Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 321: Before Dawn

"What are you talking about?" At this time, Deng Jie's voice sounded behind him.

"Oh, nothing. Zhang Chen wants to make a movie about cyber violence and human flesh searches. We are discussing the cast of the leading actors..."

"It's almost time, shouldn't we go have dinner? Big brother and big sister have been on the bus all day, so we should eat and rest early..."

Deng Jie is very understanding.

The group set off and headed to Quanjude Qianmen Roast Duck Restaurant, where Zhang Guoli had reserved a seat.

Quanjude was founded in the Qing Dynasty and Bianyifang was founded in the Ming Dynasty. Logically speaking, Bianyifang, which has a longer history, should be more famous.

But in reality, it is not the case. Instead, Quanjude has become the leader in the Beijing roast duck industry.

This store in Qianmen is quite old. It is the original store of Quanjude and is very distinctive.

"Eight guests~"

As soon as you enter the door, you can hear the waiter's shouting, which is also the characteristic of this place.

The waiters are all dressed like waiters from the Republic of China period, wearing green robes and small hats.

The restaurant also has traditional round tables, wooden lofts, and black lacquered counters, which are full of traditional cultural atmosphere.

They are all celebrities, so they must have dined in a private room.

After some arguing and pushing, it was Zhang Guoli who finally ordered the dishes.

Classic dishes such as premium roast duck, mustard duck feet, roasted duck heart, salted duck jerky, and sesame duck recipe were served one by one.

There are many foreigners who come here to eat Peking duck, so the price is not cheap, and they also charge an extra 10% service charge, which is pretty ridiculous.

"Brother, sister, come and try this. Mustard duck feet are a local specialty. You people in the coal province probably don't eat this~"

Zhang Guoli greeted him familiarly.

Duck is generally eaten in the south. Except in the capital, people in the north hardly eat duck.

Even during the New Year, beef, mutton and pork are the main dishes, and duck is rarely seen on the table.

This is also a strange thing about Beijing. Only people in Beijing like to eat duck.

Same with grilled wings.

Only Beijing can make grilled wings a specialty of barbecue. There are many restaurants specializing in grilled wings, such as Qianmen Grilled Wings and 1976 Grilled Wings.
And this is a chicken wing, as most grilled wings sold in other places are served whole.

Quanjude’s duck is indeed delicious, and the way to eat it is also very particular.

Dip in sauce, dip in sugar, dip in jam~
During the dinner, they talked about buying a house. "There is someone in our community who wants to sell a house. Your aunt has already asked for you. Our community has good security and supporting facilities. Your parents will definitely feel at ease living there..."

"Then I'm sorry to trouble you, Uncle Guoli~"

Seeing that Zhang Chen had no objection, Zhang Guoli and his wife felt relieved.

There is definitely no problem with the house, and Zhang Chen can definitely afford the price, but I’m just afraid that Zhang Chen has other ideas.

As they were talking, they started talking about the movie "Search".

"You're the director, you decide. If it doesn't work, invite both of them to audition~"

Zhang Chen doesn't care who will be the lead actor. He recommended Da Meiyu just to respect the original work. He is just putting his name on the role anyway.

But he didn't know the value of the two words "Zhang Chen" now.

Even if it is an ordinary movie, as long as the producer puts Zhang Chen's name on it, the audience will be willing to pay for it.

"Okay, then I'll notify them to come for an audition. It's not limited to just the two of them. Maybe there will be better ones~"

He was superstitious about Zhao Yanzi and felt that she had box office appeal.

In fact, it has absolutely no box office appeal at all.

With the TV series “My Fair Princess”, her popularity is indeed unrivaled, but popularity and box office appeal are two different things, otherwise her previous films like “Green Tea” would not have performed so badly at the box office and even earned the nickname of box office poison.

But Zhang Guoli insisted and Zhang Chen didn't care.

……

The next morning, Zhang Chen accompanied the two elders to the Forbidden City, and in the afternoon he went to the company to report on recent matters.

"Are you all settled?" Dong Jianqiang asked with concern as soon as they met.

"Well, everything is fine. I will temporarily live in one of Zhang Guoli's idle properties..."

"Living with someone else is not a good idea, you should buy one as soon as possible~"

"Yes, we are already in contact."

Zhang Chen didn't mind being neighbors with Zhang Guoli. His neighborhood was indeed good, and its value seemed to be appreciating very quickly. It was said to be worth hundreds of millions in later generations.

"I discussed with Zhang Guoli about a movie about cyberbullying and human flesh searches, and he would be the director."

Zhang Chen recounted what happened last night and Dong Jianqiang nodded.

What he was most worried about before was that Zhang Chen would really make this incident into a movie, which would offend a lot of people.

I'm worried about how to persuade him.

It would be best if Zhang Chen figured it out himself now.

"Wait a moment, I'll go call someone and tell you everything at once, so you don't have to bother me again when you go to the United States~"

Not long after, Chen Xi and other members of the screenwriter team were called to the conference room.

"The movie is called 'Search', which means human flesh search, and it mainly talks about..."

The plot of "Search" is not complicated, it just follows current events. "I gave Uncle Guo Li a few suggestions on the candidates, but it depends on his opinion. If it doesn't work, we will call for auditions and whoever is suitable will be cast~"

After explaining the movie, it’s time to talk about the TV series.

"How's 'Wulin Wai Zhuan' going?"

"The second season has already started filming. The success of the first season has given them a lot of confidence. The writing team has also received a lot of commissions. Everyone is full of energy. In addition, I heard that someone has contacted them to be the spokesperson..."

"Hmm~"

"Wulin Wai Zhuan" is a gold mine, and if possible, it will continue to be developed.

