During my years at China Entertainment

Chapter 873 The leaky entertainment industry finally receives rain after a long drought

In a small conference room at China Film Group, a meeting is underway to discuss the casting preparations for the film "The Founding of an Army".

Attendees included Pei Kang from China Film Group, Han Sanping, the project's chief planner, director Liu Weiqiang, and representatives from various production companies.

To be honest, Han Sanping was strongly opposed to La Peikang recommending Andrew Lau as director at first.

After all, this guy doesn't have any real achievements to show for it. He's been relying on nostalgia and past glories all these years, and his reputation in mainland China isn't very good either.

However, China Film Group is the largest producer mentioned above, and La Peikang has absolute power. He can't fight city hall, so he can't do anything about it.

As for La Peikang's intentions, Han Sanping could understand them to some extent.

As the mainland market grows larger, not to mention established directors, even well-known directors with some achievements are deeply tied to private giants.

If La Pei Kang wants to achieve results, winning over the Hong Kong entertainment circle is a good way.

He is particularly focused on Hong Kong directors who are not yet affiliated with mainland companies and mostly work independently.

Fortunately, scripts and such are developed through collective discussions. Under the constraints of these rules and regulations, Hong Kong directors can only be tools and cannot make any significant impact.

Otherwise, Han Sanping would have quit long ago!

At this moment, Liu Weiqiang, who was favored by La Peikang, was giving a detailed report on the casting plan for "The Founding of an Army".

Han Sanping listened attentively to the preceding remarks, such as affirming the achievements of "The Founding of a Republic" and "The Founding of the Party" and drawing lessons from the success of the two films. After all, this was an affirmation of him.

Later, Andrew Lau proposed to use young, popular idol stars as much as possible, leveraging their large fan base to help spread and influence patriotic films among young people.
Han Sanping couldn't sit still any longer and immediately stood up to refute him vehemently.

"No, that's not appropriate. 'The Founding of an Army' is not an ordinary tribute film. It is the final work of the trilogy on the founding of the nation. It should be solemn, serious, and heroic. The vast majority of the actors must be professionally trained."

I don't look down on popular celebrities, but honestly, these people have no acting skills. They're like clay puppets in front of the camera. How can they act well?
Only professionally trained actors can ensure that the image, temperament, and spirit of a character on screen fully meet the standards, and do not dishonor the revolutionary predecessors.

Han Sanping still remembers how ridiculous it was when Yang Ying was involved in the film because of Huang Xiaoming's personal connections!

"Yes, Chairman Han is right, that makes sense!"

After Han Sanping finished speaking, Huang Jianxin, the general manager of Shanghai Sanyuan, one of the producers, immediately agreed, and the representative of August First Film Studio also nodded in agreement.

Liu Weiqiang was immediately put in a bind and could only look to La Peikang for help, because everyone present had more seniority than him.

To be honest, it's not that Andrew Lau wanted to be unconventional; it's just that patriotic films are popular, especially patriotic films like the Founding Trilogy.

Everyone in the industry knows that appearing in such a film can boost an artist's career in a way that is unparalleled by any other film or television production.

This point has already been proven by "The Founding of a Republic" and "The Founding of the Party".

So ever since he was chosen as the project director, countless investors from Hong Kong and the mainland have been trying to contact him. The temptations were too great to resist!

Besides, he didn't want to resist. Using the production company's resources to achieve his own deal was the right way to operate in the entertainment industry!

"Everyone's opinions are very pertinent. But I think Director Liu's idea is also commendable. What is our purpose in making 'The Founding of an Army'?"

In addition to paying tribute to the revolutionary predecessors, the greater goal is to promote and disseminate this groundbreaking and heroic history to a wider audience.

Young people are also of paramount importance, and employing young idol stars is also to achieve this goal, which is perfectly acceptable.

As for Mr. Han's concerns about the acting skills of the young actors, I think there's no need to worry. Director Liu is a seasoned director; he should have no problem training the actors.

La Peikang smiled and spoke softly, but his tone conveyed an undeniable authority.

He was not unaware of Liu Weiqiang's thoughts, but as long as it could help the box office and his political achievements, it was not a problem!
"Old Han, isn't La Peikang messing this up? Using popular celebrities in a tribute film, what if it turns out badly? Won't he be torn to shreds by criticism?"

More than half an hour later, just after the meeting ended, Huang Jianxin started complaining to Han Sanping.

They were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy and had worked together for many years, so they weren't so reserved when they talked.

"Who can argue with that? He's been in office for over two years, and he still hasn't learned a single lesson or listened to any advice!"
Let's not even mention how "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2" was a complete flop. I heard recently that they're going to invest in Wu Baige's new film, and now they're going to use popular celebrities.

