Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 510: Wu Zetian and Fan Xiaopang's Arrangement
The huge success of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" completely opened up the minds of Jiang Xueruo and the entire Golden Harvest Film and Television Company.

There are many factors that contribute to the success of this TV series, and if we analyze them in detail, we can talk about them all day long, but there is one thing they have grasped, that is, this is a drama with a strong female lead.

The Golden Harvest version of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" did not set the background in the Qing Dynasty but blurred the historical background, but the show remains popular because of the exciting plot.

However, in the five thousand years of Chinese history, there are too many female figures who have left a mark in history books. Each story is very attractive. It just depends on whether you can film it.

The most outstanding woman in Chinese history must be Wu Zetian, the only female emperor.

So Jiang Xueruo wanted to compile Wu Zetian's deeds into a script, and then create "Wu Zetian" according to the scale of "The Legend of Zhen Huan". Jiang Xueruo has now invited many senior screenwriters in the industry to write the script.

She has great ambitions for this drama. The success of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" also made her realize that high investment can lead to high output. Therefore, not only must the costumes and props be excellent, the cast must be luxurious, but most importantly, the script must be wonderful.

She spared no expense in these aspects, especially the script, for which she invited Liu Heping to be the chief writer, and also invited several other senior screenwriters to co-create it.

Jiang Xueruo is a screenwriter by profession. Zhouyi’s predecessor was the Good Pumpkin Screenwriting Center. Zhouyi can be said to be the film and television company that attaches the most importance to screenwriters.

Zhou Yi’s screenwriting team is indeed amazing, and their popular TV series are almost all original.

Therefore, after joining Golden Harvest, she still did not change her habit of attaching great importance to screenwriters, and she also became more aware of the importance of scripts.

Since Golden Harvest is not short of money, of course it has to invite the industry's top screenwriters to write the script. Liu Heping is undoubtedly the ceiling of domestic screenwriters.

However, although Liu Heping's scripts are excellent, the threshold is a bit high. To put it bluntly, they are not white enough. "The Ming Dynasty 1566" is the best example.

That's why she invited some other senior screenwriters to co-create the story. Liu Heping was responsible for creating the skeleton to ensure that the story would not go astray, while others filled in the flesh and blood to ensure that the audience could understand and watch it.

Liu Heping was also happy about this. He was getting old and it was impossible for him to spend several years writing a script like he did for "The Ming Dynasty 1566", and Golden Harvest had given him too much land.

However, in order to ensure that the final script would not be too bad and affect his reputation, he asked for the final review right of the script. If he was not satisfied but Golden Harvest Films was, he would give up his right to be credited.

At his age, he cares more about fame than money.

Jiang Xueruo agreed to Liu Heping's request. She could understand Liu Heping's ideas and believed in his level. It was a blessing to have such a top screenwriter to supervise the work.

In addition to the script, the cast is also of paramount importance. "Empress Wu Zetian" is definitely a female-led drama, and the heroine is undoubtedly the most important role.

Jiang Xueruo didn't have to think about the candidate at all. The first choice was of course Fan Xiaopang.

If you were to choose the most popular artist at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, it would definitely be Fan Xiaopang.

She is successful in both movies and TV series. The movie she starred in, "Interstellar", broke the box office record of "Avatar", and the movie "The Legend of Zhen Huan", in which she played the leading female role, was a huge hit.

Moreover, these two projects are not just popular for a short time, they are classics in the field of film and television.

Especially "The Legend of Zhen Huan", which greatly increased her national fame. Many media even rated the role of Zhen Huan as Fan Xiaopang's most representative role, surpassing Jinsuo.

The huge success of "Interstellar" has greatly enhanced her influence in the industry. The combination of the two has directly boosted her popularity.

No one is as popular as her during this period, not even Liu Zhou.

Now there is no need for media evaluation, most netizens think that Fan Xiaopang is the number one female star in China. Predecessors such as Gong Li and Zhang Manyu may be better than her in terms of awards and qualifications, but they cannot compare with her in terms of influence and appeal.

Therefore, if you want to make "Empress Wu Zetian" sell at the same price as "The Legend of Zhen Huan", you must invite a top actress to play the female lead, and the extremely popular Fan Xiaopang is undoubtedly the best candidate.

However, although "Empress Wu Zetian" is also a big-budget TV series, Jiang Xueruo is really afraid that Fan Xiaopang will not want to star in it. After all, a big-budget TV series is still a TV series.

