Huayu 2015, the Artist of Light and Shadow

……

"Mr. Ji, we've known each other for so long, and I haven't properly treated you to a meal yet. We've had such a pleasant chat today, how about giving me a chance to show you some hospitality?"

President Li wanted to find out more details and the prevailing trend from Ji Rujing.

Their Paradise Umbrella Company has had very stable business over the years, but they always feel like something is missing.

What's missing?

After much thought, Mr. Li concluded that the problem lay in the lack of effective publicity.

Umbrellas are largely similar in function, so there's not much difference between buying from different brands. Why insist on buying Paradise umbrellas?

If they can't make Paradise Umbrellas have any high-tech content, then they must give the brand a positive image.

This is called emotional anchoring and brand warmth.

Lu Yunzhou can capture the human warmth of an entire city in a 3-minute short film; this ability to showcase humanistic art is extremely rare.

Mr. Li has seen many bad directors, but he has never seen one of this caliber.

However, Lu Yunzhou seemed more engrossed in his creative work, entrusting all business matters to Ji Rujing.

After all, professional tasks should be left to professionals. And in this regard, Ji Rujing performed quite well.

After several rounds of interaction, he developed a certain respect for Ji Rujing, the entertainment industry agent, for her professionalism and skill.

"Mr. Li, I'm so sorry. My driver will be here to pick me up soon, and I have to go back to Shanghai in a bit. Tangtang is attending the Huading Awards ceremony on August 9th, and I need to go back to the company to make some arrangements."

Ji Rujing is needed to coordinate all these tasks.

As the agent of top star Tang Yan, Ji Rujing's work is actually quite busy; she doesn't even have time to eat.

"In that case, let's make it another time."

Mr. Li expressed his understanding, and even felt that being a celebrity's agent sounds glamorous, but who knows how busy the work is behind the scenes?

……

Hengdian.

As the sun gradually set and the cool evening breeze swept in, the crew of "A Chinese Odyssey Part Three" wrapped up filming.

"Come on, I'll take you out for a big meal!"

Tang Yan returned to the RV, changed her clothes, and then, with a wave of her hand, took her two assistants, a bodyguard, a driver, and Chen Yuqi, her newly acquired maid, out for a big meal.

As for Lu Yunzhou?

Can that be called "bringing"? It should be called "respectfully inviting"!

"Sister Tangtang, what are we having for dinner today?"

After spending an afternoon together, Chen Yuqi figured out Tang Yan's temperament as her new boss.

Easygoing and approachable.

She was making her own plans.

Tang Yan is a good boss!

Following her, securing a seven-year contract won't be a problem; she definitely won't treat me badly.

"Eat Italian food."

Tang Yan glanced at Chen Yuqi, then turned her gaze to Lu Yunzhou.

This lavish meal tonight was entirely a reward for Lu Yunzhou. As for the others, they were just enjoying the good life with Lu Yunzhou.

"Sister Tangtang, thank you for going to so much trouble."

Lu Yunzhou quickly realized Tang Yan's thoughtfulness and consideration, which made him feel very warm inside.

"You're the one who's gone to so much trouble. If nothing unexpected happens, I'll have to trouble you again." Tang Yan knew that there would definitely be more complications in the negotiations between Ji Rujing and Paradise Umbrella.

Therefore, she gave Lu Yunzhou a heads-up in advance.

Collaboration in film and television productions, especially with the involvement of investors, is never a smooth process.

Some bad dramas actually start out fine, with the writers and directors very satisfied. But as the investors start interfering, things gradually change.

The truly top experts are those who can balance the interests of everyone and then successfully implement the project.

After a brief conversation, Tang Yan and Ji Rujing were quite certain that Lu Yunzhou possessed the talent of a top-notch trader.

And now, another test is coming.

……

Inside a private room at the hotel.

Tang Yan ordered many of the hotel's specialty dishes, and judging from Lu Yunzhou's expression, he seemed quite satisfied.

"Yunzhou, are you full?"

Tang Yan didn't eat much because she had a night shoot that evening.

She only cared about Lu Yunzhou's feelings.

"I'm full."

