Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 149 A Heartfelt Speech

The previous one went in.
……

The next day, Zhang Chen appeared in the auditorium of Beijing Film Academy.

Because today is the day to deliver on my speech.

Winter vacation is coming soon and students will leave school one after another. Zhang Chen promised the school that he would give a speech about "The Shallows" before the students go on vacation, and the speech was scheduled for today.

"Okay, it's almost time, let's go~"

Zhang Chen arrived early and stayed in the office in the teaching building, chatting with a group of teachers. Now no one treated him as an ordinary student.

When the time is almost up, everyone goes there together.

When I entered the classroom, I was shocked by the number of people in the auditorium.

After "The Dark Invasion", Professor Fu also asked him to give a speech, but he refused and instead attended a Q&A session within the directing department.

But not this time.

The word had already spread within Beijing Film Academy that Zhang Chen would give a speech on the success of The Shallows, so a lot of people came.

Not only people from Beijing Film Academy were there, but many people who were not from Beijing Film Academy also sneaked in early just to get a good position.

The appearance of this group of people immediately brought silence to the auditorium.

Zhang Chen walked up to the podium and looked at the dark crowd below. He turned around to look at the red banner on the wall behind him - "The Shallows" experience sharing session.

"The school asked me to share with you the successful experience of The Shallows. If I don't share it, I will fail the class this semester, so I came..."

There was a burst of good-natured laughter from the audience, and this sentence made them realize that Zhang Chen was still a student like them.

“Since we are sharing our success experience, have you ever thought about why The Shallows was so successful?”

As soon as he finished speaking, several voices responded immediately.

The answers are varied and there are all kinds of opinions.

Zhang Chen waved his hand, signaling for silence, and continued: "I just heard a classmate say that it was due to publicity hype, which is actually very true.

Is The Shallows a good movie? No, it is just a decent commercial movie. So why did it make over 100 million yuan at the box office?

Seeing that no one was talking, Zhang Chen continued: "Or let's change a similar question. Why did I dare to say that the box office would exceed 100 million before the release?

why?
Has anyone thought about this question? "

Zhang Chen continued to ask himself and answer: "Because of publicity."

"My debut film, The Dark Invasion, grossed 6000 million. It's a horror film with a limited audience, so it shouldn't have earned that much.

Why? It was because of the verbal battle between Zhang Weiping and me at that time, and the assist from teacher Fan Binbin. What were these? They were all publicity.

Why does Director Feng Xiaogang have to criticize every time a new movie is released? Why? Isn’t it to promote the movie?

"So you also carefully prepared this verbal battle?"

Suddenly a woman wearing glasses asked from below.

Zhang Chen looked at the other person, but he didn't look like a student at all.

"Excuse me, are you a student of Beijing Film Academy?"

The other party was a little embarrassed and shook his head: "I'm not, I'm a reporter..."

Zhang Chen was speechless, and the teachers were also somewhat moved.

It would be fine if students from other schools, such as the Central Academy of Drama, could sneak in, but how come even reporters were allowed in?

Zhang Chen paused and said: "Today I am here to share my experience with my fellow students, not to be interviewed. Please leave the opportunity to ask questions to the students.

But I can answer this question. I believe that my classmates would also like to know, especially this classmate. I see the little stars in your eyes..."

Zhang Chen was talking about a boy wearing glasses in the front row, and his words made everyone laugh again.

“I did arrange the hype, but Lu Chuan’s incident was an accident.

My original plan was to have a dispute with the film critics. After all, "The Shallows" is a purely commercial film and it would definitely not be in the eyes of those people, and I did not pay any protection fees.

Well, regarding the protection fee, you can check it out and you will understand it once you come down.

Here I want to focus on the quarrel with Lu Chuan, no, the quarrel with Lu Chuan's father."

When it came to this, everyone laughed again and pretended to listen attentively. Even the teacher looked interested.

The gene of watching the fun is deeply rooted in everyone's DNA, regardless of education or occupation, this is a universal attribute...

“If you are familiar with that verbal battle, you should know that Lu Chuan reviewed The Shallows twice.

The first time, I endured it, because I had said before when I made Kekexili that its box office wouldn't be very good, so I just regarded it as a return.

But the second time, it didn’t work.

What he said was too outrageous and pornographic. It was not just a review of the movie, it was slandering me as a person and I had to fight back.

But what I didn't expect was that his father would personally get involved and take advantage of his seniority.

Who is he bullying? Do you think I don't have a father? I can spoil him?
What’s even worse is that his dad gathered a bunch of friends in the writer circle to scold me together.

It's not just me. Anyone who speaks to me, even if they are being objective, will be scolded.

Han Han just said that the movie was good, but he was caught and scolded. Isn’t this too much? "

Zhang Chen paused here and took a sip of water.

"This is what you know, and there are things you don't know. I didn't treat them well, and when they saw that they couldn't scold me in the media, they resorted to trickery. They actually found the school and asked for punishment. Fortunately, the school leaders didn't listen to their slander and stood firmly on my side. Here, I want to thank the school leaders~"

At this point, Zhang Chen bowed, and the school leaders waved their hands. Of course they would do their best to protect him, as Zhang Chen was now the living signboard of their Beijing Film Academy.

He has made such a great name for himself while still in school. He is the second billionaire director in China and is said to be about to collaborate with Hollywood.

Zhang Chen continued: "This war of words was somewhat beyond my expectations, but it's also a good thing. I originally expected the box office to be just over 1.5 million, but the actual box office reached 5000 million in the end. The extra million is probably due to the war of words." After he finished speaking, there was an immediate commotion below.

The students had never heard of this before. School never taught them these things about the market. What Zhang Chen said today completely opened a new door for them.

