Full-time actor

Chapter 564 [129] Director Chen Yu’s debut film, with a strong crew!

In a private room of a restaurant near the Central Academy of Drama.

"It just so happens that Brother Yu just mentioned my new film. I want to ask, why did Yu Xin refuse the investment?"

"I'm curious!"

Lunch was almost over when Zhang Yang suddenly lay there and spoke to Chen Yu beside him.

Chen Yu wiped his mouth, thought for a moment, and then said, "It's been more than a year, right? Has Brother Yang started the machine?"

"..."

Really heartbroken.

Does he have time to come here before starting the machine?

"I'm sorry, Brother Yang, when I read the script, I really wanted to invest, but I can only give you 1000 million!"

"Our company should have contacted you, right?"

The script of "Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots" lists 4000 million as the cost. When Zhang Yang was writing the script, he had already decided on the candidate for the leading male role, Zhao Benshan; but the old man's net worth is really not low now.

The popularity of the Spring Festival Gala was around 05. It was the most popular channel for creating stars in the country, not to mention Benshan who appears on the show every year.

His salary alone is worth tens of millions. Even if we lower his net worth, it would conservatively be no less than 500. The salaries of many domestic artists have skyrocketed in recent years, which is why many movies cannot make a profit.

The money was all earned by the actors, so Chen Yu did not invest in "Returning to the Roots".

But Zhang Yang obviously doesn't think so.

"That's it!"

"Brother Yu, do you think the investment amount is too high?"

Zhang Yang smiled, and Chen Yu shook his head: "No, if it's a commercial film, let alone 3000 million, I would dare to invest 1 million!"

No one dares to doubt this statement. After all, the budgets of several of Chen Yu's films, including his salary, are more than 5000 million.

“But road movies are hard!”

"Returning Home" is a typical road movie, and Zhang Yang is obviously ambitious. He also wants to strive for the three major awards. The two-time San Sebastian Best Director Award obviously cannot satisfy Zhang Yang's ambition.

"What if the lead actor is Zhao Benshan?"

Zhang Yang smiled and said, "When I was writing this script, I felt that he was very suitable in my mind. He must have box office appeal!"

Zhang Yang spoke with confidence, and the people around him obviously agreed with his idea.

In addition to Chen Yu, Zhao Benshan has a very good reputation among the public in China. Many people think that Zhao Benshan has a huge box office bonus. Coupled with the influence of Chen Yu's current discontinuity in film schedules, this also gave many people present an illusion.

That is because he is famous, and people will go to the cinema to watch his movies.

This is certainly true. Zhao Benshan certainly has box office appeal, but that is the difference between hundreds of thousands and hundreds of millions.

In fact, appeal is a metaphysics. Chen Yu has captured such a group of loyal fans with his acting skills, the reputation of each movie, as well as his popularity and appearance. What does Zhao Benshan have?
In addition to his popularity, he also has comedic abilities.

The box office bonus of hundreds of thousands does not underestimate Uncle Benshan. This is really all he has.

“I can’t deny that Mr. Benshan can drive the box office!”

Chen Yu stated the facts and reasoned: "But a few years ago, Zhang Yimou directed the movie "Happy Times", in which he was the leading actor, and it took 500 million at the box office. Do you think it was director Zhang Yimou's box office appeal or Uncle Benshan's?"

"That was a few years ago. Zhao Benshan's influence now is not what it was back then!"

Zhang Yang still retains his fantasy.

Chen Yu looked helpless, looking at him and said, "Senior, Returning to the Roots is a good script and can win awards, but I'm not optimistic about the box office!"

Right now, apart from Hollywood films, which are both critically and commercially successful and can win Oscars or even the three major awards, no director from other countries can do it; because there is no such open market, even in Hollywood, there are very few such films.

Chen Yu does not look down on domestic directors, but given the current domestic market situation, it is impossible to have such a good thing of both winning awards and having box office success.

Oh, Gu Changwei’s “Peacock” this year may be an exception.

This film was nominated for the Berlin Golden Bear and was released in China on the day of the awards ceremony. Through award-winning marketing, it earned 2000 million in China!
Sure enough, Zhang Yang came up to a few people and said, "In fact, I didn't really believe that award-winning films could gain at the box office, but Lao Gu's "Peacock", which Bona made for him, took 2000 million!"

"If, I mean if, my movie is also accepted by the three majors, and we do the same, if the movie has a good reputation, we will definitely make a lot of money!"

"Correct!"

Chen Yu gave a rare show of support.

Zhang Yang was quite surprised and looked at Chen Yu with some confusion.

"By doing this, we may indeed be able to attract a number of bonuses from the box office of award-winning films!"

“But there are many uncertainties in this process!”

