I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 264: The "Havoc in Heaven" incident in 96!
At this time, inside the private club.

Xu Zheng, Ning Hao and others had arrived a long time ago, as well as Tian Yusheng, one of the screenwriters of Lost on Journey, and Yang Qin, the director of Nightclub.

Zhang Jianya, director of the "Call Transfer" trilogy, screenwriters Shu Huan and Liu Yiwei... this is the small circle where Xu Zheng made his fortune.

The reason why he called all these people together was, firstly, they all wanted to meet Chen Jin; secondly, the script of "Lost on Journey 2", except Ning Hao, was worked on by a few of them from the beginning.

Especially Tian Yusheng, this guy was originally the chief screenwriter of "Lost on Journey", and this story was "written" by him.

He is quite talented. Like the future Chen Sicheng, he saw the potential of overseas blockbuster movies and then made local adaptations.

Of course, the ancestor was also sitting there. Ning Hao was actually the first person to succeed in local Chinese culture.

The Chinese version of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" is "Crazy Stone".

However, this might be his first time doing this, so he didn’t copy much and just borrowed from Guy Ritchie’s directing techniques.

But "Lost on Journey" is different. It plagiarizes "A Happy Trip", also known as "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". The several embarrassing journeys in "Lost on Journey" are based on these main means of transportation.

Not only did it "pay tribute" to the original novel, it also copied 80% of the plot.

In the future, Chen Sicheng just promoted the traditional craftsmanship in this circle. Tian Yusheng also graduated from the Central Academy of Drama.

As soon as this guy graduated, he set up a screenwriting studio - Shengtang - with several classmates.

This is a routine operation of the Department of Drama and Literature of the Chinese Academy of Drama.

The Central Academy of Drama is not like the Beijing Film Academy. Graduates from the Department of Literature of the Beijing Film Academy can collaborate with directors and sell their own products. After all, the directing department of the academy has a lot of connections, and if all else fails, you can find students from the directing department.

But the Central Academy of Drama didn't have this before, so they could only work together to write a script and then find some coal bosses to invest in the project.

This was the routine in the past few years, but it no longer worked after the new millennium. The coal bosses had no money, so they could only turn to some film and television companies in the industry.

Film and television companies are obviously much more stingy, and they have to evaluate the script. Even if they want to invest, it will only be a few million, with a maximum of 10 million.

This includes the most powerful screenwriting company in the industry - Honghu Creative Group, which was originally called Honghu Studio and was also founded by students from the Department of Drama and Literature of the Central Academy of Drama. It has also been doing very poorly.

There were only four people in this Honghu at the beginning.

Meng Jinhui, Zhang Yibai, Diao Yinan, and Cai Shangjun.

The four-member group is now well-known in the industry.

Meng Jinhui is the king of drama. One play, "Rhinoceros in Love", is enough to make him a god. In the drama world, except for a few people of the older generation, such as Lin Zhaohua, etc., he is the number one among the middle-aged and young generation.

Zhang Yibai's "Love Is Not Blind" is the first youth love idol drama in China, and the leading actors in it are all very famous now.

There are also "Metro to Spring", "Fleeting Time", "Curiosity Kills the Cat", and the future "The Wind Dog Boy", which are all his works, but he is the most famous but least accomplished one among the four.

Diao Yinan was nominated for Cannes and Berlin many times in the future, and even won the Golden Bear Award for "Black Coal, Thin Ice". Liao Fan also won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actor Award for this movie.

Finally, according to the original timeline, Cai Shangjun would have won the Best Director award at this year's Venice Film Festival.

This four-member screenwriting studio is definitely the ceiling level in the domestic film and television industry.

So when Tian Yusheng graduated, he also started a business, and the first book he wrote was "Lost on Journey".

He doesn't have the original skills of his senior brothers, so he can only rely on reference.

But director Xiangjiang is used to being so awesome that Tian Hanyu has not received the respect he deserves.

So in a fit of anger, he turned to Xu Zheng and together they created the current "Lost in Town"; in the future, this guy became a director himself, and the "Ex-Files" series also earned billions at the box office.

But now he is obviously just a younger brother, sitting at the edge, listening to Xu Zheng and his brothers chatting there.

"Looking at the box office performance of the first day of "The Founding of a Party", I estimate it will take in 5 to 6 million!"

A fat man wearing glasses was talking.

This is Shu Huan, who has written many sketches for the Spring Festival Gala, as well as the scripts for "I Love My Family" and "Idle Sister Ma", and is very famous in the industry.

"more than!"

Another bald man with glasses shook his head: "This kind of tribute film, if the box office is good, all places will organize screenings, the tail end is too long!"

"I feel like I can compete with Let the Bullets Fly. It all depends on the reputation and momentum in the next two days..."

He is in the system.

Liu Yiwei!
A famous host of CCTV, he is deeply loved by the Chinese people for his cooking variety show "Everyday Food".

But he and Shu Huan are actually famous golden editors in the circle. Liu Yiwei started out as a musician and has good acting skills. He has filmed dozens of movies and TV series, but he is best known as a host.

In fact, he graduated from the Chinese Department, and screenwriting is his forte.

