Su Ge was still rambling on: "It's all Lin Hui's fault! She said if I didn't create a CP (couple pairing) soon, I'd be ruined. Luckily, Shi Shan knows my dad, so it was perfect to create a CP with him. I was wondering why Shi Shan was so cooperative; turns out he was just using me as a target for his advances..."
Although she felt it was unlikely that Shi Shan would harm Su Ge, Shang Yechu still chimed in, "Yeah, he's a beast."
Su Ge said indignantly, "Men are all the same! Except... Ye Chu, you promised to treat our crew to dinner, when are you going to do it?"
Shang Yechu gets a headache just thinking about it. Su Ge is really unpopular. As soon as Zheng Bohan heard that he was going to have dinner with her, he was so scared that he left in a huff and almost blocked Shang Yechu as well.
Qin Tianye's attitude was also strange. After Shang Yechu subtly conveyed the invitation, Qin Tianye remained silent for a moment before asking, "Did Su Ge send you?"
What else could Shang Yechu say? Of course, she could only shamelessly say, "This was my own idea." Qin Tianye, upon hearing this, simply replied, "You're in the prime of your career, so you can eat whenever you want."
That means refusing.
The director and male lead both declined, making the dinner seem rather unjustified. Shang Yechu couldn't bear to tell Su Ge the truth, so she could only keep laughing it off.
Now that the other party had brought it up again, Shang Yechu could only repeat the same old excuse: "Teacher Qin and Teacher Zheng are too busy..."
"How could that be!" Su Ge retorted without hesitation. "Teacher Qin hasn't been on set for 234 days. What has he been busy with?"
Shang Yechu quietly slapped herself. She had even forgotten Su Ge's old profession. Her memory really needed some medicine.
"Okay, actually I'm busy." Shang Yechu said helplessly. "I'm in the capital right now. I'm afraid it will be a long time before I can go back. If you really want to have this meal, you can go and invite someone yourself."
This sentence indeed silenced Su Ge. Su Ge stammered for a long time, saying things like "That's too embarrassing," "I won't agree," and "I'm trying to avoid you," before reluctantly hanging up.
Having finally seen off the rich young lady, Shang Yechu looked at the "Collection of Short Stories by Ai Xiaodong" in front of her, but lost all interest in studying it. Remembering the old classmate Ji Juntao had mentioned, she hesitated for a moment before finally dialing his number.
Ji Juntao's old classmate was Xue Zhao, a well-dressed and elegant local bigwig who owned a law firm in the capital and often represented celebrities in court.
Upon hearing the other person's profession, Shang Yechu immediately guessed why Ji Juntao wanted to maintain a relationship with this old classmate. Lawyers have the widest network and the most connections, interacting with all sorts of people. Having more friends means having more paths; having more lawyer friends means having a hundred more paths.
Xue Zhao was a smooth talker, and his actions always kept him at arm's length from Shang Yechu. It seemed he was used to the shady dealings of the entertainment industry and kept his distance from such people. This behavior reminded Shang Yechu of another cunning old fox surnamed Xue, and she suddenly felt a sense of kinship.
After exchanging a few polite pleasantries with Xue Zhao, Shang Yechu revealed his true purpose for coming.
"I want to ask you about someone."
"who?"
Shang Yechu paused for a moment: "Ai Xiaodong."
Although screenwriters and original authors generally have a low social standing in the industry, those at Ai Xiaodong's level are an exception. If Ai Xiaodong wanted to, he could basically do whatever he wanted to the entire production crew.
While Shao Guangji's connections were crucial, Shang Yechu also needed to curry favor with Ai Xiaodong. He planned to pursue both approaches simultaneously, giving it his all, no matter what.
The filming period for the public service advertisement is very short, so it's best to take advantage of this time to get to know Shao Guangji better. Shang Yechu can't worry about Ai Xiaodong right now, so she can only ask Ji Juntao to handle it. Shang Yechu even considered simply paying for the rights to Ai Xiaodong's pile of unsold short stories herself…
It's 2018 now. A few years later, the film and television rights to Ai Xiaodong's works will be priceless. But in 2018, China's science fiction film and television industry is still in a barren period.
Both investors and audiences lack confidence in science fiction. Industry insiders generally believe that "domestic science fiction films can't be made, and even if they were, nobody would watch them." The copyright value of Ai Xiaodong's works is severely underestimated.
For example, Ai Xiaodong's representative work, "Time Sphere," had its film rights sold for only 100,000 yuan! Even so, the filming project still failed.
In addition, the high investment costs and high technical barriers of science fiction works are also reasons why there is little interest in the film and television copyrights of Ai Xiaodong's works.
In 2018, Ai Xiaodong's works were in an awkward period where "no one dared to film them," or even "no one dared to acquire them." Apart from the film and television rights for "Time Sphere" and "Heavenly Lord" being sold, the rest were still hanging in the obscure corners of the film and television market, waiting for discerning individuals to discover them.
Shang Yechu certainly wanted to be a person of insight.
Having filmed for so long, Shang Yechu has accumulated some savings. Looks like he's about to become a spendthrift again.
Being a generous spender isn't so easy. Shang Yechu got stuck on the first step: contacting Ai Xiaodong.
Shang Yechu had sent an email to Ai Xiaodong's official cooperation email address, expressing his interest. However, it went unanswered.
This person, like Sheng Wenzhi, is a slippery eel that appears only briefly!
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