The first thing is to get in good shape with the Film Bureau to ensure that it can be released during the award-winning period; the second is review and getting the dragon mark for domestic release; the third is... being shortlisted for the three major ones, which is not that easy!

This is the most critical point.

Seeing Zhang Yang hesitate to speak, Chen Yu hurriedly said: "It's not that I don't have confidence in you to make it to the top three, there are really many uncertainties!"

"I just said that my company can invest, but I will only offer 1000 million. But I have a condition!"

After hearing what Chen Yu said, Zhang Yang hurriedly asked, "What are the conditions?"

"The pay, the actor's pay, can't exceed 500 million, otherwise I won't invest. If Mr. Benshan lowers his pay and is willing to act, I have nothing to say. As for your final investment amount, it has nothing to do with me. I only have this one request, the pay can't be too high!"

If "Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots" can really be completed with 1500 million yuan, Chen Yu will really make a profit.

Because this is indeed a good movie and it can win awards, the 1500 million can definitely make back the investment, and it can also allow Zhang Yang to sell himself in a good light.

"1000 million..."

Zhang Yang was still muttering, this was obviously quite different from what he felt inside.

"That's all I invested in Jiang Wen's new film!"

Chen Yu said this quickly, and everyone present laughed.

"Can I have more?"

Although Zhang Yang has won many awards, he really didn't make much money; except for Meng Jinhui and his wife, everyone here is actually the same; Zhang Yibai may still be the richest, but he also needs to attract investment. Although the directors here are all very good, they are directors of the Central Academy of Drama, so it is really difficult for them to attract investment.

It's so hard to find a sponsor, why don't you make full use of it?

What's more, Chen Yu is a well-known investment maniac in the circle. He takes special care of his seniors from the Central Academy of Drama. People like Ulan Tana and Ma Liwen were all promoted by him. He has also invested in many movies, all of which are very profitable.

Are there any plans for new directors... Yuxin Pictures is also growing bigger and bigger in the industry, and of course they want to tie themselves to this big tree.

The directors at the Central Academy of Drama are not like those at the Beijing Film Academy. They have management departments and economics and management departments, and they can help each other, and there are also many exchanges of interests. If a director at the Central Academy of Drama wants to make a name for himself now, it is much more difficult than at the Beijing Film Academy.

Unlike the future, after this circle was established, the graduates of the directing department of the Central Academy of Drama have indeed been getting better and better. After all, the directors of the Central Academy of Drama have several advantages that the directors of the Beijing Film Academy do not have.

First, the actors have easy remuneration; second, the screenwriters basically write their own stories and shoot their own films, so they have their own control over the films; third, the monetization channels of movies are diversified, and movies can be adapted into dramas... Many movies directed by directors of the Central Academy of Drama are created and staged as dramas to make money from fans.

Many moviegoers will basically buy it.

For example, Rao Xiaozhi's "The Unknown" also had good box office performance and the drama also sold tens of millions.

The ability to make money for investors is indeed strong.

Finally, Chen Yu gave in and gave Zhang Yang an investment of 1500 million yuan. His trip was not in vain. Seeing this, Zhang Yibai also started talking about his movie. Everyone present was a creative talent, and it would be unacceptable for them not to have three or four movie scripts in their hands.

"Seniors, come one by one. I also want to make a Hollywood blockbuster this year, but I don't have that much funding!"

Although these few are all big money-makers in the director world.

Apart from Meng Jinhui and his wife, the other four directors have made good profits in both movies and TV series.

Even though Cai Shangjun's film "People Mountain and Sea" won the Best Director Award in Venice, it still made money overseas.

"It's okay. Take the script first and read it when you have time. When we start filming, tell our brothers about it!"

Zhang Yang was winking at Chen Yu, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These guys were treating him as a fat sheep to be slaughtered. If he didn't know the other party's achievements, Chen Yu might not have agreed so readily. However, for Zhang Yang's "Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots", 1500 million was really worth a try.

As for other people, they really can't be impatient; although Chen Yu wants to make money from movies, he is very cautious when making movies. He always takes one job at a time and proceeds steadily; if he really lets go, based on some of the movies he knows about in Chongsheng, he can actually make many movies a year.

The reason why they didn't do so was because they didn't want Yu Xin to develop too quickly; at its current pace, it is already the number one film studio in the country, producing more than 10 films a year, and they are all profitable.

Huayi doesn't even have this kind of abnormal strength.

"Okay, I helped you all with your requests. Now I want to ask you for a favor!"

After having a good meal and a few drinks, Chen Yu had a good chat with a few people, speaking half-jokingly and half-seriously.

Zhang Yang immediately waved his hand and said, "Boss Yu, you tell me, as long as we can help you, we will definitely do it!"