The trilogy "Love Transfer" was written by him and Shu Huan, who was by his side.

Liu Yiwei is very proficient in hosting, screenwriting, acting, and playing music, and is considered a super genius.

After Xu Zheng was warned by the producer of "Lost on Journey", he had no other choice but to turn to him.

It was also thanks to him that "Lost in Thailand" received investment from Guangxian.

Liu Yiwei and Guangxian’s CEO Wang Changtian are close friends.

But now, Chen Jin has snatched it away in advance.

"I didn't expect that this kind of theme would have a market!"

Xu Zheng lit a cigarette and smiled. Ning Hao beside him also shook his head: "After Love Is Not Blind earned 33 million yuan, I became more and more confused. It seems that there is an audience for any subject matter!"

"There are so many Chinese people, more than one billion people, if a few million people like it, that would be hundreds of millions!"

"That's right, so if you can make a movie that is popular with the public, like Shaolin Temple back then, it could make billions!"

"That requires the actor to have box office appeal..."

"The big genres are still comedies and commercial blockbusters!"

"..."

While everyone was chatting, a waitress said something in Ning Hao's ear.

"People are here!"

Ning Hao raised his head and everyone stopped talking. Xu Zheng stood up. After a while, Chen Jin and Guo Xun, under the guidance of the waiter, came to their box.

The soles of both men's shoes were wet. It was raining heavily outside and the sky over the entire imperial capital was dark.

The weather was not good on the Party Founding Day, and a bunch of public intellectuals and big Vs finally found their way to the Internet, making sarcastic remarks and making all kinds of jokes.

He also complained about the poor network environment and that he couldn't say anything.

"Oh my, Brother Jin, today I finally see you in person!"

Xu Zheng walked out laughing, opened his arms and gave Chen Jin a big hug.

Just as Chen Jin was about to introduce Guo Xun next to him, Xu Zheng came up to him enthusiastically: "Director Guo? Hello, hello, I've heard a lot about you!"

"It should be Brother Zheng that I have admired for a long time!"

Guo Xun was smiling as three people walked into the box.

Everyone, including Ning Hao, stood up.

Xu Zheng hurriedly introduced everyone one by one. Although Chen Jin knew that this game was organized by Xu Zheng, he did not expect so many people to come.

And they are all very famous, including Tian Yusheng.

Chen Jin has also seen the "Ex-Files" series directed by him in future autobiographical films.

There is also the most silent one, Zhang Jianya, the director of the "Love Transfer" trilogy. He is a director who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, in the same class as Zhang Yimou, and a classmate of Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang.

This guy originally had a very high status in the circle. He became famous overnight after directing "Sanmao Joins the Army". Later, a company invested 1 million yuan to let him shoot the first special effects blockbuster in China, "Havoc in Heaven", in 96.

Unfortunately, this project failed in the end because the protagonist was replaced.

Initially, Teacher Liu was to star in the film, but conflicts arose due to disagreements between the two, which led to the eventual abortion of "Havoc in Heaven"!
Otherwise, relying on this IP, even a bad movie will actually have a market.

After all, in the past two years, several worse Journey to the West IP movies have made over 10 billion at the box office.

At least Mr. Liu’s popularity and acting skills in playing the role of Sun Wukong are impeccable. The leading cast are all veteran actors, and the screenwriter is Ye Yonglie. It is definitely better than those bad dramas.

"Director Zhang, hello!" Chen Jin sat next to Zhang Jianya, and Zhang Jianya smiled at him: "Hello!"

He had recently finished filming Zhang Jizhong's version of "Journey to the West" and had guest appearances with Liu Yiwei in "The Founding of a Republic" and "The Founding of the Party", but this was the first time that Chen Jin and the two had met.

"Waiter, serve the food!"

"We'll eat and talk..."

Xu Zheng stretched out his hand, and soon the exquisite dishes were served on the table.

At the beginning, everyone was obviously talking about interesting things in the circle. Zhang Jianya seemed to be brought in to make up the numbers and didn't say much.

Chen Jin was free anyway, so he chatted secretly with Zhang Jianya.

I didn’t expect that his new drama is about to start filming.

"Qian Xuesen"!
A film commemorating the 100th anniversary of Qian's birth, Qian Xuesen is played by Chen Kun.

"It seems... it's down!"

Chen Jin pursed his lips.

With an investment of 6000 million, the film only earned a few million at the box office after its release.

It’s not that the scheduling is bad, or that the filming is bad, on the contrary, it’s actually quite good.

The main reason for the failure is that not many people know about Mr. Qian, either in the private sector or on the Internet, and the domestic media has not started to publicize it.

It was only a few years later, after the country made it public, that people online began to commemorate and admire it.

On the contrary, there are now a lot of people who hate the country.

You know, today, July 7st, is such a special day for the founding of the Communist Party of China. Because of the heavy rain, the queen of Weibo, Yao Dazui, who has 1 million fans, still claims to be superior to others, and replied sarcastically to a stupid comment.

A famous host in later generations posted: "It's my birthday, and the sky is so dark, with thunder and lightning, what does this mean?"

