China Entertainment: Been working as a director since 03

Chapter 795: Success or Failure Depends on This Move

Liu Heping wrote down all of Li Yu's requests and read them carefully several times.

He said to Li Yu: "Why not remove Zhu Di's youth? The beginning is Zhu Yuanzhang's death and Zhu Yunwen's accession to the throne. We should not touch on the Jingnan Campaign either. Just pass it over.

The Jingnan Rebellion is not easy to film. Eight hundred people started an uprising and fought all the way from Shuntian to Yingtian. Hundreds of thousands of troops could not defeat these few hundred people. It is really difficult to film it well.

We focused on the story of Zhu Di's successful suppression of the rebellion and his ascension to the throne as emperor.

The eldest son and the second son compete for the position of crown prince. What a great grandson... there are many stories to be explored."

Li Yu nodded upon hearing this, agreeing with Liu Heping's suggestion.

The Jingnan Campaign is indeed difficult to film. During the rising period of a dynasty, when it has an army of hundreds of thousands, it is the time when martial virtues are abundant and the army is most capable of fighting.

A prince rebelled with 800 personal soldiers and used all kinds of tricks to defeat hundreds of thousands of troops.

How to film this plot? It's outrageous. It's outrageous. The war scene can't be serious at all.

If it weren't recorded in the official history, no one would believe that such an outrageous thing happened in history.

"You are the screenwriter. You are much more professional than me in the field of historical dramas, so you have the final say. I will not change the general framework of the script you wrote. But I may change some small details. After all, the purpose of making TV series is to make a profit." Li Yu did not beat around the bush.

All of Liu Heping's products are high-quality, but many times they are too obscure to understand, resulting in low ratings and failure to generate profits.

This is the case with "The Ming Dynasty 1566" and "All Quiet in Peking".

Li Yu certainly doesn't want his drama to flop in ratings.

So he has to be frank up front: for the sake of the market, he will definitely make minor changes to the script.

These things need to be said now. If we wait until the script is written, there may be contradictions.

"Director Li, I have never said that my scripts are not allowed to be changed by others. If the director or actors feel that my scripts are not well-written, they can change them, as long as the performance can be continued after the changes." Liu Heping's words are quite meaningful.

There isn't much nonsense in his scripts, unlike some scripts, where the plot can be connected even if several episodes are cut.

In his scripts, if the audience misses one or two lines, they may not understand what is happening later.

This is also the reason why his works have poor ratings.

The quality is high and it is indeed a masterpiece, but it is too tiring to watch and not very friendly to ordinary audiences.

"It's okay, as long as Editor Liu agrees that I can make some minor changes to the script. It's okay if it's a little more difficult. I always enjoy the process of challenging difficulties." Li Yu is very confident in himself.

In this way, the cooperation between Li Yu and Liu Heping was achieved.

Liu Heping went back to write the script, but Li Yu didn't know exactly how long it would take to finish it.

But I believe Liu Heping will not let Li Yu wait too long.

After "All Quiet in Peking", Liu Heping didn't write a script for several years.

In recent years, he has served as the chairman of the China Broadcasting Association TV Drama Screenwriter Committee, the chairman of the Beijing Cultural Copyright Promotion Association, and the chairman of the Beijing Film and Television Copyright Appraisal Committee, and has a lot to do.

This year he was hired as a visiting professor at Jinling Academy of Arts.

He was invited by the Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award to serve as the chairman of the jury.

Perhaps for Liu Heping now, writing scripts has become his side job.

If the person who called him was not Li Yu, he might not pay attention to the other person.

……

After a while, Guo Fan's "The Wandering Earth" is finally coming. With the help of Li Yu, the release time of this movie is also earlier than the previous life.

The production cycle of this movie is really long.

Companies without enough funds really cannot afford to invest in serious science fiction blockbusters, which are difficult to produce, have long production cycles, and have an uncertain future.

Even if the film breaks free or even makes a small profit, it is still a loss because the payment cycle is too long.

A classic example is Wu Baige's "Red Cliff" series, which cost 600 million yuan but failed to make back the money at the domestic box office.

Later, the company made a profit through overseas markets in areas such as the Cherry Blossom Country.

But that's not how it's calculated. Six hundred million yuan of funds have been invested for several years, and the repayment period may be even longer. Did the investors go through so much effort just to get a break-even outcome?
Use this money to make other investments, or even just put it in a bank to earn interest, the interest will be considerable over a few years.

So for a movie like "The Wandering Earth", recovering the investment is not considered a success. It must make money to be considered a success.

The movie "The Wandering Earth" has made a contribution to the special effects industry.

Because the special effects production cost of this movie was 3.6 million, % to % of the budget was spent on special effects, which promoted the development of special effects companies.

However, the special effects company's team has indeed grown, with more and more talented people, and the company's boss may be cursing.

There are only three physical special effects companies in China. Two of them signed low-price contracts after being deceived by Guo Fan, and were almost bankrupted by Guo Fan's high demands.

The boss of the special effects company must be in tears. How could he get into trouble with such a thing?

Li Yu and Da Tiantian got Guo Fan several hundred million in investment, and with 80 million from China Film and tens of millions from Wu Jing, the crew was still short of money.

It is said that Guo Fan sold all his cars in order to make this movie. He really sold everything he had to make the movie.

This is something that only a director who truly loves science fiction can do.

If it was another director, would he still sell his car to pay for the filming? He was giving face to the investors by not using the crew's money to buy himself a villa before filming started.

Apart from spending a lot of money on props and special effects, Guo Fan tried his best to save money in other areas. The most classic joke is that even a dog has to be charged 200 yuan if it passes by the door of the crew.

If Li Yu were allowed to shoot "The Wandering Earth", 500 million yuan might not be enough and there would be a high probability of overspending.

Because Li Yu is not as thick-skinned as Guo Fan.

Look for big-name actors everywhere, and once you find them, don’t talk about pay, just talk about dreams.

Talk about how great "The Wandering Earth" would be if it were made, and what place it would leave in the history of Chinese cinema.

Li Yu felt ashamed of himself for being inferior to Guo Fan in his ability to deceive people.

"Director Li, remember to come to the premiere on April 4 to show your support. Our movie 'The Wandering Earth' will be released on May 26st." Guo Fan was holding his breath.

He was a small director who was selected by China Film Group by chance and got the opportunity to direct this science fiction blockbuster.

He is very clear that the success or failure of "The Wandering Earth" will determine his fate.

If he loses the 500 million investment, even if he has the ability to deceive people as well as Master Chuan Xiao, it will be a long time before he can make a comeback. He may never have the chance to direct such a blockbuster again in his life. His science fiction dream will be completely shattered.

If successful, a smooth road will appear before his eyes.

He will rise to the top in one step and become the master of science fiction films in China.

For him, this battle can only be successful, not failure.

As a famous saying goes, the rise and fall of empires depends on this battle.

(End of this chapter)