After dealing with the company's affairs, Sheng Quan was not idle either, but turned his attention to "The Cultivator".

It is impossible to start shooting a big production with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars immediately. The preparatory work alone has already been done. The location, storyboard, and budget plan all need to be prepared one by one. In short, it is so confusing that it makes people feel overwhelmed.

All of the above matters were followed throughout by Yu Xiangwan, the chief producer.

That’s right, the general producer of “The Cultivator” is still Yu Xiangwan.

Yu Xiangwan herself was somewhat surprised by this.

When "The Road of Life" was being filmed, Director Sheng had not yet established a company. But now, Xingmang Entertainment is full of talented people, and "The Cultivator" has invested hundreds of millions of dollars. Many people are willing to work hard for her to show their loyalty.

But Mr. Sheng still chose him to be the chief producer of "The Cultivator".

This is undoubtedly a kind of trust.

Nothing can make people feel more at ease than to get a response to their sincere heart, especially since he got the position of vice president in Xingmang Entertainment.

There are always people who change their minds after reaching a high position, but it will definitely not be Yu Xiangwan who has extreme and stubborn ideas.

He could be loyal and devoted even without a response, let alone after getting a response. When Xu Man called Sheng Quan, she once secretly complained to her:

"Producer Yu takes your words as if they were divine orders. You asked him to take care of his health, so he went to bed early and got up early and paid attention to his diet. He pays more attention to health preservation than anyone else. Last time, you praised his beautiful painting, so he learned to paint whenever he had time. I think even if you said that the stars in the sky are beautiful, Producer Yu would want to grow wings and fly up to pick them for you."

Sheng Quan couldn't do anything with Yu Xiangwan. He couldn't just say "Don't be so obedient". Fortunately, it was a good thing for Yu Xiangwan to take care of his health. He also liked painting, so he could only let him do what he wanted.

In short, after being busy for such a long time, the actor auditions for "The Cultivator" are coming to an end. Sheng Quan is just here to receive the results of the previous lottery, and by the way, he can also join in the excitement of the last few days of auditions.

As a fantasy film, "The Cultivator" itself is not well-received. If the director and investors are well-known and well-connected in the industry, they might be able to improve the cast by inviting first-line stars.

Xu Man definitely didn't know any big stars. As for Sheng Quan, the biggest star she had ever come into direct contact with was Hua Qing. The main reason was that she had a good work and rest schedule, and Xingmang Entertainment was confident enough and didn't need to attract investment, so she had never participated in all those messy parties in the circle.

However, "Life Road" has been nominated for the annual "Golden Orchid Award", so maybe I can go and see it in person when the time comes.

It is also because of the success of "The Road of Life" and Sheng Quan's fame that, although the fantasy movie sounds a bit outrageous, there are still many actors who come to audition for the role.

On the one hand, it is because there are too many actors and everyone is very competitive. It is good enough to have a movie to shoot. If there is a production worth hundreds of millions in front of them, all those below the first-tier stars would like to get it.

On the other hand, Sheng Quan has indeed been very popular recently. "Road of Life" has proved her vision. She has made a lot of people famous in such a short time.

Not to mention the 100 million that Jinjiu made, just look at Yan Hui and Lin Aike. One is already 30 years old and hadn't been popular for ten years, but became more and more popular under her. The other one finally gained some fame but was pushed by her original company to take a bunch of crappy advertisements. As a result, as soon as she came under Xingmang's hands, she became so popular that her reputation is getting better and better. She has currently taken a very high-end jewelry advertisement.

After careful counting, it turns out that none of those who entered Starlight fell behind.

Of course, this also has something to do with Xingmang’s own toughness.

Just as Sheng Quan said before, with money in her hands, she can have all kinds of talents she wants, and the strength that these people can bring together cannot be underestimated.

Not only the actors feel that there is something to be gained by following Sheng Quan, but investors and investment companies do too.

When Xu Man was soliciting investments before, few people were willing to pay attention to her when they heard that it was a fantasy story.

As a result, as soon as the news of Shengquan Investment spread, not only did new investors come to her one after another, but even the investors who had originally refused to contact her changed their minds.

Then after looking at the crew's budget, I felt a little regretful.

The main thing is, no matter how you look at the situation, one hundred million is a bit difficult to deal with.

