Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 133 To do it or not to do it?

At the busy construction site, Chen Shiping, wearing a safety helmet, was checking the progress of the construction.

The foreman next to him smiled and said: "Director Chen, welcome to inspect, the progress is very fast now, I guarantee it will be completed on time and according to the quantity!"

Chen Shiping always felt strange when he heard others call him Director Chen at the construction site. He touched his pocket, but there was no red envelope in it.

"The key is to improve the quality!" Chen Shiping looked at the foundation that had been laid and was satisfied with the current progress.

However, no matter how fast the speed is, it will not be completed until May next year.

There are a lot of houses on one street. After each building is built, the scenery will be set. When the production can start in July, the progress will be considered gratifying.

The workload of "Farewell My Concubine" is really not small. Judging from the current shooting standards in the mainland, the production cost of more than 30 million is not worse than a Hollywood A-level production.

After all, prices in the two places are different, so we can’t just look at investment.

Chen Shiping walked around the construction site and then left. He was going to attend the premiere of Jingwu Heroes today, so he stopped by to take a look.

This time the premiere was not chosen in the morning, but in the afternoon.

The previous two explosions paralyzed traffic at the intersection, seriously affecting the normal life of residents, who could not even squeeze out of the street to buy groceries.

So I changed the time to the afternoon so that it wouldn’t affect the surrounding traffic too much.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Shiping came to the Capital Hotel, where Zhongshan Meihui stayed.

She flew back to Japan for a while before, and she just flew back yesterday. After the promotion in the mainland, she will fly to Xiangjiang, and then go to Japan for promotion.

While Chen Shiping was waiting for someone downstairs in the hotel, he was thinking about recruiting some foreign language students for the co-production department.

We can't let ourselves, the director, pick people up and drop them off when things like this happen in the future. It would waste too much time.

While Chen Shiping was thinking, Zhongshan Meihui and her assistant came down from upstairs.

When I met Chen Shiping, I bowed and greeted him very politely, but the Japanese spoken English sounded a bit strange.

Chen Shiping smiled and said, "Thank you for coming all the way from Japan. Did you have a good rest?"

"Very good, thank you for your reception." Nakayama Meihui said with a smile.

Chen Shiping nodded and said, "That's good. If you need anything, tell me at any time."

Chen Shiping learned a lesson this time and did not take the actors to the Victory Theater with great fanfare. Instead, he let them sneak over by themselves and meet at the theater.

Jet Li and the actors from Xiangjiang have arrived at the theater now.

As for Chen Hong, she passed away early and is now immersed in the joy of becoming famous overnight and wants to enjoy the feeling of being sought after by movie fans.

When Chen Shiping drove to the cinema, Zhongshan Meihui, who was sitting in the back seat, suddenly took the initiative to find a topic to talk about.

"I heard that you are responsible for co-producing movies at the Beijing Film Studio, right?"

Chen Shiping glanced at the rearview mirror and hummed, not understanding what she wanted to say.

Nakayama Meihui immediately said: "Then I wonder if you are willing to cooperate with Japanese companies?"

Sino-Japanese cooperation? Chen Shiping is reluctant to cooperate with Japan. In recent years, Japanese products from Japanese factories have become very popular in China.

Although it brought funds and technology, it also squeezed many state-owned enterprises and had no room for survival.

Cooperation in industry and commerce is indispensable, but cultural exchanges are enough, and cooperation is not necessary.

Even if there is cooperation, it must be done by the Mainland side, just like this time with Heroes of Heroes. Otherwise, if Japan takes the initiative, we still don’t know what kind of movie it will be.

Chen Shiping looked into Zhongshan Meihui's eyes through the rearview mirror and asked, "Does your business have any ideas for cooperation?"

"Yes, I wonder if you are interested?" Zhongshan Meihui said directly.

Chen Shiping shook his head and said: "I'm interested, but this year's quota has been used up. There may be no way for the time being. We will talk about it when we have the opportunity."

Hearing Chen Shiping's words, Zhongshan Meihui didn't hear any intention of rejection, but became happy. It seemed that this mission could be successfully completed!

"It doesn't matter. You can do it next year too. I didn't expect you to be interested in cooperating!"

Chen Shiping: "." Didn't this girl hear what she meant?

Don't I know how many years have passed? ! Guess why I told you this even though I knew there was an indicator coming soon!

Faced with Zhongshan Meihui's novice way of talking, Chen Shiping's punctuality was of no use.

I had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "Then let's talk about it next year."

Chen Shiping suddenly had a sense of déjà vu as if the post-00 generation was reorganizing the workplace.