Sigh, those who aren't in a position shouldn't meddle in its affairs. He's the top leader, what he says goes; we just need to do our own jobs.

At worst, when casting the final roles, we can try to vet the core actors; that would be doing our job properly.

Han Sanping shook his head, his tone quite helpless. He now deeply understood the saying that a man cannot be without power for even a day.

On the other side, La Peikang, who had just returned to his office, was naturally unaware of Huang and Han's evaluation of him.

Hearing the gossip from his secretary, he was quite surprised. "You mean Deng Yong went to the co-production management office? Where did you get that information?"

"Chairman La, last night I had dinner with Xiao Liu from the audit department, and he mentioned that Chairman Deng asked for a fast track, which almost caused a scene."

"That's rare. Xi'an Film Studio is so poor, yet it still has money to make co-productions? Did you even ask who they're co-producing with?"

"I asked, and Xiao Liu said that the co-production management office doesn't allow us to inquire, so he didn't get any results."

“That’s true, Director Zhou’s management is quite strict.” La Peikang nodded, indicating his understanding.

Although they are all subordinate departments of the Film Bureau, rules and regulations are rules and regulations. Procedures that do not reach the review stage do need to be kept confidential.

However, La Peikang knew very well that a co-production that could get Deng Yong to personally handle the process was definitely not a simple project.

At least the project that Ning Ying rejected before, even though it involved a large investment, only required the production manager to run errands.

Upon realizing this, La Peikang immediately picked up the phone on the table and made a call.

"Hey, Zhou Chu, this is Pei Kang."

After nearly a minute of small talk, La Peikang got down to business. After hesitating for a moment, the other person decided to tell him the truth.

The secretary noticed that La Peikang's face grew increasingly grim, as if it were the prelude to an outburst, and he remained silent for a long time after hanging up the phone.

"La Dong?"

The secretary swallowed hard and asked tentatively, feeling that he had messed things up this time.

"The Sino-US co-production 'The Meg,' initiated by Warner Bros., with Wei Jin leading the Chinese investors."

Facing his secretary, La Peikang managed to control his emotions well, but he was extremely angry inside.

The reason why Wei Jin preferred to use films from Xi'an Film Studio rather than China Film Studio for Sino-US co-productions is thought-provoking.

With this in mind, La Peikang felt it necessary to have a face-to-face "talk" with Wei Jin, and that the "cold war" could not continue.

After several unanswered calls, La Peikang frowned and called Zhong Lifang instead.

"Mr. Zhong, could you please arrange a meeting with Wei Jin for me?"

As fate would have it, while La Peikang was working on the Xi'an Film Studio project, Ren Zhonglun was also poaching employees from a sister company.

After listening to the investment department manager's report, Ren Zhonglun's eyes widened.

"Are you sure? One hundred million US dollars?"

"Yes, the project is called 'Asura,' and the budget is indeed one hundred million US dollars, with potential additional investment later. I heard that Ningying is basically the main investor in this project, and they've already started working on special effects modeling. It's estimated that the project will be officially launched in the second half of the year."

"Goodness, does that mean the investment might exceed 1 million US dollars? Ning Ying is going all in, isn't she afraid of messing it up? Do they have that much money?"

Ren Zhonglun showed no anger at being rejected; in fact, his expression was quite amused. This was because Shanghai Film Group had to be cautious about undertaking such a large project.

"I heard that assets were mortgaged. You know, Ningying has a lot of land, and some properties from the film studio era. I guess they'll have to sell everything they own to barely scrape together the money."

"They'd rather mortgage their assets than accept our kindness. Tsk tsk tsk, they'll squander their last bit of wealth. Let's see what they do then!"

Ren Zhonglun shook his head. He looked down on such a do-or-die approach. If it failed, it would mean bankruptcy, and the risk was too great.

"By the way, Chairman Ren, there's one more thing."

"Ok?"

Meeting Ren Zhonglun's slightly puzzled gaze, the investment manager began to explain.

"I have a few good friends at Xi'an Film Studio. I heard that Chairman Deng made a special trip to Beijing a couple of days ago and has since arranged a lot of work, all related to co-productions."

Upon hearing the words "co-production," Ren Zhonglun immediately became interested. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, we've done quite a few co-productions, so the process is clear." The investment manager nodded; he wouldn't dare make any inappropriate remarks if he wasn't sure.

"Is that so?"

Ren Zhonglun unconsciously tapped his fingers on the table, lost in thought.

To be honest, he never expected that Ningying and Xiying, these two unfortunate brothers, would start co-producing films on the same day.

The Ningying project is clear, but what is Xiying doing? Is Deng Yong personally involved?

At one moment, Ren Zhonglun instantly grasped the key words and his spirits lifted.