Not only is she popular in China, she is also well-known overseas. Jiang Xueruo also vaguely knows that the company seems to want to promote her internationally. So the most important thing for her at this moment is definitely to consolidate her reputation overseas.

The only way to achieve this goal is through movies. Moreover, in everyone's general perception, movies are of higher quality than TV series.

Fortunately, we are still in the script writing and preparation stage. It will take at least half a year before filming begins. Jiang Xueruo plans to spend this half year to persuade Fan Xiaopang to agree to take on "Empress Wu Zetian".

As for other actors, Jiang Xueruo was not very worried, because she was not begging them. With the example of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", most artists would definitely flock to it.

In addition to the script and the heroine, Jiang Xueruo is also prepared to invest huge amounts of money in costumes and props. In order to replicate the success of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", Jiang Xueruo has spent a huge amount of money.

To this end, she plans to invest 1.2 million yuan to create this TV series.

This is also one of the reasons why Jiang Xueruo was so enthusiastic after joining Jiahe. She never had the opportunity to personally handle such a large project before.

Moreover, compared to "The Legend of Zhen Huan", her enthusiasm for "Empress Wu Zetian" is even higher, because the former was an existing project handed over to her to be responsible for, while the latter was created by her from scratch.

If "Empress Wu Zetian" also achieves a major success, that would be where her abilities would be demonstrated.

In fact, projects with such a high investment need to be reported to the group, but this project has just been prepared.

Even if Liu Zhou did not ask her about this meeting, she would report to Liu Zhou or Zhang Zhao, and she had already prepared a complete and detailed plan.

If it were any other company, she would be a little worried about being rejected because of such a high investment, but with Golden Harvest she is confident that it will be approved.

At Golden Harvest, projects with good prospects never have to worry about funding issues, and as the general manager of Golden Harvest Film and Television, she also has the authority to mobilize so much funds.

However, doing so will affect investment in other projects, so reporting to your superiors is the best option.

What's more, it would be inappropriate not to report such a major project to the higher authorities. You must know that when "The Legend of Zhen Huan" was being produced in the later stages, it was the group that made the most efforts.

Sure enough, after listening to her detailed report, Liu Zhou made the decision on the spot:
"No problem, this project is good, and you seem to be very thoughtful. As for the problem of the heroine Fan Xiaopang, I can help you solve it."

Jiang Xueruo was pleasantly surprised when she heard Liu Zhou's words. She didn't expect that the boss would not only approve it on the spot, but also solve her most troublesome problem.

She also contacted Fan Xiaopang during this period and expressed her thoughts in this regard vaguely, but was rejected.

Now that Liu Zhou has stepped up, I think Fan Xiaopang should have no worries about playing the leading role in "Empress Wu Zetian". "That's great, Mr. Liu. With Fan Xiaopang, our TV series is already halfway to success."

"Hiring Fatty Fan will certainly make sales easier, but the most important thing is the quality of the TV series. If a TV station spends a lot of money to buy it and it turns out to be a dud, it will ruin the reputation of our Golden Harvest."

"Don't worry, Mr. Liu. Empress Wu will be the most important project for Golden Harvest Films this year. We will ensure the quality of this TV series in all aspects and will definitely not ruin its reputation."

"Well, I'll wait and see."

Liu Zhou is quite optimistic about the project that Jiang Xueruo is going to do. The story of Wu Zetian is not only well-known in China, but also very exciting.

From being forced to become a nun due to the death of Li Shimin to ascending the throne, it is even more satisfying than any other novel.

Interspersed with love, palace fighting, power struggles and even political struggles, etc., the plot tension is maximized. In the end, it depends on how the screenwriter writes it.

However, with Liu Heping in charge, Liu Zhou is also quite relieved. His level is unquestionable and there are no bad movies or TV series coming out of his hands.

What's more, in the original time and space, Fan Xiaopang also played a heroine in a drama about Wu Zetian, but at that time she had already set up her own studio and had fewer film resources.

But even though this TV series was not of very high quality, its ratings were still very high, and it boosted the market value of Tangde Film and Television to billions.

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Now that Golden Harvest has given it a better cast, a more outstanding script and the much more famous Fan Xiaopang, he can't find any reason why the TV series "Empress Wu Zetian" would fail.

Moreover, Liu Zhou also paid close attention to Fan Xiaopang's arrangements.

