Rebirth: I'm filming extra scenes on the set

Chapter 171 Chen Cheng's new job: producer. (Subscribe)
Just a pity.

Chen Cheng did say a lot.

But the three of them were still a little confused.

Chen Cheng stopped talking.

This kind of thing is hard to say.

It's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it.

It's like if you tell people today that the domestic box office will exceed 10 billion or 50 billion in the future...others will say you are talking nonsense.

They will even come up with a series of data to refute you.

Only by experiencing it yourself can you believe it.

……

"Director Han, it's a pity that your China Film Investment Company's film "The Warlords" was so bad."

"Yes, if 'Assembly' hadn't been on the news, it's hard to say who would win."

It is also a teahouse.

Also talking about was "Assembly".

But it's a different group of people.

Together with Han Sanping are the head of Shanghai Film Group and the head of Shengshi Film and Television.

"But your China Film Group is also amazing. You actually launched a well-known director, Chen Cheng."

"I'm also optimistic about Chen Cheng. If there's a chance, Director Han, please introduce him to me."

Shanghai Film, abbreviated as Shanghai Film, is also a state-owned enterprise.

Their business is similar to that of China Film Corporation.

The chairman’s name is Wang Jianer.

Shengshi Film and Television is a private film investment and production company headed by Gao Tie.

They cooperate closely with China Film Group, and often advance and retreat together.

At the same time, they are also responsible for the distribution business, but they are relatively low-key.

Han Sanping laughed and said, "Haha, this time Assembly won a great victory. Why don't you want to cooperate with Feng Xiaogang?"

Wang Jianer said: "We can also cooperate with Director Feng, but Huayi behind him often holds a relatively large stake, so we can only drink soup if we go. But I also have some respect for Huayi. Even though The Banquet lost so much, they still dared to bet on Feng Xiaogang."

"This is normal. Feng Xiaogang is the main contributor to Huayi's current status. If it weren't for Feng Xiaogang's previous series of films, the two CEOs of Huayi would never have thought that movies could make so much money."

The three of them drank tea and chatted.

"By the way, Director Han, what do you think of the main theme?"

"I'm still studying it, but I haven't fully understood it yet."

"So are we."

Everyone talked about the main theme again.

But overall.

This concept is still relatively new and not so easy to understand.

I just think this might be a direction for the future.

But how to do it specifically remains to be studied.

Wang Jianer from Shanghai Film Studio said, "Director Han, there is a movie produced by Wong Pak Ming in Hong Kong. He wants us to co-produce it together. What do you think?"

Han Sanping didn't say anything.

Wang Jianer looked at Gao Ting who was standing aside.

Gao Yu smiled and said, "What do you think I am doing? I always look at what Director Han means. If Director Han says to invest, we will invest. If Director Han says not to invest, we don't want to invest either."

Wang Jianer said helplessly: "You kid, do you have any future at all?"

"It's good to be useless."

Wang Jianer couldn't do anything to Gao Chen.

Seeing that Han Sanping's teacup was empty, Wang Jianer poured Han Sanping a cup of tea: "Old Han, tell me what you think."

Han Sanping thought for a while and said, "Boss Wang, please tell me what you think."

"me."

Wang Jianer took a sip of tea and said, "Actually, I am very hesitant."

"how?"

"Recently, many Hong Kong films have performed well. The box office of The Disciple was only over 6000 million, which was a loss for sure. The box office of Flashpoint was even lower, 3000 million, which was a huge loss. What I find most incredible is that Gemini Thieves only had a box office of 1300 million. With such a low box office, I don't know how it was made. With such a box office, how can we cooperate with these Hong Kong filmmakers in the future?"

This said.

Gao Chen also said, "I don't understand them. They were pretty good before, why is the box office so low? The Warlords was okay, with a box office of nearly 2 million. On paper, it looks good, but the investment is too big, and it's hard to recoup the cost. It seems that our mainland's Assembly is performing the best. I think we should forget about co-productions with Hong Kong in the future."

Both expressed their opinions.

But Han Sanping still shook his head: "What you said makes sense, but if we don't cooperate with Hong Kong filmmakers, who can we rely on?"

"Depend on Feng Xiaogang?"

"Feng Xiaogang is indeed good, but The Banquet also suffered a huge loss. Although Assembly is good, I have to question whether it can make up for the loss of The Banquet. Moreover, who can guarantee that Feng Xiaogang's next drama will be popular? Not only him, but also Brother Chen Kai? The Promise also suffered a terrible loss, and there is also Zhang Yimou, who performed the best. But if it weren't for Yimou's status in China, Curse of the Golden Flower might also have suffered a loss."