Yuan Shikong's "Wulin Wai Zhuan" was originally planned to have 100 episodes, but later because Ning Caishen could no longer write, it ended up with only 80 episodes.

This time and space has the participation of a team of screenwriters and can go on indefinitely if necessary.

Popular TV series like this eventually end because either the audience gets tired of the subject matter, or the producers can't make any money by continuing to produce because the lead actors are paid too much.

But that's all for the future.

"Next, I'm going to talk about a new drama. It's also a challenge for you all. Prison Break is a big hit recently, so I'm going to make a spy drama based on Prison Break..."

As soon as Zhang Chen finished speaking, he noticed that the eyes of the screenwriter team members all lit up.

Chen Xi knew about "Before the Dawn" and had mentioned it to Dong Jianqiang. Only the members of the screenwriter team were completely unaware of it.

But looking at everyone’s expressions now, they don’t seem to think this is a challenge, but rather they are very excited.

"That's great. We've long wanted to make a TV series based on American TV series."

Seeing that everyone was not opposed, Zhang Chen nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, it seems that all of you professionals are not afraid of challenges.

In fact, American TV series also have routines. I summarized them myself:
Usually, they give you a big suspense right at the beginning, making people quickly immersed in the plot.

Secondly, the plot must be fast and have twists and turns that the audience cannot imagine. Another advantage of a fast plot is that even if there are loopholes in the plot, the audience will have no time to think about it.

Finally, there are the characters. There must not be any stereotyped characters, even supporting roles.

A good person is not necessarily perfect. He also has shortcomings, such as lust and impulsiveness...

But the bad guy doesn’t necessarily have to be a completely evil villain. He also has his moments of brilliance, and his IQ must be online. In short, both the positive and negative characters must be flesh and blood..."

Seeing everyone nodding in acceptance, Zhang Chen continued: "Okay, let me tell you the general outline of the story...

At midnight on September 1948, 9, Tan Zhongshu, director of the Eighth Bureau of the Kuomintang, suddenly received a call from his subordinate Zeppelin, saying that they had captured Qin Youtian, a liaison officer of the JS Provincial Committee.

After the interrogation, Qin Youtian betrayed him, but he insisted on personally identifying to Tan Zhongshu an undercover agent who had been hiding in the Eighth Bureau for many years.

Tan Zhongshu had just arrived at the Intelligence Bureau when he discovered that his confidential agent Qian Yu was burning Qin Youtian's confession. After a struggle, Tan Zhongshu got the unburned confession fragments, but Qian Yu committed suicide by taking poison on the spot. At the same time, Qin Youtian and the four agents guarding him were assassinated in the hotel..."

Zhang Chen told the story slowly and everyone's eyes became brighter and brighter as they listened.

"Before Dawn" is divided into three story lines: the Kuomintang's Eighth Bureau, the underground organization Sailors, and a dormant person who has been undercover in the Eighth Bureau for many years.

The Eighth Bureau cracks down on the Sailor Organization and tracks down the Sleepers inside. The Sailors and the Sleepers have their own tasks, and they have to destroy the Eighth Bureau's Trojan Horse plan.

After just hearing the synopsis of the story, everyone felt that the drama would be good.

Three groups of characters, three lines, interweaving with each other, each step of the development is completely unexpected, but the plot develops very fast, with a small crisis in each episode, making people unable to stop...

"That's roughly the story. I've only thought of a general framework, and you guys are left to fill in the specific details. The same principles apply. The characters can't be stereotyped, and the plot needs to develop quickly. If there are some technical issues involved, you can ask Manager Dong to help you contact experts in this area, and try to be as reasonable as possible..."

In the crowd, Cao Bingkun, who was listening, had sweaty palms.

Zhang Chen once said that this drama was tailor-made for him.

Now, after hearing such an exciting plot, he has no doubt that he will become famous after the show is broadcast. Maybe he will become China's own Mike Scofield (the male lead of "Prison Break").

"Let Lao Cao play the leading male role in this drama..."

When he said this, Cao Bingkun shuddered all over.

Dong Jianqiang naturally had no objection. If Zhang Chen was willing to help his brother, then he could do so. Whoever got the role would become famous with a drama of this quality.

"The remaining supporting roles are also very important. I plan to make it into a high-quality drama. I will ask Chen Daoming, Zhang Guoli, Wang Zhiwen and others to play those supporting roles..."

“Will they agree to that?”

"It should be no problem. Our script is good, they will most likely agree. Besides, this is a domestic drama in the style of an American drama. I don't believe they won't be tempted."

Dong Jianqiang was a little excited. The three people mentioned above are all evergreens in domestic film and television dramas. With their joining, selling dramas will not be a problem and the ratings are guaranteed.

But he immediately thought of another question: "We produce this play ourselves?"

Xingchen Entertainment has only produced one TV series so far, "Wulin Waijia".

The team was brought in by Shang Jing himself, which means that Xingchen Entertainment does not have its own TV drama production team.

Dong Jianqiang was afraid that if he just gathered a team to do it, he would ruin such a good script.

"Well, didn't Chen Xi stay in the crew of "Wulin Wai Zhuan" for a while? Do you think we can handle it ourselves?"

Chen Xi thought for a moment and shook his head slightly: "With our current strength, we are still a little short. It is better to find a reliable team to cooperate with..."

"OK, then it's Mountain Shadow."

Since we want to make a high-quality drama, there should be no problem in finding Shanying.

Shanying’s dramas are all well-produced, and many CCTV dramas are produced with the help of Shanying.

Zhang Chen has his eyes on Noon Sunshine. Kong Sheng is a detail-obsessed person. Asking him to film a movie may cost a little more, but the quality will definitely be above average.

(End of this chapter)