"The capital city? The Wei and Jin dynasties?!"

When Wei Jin received Zhong Lifang's call, he was enjoying a candlelight dinner with Liu Shishi, as it was the latter's birthday.

As for the calls from La Peikang and Ren Zhonglun, he didn't intentionally ignore them; he was simply watching a movie with Liu Shishi at the time and had airplane mode on.

"Mr. Wei, this is the situation. Chairman La and Chairman Ren both want to meet with you, especially Chairman Ren, who said he has already booked his plane ticket for tomorrow."

Hearing this, Wei Jin fell silent. He knew that co-productions would definitely attract the attention of China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

This fully proves that the entertainment industry is truly leaky and has no secrets whatsoever!

After a moment's hesitation, Wei Jin said, "Alright, then let's arrange it for tomorrow afternoon. The location will be at the company."

"The two of you together?"

"Well, since we have the same goal, I'll just lay it all out in the open to avoid repeating myself. Just reply with these exact words, that's all."

"Okay, Mr. Wei."

After hanging up the phone, Wei Jin saw Liu Shishi sitting opposite him, her intelligent and elegant face full of concern.

"It's nothing, just some work-related stuff."

He reached out and took the girl's small hand, smiled, and changed the subject.

"By the way, Shishi, how's the matter of Jiang Jinfu wanting to terminate his contract going?"

Liu Shishi picked up her glass of red wine, took a sip, and then explained, "It was a peaceful breakup."

K-sister will not pursue legal action for breach of contract, but she will also not pay him the withheld salary. Furthermore, he is prohibited from signing contracts with other companies in the near future, and is forbidden from publicly announcing the termination of his contract.

"Is it because they're going public?"

"Yes, we're going to be listed on the New Third Board next month. K-sister doesn't want to cause any trouble or generate negative public opinion."

At this point, Liu Shishi's face showed distress, and even her red lips pouted.

"Brother, I'm so annoyed. The company is going public, and Sister K has assigned me so much work that I can only take a few days off."

Wei Jin gave a helpless look, "Hehe, what can we do? Our Shishi is so popular lately."

The drama "The Imperial Doctress" premiered after the Lunar New Year, and its ratings performance completely exceeded expectations.

Starting with a 1.2% viewership rating for the premiere, the ratings climbed steadily, with the finale last night achieving a peak rating of over 2%, and an average rating of 1.8%.

This data, while not quite on par with previous hits like "Nirvana in Fire," "The Disguiser," and "Joy of Life 2," is still quite remarkable.

Even "Legend of Nine Tails Fox," which aired at the same time and starred Naza, was firmly overshadowed.

Moreover, the online viewership data for "The Imperial Doctress" was quite impressive, reaching 90 million views on its first day of release on Tudou Video.

In just one month, the cumulative number of views exceeded 10 billion, and the number of trending topics on Weibo, Baidu search rankings, and related topics soared exponentially!

As the female lead, Liu Shishi became incredibly popular in a short period of time, with extremely high popularity and numerous endorsement offers, demonstrating her immense commercial value!
Under these circumstances, how could Ms. Cai possibly give up reaping the benefits? Taking a few days off before and after her birthday is already quite humane.

In other companies, a popular artist like that wouldn't be able to take a break for at least two or three years.

Of course, Ms. Cai's "generosity" might also be because there is an even more famous Hu Ge who is working hard to support her.

"And Shishi, who was it that told me before that they wanted to be a rich woman and a powerful career woman? Now they're complaining about how hard it is?"

"Ugh~~ I just wanted to spend more time with you, and you didn't even know how to comfort me~~"

A beautiful woman's coquettishness always evokes pity, especially a girl like Liu Shishi, who is usually known for her intelligence and elegance.

This sudden display of affection stirred a certain heat within Wei Jin, who gently tickled the palm of the girl's small hand with her index finger.

"Shishi, it was my fault. I'll make it up to you when we get home, and I'll stay with you these next few days, okay?"

Feeling the burning intensity in Wei Jin's gaze, Liu Shishi automatically conjured up various poses in her mind, her face filled with anticipation.

"Hmm~"

The more than three-month period of being single has made 29-year-old Liu Shishi extremely proactive.

As soon as we returned to the villa in Xishan, her soft red lips couldn't wait to kiss me.

The beauty's kindness was immense, so Wei Jin naturally wouldn't refuse. He not only responded gently but also caressed the girl's delicate body with his hands.

It was only then that Wei Jin discovered that Liu Shishi's personal clothing actually had front buttons, which was very thoughtful.

Liu Shishi's pretty face was already blooming with peach blossoms, and her dark eyes were filled with layers of mist.

(End of this chapter)