Huayu started as a substitute director

Chapter 3 It’s not important
Fang Hong looked around the crew, then pulled Chen Zhixi aside where there was no one.

Chen Zhixi found the man's behavior a little funny, like a thief, but he followed him to a deserted place.

"Why are you so secretive?" she said.

"I'm afraid others will plagiarize me, so I'd better be cautious." Fang Hong said.

Chen Zhixi nodded. It is true that domestic content copyright is not standardized and plagiarism is everywhere.

How did Yu Ma rise to prominence? Plagiarism!

How did Xu Guangtou become famous? He plagiarized and lost the lawsuit.

But does that matter?

They made money and achieved success, but what happened next was their own fault.

There are very few film and television producers who don’t plagiarize, but the regulations have become stricter, but it still cannot be completely eliminated.

Fang Hong took out a notebook from his arms and handed it to her, saying, "Here's the script. See if you can make it work."

Chen Zhixi took it and looked at the big words on the cover: The girls we chased in those years.

She frowned slightly and said, "Why does this name sound so familiar?"

"It's not important, just watch the plot." Fang Hong gestured.

Of course it sounds familiar. It is a script adapted from the novel "You Are the Apple of My Eye".

Although the name is different from the original novel, the meaning is the same.

This movie is the pioneering work of youth films, which caused a great response and was widely followed.

Anyway, the author is far away in Taiwan, so why bother asking him for help? At most, I can give him a few tens of thousands of dollars after the movie is released to calm him down.

In fact, Fang Hong had thought about buying the adaptation rights, but this person had ideological problems and communication was difficult. He was not a good guy, so forget it.

Besides, Fang Hong didn’t copy it completely. He changed the background and many plots. The novel was set in Taiwan in 1994, but he changed it to Beijing in 1998.

Moreover, the original movie did not follow the novel, and the characterization was also different. The male protagonist in the novel was short, but here Fang Hong was written to be tall and handsome, just like the original.

The plots of the movie and the novel have also changed to varying degrees. In the novel, the male protagonist first likes another girl and then the female protagonist. In addition, there are many scenes in the movie that are not in the novel.

Also, there is a scene at the beginning where the male protagonist masturbates in class. This scene definitely cannot be filmed. It can be changed to reading an erotic magazine, which is more subtle.

There are also movies that are full of vulgar plots such as nudity, smuggling, homosexuality, and sexual innuendo, which Fang Hong basically never shoots.

Just let the male protagonist read pornographic magazines in bed to stimulate the youthful hormones.

This is due to differences in ideology and life details. The film's ideology is in line with Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the details of life are also in line with those sides.

These must all be adapted to the mainland and serve the target audience!

For example, there is a clip in it about an earthquake, which could not be used, so it was changed to SARS, which happened to be the right timing.

The film has been completely changed beyond recognition, but the core of the story remains the same, which is about missed love and ordinary youth.

In fact, this movie looks very boring. There is no main plot, and the whole story is a simple narrative like prose, which needs to be compressed.

The original version was about 109 minutes long, so Fang Hong had to shorten the plot by at least 10 minutes, retaining only the essence and deleting all the lengthy parts.

Fang Hong is not saying that he must copy this work, but the scope of what he can copy is very limited at this stage, and he can only choose from low-budget movies.

You definitely can’t copy comedies with a low budget. Comedies require too high acting skills from the actors, and if they don’t perform well, it will just be awkward.

I don't dare to take the risk on films that are too advanced, because the success of many films is based on the background of the times and market factors, so I can't afford to take the risk.

Another thing is that he can't make a very good movie at this stage. It's not that he doesn't have the ability, but first, no one will pay him that much, and second, there is no professional team. Good movies, well-made movies, have a very professional team behind them, and they can't be completed by the director alone.

The professional behind-the-scenes team all have fixed partners. Even if you invite others, it depends on whether you are big enough and whether your old employer has work.

Filmmaking is a team effort, and success requires harmony among people.

At this stage, making youth films is the best choice, with low production costs, low technical barriers, short shooting cycles, and has been tested by the market.

Youth campus-themed movies will be very successful in the next few years!
“The story is good, but there is no central plot, which makes people feel bored, but it can also make people feel moved.”

Chen Zhixi closed the notebook and said, "It's just that this name looks familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen it before."

"That's not important. Just tell me if it works or not." Fang Hong pointed at the notebook and said.

"It's hard to say. There has not been a successful youth-themed movie like this in the market yet," said Chen Zhixi.

"So we have to be the pioneers. If we follow others and eat dust, we will not be able to catch up with the heat. We have to make others eat dust after us." Fang Hong said passionately.

"Take an unconventional approach and don't follow the usual path."

Chen Zhixi quite agreed.

To be successful, you need to come up with something new that will surprise the audience.

She looked at the big words on the cover again, and the more she looked at them, the more familiar they looked to her: "Is Those Years the title of a novel?"

"It's not heavy." Fang Hong was about to say those four words again.

"The girl we chased together in those years." Chen Zhixi slowly read out these words, and then realized: "Isn't this the title of Wanwan's novel?"

"Yeah, I borrowed some from it." Fang Hong didn't feel guilty at all.

"You are plagiarizing!"

Chen Zhixi raised his voice a few notches.

Fang Hong looked around and said, "Don't say it so harshly. I'm just borrowing from you. If you don't believe me, take my script back and compare it with the novel to see how many similarities there are."

You have blatantly copied someone else's title, what else can I say?

Chen Zhixi didn't have the time to compare them. After all, all youth films are like that. She was just worried and said, "If this movie is made, it will probably cause disputes."

“Even if it’s a brand new story, as long as you succeed, you will cause controversy. Unless you are unknown, others will not bother to care about you.”

What Fang Hong said makes sense. As long as you are successful, people will be jealous and criticize you. If you are not popular, nothing will happen. But if you are popular, you will be criticized.

He added: "Sister Chen, don't worry so much, just do it first. As long as we can succeed, who will care about how we do it?"

"You have a powerful mouth. I am convinced by you."

Chen Zhixi smiled and shook his head. He was so young, yet he was so good at deceiving people and he could see the bad side of the market clearly.

She also knew that it would be difficult to get ahead if she followed the rules, so she decided, "I'll go get you some investment."

"Thanks a lot."

Fang Hong nodded, then put his hand on Chen Zhixi's arm and said seriously: "If someone asks you who wrote this script, don't say it was me, just say any name."

"You still have some dignity, but not much."

Chen Zhixi didn't say this, which obviously shows that he is not afraid of others plagiarizing, but he is afraid of others accusing him of plagiarizing.

That's why it's so mysterious and sneaky!
(End of this chapter)