Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 185 [Night Shop]

Seeing Zhang Heng about to sign his name on the contract, Sister Wang was speechless. However, she did not stop him. Instead, she waited until Zhang Heng had signed his name before putting away the contract and warning him.

"Mr. Zhang, although you signed the contract I presented directly, which made me feel trusted, I still want to remind you that in the future, whenever you sign a contract or anything else that requires a signature, you should hire a lawyer to check for loopholes or whether the other party is deliberately trying to cheat you. After all, given your current state, I could easily make a small change to the contract and bankrupt you."

Zhang Heng felt a little embarrassed and scared when he heard what Sister Wang said, and hesitated to speak.

"Don't worry, I didn't tamper with the contract. After all, it's only 30,000 yuan, not worth it. I'm just reminding you. Of course, if you want to have a lawyer review the contents of the contract you signed to see if you've been scammed, that's fine too."

"Uh, no need, no need." Zhang Heng shook his head awkwardly.

"You're still too thin-skinned. At this point, you should go with the flow and invite a lawyer over. After all, contracts are sometimes really important!" Sister Wang shook her head again.

"..." Zhang Heng didn't know what to say.

"Well then, if Mr. Zhang has nothing else, I'll take my leave now," Sister Wang said, standing up.

"No, no, um, can I ask when my book will be made into a movie?" Zhang Heng asked with some anticipation.

"Making it into a movie? At present, there is probably no hope for that in the short term. As for the future—it's uncertain. Don't worry, if we have any ideas about making it into a movie, we will definitely contact you in advance."

"Oh." Hearing that it couldn't be filmed into a movie immediately, Zhang Heng couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. However, considering that his novel involved so many issues, he understood that Sister Wang's words were quite normal.

Li Boda looked at the contract that Sister Wang brought back and nodded in satisfaction.

"Boss, do you really want to film this novel?"

"Yes, that's definitely the idea. The novel's premise is quite novel, and I'm also very interested in the characters." Li Boda nodded, not giving Sister Wang any perfunctory replies.

"However, there are too many problems with turning it into a movie. First, there are copyright issues, and second, there are the issues with the actors. We can't really invite Hollywood actors like Milla Jovovich to act in it, can we? And then there are the special effects. If we really make it like that, it will cost at least several hundred million to film—"

“I understand what you’re saying. I don’t plan to make it into a movie right now. We’ll talk about making a movie out of ‘Infinite Terror’ when the opportunity arises.” Li Boda waved his hand. He was actually quite clear-headed and knew when would be the most appropriate time to film ‘Infinite Terror’.

As for whether or not to adapt the novel "Infinite Terror" into a film, it is absolutely necessary. After all, the character Chu Xuan is just too attractive to Li Boda. He is willing to pay a heavy price for this role alone.

Seeing that Li Boda was still relatively clear-headed and said that there were no plans to film "Infinite Terror" at the moment, Sister Wang was finally relieved.

Since "Infinite Terror" won't be filmed in the short term, Li Boda will have to reconsider what kind of movie he'll direct next if he wants to become a director.

Li Boda's idea was to first make a low-budget film to practice.

Ideally, it should be a movie with relatively simple scenes and few characters, as such movies are much easier to shoot.

And coincidentally, there was such a script that Sister Wang discovered.

【Night·Club】!
The script was created by a screenwriter named Yang Qing.

Yang Qing graduated from the Central Academy of Drama. After graduation, he worked in various film crews, serving as a scriptwriter on set in some of them.

A production assistant screenwriter is a type of screenwriter. The script is generally not created by the production assistant screenwriter, but because they have certain abilities, they are assigned to work on set. If there are any problems with the actors or if the director feels that the original plot is not good enough, the script will be revised. The production assistant screenwriter is responsible for revising the script.

This "Night Shop" is a low-budget script that he created independently.

It's even said that Yang Qing had considered switching careers to become a director, but somehow the script ended up in Sister Wang's hands.

Or perhaps, Sister Wang was so considerate of Li Boda that she went to great lengths and spent a lot of money to find him such a script.

Yang Qing couldn't resist the temptation of money, so he sold the script to Sister Wang.

After Li Boda received the script, he found that the title of the script seemed a bit improper, called "Night Shop".

But in reality, the script wasn't about nightlife; it was about a 24-hour supermarket!

The various interesting and bizarre things that happened at this supermarket at night make up a very funny story.

Looking at the script, Li Boda was somewhat satisfied.

Although the script wasn't great, it was still above average.

Moreover, filming was extremely simple. The entire filming location was almost entirely within this supermarket. As for the characters in the movie, there were only so many, and there were no grand scenes whatsoever.

It's fair to say that any director with a bit of ability could make this movie, and the chances of failure would be very small.

Seeing how eager Sister Wang was to let him direct this movie, Li Boda smiled and nodded, agreeing that this would be his first film as a director.

After seeing that Li Boda agreed, Sister Wang breathed a sigh of relief.

As the head of Li Boda's studio, Sister Wang really went to great lengths to consider Li Boda's needs.

