2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 35: Screenwriter Chu Has Gone Mad

A wild way?
President Chu rose through the ranks by working his way up from humble beginnings.

However, this time it really wasn't a sham approach.

According to game theory, the simplest and most effective way to resolve the trouble your opponent has created for you is to create an even bigger problem for them.

Ji Yinglai is still too naive and doesn't understand the key points.

Chu An was also exhausted, so he directly taught her, "Here's what you do: go find the props and art designers, and have them work overtime today to my house to set up the set as a temporary press conference."

"You won't even need to tell him; Jia Chenglin will come just by smelling the aroma!"

Ji Yinglai: "..."

Before he could even process what was going on, Chu An scratched his head and asked, "Didn't Li Chunhua just say that director... what's that thing called 'Sword Dance in the Jianghu' that's coming up tomorrow?"

Tong Meng: "Director Li! Li Lanqun!"

Chu An: "Director Li, you're coming to Ningyuan tomorrow, right?"

He raised an eyebrow and said, "Go and call Dong Wende from the camera crew over."

A moment later, Dong Wende came in. "What's up? Need me to turn on the machine?"

Chu An: "Yes! Turn it on."

Dong Wende was overjoyed upon hearing this, "Is everything ready? When?"

Chu An: "Tomorrow."

Dong Wende's face fell. "Get lost! Are you kidding me?"

There's no way it can be turned on tomorrow!
Chu An: "Really! Tomorrow, you take your men to the train station and keep watch at the main intersection. You know Director Li Lanqun, right? As soon as you see him, take pictures of him, secretly."

"Follow me all the way to the guesthouse. You must get me footage of Li Lanqun meeting with Zhang Yuan or Xu Shu."

Dong Wende: "..."

I was completely dumbfounded. "I'm a cameraman! Is it appropriate for me to be a paparazzi?"

Seeing his resistance, Chu An spoke earnestly and sincerely, "Everything... for the crew! Director Lu's future rests entirely on your shoulders!"

Dong Wende: "..."

Lu Mingze: "..."

……

Jia Chenglin had already packed his luggage and was ready to return to Shengjing.

With headquarters taking direct action and the board of directors making decisions, Lu Mingze had no chance to resist this time, and it's hard to say whether he'll have another opportunity to direct in the future.

In Grandpa Jia's opinion, Director Lu is blind and doesn't understand where the taboos of big companies lie.

On the surface, this incident appears to be about a disobedient director being punished by his company.

In reality, it's one thing if you don't film Qing Dynasty dramas, and you can raise money to make them yourself, but you have to be sensible in your approach. If you just insist on doing it this way, the company will definitely fight you to the bitter end.

For no other reason than to protect the stock price and to give shareholders confidence, it's necessary to make an example of someone.

But now that we're about to leave, something feels off.
Downstairs today, Lu Mingze's men were very active, coming and going, and it seemed they even went to Chu An's house.

Jia Chenglin keenly sensed something unusual.

Only after some subtle inquiries did they learn that Lu Mingze was truly a fool. He actually wanted to fight Tiandu to the death, hold a press conference, and kick Xu Shu out of the production crew ahead of time.

"Why can't things just stop?" Jia Chenglin said, somewhat annoyed.

But there was no other way, so I quickly called Li Chunhua to tell her about it.

Poor Li Chunhua, she just left in the afternoon and has to fly back early the next morning.

"Replacing Xu Shu with Lin Wanxing, and then saying that Xu Shu doesn't deserve the fame of a top-tier star?"

"Who came up with this terrible idea?!"

At this moment, Li Chunhua, Jia Chenglin, Zhang Yuan, and Xu Shu were all in one room.

Li Chunhua was furious. He realized that Ningyuan was somewhat incompatible with his birth chart, and nothing in it went smoothly for him.

Zhang Yuan looked serious. On the surface, she was Xu Shu's assistant, responsible for Xu Shu's daily life, but in reality, she was the guardian assigned to Xu Shu by Tiandu.

Therefore, she has the right to speak in this situation.

"Producer Li, no matter what, we can't let Lin Wanxing seize this opportunity!"

Jia Chenglin: "Yes, the public doesn't care whether what Lu Mingze said is true or not! They just want gossip news."

"Lin Wanxing's company will never let go of this opportunity to climb to the top by stepping on Xiao Shu."

Li Chunhua felt even more troubled by what she was being said, and she was actually starting to waver.

Should we persuade the company to let Xu Shu continue acting? Anyway, there are only two months left on the schedule, so we can just not renew Lu Mingze's contract then.

The problem is that not letting Xu Shu star in the film was a decision made by the company headquarters. It wouldn't be good for him, who was just handling things outside, to change the decision made by the higher-ups.

Looking at Xu Shu, he rarely asked for her opinion, "Xiao Shu, what do you think?"

Xu Shuyi shuddered, her eyes turning cold: "They're too evil! I'm not acting!"

Okay, Chu An told her to cooperate! Tian Du told her to cooperate with whatever he asked, and to leave the rest to him.

