Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 386: Media Visits the Set, Zhang Chen Shows Off His Pocket

January 3

Today is the day arranged by Dong Jianqiang for the media to visit the set, which is the so-called media open day.

Media visits are also a form of film promotion.

The shooting of a movie may take at least one or two months, or at most half a year.

The filming process also requires constant exposure, but there are not so many news points, so the form of media visits was born.

Generally, they will find media with good relations to report on the filming situation of the crew and interact with the leading actors. Some media open days will also allow fans to visit the set.

Of course, the crew will definitely reimburse the media's round-trip transportation costs, food and accommodation, and will also provide sufficient travel expenses.

This time, the media Dong Jianqiang invited were Sina Entertainment and Enlight Media.

Both of these media outlets have close ties with Xingchen Entertainment. If you visit their set, at least they won’t write nonsense about you.

Liu Yan was the reporter sent by Guangguang Media this time.

She is a host, but she also works part-time as a reporter. She was the one who asked questions at the premiere of "The Promise" last time.

Then the sentence "If the movie does not achieve the expected effect, will it hurt your self-esteem?" directly broke Director Chen's defense.

However, Guangguang did not punish her. She should not have been punished in the first place. This question was too normal. Anyone with a little experience would know how to answer it. I don't know how it touched Director Chen's nerves, and he even came up with the metaphor of "children's birthday party".

When the media arrived, Cheng Er was responsible for receiving them and drove them to the entrance of the studio.

After greeting the staff at the door, Cheng Er gathered everyone together.

"After we go in, please don't shoot or make any noise, and don't disturb the normal filming of the crew. We can only conduct the interview after Director Zhang signals.

Of course, the final material must be reviewed by us before it can be broadcast. If the content of the interview will affect the release of the movie, we will ask you to delete it~"

"clear."

We are all veteran media people and we all understand the rules.

Seeing that the reporters were very cooperative, Cheng Er led everyone into the set.

Inside the studio, a fight scene was being filmed, which was the fight scene in the finale - the fight between the bird spirit Yang Xiaomi and the monster catcher Zhang Jin.

Zhang Jin brandished the giant sword and rushed towards Yang Xiaomi.

Yang Xiaomi threw the hat over, but it was hit by the giant sword and split into two under the huge force.

This kind of shot was very common in Hong Kong martial arts films in the 90s. The two sides of the hat were connected by steel wires. When the giant sword hits, the staff on both sides pull the steel wires and the hat will split. Combined with the power powder arranged in advance, the effect is full.

The fighting scenes look exciting, but they are actually very boring to shoot. A fighting scene of a few seconds may have to be broken down into several shots.

But it was the first time that the reporters saw a real shooting scene, and they immediately captured it.

Cheng Er's instructions had long been forgotten, and they would just shoot it first to see whether it could be broadcast or not.

"Click~"

Zhang Chen took a look at the replay and thought it was okay.

Looking up, I saw a group of reporters outside: "The reporters who are visiting the set have arrived. Everyone, take a half-hour break and cooperate with the media interview~"

Zhang Chen waved his hand, and the staff immediately relaxed, some drinking water, some chatting.

Cheng Er brought a group of media people to Zhang Chen:

"Director Zhang, we are from Guangguang Entertainment (Sina Entertainment)~"

"Welcome welcome~"

Sina Entertainment reporter: "Can we film and interview as we please now?"

"of course."

After obtaining Zhang Chen's permission, several media people immediately sent someone to interview other leading actors.

Mr. Zhou, Fatty Fan are both here.

Liu Yan: "Director Zhang, what was the fight scene we just shot?"

"Oh, that was a scene from the final battle. Xiao Wei's identity as a fox spirit was discovered, and the bird spirit was eager to protect its master and fought with the monster catcher. The scene you saw was just a rough one in the early stages. Special effects will be added later, and the scene will be more beautiful~"

Zhang Chen gave a brief introduction.