Li Boda wants to be a director? No problem. To prevent Li Boda's directorial dream from being shattered, and to ensure he doesn't lack the ability to make a good film, Sister Wang specially crafted this incredibly simple script for him. If Li Boda can't even make a decent film like "Night Shop," then he can give up on directing altogether and shouldn't even think about becoming a director.

The lowest threshold was the one that Sister Wang specifically found for Li Boda.

After Li Boda agreed to film the movie "Night Shop", Sister Wang immediately began preparations.

Sister Wang personally took charge of bringing together the crew, and she also personally intervened in issues such as lighting, photography, and makeup.

Sister Wang even helped find actors.

Needless to say, the role of the female lead, Tang Xiaolian, was naturally prepared for Zhao Liying from their studio. This was something Zhao Liying had agreed upon with Li Boda and Sister Wang beforehand.

As for the male lead, the middle-aged bald He Sanshui, Li Boda thought of Huang Bo.

Li Boda had met Huang Bo during the filming of "Crazy Stone." Huang Bo is quite perceptive and his acting skills are quite good. As for his image, Huang Bo is perfectly suited to the role of a middle-aged, disheveled, balding man.

However, Huang Bo, as the male lead of "Crazy Racer," may already have his salary increased even though the movie hasn't been released yet.

Before the movie "Crazy Racer" was released, Sister Wang hurriedly contacted Huang Bo to see if she could snag him at a bargain price.

However, when Sister Wang approached Huang Bo, although Huang Bo spoke quite nicely, he seemed somewhat hesitant about whether or not to appear in the drama "Night Shop".

Seeing Huang Bo's attitude, Sister Wang understood that he wanted to increase his salary after the release of "Crazy Racer" in a few days.

However, Huang Bo's current salary is not much, a few tens of thousands of yuan is enough. But if "Crazy Racer" does well at the box office, Huang Bo's salary will likely increase tenfold or even dozens of times.

To be honest, it's normal for a good actor to have a high salary.

but!

The movie 【Night Shop】 is a low-budget film, and everything about the filming location is very simple.

For such a low-budget film, spending hundreds of thousands or even millions to hire an actor to film it is somewhat not worthwhile.

So Sister Wang decisively withdrew and gave up on Huang Bo.

After receiving the information from Sister Wang, Li Boda didn't have any particular thoughts.

After all, there are countless actors in the entertainment industry, and there are also countless actors with excellent acting skills. While Huang Bo is certainly a good actor, it doesn't mean that there aren't actors with better acting skills than him.

At that moment, someone learned that Li Boda had a movie to film and took the initiative to come to him, and even agreed to act in it for free.

Li Boda was a little surprised to hear this news. He was acting for free, and this film wasn't an art film.

"The main reason is that I've wanted to make movies for the past few years, but I haven't had the right opportunity. After all, there are many actors who are better than me, so I can only use this method to increase my competitiveness," Xu Shanzheng said with a chuckle, touching his bald head.

"...Aren't you afraid this movie won't turn out well? You know, I'm the director of this movie. This is my first time directing a film. If the movie doesn't turn out well or it's a bad movie, aren't you worried that you'll get even fewer opportunities because of it?" Li Boda asked with a smile.

"It's precisely because this is your first film as a director that you're putting in so much effort, and I believe that with your abilities, you won't make a bad film," Xu Shanzheng flattered, which was also his true thought.

Generally speaking, when wealthy and famous actors switch careers to become directors, the movies they make are usually not bad, or at least not too bad.

It's not that actors who switch careers to become directors are particularly capable; it's simply that they have the ability to invite experienced professionals to serve as assistant directors or assist with filming.

Even some complete outsiders who have never been involved in the film industry can produce a decent first film if they have enough money.

Laymen only need to sit in a chair and yell "cut," and then the specifics of how the film is shot and how the actors should perform are entirely handled by an experienced assistant director.

Just like Lu Chuan back then, he filmed "Looking for a Gun" and claimed to be the director, but in reality, it was Jiang Wen who directed the film.

Although Lu Chuan was passive and unwilling to accept it, in essence, they were almost the same, just one was passive and the other was active.

In addition, Xu Shanzheng heard that Li Boda's script was a low-cost, super simple script that Sister Wang had searched for in every possible way, and such a script was almost impossible to fail.

Therefore, even though the director of the film "Night Shop" is Li Boda, and even though this is Li Boda's first time directing, it is still a great success.

Xu Shanzheng wasn't too worried that the movie "Night Shop" would turn out to be a bad film.

This is one of the reasons why Xu Shanzheng actively sought opportunities.

Of course, another reason is that Xu Shanzheng is ambitious. After repeatedly hitting walls in his attempts to enter the film industry, he also wanted to become a director.

Therefore, the actor Li Boda's decision to switch careers to become a director is an example that Xu Shanzheng wants to see. If Li Boda succeeds, Xu Shanzheng would not mind replicating the path Li Boda took.

(End of this chapter)