Fortunately, Zhongshan Meihui didn't continue, otherwise Chen Shiping really wouldn't know how to deal with it.

When Chen Shiping came to the intersection of Victory Theater, he was still shocked.

The number of people is no less than before, even more than last year, and there are many more stalls on the roadside.

Those who practice stalls will also be able to take advantage of the popularity. Chen Shiping estimates that after a few more years of doing this, the Lunar New Year stall will really be a success.

But in the future, we will have to make some other types of movies. Audiences will get tired of action movies sooner or later.

Maybe there will be a comedy movie next year. Chen Shiping feels that he can release Xiaogang in advance.

What is Xiaogang doing? Chen Shiping thought for a while and didn't remember. He was probably following Wang Shuo and calling him brother.

Zhongshan Meihui looked at so many people outside and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Is today your traditional festival?"

"No, they are all here to watch the movie." Chen Shiping explained with a smile.

"So many people!" Zhongshan Meihui was surprised.

Chen Shiping said with a smile: "There are three movie theaters at this intersection, each of which can accommodate thousands of people to watch movies. From now to evening, there are several movies, and the audience has come early."

Zhongshan Meihui was lying on the window looking at the noisy crowd outside, feeling a little weird.

After Chen Shiping honked the horn a few times, he successfully drove the car to the entrance of Victory Cinema. After asking Zhongshan Meihui to put on her hat and glasses, he took her out of the car and entered the theater.

After arriving at the theater, the rest is much simpler. Just start the premiere when the time comes.

Backstage at the Victory Theater, Chen Hong was chatting with the family members of several theater staff and taking photos with them.

Chen Hong smiled like a flower. She really enjoyed the feeling of being a big star.

But after Nakayama Meihui appeared, the group of people changed their targets and ran around to ask for autographs from Nakayama Meihui.

A trace of depression flashed across Chen Hong's face, but she still ran over happily when she saw Chen Shiping.

"Director Chen, you are here."

Chen Shiping hummed, but instead of showing that he was too familiar with her, he turned to ask the theater manager next to him about today's ticket sales.

“The aisle standing tickets are all gone.”

The manager smiled like a flower. Chen Shiping chose to win in several consecutive movies, which brought them too much customer flow and income.

In 1988, the Victory Theater's annual net profit was only tens of thousands of yuan, and the same was true for the Red Mansion Theater next door.

In the past two years, Chen Shiping's several martial arts films have boosted the income of these theaters. It also makes the audience willing to come here at other times, and invisibly cultivates a group of loyal customers.

I heard that the Red Mansion Theater has updated its equipment this year.

The manager of the Victory Theater smiled and said to Chen Shiping: "Director Chen, it will be New Year's Day in a few days. The theater has purchased a lot of gifts and will send you one later."

Chen Shiping smiled and refused. How could he be embarrassed to accept the gift?

The manager also smiled and said, "One more thing to trouble you. It's not convenient for your car to be parked at the door. Why don't you give me the key and I'll find someone to park it again."

Chen Shiping said with a serious expression: "Yes, there are many people watching the movie today, and it is not good for the audience. Please stop it again."

Chen Hong watched from the side and couldn't help but snicker. He was parking his car. He just wanted to give a gift. Chen Shiping was too stupid to notice it.

After giving the keys, Chen Shiping chatted with the manager about the theater's operating conditions in the past two years, and also talked about the theater chain reform.

Theater managers are very excited and eager to reform quickly. Theaters have been really having a hard time in the past few years.

After deducting various costs in the first few years, I only made tens of thousands of dollars a year, which is simply outrageous!

Even if such a big theater is turned into a roasted nuts shop, it will earn more than this amount in a year!

China Film buys a copy for 9,000 or 10,000, but the price given to theaters is not that.

Either rent it to a theater chain at a high price, or sell it to a theater chain at a high price. The theater chain not only has to spend money to buy copies, but also pay various fees to the theater chain, as well as rent, water and electricity equipment maintenance personnel's salary, and really can't make much money throughout the year.

The theater manager couldn't help but complain: "Where has all the money gone this year? Every company is crying out for poverty."

Chen Shiping sighed. He knew where the money went. It was all given to the projection team and various units that went to the countryside.

Without the support from above, where would there be so many screening teams, and where would the vast number of rural people go to watch free movies.

This is a good thing. Chen Shiping can't say anything, but it's not a problem if it keeps going like this. He has to improve the market and make more money to keep this market alive.

The countryside supports the city in other aspects, but in terms of movies, the city should support the countryside.