The script is indeed good. Although it is a fantasy story, it can still make people take a gamble. But, does it really have to be such a big deal?

"At this rate, even a budget of 200 million won't be enough."

"Special effects alone will consume most of the budget."

"Can't we shoot most of those outdoor scenes inside the green screen? We have to fly the crew all over China. This is too expensive."

"The Ten Great Immortal Palaces. This set costs a lot of money. Can't the script be cut down a bit? Three or five great ones will do."

"There are too many actors who don't appear much. So, I have a foster brother. If you assign me a third male role, I will invest more."

This kind of situation is what gives directors the most headaches: a group of investors who are ignorant or semi-informed think they are gods when they receive money, and they wish the crew could shoot ten times the picture with only one cent of money.

In the past, Xu Man could only bite the bullet and explain to them why the budget needed to be so high, why certain scenes had to be real scenes, why the script could not be edited at will, and why she did not support Mu Tou Ren's younger brothers and sisters from bringing in money to join the crew.

But now, she is very tough: we can talk if we can, but it’s fine if we don’t want to.

"In fact, the crew's budget is very sufficient, and President Sheng will continue to invest in the future, so we don't have to worry about this."

As soon as these words were spoken, the small investors who originally had many opinions were silenced.

Xu Man: Great!

This was the first time since graduation that she felt so confident in front of these investor teams.

Feeling that this was all brought by Sheng Quan, Xu Man attentively bought a cup of milk tea and brought it to Sheng Quan who was watching the final audition.

"Thank you~"

Sheng Quan's style is very different from other casting directors. Although they all sit behind the desk, there are various snacks and fruits in front of her. Yu Xiangwan also thoughtfully placed a cushion behind her seat in advance, and now there is also milk tea brought by the chief director himself.

Although she deliberately chose a position in a corner, the actors could still easily see her position in the crew as soon as they came in.

As for the fact that others just sit there while she gets to eat, and others work while she enjoys herself, would anyone have any objections?

No, not only will I not, I will also find opportunities to show my courtesy without leaving any trace.

Just kidding, he’s the biggest sponsor of the crew.

Not to mention that Sheng Quan would bring some food and drinks to the crew every time she came, just the halo of her as the "biggest funder" and "Chairman of Xingmang" was enough to make people line up to welcome her.

Xu Man was almost done with her work, so she took her milk tea and sat down next to her. She glanced at the cleanly peeled pomelo in front of Sheng Quan, and Yu Xiangwan who was peeling a pomelo next to her, and marveled in her heart.

She is not a newcomer either. As soon as she started working with Yu Xiangwan, she felt that she was a strong and tough person. Later, her hunch was proved to be correct.

No, that's not right. To be precise, it was not Yu Xiangwan who was offended, but Sheng Quan's interests.

Xu Man stood on Sheng Quan's side, so she didn't have the chance to experience Yu Xiangwan's strong methods, but she did hear some people talking about how he usually looked steady and gentle, but in fact he was more ruthless than anyone else.

As a result, now, the producer Yu, who was regarded as vicious and ruthless, was peeling a pomelo for Sheng Quan with a gentle smile. His eyes were so gentle that those who were beaten up by Yu Xiangwan came over to take a look and were absolutely shocked.

Sheng Quan asked Xu Man: "Are those investors still bothering you?"

"Yes, there are a lot of things going on. They want to invest but are afraid of losing money. They think that if they spread their business too wide, it will collapse easily. As soon as I said that you would make additional investment, they all shut up."

Sheng Quan didn't say "then let's not bring them in and just let me invest alone", she is now considered an expert and naturally knows that making a movie is different from making a TV series, and there are many more areas to compete.

Putting aside other things, just in terms of scheduling films, Xingmang Entertainment has too little experience in this area. If it is fully handed over to her, it would be a waste of time and effort with little effect.

But it’s different when those investment companies and investors are involved. The cake becomes shared by everyone. Sheng Quan doesn’t have to do much. Naturally, there will be a bunch of people working hard to decorate the cake that belongs to everyone beautifully.

And their investment amount will not be large. After all, these people just want to get a piece of the pie, not to bear the risk pressure, otherwise they would not have so many concerns now.

Although they were not there, Sheng Quan, who had been receiving reports from Yu Xiangwan, was very clear about where the budget of "The Cultivator" would be used. She thought about it and asked again: "Do they have any objections to the scenery of the Ten Immortal Palaces?"