She and Huang Xiaoming joined Golden Harvest at almost the same time. He originally thought that Fan Xiaopang would leave like Huang Xiaoming, but he didn't expect that she was willing to stay.

In order to show her attitude, she even renewed her contract with Golden Harvest for five years in advance, so that her contract will not expire until 2018.

Although Liu Zhou had a deeper relationship with Fan Xiaopang, he never forced her to stay in Jiahe.

However, Fan Xiaopang himself felt that it was too easy and comfortable to stay in Golden Harvest. Not only did he earn a lot of money, but he also did not have to worry too much, not to mention that he held hundreds of millions of Golden Harvest shares.

More importantly, staying at Golden Harvest provides the opportunity to become an international star like Gong Li.

So she never had the idea of ​​starting her own business.

No matter what Fan Xiaopang thought, Liu Zhou was certainly touched by her early contract renewal and he paid more attention to her plans.

Of course, he knew that the most urgent task for Fan Xiaopang was to consolidate her hard-earned overseas fame, so he directly put Fan Xiaopang in the role of one of the main characters in "Now You See Me".

"Now You See Me" is Summit Entertainment's key project this year. It was not given by Liu Zhou, but submitted by others and then adopted and invested by Summit's production department.

The original time and space "Now You See Me" was also a movie produced by Summit Entertainment. Unexpectedly, this movie is still destined to be with Summit. Summit Entertainment, which was acquired by Golden Harvest, still plans to invest in this movie.

The quality and box office of the movie "Now You See Me" are both good, and it is also a group drama, so it would not be too abrupt to let Fan Xiaopang play one of the protagonists.

At this time, Fan Xiaopang had already flown to Hollywood for filming. She did not even spend the Spring Festival in China. After completing the promotional tasks for "Interstellar" and "The Legend of Zhen Huan", she joined the crew.

However, Liu Zhou thinks that it is right for Fan Xiaopang to venture overseas, but he cannot ignore the domestic base.

Her domestic base is her biggest asset for her to venture into Hollywood, and the fame she gained from "Interstellar" only allows her to cross the threshold to enter overseas markets.

This bit of fame is of no use to Hollywood film and television companies, especially the Big Seven. Only her appeal in China can make them consider it more.

There is no way around it. Now the world's film center is in Hollywood. If Chinese actors want to make a name for themselves in Hollywood, they can only do so step by step.

Unless you are as famous in Hollywood as Jackie Chan, Jet Li or Gong Li, Hollywood is very harsh on Chinese actors.

Even for the above three people, if a movie fails in Hollywood, there is a high possibility that they will face a situation where they can't get any more roles. Gong Li has never even starred in a Hollywood movie, so she doesn't even have the qualifications to fail.

So it's even harder for actresses to make it in Hollywood.

But Liu Zhou was not in a hurry. He had never thought of making Fan Xiaopang a top Hollywood actress. This was almost impossible.

His goal was to make Fan Xiaopang a famous actress in Hollywood so that foreigners would think of Fan Xiaopang when they think of Chinese actresses.

And the more solid her foundation in China, the more opportunities she will have in Hollywood.

But he would not let Fan Xiaopang star in a movie that is specially produced for the domestic market, where Chinese actors only show their faces but then have all the relevant scenes in the overseas version deleted.

It is better to let others fight for this kind of opportunity. This is not only meaningless, but also a bit deceiving domestic fans. It has no effect other than marketing.

But if you can maintain your popularity through one work after another, there is no need for such marketing at all.

Therefore, Liu Zhou felt that it would be beneficial rather than harmful for Fan Xiaopang to take on the drama "Empress Wu Zetian".

It just so happened that this project would start filming in the second half of the year, and by that time she would have already finished filming "Now You See Me", so there was no delay.

In Liu Zhou's opinion, Fan Xiaopang should at least produce one or two works every year in China, and he will also try his best to arrange a movie for her every year in Hollywood.

In this way, he will be able to take into account both the domestic and Hollywood sectors. In a few years, when the domestic film market is large enough that even the Big Seven in Hollywood will take notice, Fan Xiaopang should be able to gain a firm foothold in Hollywood.

By then her chances will be greatly increased.

After learning about the situation of Golden Harvest Films, it was almost noon.

Liu Zhou also anticipated that today's meeting would not be short and would definitely not be finished in one morning, so when the time came he was not in a hurry and directly announced that they would have lunch first and continue in the afternoon.

(End of this chapter)