The teachers did not try hard to maintain order. When the students had almost digested the content, someone suddenly raised his hand to ask a question.

"Can you tell me more about the schedule?"

Zhang Chen: "Are you a student of Beijing Film Academy?"

"Yes, I'm a senior in the directing department."

"Oh, it's my senior brother."

Zhang Chen called the other party "Senior Brother" and he felt very happy.

Then he said: "Actually, I am very happy that someone asked about the release date, because it proves that we really consider the issue from the market perspective.

Speaking of release dates, generally speaking, there are only two release dates in China: the Lunar New Year release date and the summer vacation release date. You can see that most blockbusters are basically concentrated in these two release dates. There are many moviegoers, but the competition is also the most intense.

If we talk about small periods, we can add the May Day and National Day periods, and Valentine's Day on February 2 can barely be considered a small period.

These three small periods can also have some impact on the box office, but after all, they are short in time, and the effect is definitely not as good as the previous two large periods.

By the way, let’s talk about the film schedule.

There is a lot of knowledge involved in scheduling films in theaters.

There are certainly many movies that want to be included in the summer and New Year's Day schedules, but the theaters will watch the films before scheduling them, and decide the screening ratio based on the quality of the films, 30%, 40%, 50%, and blockbusters may even be given 80%.

This mainly depends on the game, the game between distributors, and the game between distributors and theaters. The most obvious example is "House of Flying Daggers".

Zhang Weiping said, if the cinema chain does not provide a box office share ratio for "House of Flying Daggers", I will not provide you with the film.

Then the theaters got scared.

This is the game between distributors and theaters.

Zhang Weiping also said that "House of Flying Daggers" will be released during the summer vacation.

Other movies can only adjust their release dates to avoid it, because they can’t beat it, and even if you are stubborn enough to choose to release it at the same time, the theaters will not schedule a screening for you.

People also need to make money.

If your film doesn't make money, their weight will be adjusted immediately, their screening rate will be reduced, or the screenings will be moved to the morning or early morning.

Now let’s talk about The Shallows.

Why is The Shallows different? I chose November, which is a notoriously unpopular time slot. But it is precisely because of this unpopularity that theaters have not made any money in November in previous years, so I was able to convince them to schedule more screenings.

This is also why Lu Chuan attacked me, saying that "The Shallows" was a monopoly in scheduling.

But it's not illegal.

I can make money for the theaters and help them open up new schedules, so of course they are willing to schedule more films for me.

Of course, all this is based on the premise that The Shallows is of good quality, otherwise you won’t even have a chance to convince them.”

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, there was a constant stream of discussion below.

There were not only students in the auditorium, but also many spies sent by film and television companies. They understood the value of Zhang Chen's words better than the students in front of them.

It can be said that Zhang Chen is truly sharing his secret of success, breaking it down and mashing it up to feed his fellow apprentices.

Of course, these companies have also analyzed what Zhang Chen said privately, but none of them are as convincing as what Zhang Chen said in person.

Someone else raised her hand immediately. It was a girl. "Brother, I'm from the acting department. I want to ask if your company signs actors? Especially actresses."

Hearing this question, Zhang Chen was curious: "Why do you ask that?"

"Because it's been rumored online that Xingchen Entertainment is the best at promoting actresses, and the two movies you've produced so far are both female-led movies..."

Zhang Chen burst out laughing when he heard this: "Sorry, Junior Sister, our company does not have any artist management business yet, and we are not planning to do it. Xingchen Entertainment is just a production company."

Hearing this answer, the girl felt a little disappointed.

But immediately another person asked, "I'm a screenwriter, I want to ask, does Xingchen Entertainment accept scripts?"

Zhang Chen replied: "Yes, we accept both movie scripts and TV series scripts, and we give you the right to be credited. But I have to make one thing clear in advance: movie scripts should preferably have a Hollywood three-part structure."

Zhang Chen’s answer made the other party very excited, and there was a gleam of light behind his glasses.

Give me the right to sign my name~
The most important thing for screenwriting is the right to authorship. Having the right to authorship means fame, and with fame comes profit.

Usually, the big screenwriters would pass the work to their junior screenwriters after they take it, but the remuneration that the junior screenwriters get is barely a drop in the bucket.

This industry requires even more fame than being an actor.

As for the three-part structure mentioned by Zhang Chen, everyone who studies screenwriting understands this.

Why can you guess the ending of many Hollywood movies just by watching the beginning? It’s because Hollywood scripts make extensive use of the three-part structure.

But many screenwriters are unwilling to write in this way, thinking that it is just a formula and that the scripts produced in this way have no soul.

At this time, someone couldn't help but ask: "I'm a performance major, I want to ask, what do you think of Zhang Ziyi's resignation from "Eden Lake"? "

Zhang Chen was stunned. He didn't expect someone to ask this.

After thinking for a while, he organized his words: "First of all, quitting or changing roles is actually inevitable.

Students in the acting department probably encounter this the most. Many roles have been confirmed and contracts have been signed, and then they are suddenly replaced without any compensation.

But there is no place to seek justice. If you insist on using the contract as an excuse, you will not be able to stay in the industry anymore. No one will dare to employ you anymore."

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, a bunch of students from the Performance Department immediately nodded like chicks pecking at rice.

Zhang Chen shook his head: "There is no way to deal with this kind of thing. This is the general environment. Didn't you see Zhang Ziyi quit the show? I just cursed her at most, but there is nothing I can do about it?
This kind of thing mainly depends on your strength. If you are still very weak, you can only endure it. If you are strong enough, you can make the other party kneel down in front of you and call you daddy. "

(End of this chapter)