She's laughing there. You know too much!

Therefore, it is inevitable that the flower of evil will blossom and bear fruit.

If "Qian Xuesen" had been released 5-6 years later, it would definitely have earned several hundred million.

It seems that because of the complete failure of this movie, Zhang Jianya completely disappeared from the public and turned to behind the scenes... In fact, this director has made many excellent works.

Chen Jin felt quite sad when he thought that he would have no fame in the future.

Many directors are eliminated by the audience, and the times don't even say hello. This is the reality of this industry. On the contrary, there are some directors who have so many flops, but foreigners are still funding them with all their might.

"Director Zhang, let me toast to you!"

Chen Jin bumped into Zhang Jianya, who smiled and said, "We had a class reunion a few days ago, and Yimou mentioned you!"

"Really? Director Zhang didn't scold me, did he?"

"That's impossible. Jinling is grateful to you. If I had such help back then, I wouldn't have to keep paying off the debt until now!"

Of course, he was talking about the story of "Havoc in Heaven".

At the time, the drama had already been filmed for one-third, but there was no follow-up funding, so 2500 million yuan was burned and one of the largest private computer animation companies in the country was dragged down.

To the extent that domestic film directors were once terrified when talking about special effects, including Zhang Jianya in front of us, and now they only dare to make low-budget movies.

"Director Zhang, can you let me see the script of 'Havoc in Heaven'?"

Chen Jin suddenly asked.

This movie is based on the first seven chapters of the original novel, and the screenwriter is Ye Yonglie, a very famous writer in the industry, who is also the one who wrote "Little Smart Wandering in the Future".

It is said that China Film Corporation felt sorry after watching one-third of the finished film, but no one dared to invest in the rest.

Because the leading actors are indeed veteran actors, such as Huang Zongluo, Ma Jingwu and so on.

It’s mainly the special effects, which are so damn expensive.

No one dares to take on such a big project.

It was precisely because he had been preparing for three years that Zhang Jizhong found him when he wanted to make a new Journey to the West.

Unfortunately, Zhang Jianya had no say in the filming, and the casting and other matters were all decided by Zhang Da Huzi.

So much so that the casting was criticized by netizens.

"Why, are you interested?"

Zhang Jianya smiled.

Of course he has the script of "Havoc in Heaven".

"Well, there's no need to worry about the investment. I can be the lead actor. As for special effects, the technology in China has improved in recent years. If not, we can polish it!"

"Put aside a few years to make this movie!"

Chen Jin has always wanted to film "Havoc in Heaven".

Just like "The Wandering Earth", it took several years to carefully make a movie.

Even if it is filmed according to the plot of the 83 version of "Journey to the West", with slight adaptation and reduction, there is actually a market for it.

Because now more viewers actually watch the special effects.

The story doesn't need any modification.

As long as the special effects are in place and the plot is complete, the box office will definitely not be bad.

Monkey is China's number one IP!

Besides, Chen Jin had actually checked some time ago that Zhang Jianya's version of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was very respectful to the original novel.

It would be fine if the movie is better than "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", "Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven" and "Journey to the West: The Monkey King Strikes Back". Except for the first one "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", the latter two are definitely terrible movies.

Because it was released during the Spring Festival, the box office exceeded 10 billion!

Chen Jin is confident that it will be no problem for the film to surpass these two, mainly because of the special effects; Chen Jin can handle the plot and performance himself.

But special effects are something that you really can’t rush, and with the support of the domestic market, just like the “Nezha” animation and “The Wandering Earth”, they will be slowly polished to the final film.

"Haha, if you're really interested, I can send it to you!"

"But I have to ask Teacher Ye!"

Zhang Jianya has long passed the stage where he gets excited when hearing about investment. After experiencing the ups and downs over the years, he is as steady as an old dog.

"it is good!"

Chen Jin took out his phone: "Director Zhang, let's add each other's contact information!"

Chen Jin was afraid that Zhang Jianya would just say it casually, so he would definitely urge him. By then, even if he only shot literary scenes, he could hire an expert special effects director and ask Guo Xun to assist.

Of course, he will not be impatient for such a super IP.

It takes five years to sharpen a sword, even ten years is fine.

Movies like "Journey to the West" starring Aaron Kwok are simply an insult to the audience.

"Brother Jin!"

Xu Zheng suddenly raised his glass and said to Chen Jin who was chatting with Zhang Jianya, "I have a new idea for the second part of Lost on Journey. I called you here this time because I want to discuss it with you in person!"

"what idea?"

"Lost in London" has been killed by Chen Jin anyway.

"I went to Thailand a few days ago, and after I came back I talked to Xiaotian Laoshu and the others. I felt that this embarrassing journey didn't have to happen in our country!"

"The Spring Festival travel rush has already been used up. How about we use it abroad?"

It is indeed "Lost in Thailand"!
It turns out that this guy came up with the idea when he was traveling in Thailand.

Xu Zheng and the others all looked at Chen Jin, expecting to hear his interested expression, but unexpectedly Chen Jin shook his head and said with some surprise: "But... I don't like Thailand!"

(End of this chapter)