Lu Yunzhou put down the tissue, took a leisurely sip of his drink, and then spoke: "Sister Tangtang, just say what's on your mind. You went out to take a call earlier, did Paradise Umbrella come up with some new ideas?"

"You can't hide it from me."

Tang Yan immediately laughed. Ji Rujing was right; this was indeed the intelligence of a strategist.

Tang Yan originally wanted to find a place to talk to Lu Yunzhou alone, but at this moment, her eyes swept over everyone present and her mind changed.

Since we're all on the same side, let's take this opportunity to establish Lu Yunzhou's authority.

This also lets the people below know that they cannot disrespect Lu Yunzhou just because he looks young.

At this moment, Tang Yan stopped pretending and, with a hint of distress on her face, spoke frankly: "Sister Ji said that Paradise Umbrella wants to invest in our new drama and hopes that we will film in Hangzhou. They will help us connect with some cultural and tourism resources, which will be of great help to our filming."

"But there's a problem..."

Tang Yan hesitated as she looked at Lu Yunzhou: "The style of our drama is a bit too austere. It seems to be somewhat inconsistent with President Li's ideas."

The reason Paradise Umbrella invited Lu Yunzhou to Hangzhou for filming was precisely because they hoped that Lu Yunzhou would combine Hangzhou street scenes with Paradise Umbrella to create a more aesthetically pleasing film.

But this show is filled with violence and death.

How beautiful can it be?

It's definitely a case of discouraging people from doing things.

Mr. Li's wishful thinking has most likely failed.

"Sister Tangtang, I've thought about this issue before. According to my original plan, this drama would have a very difficult time passing censorship."

The Korean drama "The Day Is Coming" is filled with themes of death, reincarnation, and possession, and is permeated with feudal superstition.

No matter the era, it would probably be difficult to pass censorship.

Although this year is a window of opportunity for online dramas, allowing platforms to self-censor and broadcast... this window of opportunity will end next year, and this drama will most likely be taken down.

This is not the outcome Lu Yunzhou wanted.

Therefore, he prepared two plans.

We could film a different series; it's just a concept, and so far, we haven't wasted any manpower or resources.

However, Ji Rujing seems to have already made a big promise, and Mr. Li from Paradise Umbrella seems to be interested. If the plan is changed rashly at this moment, it may cause a huge conflict between the two sides.

This contradiction may affect his short film, which he has already completed, in his bid for the Busan International Film Festival's short film award.

A single hair can affect the whole body.

Therefore, this show cannot be replaced; he can only make optimizations and modifications.

"Yunzhou, don't worry about whether it will pass the censorship. I will find a professional screenwriter to write the script perfectly and avoid any censorship issues."

"Besides that, have you watched the web series 'The Ferryman'? The first season was a huge hit last year, and the second season just premiered this year, and it's doing very well. This show is actually quite similar to your background."

Tang Yan thought to herself, if "The Ferryman" could be broadcast normally on iQiyi, there was no reason why "The Day of Death" couldn't be broadcast, right?

At worst, they can also collaborate with the kiwifruit platform.

After speaking, Tang Yan frowned slightly and sighed, "However, even so, the cold and violent style really can't be changed."

The stark and violent style, the natural and aesthetically pleasing promotional video for the city that Mr. Li of Paradise Umbrella envisioned, and the brand's beautiful promotional plan, are completely at odds.

This really worried Tang Yan.

She finally came across a TV series concept that she found very sophisticated, and just by listening to Lu Yunzhou's description, she was convinced that it was a good show.

The emotional climax at the end made her so eager to film the series!

However, there is often a huge gap between reality and ideals.

She couldn't possibly cross this huge chasm on her own.

Tang Yan silently prayed in her heart: God, could you send down another god to help me?

After a silence of more than ten seconds, Lu Yunzhou suddenly spoke up: "Sister Tangtang, here's what I'm thinking about... We can split one topic into two mirror topics. What do you think?"

The cooperation offer from Paradise Umbrella cannot be refused lightly.

This will be linked to the short film of the G20 summit, and we'll see how high it ultimately reaches.

