Reborn in the Chinese Entertainment Industry: You're a Director, But You're a Casanova?

"President Lin, please don't get agitated. You don't understand how treacherous things are in Beijing."

Feng Chengcheng found Liu Yuehua's pretentious manner very pretentious, so he poured himself a glass of water and handed it to Liu Yuehua, as if to say: Come on, please begin your performance.

Liu Yuehua gave Feng Chengcheng an approving look and began his Oscar-worthy performance.

"Director Liu, please tell me. How can we ensure the film is released on schedule?"

"How should we change it? Should we delete all the drifting scenes? Or should we change it so that the male lead gets arrested by the police at the end? As long as it passes censorship, you can cut it however you want."

"Cut the shot?" Liu Yuehua raised his voice.

"Mr. Lin, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"What audiences want to see is the speed and excitement of car chases. If you cut out all the car chase scenes, are they going to pay to see a bunch of grown men having a romance?"

A soft female voice seemed to come from the other end of the phone: "It's not that it can't be done, is it?"

Liu Yuehua frowned. Who had such audacity?

"Even if this film passes censorship, it won't even recoup its 500 million yuan cost at the box office." Liu Yuehua held back his temper and continued to criticize Boss Lin.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

Mr. Lin has been in the film industry for quite some time, so he certainly knows what the most serious consequences are in order to pass censorship.

"Then what do you suggest we do? Are we just going to leave it in the warehouse to die?"

"President Lin, in Beijing, simply changing the script won't get you anywhere. You have to be good at interpersonal relationships and pull strings with those above you."

Liu Yuehua sighed dramatically, as if he were dedicated to the project to the point of exhaustion.

"To tell you the truth, I was just speaking with a senior leader in the bureau."

"This matter can be suppressed, but it will cost money to smooth things over."

"You want money?" Upon hearing this, Boss Lin breathed a sigh of relief.

Problems that can be solved with money are not big problems for capital.

"Yes, we need a public relations fee to appease public opinion and smooth things over at key points." Liu Yuehua reached his hand out of the coffin.

How much do you want?

"HKD 300 million will do."

Mr. Liu exclaimed in surprise.

"Director Liu, this is no small sum. The entire initial publicity and distribution budget has been allocated to you."

"Now you're suddenly asking for an extra 300 million in public relations expenses. How am I supposed to explain this to the board of directors?"

"Mr. Lin, this money isn't mine; I'm using your money to do your thing."

Liu Yuehua emphasized the words "handle" and "matter".

"Think about it, is the 3 million yuan public relations fee more important, or your 30 million yuan investment, plus the potential box office of over 100 million yuan?"

Mr. Lin was breathing heavily on the other end of the phone, clearly going through a fierce internal struggle.

"And I assure you," Liu Yuehua began to make grand promises, "that once you transfer this 300 million, I'll get the official approval document in place within three days, and I guarantee you'll get the dragon seal."

"If I don't receive the money within three days, I will return the 300 million yuan to the original payment method, and I will personally bear the liability for breach of contract for any losses caused by the film."

"Okay, Director Liu, I'll trust you this time."

"You were our role model when you managed Perfect Strangers before, and now we're counting on you to turn the tide."

"300 million, I'll have the finance department process the transfer to your company right now. Three days, just three days."

"Don't worry, Mr. Lin. It will be a pleasure doing business with you."

Liu Yuehua hung up the phone, picked up the water that Feng Xiaomi had poured, and drank it all in one gulp.

Feng Chengcheng was completely dumbfounded.

"Three million Hong Kong dollars! You're not expecting my dad to beg and plead with everyone, are you?"

"This is no joke. If you can't produce the dragon seal in three days, we really can't afford to pay the compensation!"

"Are you out of your mind? At this critical juncture, your master can't be too conspicuous."

"If he falls, how will he protect us from the wind and rain?"

"In the capital, relationships that can be bought with money are not true relationships."

"These Hong Kong people are just stupid and rich. If we don't scam them, who else will we scam?"

"Then what are you going to use to break this deadlock?" Feng Chengcheng asked anxiously.

Use your brain.

"Go downstairs and get me some decent food."

"After spending so much time in Japan, my mouth is so bland, the food is so bland."

"After we've eaten our fill, let's get to work. We promise to give Old Man Lu a pleasant surprise."

……

Liu Yuehua, who had originally planned to enjoy the experience all by himself, had just placed the several hearty dishes that Feng Chengcheng had brought back on the table when the other women returned.

Seeing this situation, Liu Yuehua could only smile and say:

"You've come at the perfect time. I had just prepared the dishes for you in advance. Let's eat them while they're hot."

The women readily accepted.

Feng Chengcheng witnessed the whole process and thought that Liu Yuehua was using his own money to support his sister.

He was immediately enraged, pointed at Liu Yuehua's head for a long time, and finally left without saying a word.

……

After finishing their meal, Liu Shishi and Liu Xiaoli took the initiative to clear the table.

Liu Yuehua walked into the editing room alone, sat in front of the computer, and played the original footage of "Initial D".

In typical racing movies, directors try to make every drift look incredibly cool.

Then, high-energy rock music is played to highlight the protagonist's racing prowess.

But Liu Yuehua now needs to do the opposite, because it's about how to use magic to defeat magic.

A piece of discarded footage was dragged in; it happened to be a scene where Takahashi, in order to intimidate the crew, took Wang Baoqiang and performed a death-defying drift on the edge of a cliff.

This scene was originally intended to be the moment when Takumi takes Mr. Kiki to experience drifting for the first time. It only has a few seconds of comedic effect in the final cut, but it was a long take of more than ten minutes in the original footage.

In the video, Wang Baoqiang is sitting in the passenger seat, his face contorted by centrifugal force, his expression filled with the primal fear of facing death.

He gripped the car door handle, letting out a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered.

The most exciting part was after the car stopped. The camera next to the car door clearly captured Wang Baoqiang tumbling and scrambling out of the car, lying next to the drainage ditch, snot and tears streaming down his face, and vomiting all over the ground.

Liu Yuehua included this segment without reservation.

Then he added another set of shots, which was the scene of a car accident on the mountain road in The Unseen Guest.

Close-ups of shattered car windows, a twisted and deformed front end, glaring black skid marks on the asphalt road, and Edison Chen standing by the lake, his lips turning purple from the cold, his whole body shivering, his eyes filled with terror like a lost dog.

These real scenes were pieced together by Liu Yuehua using a crude editing technique, without any skill, and were entirely based on genuine feelings.

There was no drifting, and no background music for heading north.

The only background sounds were the tires rubbing against the ground, the engine roaring as if it were about to explode, the loud crash of the vehicles colliding, and Wang Baoqiang's desperate cries.

The short film, which lasts only a few minutes, is filled with a strong sense of death and the fear brought about by the cost of breaking the law.

This doesn't look like a trailer for a multi-million dollar blockbuster at all; it looks more like a documentary of a car crash scene.

Okay, okay, that's good now.

I'll go with the flow and use their strength against them to show you what a surprise is.