"Just looking at the current filming makes me extremely excited~" Liu Yan flattered him subtly.

Sina reporter: "Director Zhang, audience friends are very curious about the filming progress of Painted Skin. Can you share it with everyone~"

Zhang Chen smiled and nodded: "Painted Skin started filming in late February. We have been filming for nearly a month and will have to shoot for about another month. So far, everything is going smoothly~"

"So when is it going to be released?"

"Painted Skin has a lot of special effects shots, nearly 1000 of them, so it's definitely too late to release it during the summer season. In fact, it should wait until the Lunar New Year season to be released."

Liu Yan immediately followed up, "Director Zhang Chen, people are saying that you are a master of prediction. You predicted that Director Ang Lee would win the Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival and the Oscars, and he actually won it.

Director Ang Lee also thanked you specially. Director Zhang, do you have anything to say about this matter? "

Speaking of this, Zhang Chen immediately sat up straight. A big part of the reason for arranging today's media open day was for this.

"There is no such thing as a definite conclusion. These are all based on experience. Director Ang Lee's film is very appealing. Homosexuality has been a hot topic in the past two years. If the judges of the film festival also pay attention to these, it will be easy to win the award. It's that simple.
Everyone must not spread false rumors. In the past two days, I have come to understand what it means that "my days of plain living are being made popular by rumors."

People in the crew often tease me about this, but I’m not a prophet, and I’m not a sage.

Liu Yan is not ready to let him go: "Next month is the Academy Awards, isn't Director Zhang going to continue to make predictions?"

Zhang Chen waved his hand: "Forget it this time. If you guys report it, it might not work~"

After saying that, Zhang Chen winked at Master Zhou who was not far away, and Master Zhou also covered his mouth and laughed secretly.

"Director Zhang, after The Promise, many netizens expressed their dislike for period costume blockbusters. Yet, several period costume blockbusters are still being released in the second half of this year, including The Banquet, Warring States, Painted Skin, and Curse of the Golden Flower. Isn't Director Zhang worried that the audience will get bored?"

The two reporters from Guangguang and Sina had a good understanding and basically took turns asking questions.

Zhang Chen tilted his head: "I'm not worried, because strictly speaking, Painted Skin is an oriental fantasy, which is different from the other works~"

Liu Yan asked again: "Two days ago, when a media reporter interviewed New Picture, manager Zhang Weiping had already made it clear that Curse of the Golden Flower will be released during the Lunar New Year holiday, and now Painted Skin is also set to be released during the Lunar New Year holiday, so the two will become direct competitors."

Zhang Chen laughed: "That's perfect. The last time I met Director Zhang Yimou was two years ago when I was filming House of Flying Daggers. We meet again this year. Isn't this fate?"

Zhang Chen said it easily, but everyone could hear the confidence in his tone.

Anyway, I have booked the Lunar New Year schedule. Whoever is afraid of competition can change the schedule.

Liu Yan said again: "But "Warring States" is also scheduled for the Lunar New Year holiday. With three blockbusters coming together, isn't Director Zhang worried about affecting the box office?"

Zhang Chen thought this question was interesting. "Isn't it interesting this way? We can compare our skills and see who will be the final winner in the chaos.

Last time, when "The Dark One" faced "House of Flying Daggers", Zhang Weiping looked down on me in various ways. This time, I want to see if he still looks down on "Painted Skin" in the same way~"

Zhang Chen spoke lightly, as if he was talking about a trivial matter, but his words revealed a lot of information.

The two people being interviewed were vaguely excited.

"As for "The Warring States", if I were its distributor, I would choose to adjust the release date. There are too many such cases in China, where the eldest and the second in command got into a fight and the third in command was beaten to death. I hope the distributor of "The Warring States" can consider this carefully~"

"You don't think highly of "The Attack of Mo"?"

Zhang Chen nodded without hesitation: "Too few people know about the Mohist School? Let me ask you, do you know the Mohist School?"