"Besides, he is now working on the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Unless something unexpected happens, he will not take on any new films before the opening ceremony."

Han Sanping smoked a cigarette.

He is also extremely conflicted now.

If we don’t collaborate with Hong Kong filmmakers, there won’t be any representative figures in China.

What Han Sanping said about these three people just now is already very good.

Apart from these three people, who else can the country rely on to develop the market?

But when it comes to cooperation with Hong Kong, the obvious losses are visible to the naked eye.

For example, China Film Investment’s previous films “Warring States” and “Resurrection of the Dragon”, as well as the current “The Warlords”, all suffered losses.

"The Warlords" performed the best, but lost the most.

Plus there is another movie that has not been released yet, "The Besieged City in October".

This investment is similar to The Warlords, no, it's even more.

According to his estimation, he might even suffer a loss.

He also has a headache now.

Later on, the losses kept increasing and he didn't know how to explain it to the company.

"Chen Cheng is just too young. It would have been better if he had left a few years earlier."

Wang Jianer sighed.

Although Wang Jianer is also optimistic about Chen Cheng.

But Chen Cheng is still too young.

The previous results were not particularly obvious.

Although the performance is pretty good, there is no independent film that can take the lead yet.

Gao Chen on the side also said: "It is true that he is a little young. However, I feel that he still has great potential. Just like recently, the box office of The Warlords in the third week increased a lot because of Chen Cheng. If it weren't for the subsequent news broadcast, Assembly might not have won."

"Forget it, forget it. For the sake of the overall situation, we still have to invest. Otherwise, we can clearly see that domestic films are about to rise, not to mention how to achieve success. If we do a good job in the market, the future will be our opportunity to make money."

Han Sanping put out his cigarette and said.

The two of them nodded.

"But I don't think we can just let them shoot as they please."

"I also think that things are different now than they were in the past. Audiences now have more choices, and there are even Hollywood blockbusters to enjoy. We can't just invest and then put a few mainland actors in and call it a day."

"Gao Ting, what do you think?"

“We have to exert some influence as investors.”

"I have this idea too."

Han Sanping nodded: "How about we send someone over there?"

"That's fine, but... who should we send?"

Everyone, look at me, and I'll look at you.

All of a sudden, I really didn’t know who to send.

It would not be good if people from this faction were too strong.

Just Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kai and others.

Not saying whether they will go or not.

Even if they go, it will be useless.

Being too strong will not only make cooperation impossible, but will also bring trouble to the cooperation.

But you can't be weak either.

If not strong.

That's the same as not sending anyone. Others won't take you seriously and there will be no effect.

"You guys, you just mentioned Chen Cheng, and you forgot about it in a moment."

Gao Jianer said, "I heard that Chen Cheng is very popular in Hong Kong. To put it simply, Chen Cheng can overwhelm the Hong Kong guys."

"Ah."

Gao Chen also nodded. "In the crew of October Besieged City, Chen Cheng was originally the co-director, but later he became the chief director. It is said that at that time, Chen Cheng beat up a guy, but the guy didn't dare to say anything."

"You guys, I know you will miss Chen Cheng. But Chen Cheng has no interest in being an assistant director again."

"How about co-director?"

"Forget about being a co-director. This is just to fool some laymen. The co-director is actually the assistant director."

"That's easy. Since he doesn't want to be an assistant director or a co-director, that's fine. We can give him a lucrative job."

"You mean?"

"That's right." Everyone looked at each other and nodded.

……

After chatting with the three great directors, Chen Cheng returned to school to continue his classes.

The main theme.

You can't lean on someone just because you want to.

This is the same as the domestic film market.

Things like the main melody also need to be guided slowly.

At the same time, it also needs to be coordinated with the market and the environment.

Even if Chen Cheng were to make "Wolf Warrior" now, it would not even reach 50 million, let alone the 5 billion box office of the previous life.

No.

Don’t even mention 5 million.

5000 million is at stake.

Chen Cheng is not making this up. This is the conclusion he has drawn from his years of experience in the market.

For example, Wolf Warrior looks like a mainstream movie.

But in fact.

First and foremost, this is a military-themed film.

then.

There are two problems here.

The market must first cultivate military themes before it can truly promote the main theme.

This is why Wolf Warrior 1 performed mediocrely but Wolf Warrior 2 became a hit.