At this moment, the "vicious second female lead" successfully put on her acting skills, with a fierce expression, "I'm throwing away things I don't want, so Lin Wanxing can take them if she wants."

Li Chunhua thought to herself, "Silly girl, if you don't throw that away, the crew will immediately throw you away!"

Just as I was debating whether to report it to the company, a Mercedes-Benz van slowly pulled up downstairs.

Li Chunhua glanced out the window and said, "Let's not talk about that now, Director Li has arrived."

As it turned out, a beat-up Jetta followed behind. Dong Wende got out of the car carrying a camera and sneakily filmed Director Li from behind.

Well, now I have no choice but to tell you! Li Chunhua immediately understood what Lu Mingze was up to.

That's so damn unfair! They just released the news of Director Li and Xu Shu meeting in Ningyuan, along with photos and videos, and that day, they really had no grounds for argument at all.

At that time, whatever Lu Mingze says goes.

"That's not right!" Li Chunhua wondered. "When did Lu Mingze become smarter?"

However, it was also a good thing. Li Chunhua felt relieved, because although Lu Mingze's move was cunning, it also shifted the blame onto him.

Pick up your phone immediately and call headquarters.

"Yes, they filmed Director Li coming over, and I didn't stop them."

……

"We are in a very passive position now. Lu Mingze's actions will definitely affect Xu Shu's reputation."

……

"I know, I know, but the key is that Lin Wanxing will definitely not let this opportunity slip by. The risk of public opinion spiraling out of control could be very high!"

Li Chunhua's embellished report gave the high-ranking officials of Tiandu a terrible headache, and they were probably cursing him in their hearts.

You said Director Lu was such a naive and simple-minded guy when he was filming Qing Dynasty dramas? How did he become such a cunning and shrewd person now?

How could he have the nerve to use such a despicable tactic?
But there's no other way! The company has to consider the issue from a holistic perspective. Lu Mingze is already out of control, and if the company's second trump card, Xu Shu, is also caught in a media storm, then we'll be in big trouble.

Ultimately, the decision was made: "Let her act! But only for two months, not a single day more!"

Li Chunhua put down her phone, unsure whether to be happy or unhappy. Looking at Xu Shu, she said, "Xiao Shu, how about we finish fulfilling the contract for these two months?"

Xu Shu pouted, full of reluctance, and hesitated for a long time before saying, "I will obey the company's arrangements."

My inner monologue: Screenwriter Chu is amazing! He really did it!

So, Tiandu didn't hesitate and immediately notified the production team, and issued a public statement through media reports.

The gist of it is: "Although your last-minute changes to the script violate the spirit of the contract, Ms. Xu Shu, after careful consideration, and adhering to the principles of respecting the work and being responsible to the production company, has decided to withdraw the lawsuit against Lu Mingze Studio in accordance with the original contract, and stay with the production team to complete the creation."

……

Director Lu's room.

At this moment, Director Lu was in high spirits, "With just a little effort, Tiandu surrendered. They're not all that great!" What Director Lu received in return was the disdainful look from everyone. What does it have to do with you if it's Chu Shikuai's trick?
They all looked at Chu An again, their voices softening considerably: "It's all thanks to screenwriter Chu that we have so many tricks up our sleeves."

Now, Chu An has become the backbone of the crew, and his status is not much lower than that of Lu Mingze.

What? A 17-year-old high school student?

Age is nothing compared to talent!
Being able to take everyone out to eat, whether you're seventeen or seventy years old?

Ji Yinglai said, "Now the only problem left is with CCTV."

"Screenwriter Chu, what's the next step?"

Dong Wende chimed in, "Yeah, as long as the film crew can get shooting started, there's anything I can do. Just say the word, and becoming a paparazzi isn't out of the question!"

Chu An smiled, but then said something that chilled everyone to the bone: "There's no solution from CCTV!"

"What?" Tong Meng was stunned. "You can't do anything about it either?"

Chu An: "There's nothing I can do."

Tong Meng said, "How about I ask my mother-in-law again? She has some connections at CCTV."

Zhang Yulan is a living fossil in the entertainment industry, so she still has a lot of influence.

Chu An shook his head, "Absolutely not, relationships aren't used like that."

If one leader says to postpone the contract, and you then go to another leader and say to fulfill the contract, that's just making things difficult for them.

It'll just be a one-off deal, with no next time.

Moreover, if Tian Du were to contact someone to deliver the message, and if the message from that level could be changed, those were all questions.

Chu An simply delivered the final verdict: "We have no chance of changing CCTV's attitude, so give up on that idea as soon as possible."

Everyone, "..."

Tong Meng was still unwilling to give up. "Then what do we do? Doesn't that mean that even if Xu Shu plays the role, we're still doomed?"

As mentioned earlier, there simply wasn't enough time.

Chu An said, "It's too early to talk about death now, but we can only find a solution within ourselves."

He said to Lu Mingze, "Let's gather the whole team and have a meeting."