The reporter thought about it and nodded: "I know that Mohism is one of the hundreds of schools of thought during the Warring States Period..."

"What more?"

"Well, I don't know."

Zhang Chen spread his hands and said, "Look? Ordinary people don't know much about Mohism. At most, they have heard of the name from "A Step into the Past", but no one knows what it does, what its ideas are, and who its representatives are.

If no one knows about it, there will be no desire to watch the movie. If director Zhang Zhiliang had filmed a story about the Three Kingdoms, it would have definitely been a big hit during the Lunar New Year holiday, but for a story about the Mohist school, I think the chances of it being a big hit are slim..."

Zhang Chen's words were not polite, but one of his points was immediately noticed by the Sina reporter.

"Director Zhang said that if it's about the Three Kingdoms, it might be a big hit. Does that mean Director Zhang thinks that Rainie Wu's Red Cliff will be a good movie?"

Zhang Chen looked at the female reporter with some admiration, saying, "You really know how to take advantage of the situation."

But he still shook his head and said, "No, no, no, I said that the Three Kingdoms theme has the potential to be a big hit, but I didn't say that Wu Yusen's "Red Cliff" will be a big hit~"

Without waiting for the other party to ask, Zhang Chen continued to explain: "If you know Wu Yusen, you should know that he can't shoot epic themes.

He can also handle small scenes, such as those involving grudges in the martial arts world.

But once the scene gets bigger, he can’t handle it anymore, and Windtalkers is the best example.”

"You don't think highly of Red Cliff?"

"Of course not."

"Then why don't you make a movie about the Three Kingdoms yourself?"

Zhang Chen spread his hands and said, "The Three Kingdoms, the dream of every Chinese. Of course I want to shoot it, but I don't dare. I'm afraid I won't shoot it well~"

After a pause, he added another explanation: "The Three Kingdoms theme is inherently a cultural export. If you don't shoot it well, you're guilty."

The two of them were very happy to hear what Zhang Chen said. He was indeed the man known as the 'Friend of the Media'. Whenever he opened his mouth, it would be big news.

Today we have new battle scenes and reviews of "The Warring States", and all the hot news for the next month are here.

At this time, Liu Yan suddenly said, "Director Zhang, why don't you see Huang Xiaoming~"

The people sent to interview went around and interviewed Zhou Gongzi and Fan Xiaopang, as well as Zhang Jin and even the less famous Yang Xiaomi. But they couldn't find Huang Xiaoming, so they came over to ask.

Zhang Chen slapped his head and said, "I forgot to mention that Xiao Ming went to an event today and is not here. Um, he went to the premiere press conference of The Return of the Condor Heroes."

Huang Xiaoming did attend the premiere press conference of "The Return of the Condor Heroes" and left yesterday.

I took three days off in total.

For this reason, the crew also specially adjusted the shooting plan. Speaking of "The Condor Heroes", Zhang Chen thought of the evaluation of later generations.

After The Return of the Condor Heroes was broadcast, Huang Xiaoming was scolded so much that he almost became autistic.

They all say that his Yang Guo is greasy~
The general consensus is that the young Yang Guo 16 years ago was a bit too exaggerated, and failed to show Yang Guo's evil, madness and romantic nature.

But 16 years later, his chivalrous spirit is still very much alive.

But Huang Xiaoming doesn't know this yet. He is still happily promoting "The Return of the Condor Heroes", thinking that his spring has arrived.

Huang Xiaoming's life is actually quite similar to Xiongba's. His success and failure are both due to the wind and clouds.

He became slightly famous thanks to "The Emperor of Han Dynasty", but his major success was due to these Jin Yong dramas directed by Zhang Jizhong.

However, his popularity among the public was also ruined by these Jin Yong dramas.

I don't know what Zhang Da Huzi was thinking. He asked him to play Yang Guo and then turned around to play Wei Xiaobao.