This point was also mentioned in the thesis report written by Chen Shiping. It is necessary to send movies to the countryside and cannot be cancelled!

Since we can’t afford a TV set, it would be unfair if the movie screening team cancels again.

After chatting with the theater manager for a while, it was time for the premiere event to begin.

The theater staff are very experienced and can handle all the tasks clearly without Chen Shiping having to worry about it.

The actors and director followed the staff to the front for activities, and Chen Shiping relaxed.

Before I sat down and took a sip of tea, there was a huge burst of applause and shouts from the front.

Chen Shiping couldn't help but smile. The audience was still so enthusiastic. What a great audience. How could we let these audiences pass by?

It must be retained!

Chen Shiping felt that it was time to launch other schedules, such as the May 11th Summer Chinese Valentine's Day and other schedules.

Cultivate the audience's consumption habits and movie-watching habits.

At the same time, we need to try more genre films to enrich the content of the films.

Nowadays, many movies produced by film studios are just like TV series, which are not interesting at all.

After all, it's all about money. Crime movies can't afford big scenes. Not to mention car chase scenes, there aren't even many fight scenes.

From the screening hall in front, the audience continued to boo, and it seemed that the event was going quite smoothly.

More than twenty minutes later, Li Lianjie and the others came back, with smiles on their faces.

Li Lianjie likes the feeling of movies being released in mainland China more and more. The feeling of being loved by the audience is something he could not experience in Hong Kong.

After all, it’s better to be at home!

After Li Lianjie finished sharing happily, Chen Shiping smiled and patted him on the shoulder and said: "The lower Dongfang Invincibles don't have this kind of treatment."

Li Lianjie: "." It seems that I still want to hug Director Chen's lap!

Chen Shiping wouldn't be that concerned about Xiangjiang's film being controlled, and China Film would not work hard to promote it, let alone get so many copies like Jingwu Heroes.

Considering that the starring roles are Li Lianjie, Lin Qingxia and Guan Zhilin, I estimate that I can get three to four hundred copies, but no more copies will be possible.

But three to four hundred copies is three to four million, which is quite a lot for a co-production.

At least the cost of the actors' remuneration has been basically recovered.

Chen Shiping took the crew upstairs to watch the movie and see the audience's reaction.

The movie had already started for a few minutes, and the audience was watching the movie with rapt attention.

When Chen Zhen and Huo Ting'en fought, there were cheers from the audience.

The action design this time is different from Once Upon a Time and New Dragon Inn. It is more like a combination of hard bridge and hard horse kung fu and martial arts.

There is real skill and the fighting is beautiful, which makes the audience feel refreshed.

There were constant cheers in the screening room. When they saw Chen Zhen being rejected because of his Japanese girlfriend, the audience's emotions became more complicated.

On the one hand, I hate my childhood life, but on the other hand, I feel that the little girl in the movie is right.

I didn’t know who to support for a while.

This movie is actually very meaningful. It criticizes nationalism but blindly hates everyone.

Chen Shiping originally wanted to change this plot, but after thinking about it he kept it.

After all, there are still many left-Y filmmakers in Japan, so this is a tribute to them.

At the end of the movie, when Chen Zhen kicked the sick man of East Asia to pieces and rushed to the Hongkou Dojo, the cheers in the theater reached a climax.

Especially after Chen Zhen beat the entire Hongkou Dojo by himself, the feeling of blood boiling made many viewers clenched their fists and wanted to kick the ball on the spot!

"Fuck Xiaozhi!"

"Fuck Xiaozhi!!"

I don’t know who shouted first, and then the whole cinema followed.

Chen Shiping subconsciously turned his head to look at Zhongshan Meihui and her assistant, and found that they did not understand, so he turned away.

During the publicity after the movie, Chen Shiping was thinking about not letting Zhongshan Meihui go, for fear that some audience members would impulsively throw soda bottles at her.

These days, everyone's patriotism is very high, but their tolerance and yearning for foreign countries are also the highest.

It is a very contradictory era, but at this moment, the audience who watched the movie and shouted to fuck their little life are pure and cute!

Chen Shiping believed that they really wanted to kill Xiaoli.

If given the chance, Chen Shiping would also want to!

After the premiere, Chen Shiping sent Zhongshan Meihui on her way back.

She was sitting in the back row and leaned forward and suddenly asked: "Chen Sang, are you free tonight? Can I treat you to dinner?"

Chen Shiping was silent, as if there were many ways to kill Xiaozheng.

Do it or not! I don’t know whether to go or not. I have made an appointment with Yu Hua for dinner tonight.

(End of this chapter)