Chinese Entertainment: Directors Start with the Fairy Sister

"Goodbye, Yanxi, Yangyang, everyone~"

"Be careful on your way back. Xiao Zhu, since you haven't been drinking, make sure you escort Yangyang and Yanyan to their dorm. It's not safe for girls to be out at night."

Zhu Yawen was quite happy to hear Liu Yifei call out to her specifically; she never expected to receive the same treatment as Zhao Yanxi and Zhou Yang.

However, upon hearing Liu Yifei's arrangements, his smile vanished instantly.

"Understood, Princess Sissi!"

"You should go home and rest early too. You must be tired today," Zhao Yanxi said with a smile.

"Mmm, you too~"

Liu Yifei's eyes sparkled, and her smile was radiant.

"They're gone?"

After seeing off the guests, Liu Xiaoli and Chen Jinfei also came over.

"Um."

Looking at her daughter's charming appearance, Liu Xiaoli was filled with emotion. The little dumpling she once was had finally grown up.

For a moment, she didn't know whether she should be more happy or more hesitant and reluctant.

In the end, she gently embraced her daughter, stroking her long hair, just as her own mother had embraced her twenty-eight years ago.

"From now on, you're no longer a child; you're eighteen and an adult."

"It's okay to have a boy you like, but you have to be careful, and definitely don't make the same mistake I did..."

"Mom, what did you say?!"

Liu Yifei's face turned bright red.

"I'm not going to say anything more. You're a grown woman now, why are you still so shy?"

Liu Xiaoli stroked her daughter's long hair and spoke lovingly.

"Mommy~~"

...

Liu Yifei's birthday party provided plenty of fodder for the entertainment news the following day:

[A star-studded coming-of-age ceremony for Little Dragon Girl rivaled a film festival red carpet!]

[A star-studded gathering, with half of the entertainment industry in attendance—]

[Sony signs Liu Yifei, the "Little Dragon Girl" goes international!]

...

Looking around, it seems as if Liu Yifei has taken over the entire entertainment section.

However, the lively scene gave Zhao Yanxi a feeling of being overheated and overheated.

I have a feeling that beneath this grand occasion, some sinister schemes are being concealed.

Before those demons and monsters jumped out, Zhao Yanxi couldn't see anything strange.

......

At 10 a.m., Zhao Yanxi met the future "Sister Fei Fei" who would later become famous in the industry at the studio.

"Hello Director Zhao, I'm Yang Siwei, a student majoring in directing at the Communication University of China..."

At that time, the student council president was still a symbol of honor, representing not only academic excellence but also personal professional qualities.

Quick-witted, reliable, trusted by teachers, and recognized by classmates, etc.

When describing her experience in the student council, Yang Siwei devoted even more space to it than to her internship at Huayi.

The latter can be summed up in one sentence: "During my junior year, specifically the first half of this year, I interned for six months under Ms. Wang Jinghua, the general manager of Huayi Brothers..."

"Mr. Wang later went to Orange Sky Entertainment, so why did you choose our studio?"

Zhao Yanxi asked with great interest, eager to hear how this job applicant would praise himself.

"One CEO Wang is enough for Orange Sky," Yang Siwei said confidently. "What I want to do is never be second to someone else."

"Instead of finding a deputy in a mature company, it's better to find a promising talent to grow with."

"I've studied you, Director Zhao. You graduated with a degree in cinematography, which means you dream of becoming a director; you've been an actor, written novels, and directed films, proving you have the necessary abilities!"

"Among all the promising talents I've been looking for, Director Zhao, your potential is the greatest."

"Interesting~"

Zhao Yanxi smiled. As expected of someone who works in the student council, few of her peers could match her confidence.

However, she should have the confidence to back it up. After all, she interned with big names like Huayi and Wang Jinghua during her graduation internship. Her small studio is really nothing compared to that.

"I'm curious, who are the other promising companies you've identified?"

"Mainly celebrities, like Fan Bingbing!"

"Oh, no wonder."

Zhao Yanxi suddenly realized why Fan Bingbing from the original timeline got involved with Yang Siwei after leaving Huayi.

It now seems that the seeds of this disaster were sown as early as 05!

"Fan Bingbing didn't leave with Wang Jinghua, was that your idea?"

"How could that be?" Yang Siwei smiled sheepishly and said, "I was just giving her a suggestion. Ultimately, the resources are still in Huayi's hands."