Please, even a passerby knows that Yang Guo and Wei Xiaobao have two completely different temperaments.

Yang Guo is unruly and unruly, while Wei Xiaobao is cunning and greasy. Even if we invite the movie emperor Liang Jiahui, he can't take care of these two roles at the same time. Why can Huang Xiaoming do it?

If Huang Xiaoming was smart, he should not have taken on The Deer and the Cauldron after starring in The Return of the Condor Heroes.

Zhang Chen was also considering whether he should remind him when the time comes.

……

Star Entertainment
On the same day that the media visited the set of Painted Skin, the box office of Kowloon Walled City officially exceeded 4000 million in its third week of release.

In the company, Lu Yang and Guo Fan hugged each other to celebrate.

"The bet is complete, the bet is complete~"

If a movie had a box office of 4000 million, other film and television companies would have celebrated with champagne long ago.

But at Star Entertainment, it just passed the basic line.

What is this place? It is known as the 'Monster Room of the Film Industry'.

Even if there are some famous directors who come here, they are just outsiders. If you haven't made a box office of over 100 million, you won't even have a place to sit in the company.

The two celebrated quietly, but still attracted envious glances from others.

There was no other reason, because he had fulfilled the bet, and thought that this was his chance to direct the sister film of "Taken" alone.

What is "Taken"? It's the company's most profitable project at the moment.

Thanks to this movie, Zhang Chen became the top director in China.

Being able to direct even a sister film would be a huge boost.

Many people were secretly wondering what kind of luck Lu Yang had.

……

In the office, Dong Jianqiang was discussing the movie release with Fu Donglai.

"'Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots' has passed the review. I think it would be a good choice to put it on the May Day schedule. What do you think?"

Dong Jianqiang and Fu Donglai are friends. It was Fu Donglai who introduced Dong Jianqiang to Zhang Chen. The two of them spoke very casually.

"I don't know anything about publishing. I'll follow your arrangements."

"Okay then, let's schedule it for May Day."

After a few seconds, Fu Donglai couldn't help but ask, "Boss, you've seen the movie, what do you think the box office will be?"

Dong Jianqiang laughed when he heard this: "I thought you didn't care about this. What's the matter? Are you afraid of being outdone by your students and losing face?"

"No, I know that it will not be able to beat Kowloon Walled City in terms of box office, and I don't even think about competing with them~"

Speaking of students, both of them consciously let Zhang Chen pass and went straight to Lu Yang.

Fu Donglai forced a smile and said: "'Falling Leaves Return to Roots' is a road movie, not a comedy, I don't think the box office will be too high.

Although Zhang Chen paid out of his own pocket to help me realize my dream, I don’t want the box office to be too bad. I don’t care how much money I make, as long as I don’t lose money, I will be satisfied. ”

Fu Donglai knew that the film he shot, "Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots", was definitely not a commercial success and he was afraid of losing money and betraying his students.

Dong Jianqiang smiled and patted his shoulder: "Don't worry, I think it's OK. In normal times, it should be no problem to make more than 20 million yuan at the box office. During the May Day holiday, it is possible to make more than 30 million yuan.

By the way, when you signed the contract with Zhao Benshan, you clearly stated that you needed his cooperation during the promotion. "

"I wrote it, I wrote it. I know this, and Benshan also said that if you call him during the promotion, he will cooperate unconditionally~"

After hearing Fu Donglai say this, there was nothing to worry about at all.

"Alright, no problem. Leave the rest to us. 'Falling Leaves Returning to Their Roots' will definitely not lose money. Even if you don't believe in yourself, you have to believe in the brand name of 'Xingchen Entertainment'~"

Hearing Dong Jianqiang say this, Fu Donglai finally smiled.

"Then you go ahead and do your work. I'll be back first. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions."

"Okay, I'll send you off~"

Song Jianqiang escorted Fu Dong to the elevator entrance and watched the elevator close before returning to the company.

As soon as I entered the door, I met Yu Zheng who had been waiting for a long time.

