those useless things. I have already agreed with Gu Wei to ask you to co-direct. If you become the executive director, then who will I be?
Okay, stop talking nonsense. Since you have no problem with it, let’s go out for dinner later and I’ll show you the script.”
Rao Xiaozhi on the other end of the phone also looked helpless.
"Okay! Then Miss Han, I will listen to you."
(End of this chapter)
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