"That's a big complaint." Xu Man could understand: "It's true that if we want to build a real scene, the budget used for it will be too much, but the plot of the Ten Immortal Palaces is very important. If we just build it casually, the effect will definitely not be good."

Sheng Quan smiled.

I knew it would be like this.

She tilted her head to look at Yu Xiangwan, who understood and stood up to wipe his hands: "Director Sheng, I'll take Director Xu and the investors for a walk."

Xu Man: “?”

Stroll? Stroll what? Sheng Quan finished eating the pomelo that Yu Xiangwan had just handed her, and when she heard Xu Man's question, she replied, "Stroll through the ten great immortal palaces."

*** “The exterior scenes are already being set up?”

"We're taking it in the Magic City?"

"Wouldn't it be too expensive to do it in the Magic City? No wonder the budget is so high."

Everyone still has to give face to Sheng Quan, the largest investor, after all, they still expect her to withstand the greatest pressure.

And the distance is not far, so it doesn’t waste time.

Of course, even a short distance would seem to be a big problem to them.

Although the audition location is not in the center of Shanghai, it is not in the suburbs either. If we build a building for filming there, the rent would be very expensive.

"At least you should pick a suburb. No, you shouldn't set up in Shanghai. You should find a small town with cheap rent. Isn't it a waste of money to set up in Shanghai? Director Xu, your spending is really unnecessary."

It’s not that these people are fussy, what they say does make sense. You know, when the crew shoots real scenes, they basically rent a place to set them up.

After the filming is completed, the real scenes will have to be dismantled.

In other words, this money is truly wasted.

So even though Xu Man was overwhelmed by the criticism, she just used Sheng Quan to shut them up, because the budget was indeed outrageously high no matter how you calculated it.

Not to mention that the rent is a huge amount of money, just the idea of ​​building a lifelike building is a huge expense. Some crews are even so crazy as to mix the real with the fake and build a real one for the sake of filming effects.

Obviously, in the eyes of these investors, Xu Man is very cruel.

The frantic Xu Man said: "...This is not the place I chose."

As the two largest members of the crew, she and Yu Xiangwan have a clear division of labor. Yu Xiangwan is responsible for things like setting up the set and choosing the location.

Xu Man looked around, and the huge rent automatically emerged in her mind. After frantically counting the beads on the abacus in her mind, she was almost heartbroken and could hardly breathe: "Producer Yu, what's going on? Why did you choose to set the scene here? The rent... the budget..."

Yu Xiangwan was as calm as ever, except in front of Sheng Quan, when he would usually smile as if he was innocent, but you could tell he was not someone you wanted to mess with: "You'll know when you get here."

In fact, they were already halfway there because they could see the busy construction workers ahead from afar.

The construction site is so spacious that it stretches as far as the eye can see, the tall tower crane, and at a glance there are at least several hundred workers busy at the construction site, the cranes, the excavators, and the concrete mixer trucks.

There are also the skeletons of the buildings, even if they are just skeletons, you can tell that they are huge and magnificent fairy palaces.

Xu Man's eyes suddenly widened.

No director could resist such a setting.

When Xu Man saw the perfect set, she immediately forgot about the budget and smiled happily. She was already imagining how to shoot it: "Oh, this is really well done. The effect is so good when you look at how it was built. It looks just like the real thing..."

The investor representative with a mustache next to him said: "...Director Xu, look carefully, this is obviously true!"

Yu Xiangwan confirmed his words: "Yes, what Mr. Sheng meant is that if we are going to do something, we have to do it well, so all the sets are made of real materials and are in accordance with construction standards. Don't worry, these projects have all been approved by the government."

Investors: Who cares?

"What we are concerned about is that it costs so much money to build on such expensive land, and then it has to be demolished after it is built. Isn't that a complete waste of money?"

Yu Xiangwan pushed up his glasses and said, "You misunderstood."

"Dr. Sheng does not intend to demolish the buildings of the Ten Immortal Palaces."

"Not demolishing?" A group of people thought this was simply unreasonable: "She doesn't want to demolish it, so she can't demolish it? Does she really not want to demolish it just because she says so? Do you know how much the monthly rent for this kind of land is?"

Yu Xiangwan gave a standard smile: "I think Mr. Sheng knows."

"Because the land belongs to her."

(End of this chapter)