Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 256 Stealing the show
After Liu Xiaoqing left Tianjin, Yuanmeng and several investors in the "Sunshine" production team went through a three-day tug-of-war until Yuanmeng presented a tour promotion plan as a supplementary condition, and only then did the negotiations get on track.

During this period, Zhang Yan once proposed to tie Jiang Wen to several empty film contracts, but before Jiang Wen could even make a name for herself, Dong Ping jumped out and strongly opposed it.

The main reason was that Dong Ping knew Jiang Wen was already seething with anger because of the film contract issue, and if he was provoked further, he might really quit.

This situation was far beyond Yuanmeng's expectations. In addition, Zhang Yan had just driven an old A8, so they still had to give him some face. In the end, the film contract fell through.

The initial conditions agreed upon were that Yuanmeng would invest 320 million yuan in the "Sunshine" film crew and promise to promote the film through a tour before and after its release.

Correspondingly, Yuanmeng replaced Huayi as the primary producer of the film, while Zhang Yan replaced Liu Xiaoqing as producer and had the right to replace the director if necessary.

Perhaps due to the blow of Liu Xiaoqing's departure, Jiang Wen was somewhat disheartened, so he did not strongly object to this last point.

On the contrary, Wen Xie and Zhang Yan from Hong Kong Island argued their case, but Jiang Wen herself was not strong enough, and Wen Xie's lone battle was naturally no match for the will of the people.

After reaching a verbal agreement, Zhang Yan, along with Feng Xiaogang, Chang Jihong, and Wang Zhongqi, returned to the "Sunshine" film crew to begin providing comprehensive support to Jiang Wen.

The first problem discovered was the serious overstaffing in the production crew.

Needless to say, the actors, like Tao Hong, had already finished filming most of her scenes, but there were a few scenes that Jiang Wen felt lacked inspiration for, so she kept dragging it out and was unwilling to let Tao Hong go back to school.

There are more than a dozen people in the crew with similar situations to Tao Hong.

The problem of redundant staff was even more serious; the production team even hired two painters specifically because the prop master was not professional enough at painting.

Faced with Zhang Yan and others' questions, Jiang Wen made a righteous excuse, saying that there was an actor who only had two scenes before, and he left the crew and went back to his hometown after filming.

It turned out that there were problems with his performance, which not only delayed the filming schedule, but also required him to pay for his round-trip travel expenses, which cost more than the money spent on keeping him on standby in the crew.

As for redundant staff such as painters...

"Once inspiration strikes, you have to bring it to life as soon as possible, otherwise you'll lose the spark and won't be able to capture the feeling when you start shooting again."

Putting money aside, what this guy said does make some sense.

But from an investor's perspective, it's completely intolerable.

"Here's what I'll do: I'll find you two graphic designers. You can have them draw whatever inspiration you have, and then we'll shoot the film based on that."

"How……"

"Either agree, or we're done!"

Jiang Wen wanted to argue a bit more, but Zhang Yan immediately silenced her.

After experiencing these events, Jiang Wen is somewhat disheartened. Although she is unhappy with Zhang Yan's autocratic behavior, she ultimately chooses to prioritize the overall situation.

While addressing the issue of redundant staff, Feng Xiaogang and Chang Jihong also helped the production team to reorganize the filming schedule.

Jiang Wen's filming plan was full of uncertainties and flashes of inspiration, and she basically didn't prepare any backup plans. So every time there was a problem with the filming process, the crew would be stuck and waste time.

Another point is the ratio of rehearsals to actual filming.

These days, due to funding issues, most mainland film crews will rehearse first before actually filming.

Jiang Wen originally did the same thing, but he was too fond of 'improvising on the spot,' and sometimes the content of the rehearsal and the actual filming were completely unrelated.

In addition, he mostly used non-professional amateur actors, which naturally increased the probability of NGs, resulting in Jiang Wen consuming 3 to 5 times more film than Feng Xiaogang.