That evening, the entire crew gathered again in the conference room of the agricultural machinery factory's union. This time, however, no one from Tiandu was there. All the creative staff who were still in Ningyuan came!

Chu An had no time for formalities and took the lead in the meeting.

"What we are facing now is that Xu Shu's schedule has 2 months and 3 days left, and Tiandu Culture will not be able to give us any more slots after that!"

"So, starting from now, the entire period from the pre-production to filming of 'The Best of Us' is only 2 months and 3 days!!"

The group looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

How could that be? Are you kidding me?
Dong Wende crossed his arms, his brows furrowed as if carved by a knife. "I've calculated the script. It's 24 episodes in total, with about 2200 shots."

“But if Director Lu were to direct it, it would probably require 2600 to 2800 shots.”

"At Director Lu's filming speed, it wouldn't be finished in six months!"

This involves some professional knowledge.

The higher the production quality of a TV series and the better its visual presentation, the more shots will be presented in a single episode.

Generally, a typical episode of a well-structured TV series has around 80 to 90 shots. Big-budget productions or those directed by highly skilled directors may have a maximum of 110 to 120 shots.

And those poorly made, low-quality dramas have as few as 4 or 50 shots.

The number of shots in "With You" is moderate, averaging nearly 90 shots per episode.

The problem is that Lu Mingze, as a top director in the industry, has first-class requirements for cinematic storytelling and his ability to create atmosphere through the lens.

Dong Wende didn't even need to think about it; 90 shots definitely wouldn't satisfy Director Lu, so they'd have to calculate it as 120 shots.

Director Lu is a typical example of someone who takes his time and produces high-quality work; shooting ten to twelve shots a day is considered a fast pace.

So, this becomes a simple math problem. Based on 2600 shots, shooting 10 to 12 shots a day, Dong Wende said it would take half a year to shoot, but that was just to save face for Director Lu.

As a veteran cinematographer who had worked with Director Lu on many films, Dong Wende looked resentful and said, "Other directors can't wait to shoot two episodes a week, but our Director Lu shoots one episode every ten days, or even one episode every two weeks!"

"You still have two months? Dream on!"

Director Lu was a little embarrassed by what he said, "I'm just trying to make the film better!"

Staring at Chu An with a serious expression, he said, "Little Chu, we can't lower our production standards just to meet deadlines. I, Lu Mingze, would never do something like that!"

Chu An smiled wryly, "CCTV has to review the footage. You can't just throw together 40 shots for one episode and expect it to pass!"

The conclusion was, "In other words, we not only have to finish filming within two months, but we also have to film it well, with 2800 shots, not a single one can be missed!"

Everyone, "..."

2800 shots in 60 days, that's an average of more than 40 shots a day, and you still have to maintain quality? Are you kidding me?

"Impossible!" This time it was Ji Ying who spoke up. "Let's not even talk about whether your camera crew can film it or not; my coordination team can't handle the transfer either!"

"The only remaining makeup artist in the team has also gone on strike. More than 40 shots? We might as well just work ourselves to death."

Chu An was delighted upon hearing this.

"You know what!" she exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention. "I have a plan for the camera crew."

"But you guys, even if you work yourselves to death, you absolutely must keep an eye on the coordination, costumes, and props!"

"Because the success or failure rests on your shoulders."

Everyone was like, "???"

They weren't worried about whether they'd be exhausted or not, because everyone wanted to get the show made. If Chu An could get the show made, they didn't care if they were exhausted.

Everyone's attention was focused on Chu An's previous statement: he had a way of handling more than 40 shots a day!
Dong Wende's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets; he'd seen a ghost!

Even after all these years of working as a cameraman, I've never dared to make such an unreliable boast.

More than 40 shots a day? Do you have a way to do that?
Chu An: "There are two ways to solve the filming schedule problem now."

Everyone, "Which two?"

"First: three cameras, A and B groups. I've calculated that an average of 45 shots a day should be no problem."

"If we finish filming in two months and don't make any mistakes, there won't be any problems!"

"The second one?" Chu An hesitated a bit this time.

After pondering for a long time, as if having made a great decision, he scanned the crowd and said, "The second plan involves an element of gambling."

"To be precise, it's a big bet!"

"Solve the problem from the issuance stage."

Lu Mingze: "Hurry up and tell me your plan!"

He shrugged, "We're already in this situation, what's there to be afraid of gambling on?"

Chu An smiled, a hint of madness in his eyes, "The second plan is to overturn the domestic drama broadcasting model and make it a weekly broadcast, filming as it airs!"

Everyone, "..."

I didn't react for a moment.

Chu An said, "In other words, it won't take two months! I can produce a sample episode for CCTV in one month, and it will premiere on TV in another month!"

crazy
This kid's gone mad.

To everyone else, how did Chu An become an amateur again? It's just a little boy's imagination!

There are many problems here that cannot be solved.

It's impossible to achieve.

……

.

(End of this chapter)