It’s not that Wolf Warrior 1 was badly made.

But Wolf Warrior 1 was only used to open up the market at that time.

Until 2007.

He added another problem, which is the market capacity issue.

Then.

You have three problems, how can your box office be high?
However, Chen Cheng was not discouraged by this.

The domestic market in the future is so vast that even if he just defends the domestic market, he will be comparable to the whole world.

"Chen Cheng, I heard that you went back to Beijing Film Academy to attend classes?"

Soon.

Chen Cheng received a call from Han Sanping.

Chen Cheng said, "Yes, Director Han, if you don't invest in my new film, I will have no film to shoot. I have no choice but to go back and study hard to improve myself."

"Don't come on, what's your new book? Send it to me and see."

"Uh... I haven't thought about it yet."

"Hey... Look, it's not that I don't want to vote for you, it's that you don't even want to."

Han Sanping laughed.

Chen Cheng was also a little embarrassed.

Ok.

be honest.

It’s not that Chen Cheng has no movies to shoot, he just hasn’t decided what to shoot.

Or.

It’s not like I haven’t decided what to shoot yet.

In fact, he was waiting too.

He also wanted to see how much the film he directed would do at the box office.

"Okay, Director Han, you guessed it right. I really don't want to make a movie right now."

"I really don't understand you. I know a lot of directors, but few of them are as patient as you."

"I can't be impatient. I don't want to make a movie that fails and then have to beg for investment. It's better to wait. If my movie becomes a hit, investors will be begging me to make it. That would be so cool."

“Hahaha, that’s a good idea.”

Han Sanping was also happy.

"Okay, let's get down to business. There's a movie in Hong Kong that we at China Film Group invested in, and we want to invite you..."

"Director Han, forget it."

Chen Cheng refused.

Chen Cheng didn't want to do this kind of assistant director's job.

As for the reason.

a whole lot.

One is that there is little money.

Although the assistant director is also a director, he is equivalent to a senior worker.

The income is indeed decent, but compared to the director, it is very average.

Also.

The title of assistant director is also a bit embarrassing.

Many times, even if a movie becomes popular, you don’t get much benefit.

Just like "Secret".

Chen Cheng is actually the director of this drama.

But I was just given the title of assistant director, so I didn't get any benefits.

of course.

Chen Cheng was not complaining about Jie Lun.

This kind of thing is very common in the circle and is also a common practice.

We did this at the beginning more for the box office.

"You kid, I haven't even said anything to you yet and you've already said forget it. Do you know what I want to say? I didn't ask you to be an assistant director."

“The co-director isn’t going either.”

“Not a co-director either.”

"Director Han, you're not going to tell me that I'm the chief director."

Chen Cheng was a little confused: "It seems impossible."

According to Chen Cheng's understanding of co-production films, this is absolutely impossible.

Co-production is a collaboration between Hong Kong and the Mainland.

In this kind of cooperation, most of the time the mainland side makes the investment, or both sides make the investment.

But generally speaking, the output here in the mainland is larger.

Hong Kong is responsible for production.

Although the investors will often insert some actors, assistant directors and so on.

But the real person responsible for the production is still controlled by Xiangjiang.

If the investment comes from the mainland and the production is controlled by the mainland, then it is not called a co-production, it is a mainland drama.

"Of course not possible."

Han Sanping also said: "If you are the director, how can the producers in Hong Kong survive?"

"Then why did you ask me to go?"

"If you don't want to be a director, you can take some other positions."

"What position?"

Chen Cheng said, "Field worker?"

"Pfft..."

Han Sanping sprayed water directly: "What kind of field worker? I want you to be a producer there."

"Producer?"

Chen Cheng was stunned.

He really hadn't thought about the position of producer.

"How about I give you the position?"

Han Sanping said, "This position is much better than assistant director or co-director. And it has a lot of power, representing our investors. In addition, this position is very easy. You don't have to shoot a movie, just go to the crew every day. Sometimes, you don't have to go, and the money is not bad... Damn, you make me want to do it."

"This one……"

Don't say it yet.

Chen Cheng was persuaded by Han Sanping.

But as a human being, one must always be modest: "Well, Director Han, I have never been a producer before."

"Everyone has a first time. Besides, there's no specific job for a producer, so it doesn't matter whether you've done it before or not."

“There is no performance review.”

"The assessment is also for the producers. What does it have to do with you as the supervisor?"

"Too."

Touching his chin, Chen Cheng agreed.

(End of this chapter)