Even with this ratio, which was adjusted midway through, when the camera was first turned on, Jiang Wen wasn't using film, but burning film.

Another issue is corruption.

This was arrested by Dong Pingzhu. The original production manager was one of his people, but this person always reported good news and never bad news.

Dong Ping initially thought he had been bribed and won over by Jiang Wen, but after investigating, it turned out that this guy regarded Jiang Wen as a money-spending machine and was eager to make more money in the crew, so he consciously defended Director Jiang.

After the investigation was completed, Dong Ping sent someone to "escort" him back to Inner Mongolia. Zhang Yan didn't know the specifics of what happened to him, but he never saw the man again. As these problems were resolved and optimized one by one, the efficiency of the entire production crew improved significantly.

Zhang Yan watched Jiang Wen's videos for three more days before finally signing the investment agreement.

On the day of the signing, Liu Xiaoqing made a rare public appearance. Dressed in her everyday clothes, she was noticeably less glamorous than in her drama makeup, which strengthened Zhang Yan's resolve to recruit the makeup artist.

That night.

Dong Ping hosted a grand banquet, during which Jiang Wen frequently toasted Zhang Yan, putting on an air of sincere admiration, leaving everyone stunned and feeling that this was not Jiang Wen at all.

After drinking more, people began to suspect that Jiang Wen was taking the opportunity to retaliate.

Until the banquet ended and everyone was thoroughly drunk.

Jiang Wen put her arm around Zhang Yan's shoulder, and then revealed her true intentions: "Was it you that day?"

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Yanming asked the question knowing the answer already.

"What were you doing on the first afternoon we went to Tianjin?" Jiang Wen stared at Zhang Yan with bloodshot eyes.

He hadn't suspected Zhang Yan yet, but when Liu Xiaoqing came to sign the contract this time, he was noticeably colder towards Zhang Yan—even during the time when he and Zhang Yan had fallen out, Liu Xiaoqing always greeted Zhang Yan with a smile.

"You might as well put it more clearly."

Zhang Yan stared directly into Jiang Wen's eyes without any attempt to hide it. Two years ago, when he had just started his affair, he might have given himself away.

But now...

Anyway, it was a mutually agreeable transaction, a common occurrence in the industry, so what did he have to be guilty about?
Not to mention that Jiang Wen cheated on him first.

The two stared at each other for a long time before Jiang Wen finally gave in, muttering to herself, "Forget it, I'm the one who wronged her. I had no right to interfere in her affairs anyway."

"You mean Sister Xiaoqing?"

Zhang Yan continued to play dumb, and even patted Jiang Wen's shoulder, comforting her, "As the saying goes, the one who tied the knot must untie it. Since your conflict arose because of this movie, then you should work hard to make this movie well first. Maybe things will turn out well when the movie is released."

"Haha~"

Jiang Wen gave a wry smile, tried to get up by supporting herself on the table, but stumbled and sat back down in her original position.

Zhang Yan helped him up and then asked, "By the way, has the actor for that little rascal been decided yet?"

Jiang Wendao said, "Wang Shuo really likes this role, he..."

Zhang Yan interrupted him, saying, "Then we need to choose a suitable one. However, this role doesn't have many scenes, so there's no need to find a special actor. How about I make a cameo appearance?"

"This……"

Jiang Wen frowned. To be honest, Zhang Yan was indeed more suitable for the role than the chubby Wang Shuo, but…

"Perfect, perfect!"

At this moment, Dong Ping gave a thumbs up and said with a smile, "President Zhang's image and temperament clearly indicate that he is a prominent figure among young people!"

Seeing that the two major shareholders were on the same side, Jiang Wen didn't want to argue with them any further, so she acquiesced to the matter.

So a few days later.

Zhang Yan, holding a large glass of draft beer, uttered the most sophisticated rhyme in the entire movie: "All men are brothers under heaven; when the world is in turmoil, peace is the most precious thing!"

Then he was carried on the shoulders of countless teenagers, lifted into the sky, and finally died in the voice-over...

(End of this chapter)