Therefore, Lu Yunzhou could only change the structure of the drama "The Day Is Coming".

"Tell me more carefully!"

Tang Yan's eyes lit up immediately, and she feigned anticipation. But inside, she was completely bewildered. "Our strategist is about to start saying things I don't understand again."

"I've been thinking about how to circumvent the censorship issue, but I've realized that no matter what I do, I can't avoid it unless I completely change the plot."

"And I don't know which master once said that when we can't solve a problem in a lower dimension, we should raise the dimension."

"Therefore, I plan to add a surreal plot at the beginning of each episode."

As Lu Yunzhou finished speaking, only Tang Yan stared at him with wide eyes, while the others gradually drifted into a drowsy state, but they forced themselves to stay awake.

He smiled and said, "This surreal plot goes like this: Ms. Tang, a big star, has gradually fallen into depression due to the pressure of her work in recent days and the influence of online public opinion. She has lost her appetite and looks haggard."

"Until one day when she was out dining out, she accidentally discovered a strange old book."

"The book is called 'The Day Is Coming.' She hesitated for a moment, then turned to page 1..."

Yes, that's exactly what you think.

"At the beginning of each story segment, the superstar Ms. Tang will encounter various real-world problems. Then, she will open this book, and we will use each story segment in the book as a mirror image to compare with real-world scenarios."

"Reality and the story in the book develop in parallel... In the end, we try our best to make the two stories intersect, resonate, achieve self-redemption, and form a structural closed loop."

"In the real-world storyline, we can follow in the footsteps of the superstar Ms. Tang, seamlessly integrating the cityscape of Hangzhou and the brand content of Paradise Umbrella to create the aesthetic quality they desire, while the story in the book retains its cool and aloof atmosphere! The two stories do not interfere with each other, but they are mirror images of each other."

"And our superstar, Miss Tang..."

Lu Yunzhou smiled and glanced at Tang Yan: "In this script, you don't need to act at all. Just be yourself. After our drama airs, the audience will understand what you've been through and might even feel sorry for you."

After speaking, Lu Yunzhou took a sip of his drink and smiled, "Sister Tangtang, what do you think of this new idea?"

Tang Yan was completely dumbfounded.

She didn't know how to describe her feelings, but she just felt that this structure shouldn't be used to make web series. How wonderful it would be if it were used to make movies?

Web series are not worthy of such an elegant and rigorous structure.

"Did you come up with this structural change in just a few dozen seconds?"

Tang Yan carefully considered the structure and found that it completely avoided the review issue.

Because this is a play within a play.

The censorship is very lenient when it comes to fictional stories like "plays within plays." As long as they don't explicitly allude to reality, the censors generally won't hold them back.

How awful.

How can he be so smart?

We're all human, why can't I figure this out?

What did this guy eat to grow up?

"This is a technique from Bach's double fugue. The two themes can modulate and transform simultaneously... It's a very basic technique. Tangtang, didn't you practice this when you took your piano exams?"

Lu Yunzhou frowned slightly, feeling that Tang Yan's memory seemed a bit poor.

This is very basic stuff; Tang Yan must have learned it.

Ji Rujing had emphasized to him several times that Tang Yan played the piano very well.

Their entire team is passionate about classical music, so having Lu Yunzhou in their team would create a very harmonious atmosphere.

They were like a family, with no barriers between them.

"Of course I've practiced. I was just teasing you. Hehe, hehe."

At this moment, Tang Yan revealed a silly and innocent smile, then stopped talking and began to drink water.

This is a very bad situation.

It seems he saw through my true skill level.

Chen Yuqi sat in the corner, her eyes wide as she watched Lu Yunzhou talk so eloquently, even though she didn't understand anything about double fugue or mirror theme.

No wonder Sister Tangtang is so considerate to him.

This afternoon, Chen Yuqi thought Lu Yunzhou was a senior actor in Tang Yan's studio... but now she realizes that he is definitely the company's most valuable asset!

Chen Yuqi even had a ridiculous feeling, as if she was a stubborn bronze player who had just joined the game and was suddenly pulled into the peak competition, where she encountered a top player from the national server.