"Not bad, not bad, you have ambition and vision."

"I'm all set on my end. When can you start?"

"Anytime is fine," Yang Siwei said with a smile.

"Welcome to Yanxi Studio," Zhao Yanxi said, standing up and extending her hand. "Director Yang."

"Boss!" Yang Siwei shook hands. "Please feel free to give me your orders!"

"very good."

Zhao Yanxi smiled with satisfaction. Employees with such strong initiative will be hard to find in twenty years.

"Our current focus is on the promotion of 'You Are the Apple of My Eye'. Distribution has been handed over to China Film Group, but don't expect China Film Group to do a great job in promotion."

"We have to do everything ourselves."

With the backing of the government, China Film Group has a unique approach to film promotion, such as placing GG signs in train stations and airports, displaying GG signs on city landmarks, and even playing trailers on CCTV and other major television networks.

However, these methods are clearly not used on "You Are the Apple of My Eye," but only on big-budget productions like "The Myth," or patriotic films like "Zhang Side," which was released last year.

Han Sanping's so-called support only involved manipulating distribution costs and the number of copies.

Of course, this is not to say that it was useless; on the contrary, Zhao Yanxi was very grateful to him.

The copies we use now are not the digital copies that will be used when digital projectors become popular later; 35mm film copies are still the most common now.

The cost of producing a copy is between 8000 and 10000. The cost of producing copies for the distribution company often accounts for 20% to 30% of the distribution cost.

If it weren't for Han Sanping's approval, youth films like "You Are the Apple of My Eye" would have only had thirty or forty copies at most.

But simply having a certain number of copies isn't enough; the more important thing is to let more people know about this movie and that it will be released on the 24th of next month!

"Regarding 'You Are the Apple of My Eye,' my suggestion is to promote it online, while simultaneously hyping up your rumored relationship with Liu Yifei."

"After all, back in 'The Return of the Condor Heroes'..."

"No!"

Before Yang Siwei could finish speaking, Zhao Yanxi directly rejected her.

No wonder everyone says that this "Fat Sister" is like a heretic in the film industry, always liking to do crooked things. Now it seems that's true.

Creating scandals is indeed the most common underhanded way to generate publicity in the film and television industry.

"I approve of online promotion. Our audience overlaps with the online community, and the original novel is quite popular online. However, we cannot fabricate scandals or negative stories."

Yang Siwei was taken aback, but seeing Zhao Yanxi's serious expression, she swallowed back her question.

"Okay, then we'll just have to change direction and hype up nostalgia, youth, first love, and unrequited love!"

"Hmm, that's fine. As for unrequited love, try to avoid your first love."

Zhao Yanxi cautioned that if early romantic relationships during high school are involved, it could very likely cause "You Are the Apple of My Eye" to attract public criticism.

"Okay," Yang Siwei nodded, then put on a smile and asked, "Boss, what's our advertising budget?"

"The maximum is 100 million, but we hope every penny will have a noticeable effect!"

"That's a must!"

......

"Seven Swords" has been taken off the screens because the box office performance was simply not good.

With an investment of 140 million, the box office in mainland China stopped at 83 million.

The film was heavily promoted and star-studded, but when it was released, it was shown in a quiet and hasty manner.

The investors lost a fortune, and Xu Ke probably wasn't feeling too good either, otherwise he wouldn't have gone out of his way to make a movie about women's love.

If the purpose is to transform, then the leap is far too large.

News of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" also began to spread online.

The first thing that appeared was a music video, or rather a movie trailer, paired with the song "Those Years". Liu Yifei's version of "Shen Jiayi" sparked heated discussions among countless netizens online.

"It's been many years since I graduated. When I read the novel, I couldn't remember what the class beauty looked like. Now that I remember, she was probably like Liu Yifei."

"When I saw the sunlight streaming into the classroom and the faint downy hair on the back of Liu Yifei's neck visible through the lens, I was reminded of that transfer student from fourth grade. She was so fair-skinned..."

"Wow, fourth grade? Dude, you're a bit precocious!"

"This song is really good too! Let me see who sings it... Oh my god, it's Zhao Yanxi again? Director, screenwriter, lyricist, theme song composer, original author—this guy doesn't let anyone else earn a single penny!"

—The fact that Zhao Yanxi's name is the same as Taoli Yanxi's name is no secret online.

"September 24th—I bought this ticket, as a memento of my youth!"