Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 50 Graduation Project
It's almost the end of the year, and the capital is very cold, but the Beijing Film Academy is bustling with activity, a place where students gather.

Chen Shouzhe is currently a third-year graduate student and will graduate next year, but he has not yet prepared his graduation project.

Generally speaking, some short films are prepared. Chen Shouzhe also needs to decide what kind of work to shoot, as there will be a graduation defense later.

"I heard you were coming back as soon as you entered the campus," Professor Wang Hongwei said with a smile when he saw Chen Shouzhe return.

The other students had mixed feelings about Chen Shou's return; they were all graduate students, but the difference between them was too great.

"I don't know either," Chen Shouzhe smiled.

"Today, the entire film and television industry is buzzing with the news that you're going to make a new movie. Do you have time to come to the school? Is it going to be your graduation project?" Wang Hongwei was also curious about his student's graduation project.

“Yes, teacher, I’m planning to make a science fiction film as my graduation project,” Chen Shouzhe said.

Upon hearing this, the other students stared at him in shock.

Science fiction movie?

They suspect they have heard it wrong.

Even if Chen Shou is rich and a famous director, he doesn't need to be so extravagant. Who uses a science fiction film as a graduation project? Looking at film schools around the world, there are very few students who dare to make a science fiction film as their graduation project.

“A science fiction movie is fine too. Anyway, the film academy doesn’t require any specific genre. Just make it.” Wang Hongwei hadn’t expected it to be a science fiction movie. In his opinion, Chen Shouzhe was influenced by “2012”.

He may not be able to become an art-house director, but the status of commercial film directors is getting higher and higher, as evidenced by the constant popularity of Chen Shou in the industry.

I'm afraid that one day he will fall from grace and suffer a severe backlash.

What Chen Shou said in class, and somehow got out, that his next film was a science fiction film, suddenly reached the ears of leaders of major film and television companies.

"Science fiction is great! There's a lot of investment in science fiction." In the China Film Group office, Han Sanping was overjoyed to hear the gossip his secretary was telling him.

Yesterday, Chen Shou was drunk and Ren Zhonglun asked him about it. He said he was already preparing a new script and was going to shoot a new movie. Everyone on set remembered it. Unexpectedly, news came out today that it was science fiction.

"Science fiction films always have large budgets; it all depends on the script," the secretary said with a smile.

"Go and invite Chairman Wang over."

"it is good."

Chen Shou was still in class when he went to other departments to see if he could recruit a few people into the company. The company was getting bigger and bigger. The Beijing Film Academy was not just about directing and acting. Now, many of the company's screenwriters were senior students from the literature department.

The weakest department at Beijing Film Academy is the acting department; all other departments are very strong and have produced many outstanding talents.

As the company's projects increase, his energy is limited, so he needs to train several directors himself.

"Senior, are you free?"

Chen Shou walked over to the photography department and ran into a woman with red eyes who looked pitiful.

"I'm busy," Chen Shou said coldly when he saw her.

"I'm sorry, senior. I really didn't do it last time." Naza burst into tears upon hearing this.

She didn't expect the consequences to be so serious. She had "bumped into" Chen Shouzhe, and the company took the opportunity to take photos and create hype. She didn't expect the result to be so severe, and that she would be boycotted.

The TV series contract that had been signed had to be stopped, and Sugar Man Company put her on hiatus, letting her focus on her studies at school.

Sugarman also suffered losses; the hype was their company's idea, but they didn't understand their own artists.

If they had known that Naza had a boyfriend, they wouldn't have made a fuss about it.

They even made it seem like Chen Shouzhe was pursuing the Beijing Film Academy's most beautiful girl, which is a completely irrational way of promoting a star.

They belittled Chen Shouzhe while elevating their own artists.

If there were no other negative records, then so be it. Perhaps Chen Shou is too magnanimous to hold a grudge and will apologize later.

As a result, Chen Shou became more and more successful, and his status in the industry rose higher and higher. His own newcomer even had a boyfriend, and he had been dating her before he started school.

Digging their own grave.

The sugar maker ruined his own family's artists; no wonder Chen Shouzhe is blamed.

Looking at the pitiful-looking Nazha, Chen Shou didn't give her a pleasant look.

He doesn't rule out hype; after all, they're all in the industry, and for female celebrities who want to rise to fame, creating some scandalous news is the easiest way.

Being pretty is enough; no other reason is needed.

