Fang Yang solemnly said, "Although we hired a mercenary group to film in Rwanda this time, danger is everywhere. We need to make this clear to the artists and the group leader. Don't back down at the last minute, or it will be troublesome."
Tang Qiang paused, puzzled, and asked, "If it's dangerous, wouldn't it be better to film in another location?"
"Don't I know that a different location would be better? But will the film still have that original sense of tension?"
Tang Qiang mumbled a few words, "Okay, I'll tell them in advance. I'm afraid the cost will increase significantly. In addition, we need to prepare a medical team and have enough medical supplies. Otherwise, we really won't dare to go."
Fang Yang nodded, "You can arrange it. We'll start selecting actors tomorrow. Once they're chosen, they'll be sent to the military for half a month of training. You can make all the preparations here. We'll depart early with the warship, and once we reach our destination, the main force will charter a plane to go there. That way, neither side will be delayed."
"Okay, let's have a meeting tonight to finalize things. Also, the producer needs to go and scout out the locations first. By the way, do you think those producers dare to go and find locations there?"
Tang Qiang was extremely worried. The producers and a few others were too weak to even kill a chicken. Going to the wilderness to find location shooting was like throwing a meat bun to a dog—a one-way trip with no return.
Seeing Tang Qiang's worried look, Fang Yang reminded him, "Regarding the security over there, Mr. Zhou will arrange for a mercenary group to provide close protection. If the producer wants to find location shooting, they only need to contact them. They will handle all the security matters."
Tang Qiang said with relief, "That's good. I thought that if the producer and a few others were to search in the wilderness, in a foreign land, amidst war and chaos, they probably wouldn't even have the courage to go out."
Fang Yang chuckled and saw Tang Qiang enthusiastically preparing for the event. He then went downstairs to arrange for the driver to prepare the car. Zhang Ze had called earlier to say that Tang Qiang had already boarded the plane and should be landing soon, so it was time to go pick him up.
The scene for a big star is not ordinary. Not only his agent, assistant, and entourage, but also his makeup artist and bodyguards, a huge crowd surrounding Zhang Ze, occupying most of the aisle.
Fortunately, Fang Yang had anticipated this and brought two cars, which were just enough to take the whole group back. Zhang Ze, on the other hand, insisted on getting into Fang Yang's car, claiming that they could chat on the way.
"Mr. Fang, I agreed to this job without even knowing the name of your movie. Can you reveal a little bit of information now?"
Fang Yang knew this guy would ask questions right away, so he tossed him a thick stack of scripts and said, "Take a look at these first. They were just approved. Just so you know, the filming location will be a bit dangerous. You still have a chance to back out."
Zhang Ze quickly flipped through the script. "The evacuation of Chinese citizens from Yemen? I've heard about that. I didn't expect you to use it as a basis for a script. It's very representative. What do you mean by 'danger'?"
"In order to realistically recreate the story's background, we plan to film in Rwanda this time. You know that place is very chaotic, especially with mercenaries running rampant. The government can't do anything about it. Although we will also hire a large mercenary group to accompany and protect us, no one can predict what might happen. So I need to make this clear to you. You should be aware of this. It's best to explain it to your company."
This was the first time Zhang Ze had heard of this matter. He looked worried and said, "President Fang, you're putting me in a difficult position. But I'm perfectly fine with myself. I've been to Rwanda and even filmed there. It's not a problem in the city, and it's quite safe if there are many people. But it's hard to guarantee safety in the wild. Even with mercenaries protecting you, it's not absolutely guaranteed. But seeing how confident you are, President Fang, I'm willing to risk it. To be honest, even if I get caught there, as long as the money is right, it's not a problem."
Fang Yang was quite surprised, "It seems you experienced this firsthand. How come I've never heard of it?"
Zhang Ze said with a bitter face, "How can I say this? It happened just a few years ago. I was filming with a crew over there, and after filming for more than a week, they raided our entire hideout. Luckily, they were only after money, and I was released after paying a large sum of money."
Fang Yang suppressed a laugh, "How much per person?"
"One million! Luckily, I don't have to pay this amount, otherwise I would have suffered a huge loss. I was almost scared to death."
"Your crew must have quite a few people, right? How many mercenaries did you hire?"
"There were about twenty or thirty people, I'm not really sure of the exact number. Anyway, because of this incident, the movie wasn't finished filming. In the end, we had no choice but to wrap up early and go home to rest for more than a month. Later, we managed to do some reshoots in another location and then hastily wrapped up. The movie's box office performance wasn't great either, and the investors probably lost a lot of money."
Fang Yang laughed and said, "This is no one's fault but the investors'. They're too stingy. With so many people in your crew, aren't you just easy targets? By making such a small mercenary group, aren't you just blatantly telling everyone that there's a bunch of fat sheep here, and there's no protection. Anyone can come and take a bite."
Zhang Ze's eyes widened. "There's such a thing? Aren't they all familiar with this? Why would they do something like this?"
"Brother, are you stupid? You've already been through this, how come you still can't see the tricks of the trade? What do mercenaries do? They risk their lives to steal money. You're trying to talk to them about human relationships? What's a human relationship worth? Can it even fill your stomach?"
Zhang Ze, who hadn't thought about it at all, suddenly exploded, "Damn Chen Dabiao, so this is where the problem lies! I was wondering why other people's filming went smoothly, but we had all these issues. Turns out they were just unwilling to spend money and put us all on the hot seat to be tested!"
Fang Yang smiled and explained to Zhang Ze, "Mercenary groups also come in different sizes. Generally, large mercenary groups have helicopters and artillery, which can deter small and medium-sized mercenary groups. Other large mercenary groups will not tear each other apart over such a small matter. Speaking of this, as long as the money is right, there is no problem with the mercenary group. The most important thing to pay attention to is large wild animals in the wild, such as packs of wolves. That is the biggest threat."
Zhang Ze's expression changed. "Wolves? We didn't encounter them last time, but with more than twenty fully armed mercenaries, we shouldn't be afraid even if we encounter a pack of wolves, right?"
"A small pack of wolves is fine, but if you encounter a pack of hundreds of wild wolves, it's hard to say. You're lucky you didn't encounter one, otherwise no amount of money would have helped."
Zhang Ze's face turned deathly pale. "Brother, since you know so much about this, how many people did you hire for your team this time?"
"More than two hundred people, they also provided helicopters, tanks and howitzers, all with live ammunition. The reason why they insisted on reducing the salary this time is because all these guns and ammunition are real. Only a small portion of the ammunition that will hit people is hollow bullets. Every second of these things costs money. This part alone is estimated to cost two hundred million."
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