China Entertainment: Been working as a director since 03

Chapter 564: The Son Who Became Popular Through Literature
Li Yu is serious about setting up an association to support screenwriters and new directors. He is not joking.

As a veteran in the industry, he knows too well how unfriendly the current situation in the industry is to newcomers.

The treatment of new directors can be referred to Kong Dashan, Guo Fan’s junior fellow who is both his teacher and friend.

Against the backdrop of Guo Fan's success, he was still listed as the producer, and Kong Dashan could only get two million in investment.

New screenwriters have an even lower status.

Many talented screenwriters simply cannot make a name for themselves; no matter how good their scripts are, no one will buy them.

Because they are not famous, they don't even have the right to be credited.

The scripts they wrote with great effort can only be sold if they are named after well-known screenwriters. The famous screenwriters make the bulk of the money, and they can only make very little.

Li Yu established this association to support screenwriters and directors. Supporting directors is secondary; the main purpose is to discover those buried screenwriters and good scripts.

Script is the foundation of a play. It is very important to a TV series or movie.

A good screenwriter can greatly add points to a work, but the status of screenwriters in China is very low. Capital, directors, and young actors and actresses can change their scripts unscrupulously.

There are so many bad movies and TV series in China. We cannot say that the low status of screenwriters is the main reason, but it is definitely one of the important reasons.

To borrow the words of a well-known screenwriter, when coal bosses were the biggest financial backers, everyone could make good films.

Because the coal bosses don't have any micromanagement, their requests are very simple. They just want you to find a certain female star to play the leading female role, or let my mistress play the leading female role or the second female role. As long as they agree to this, the rest is up to you.

"Director Li, I definitely support your idea. But have you ever thought about where the funds to support new directors and screenwriters come from?

It is easy to set up an association, but the difficult part is how to operate it healthily.

At the beginning, a few of us big directors can definitely attract many new directors and screenwriters to join our association.

But we cannot provide them with financial support, and gradually, people will lose interest in our work, and it may be in vain.”

The Imperial Master said this to remind Li Yu that his idea would be difficult to implement.

Also, he can express support and help to stand up for the cause, but if he is asked to pay out of his own pocket, he won't do it.

Li Yu must figure out a way to solve the money problem himself.

Li Yu is a smart man, he can understand the subtext of the national teacher.

He also didn't think of asking the national master to pay money or asking the national master to persuade others to invest money.

"You don't need to worry about those. I will discuss the money with Tiantian. It will not be a problem for me to come up with 300 million yuan in funds in the first year of the establishment of the association." Li Yu dispelled the national teacher's concerns with just one sentence.

The national teacher nodded. Li Yu was willing to pay out 300 million yuan, and this association could definitely be established.

As for whether the association can continue and how long it can survive, he cannot predict.

He only knew that 300 million yuan would be enough for the first year.

For a top director like him, 300 million is not enough to make a commercial blockbuster.

But for many new directors or small directors who have been in the industry for many years but still have little fame, 300 million is really a lot.

Let’s take Kong Dashan as an example. The average investment a new director can get for his first work is only two million.

Li Yu's association only supports new directors and those directors with potential but no fame. The investment budget of a film can be doubled to 10 million. 300 million can be used to invest in 30 films.

The first year’s funding was enough to invest in thirty directors, which was considered financially strong for a newly established organization.

"Director Li, aren't you afraid of losing all your money?" the national master asked again.

"As long as what I do can make a contribution to Chinese-language films, it doesn't matter if I lose 300 million. People should always have some confidence in themselves. I haven't made many mistakes in recent years.

People inside and outside the circle praise me and say that I have the best vision in the circle.

I don’t deserve this title, but I still have some confidence in my own vision.”

Li Yu is very confident.

With his experience and memory, it should not be a problem for him to select some reliable and profitable ones from a large number of scripts and new directors.

He was even confident that the three hundred million would not be a loss at all, but would make him a lot of money instead.

As long as he encounters potential stocks like Wu Jing and Guo Fan, he only needs to invest once to achieve a medium-sized target.

How many new directors can be invested in with a medium target?
……

A few days later, news of the completion of "The Thirteen Soldiers Return to Yumen" came from the northwest.

Netizens joined in the discussion, and the topic they discussed was whether Chen Kaige would make a good or bad movie this time.

These people argued endlessly but could not come to a conclusion.

Li Yu found the argument among these people quite funny. It was obvious that those who kept quarreling did not understand Director Chen.

As long as Chen Kaige doesn't touch the script and the filming speed is very fast, it means that he has very little micro-manipulation, and the movie is definitely worth looking forward to.

This is the case with the film "The Thirteen Soldiers Return to Yumen". Chen Kaige really did not touch the script. He wanted to make changes and he put forward his ideas to the screenwriter Li Yu.

Then, during the modification process, Li Yu rejected Chen Kaige's most out-of-the-box ideas and only retained a small number of reliable ones.

The filming was also very fast. It took a year to build the city, but the filming took less than four months.

Although he has not seen the finished product yet, Li Yu has confidence in Chen Kaige.

This time, Chen Kaige should be reliable.

If the situation is very favorable, you may need to worry that he will take off.

The National Master had just released a film called "Investiture of the Gods" which had great reputation and box office not long ago. Chen Kaige didn't dare to waste any time in the face of the National Master who was taking off again.

All he thought about was that he had to shoot the film well. He had to prove to the world that he was the truly talented director and that the national master was just his photographer.

A photographer is always a photographer and can never catch up with him.

After Chen Kaige returned to Beijing, Li Yu asked him to meet, mainly because he wanted to get him to work together on the association.

Chen Kaige agreed without thinking twice on the phone. He also felt that if it was done, it would be a great deed with immeasurable merit.

If it fails, he just contributes some effort to help with publicity, promotion and support, and he doesn't spend any real money, so there is no loss for him.

What’s more, since the national master has participated, how could he not participate?

If he doesn't participate, what if the national master makes the right bet again?
By then, in addition to the title of National Master, he will also have the reputation of vigorously supporting new directors and new screenwriters. He really can't catch up with him even if he flatters others.

Li Yu was quite surprised after meeting Chen Kaige.

I thought Chen Kaige would come with his wife Chen Hong.

I didn’t expect that they would bring Huang Xiaoming with them.

By the way, there was a tall and young guy next to them, and he looked quite familiar.

Isn’t this Chen Kaige’s son who became famous through his Asai literature?
(End of this chapter)