But if you're going to stage an accident to extort money, that's one thing, but doing it in a dirty way too, then you can't blame him. "I saw your CEO Cai yesterday, so let's just drop this matter. I don't want to be seen as someone who bullies the weak," Chen Shou said calmly.

Naza looked up at Chen Shouzhe, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

Chen Shou couldn't help but glance at her a few more times. No wonder so many men liked her; she was indeed very beautiful and charming.

However, there are too many beautiful women in this circle, and Chen managed to maintain his composure and was not too affected.

Perhaps because Chen was watching her closely, Na Zha's face grew increasingly red, and she lowered her head in embarrassment.

"Thank you, senior."

"Ok!"

Chen Shouzhe responded and walked past her.

Naza seemed to remember something and mustered up her courage to ask, "Senior, can I add you as a friend?"

Chen Shou hesitated for a moment, but still gave her his phone number.

Naza watched Chen Shou leave, muttering, "Sure enough, all men are the same. The boss was right. Yang Mi was able to play the female lead in 'Kung Fu Hustle' because of him, and she even escaped Director Chen's blacklist. If..."

Naza shook her head, picked up her phone, and called her boss to tell her everything that had just happened.

Cai Yinong breathed a sigh of relief on the other end of the phone. It's good that they didn't take it to heart; the za ...

Chen was on the move when he received several phone calls, which he selectively answered.

"Chairman Wang," Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Call him Vice Chairman." The person on the other end of the phone chuckled; they had a good relationship with Chen Shou.

"It's all the same, it's all the same. Did you need something from me?" Chen Shou asked.

"Now everyone in the industry knows that you're going to make a sci-fi film. Chairman Han asked me to come and ask you about it."

"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint Mr. Han. This film is my graduation project, and the investment wasn't much."

"How could a science fiction movie have a small budget? You just made a special effects blockbuster like '2012,' which is definitely a special effects science fiction film, right? Could it be that the budget has already been decided?"

For a moment, the face of Chairman Ren of Shanghai Film Group flashed through Vice Chairman Wang's mind. He now suspected that he had been poached. Chen Shouzhe was someone he had personally promoted. If he was poached, China Film Group would not be able to hold its head high in meetings.

"No, that's not true. This movie only cost a million to make. I just made it for myself. Besides, it's a foreign language film. It's really just for graduation." Chen Shou said with a wry smile.

"Huh? A sci-fi movie for a million dollars?! You're not kidding?" Vice Chairman Wang exclaimed. He was a producer after all. What kind of sci-fi movie could be made for a million dollars? It was simply outrageous.

However, Chen Shouzhe also said that a million dollars would be enough for a foreign language film. He thought about it and realized it should be a short film.

"I understand. It's your graduation project, right? Okay, I'll talk to Chairman Han about it."

"Thank you for your hard work."

"It's okay, just remember China Film Group if you have any projects."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shou replied to the film companies Enlight Media, Wanda Pictures, Emperor Motion Pictures, and Bona Film Group with the same words.

As he explained, everyone knew he was supposed to make a graduation short film, a small movie with an investment of no more than a million.

This was a relief to many companies; if Chen Shou had continued with another "2012," they would have been doomed.

"2012" has finished its theatrical run, and the money will have to go through China Film Group to get back to them. It will take some time for the global box office to be recovered, and it is expected to be tomorrow.

During this period, Chen Shou went to the bookstore several times to read books and even distributed the second part of Ghost Blows Out the Light.

Many readers are already following the story. The novel is released every now and then, and the readers are very engaged. Some websites have even bought the rights and are uploading the novel online.

The advantage is that more people watch it, but the disadvantage is that piracy has also emerged.

For top authors, pirated novels are not a bad thing, because they don't rely on royalties for a living, but rather on the derivative value of their novels.

The more pirated copies there are, the greater the brand recognition, and the higher the price the copyright can fetch.

Chen Shou sells the online copyrights to websites for a fixed price, receiving a fixed amount of money every year. He sells to several websites at the same time, and he doesn't care about the paid revenue. The money is already in his pocket, and he only needs to update the content.

At the company's year-end party, we gave bonuses to all the employees, bought some gifts for the elders, and that was about it.

He went home for two days during the Spring Festival, returning home on the 29th, and after the New Year on the 30th, he went straight to his maternal grandmother's house on the first day of the Lunar New Year. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, he ran back to the capital, where someone was already waiting for him.

(End of this chapter)