"It's like this, I have a youth campus script with a crime theme, and I want to find a director to help me--"

"I can!"

Zhang Yang patted his chest. Zhang Yibai next to him pushed up his glasses and said unhappily, "You are nothing. Youth campus, can you shoot youth campus? This is the type I am good at!"

"I can't afford you two!"

Chen Yu looked at Diao Yinan who had been silent the whole time: "Is Senior Brother Diao free?"

"Don't look for Lao Diao, he's stubborn and wants to shoot it himself..."

"Who told you that!"

Diao Yinan looked up at Zhang Yibai and said to Chen Yu, "Okay, I'll take it!"

"Brother, don't you need to look at the book or something..."

This answer was so straightforward that it made Chen Yu feel a little unreal.

But think about it, Diao Yinan's current situation is indeed miserable; if someone asks him to film a movie, he can make some money more or less; he wrote and directed his debut film "Uniform" two years ago, which won many awards, but not only did it not get released in China, but the investors also lost a lot of money.

So now even if we have a script, we can’t get investment.

"fine!"

Diao Yinan smiled, a little shy: "I just have one request, Brother Yu, can you consider my script after the filming? I also have a crime script!"

"what story?"

Chen Yu's heart couldn't help but move.

Chen Yu had also heard of his famous work "Black Coal, Thin Ice"; Diao Yinan waited for eight years before getting investment for this film, which won many global awards including the Berlin Golden Bear and Silver Bear.

Of course, he would not make it sound so bad to the outside world. The news said that he spent eight years carefully preparing the script of "Fireworks in the Daytime", during which he went through three rewrites and had been trying to find investment...and this movie was shot in 2013, which means that he should have finished writing "Fireworks in the Daytime" around this time!
In the end, this film, which cost 5000 million RMB to make, earned more than 1 million RMB in domestic box office alone and more than 2000 million USD overseas.

This film is indeed a masterpiece for Chen Yu, and there is no problem with the censorship.

"It's about a dismemberment case..."

After Diao Yinan said it, Chen Yu was almost certain that this was the script of "Fireworks in the Daytime".

"Okay, if the script is good, I'll give the male and female leads to you!"

Chen Yu was jokingly talking there. Not only was Diao Yinan stunned, but Zhang Yang beside him was also extremely jealous: "No, Brother Yu, you are being a bit hypocritical!"

Shit, he begged for a long time and finally got 1500 million investment, but Diao Yinan just said a few words and Chen Yu directly participated in the film. How can this be justified? !
The double standards are too serious!
"It's not like I haven't read your script. I can only play a cameo role, but I can't play the leading role, right?"

"Brother Nan, this script suits me. I can still play the male lead if I gain some weight and put on some makeup!"

The most important thing is the female lead, a beautiful woman, and Chen Yu just happens to have one.

The leading actress in the previous life's "Black Coal, Thin Ice" was Taiwanese actress Gui Lunmei, and Zhou Jielun's leading actress in "Secret" was not a professional actor, but her acting skills were just okay. Chen Yu felt that if Liu Yifei gave it her all, she could still play this role.

"Brother Yu, are you still short of people for your film?"

Cai Shangjun next to him suddenly said that he and Diao Yinan are now brothers in distress. Neither of them is doing very well, but they have been preparing for their debut works. The only limitation is funding.

"Yes, Brother Shang, if you want to come and play, that's fine. I'll pay you!"

With the future best director of Venice Film Festival coming to direct, the cast of this film is truly powerful.

"If you two go, then I'll go join in the fun. It just so happens that I don't have any movies to shoot during this period!"

"..."

For a moment, several guys clamored to follow Chen Yu, and finally Chen Yu simply waved his hand.

Isn't it just making a movie? They can work on it together. It also saves Chen Yu from forming his own crew and can hand it over to Diao Yinan and the others, who are familiar with it. The only requirement is to find a photographer with strong news realism. Not to mention Diao Yinan, Zhang Yibai actually knows quite a few of them.

Anyway, we will first establish the project and review the script, and at the same time we can prepare some early preparations.

After a discussion, the few people finally finalized the "Better Days" project. Chen Yu was quite happy and relieved. He only needed to remotely control the shooting location and so on. All of them were screenwriters and of course they had experience.

“This is really efficient!”

Chen Yu never expected that the new film would be finalized so quickly.

The main reason is that these four guys really have nothing to do recently, and if the "boss" wants to make a movie, they will definitely act as pawns; this will make him happy, because then their new movie will have a future, right?

Everyone is a smart person and of course everyone wants to please Chen Yu.

Chen Yu also had an idea in mind, so after saying goodbye to them, he called Wang Zhonglei.

This guy called me seven or eight times in one afternoon, probably to report to him about the pre-sale status of "A World Without Thieves".

(End of this chapter)