"Manager Dong, I just wrote a script, would you like to take a look?"

Dong Jianqiang glanced at the stack of scripts in the other person's hand, then looked at Yu Zheng himself and nodded: "Okay, come in with me."

Back in his office, Yu Zheng put the script on the table and Dong Jianqiang picked it up and started reading.

Yu Zheng sat opposite with an excited look on his face. He looked at Dong Jianqiang, then looked around excitedly.

"Beautiful Scheming"?
Seeing that the title suggested it was a costume drama, Dong Jianqiang didn’t say anything and continued reading.

Dou Yifang, Liu Heng, Mo Xueyuan, Nie Shener~
The story was quite interesting, but Dong Jianqiang did not comment on it. He just asked, "Did you write the script yourself?"

Yu Zheng nodded, but immediately thought of something and shook his head again: "Well, I wrote it myself, but I referenced a novel called Weiyang: Ups and Downs."

"Beauty's Rival in Palace" is indeed a magical adaptation based on the novel "Wei Yang: The Ups and Downs". If it were the previous Yu Zheng, he would have just borrowed from it.

But during this time he stayed in Star Entertainment and knew that the company attached great importance to copyright.

If he didn't explain it in advance, the script would probably be rejected due to copyright reasons, so he just told the truth.

"Do we have the rights to this novel?"

Dong Jianqiang asked another question. Seeing Yu Zheng shaking his head, Dong Jianqiang did not say anything to him. Instead, he said, "How about this? Make an electronic copy for me and I will send it to Director Zhang later. He personally recruited you and arranged your work. He should also decide on your script..."

Dong Jianqiang was right. Yu Zheng was indeed an alternative figure in the screenwriter team.

He does not participate in the writing of scripts for any film and television projects. He sets up his own work, as if he is an independent team, except that this team only has Yu Zheng.

Dong Jianqiang didn’t know what Zhang Chen thought about Yu Zheng, and the head of the screenwriter team didn’t know either, so even though he disliked Yu Zheng, he never dared to do anything to him.

God knows what the relationship between this kid and Zhang Chen is?
……

The crew of "Painted Skin" ended the media visit during the day, and there was an extra script in the mailbox in the evening. The name of the script was - "Beauty's Secret".

Seeing this familiar name, Zhang Chen's heart moved and he clicked on it to quickly browse.

Dou Yifang, Liu Heng, Mo Xueyuan, Nie Shener~
It was the same story he was familiar with.

This guy Yu Zheng, even though the historical trajectory has changed, still made "Beauty's Secret".

Palace fighting dramas have been very popular in the past two years. "Golden Branches Desire" pioneered it, followed by "Beauty's Rival in Palace", "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Story of Yanxi Palace"...

This is a timeless theme.

Zhang Chen thought it was possible. He had just made a trilogy of spy war dramas, so why not also make a trilogy of palace fighting dramas?
He continued reading. The script was very rough and had many flaws. It was obvious that it was quite different from what the screenwriter team had come up with.

But the whole story is well-structured and full of melodramatic plots.

How should I put it? That style of painting is very Yu Zheng~
Zhang Chen frowned more and more as he looked at it:

After Qingning broke the chains, he said: In this world, the only thing that can trap me is love!

What the hell is this~
Also, my aunt is illiterate, but she is reading a book about inducing labor. This is too outrageous.

There is also a plot about copying Buddhist scriptures, which is really shocking.

The story is set in the Western Han Dynasty. Where did the Buddhist scriptures come from in the Western Han Dynasty? Buddhism was introduced to China in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

There was also the part where Empress Dowager Bo contracted the plague, and Dou Yifang died while holding her in her arms, and nothing happened to her at all. But Concubine Wang got infected just by wearing her clothes. This is too far-fetched.

Zhang Chen quickly came up with a lot of marks, and finally gave one instruction - change it!

He remembered that the play was eventually sold abroad.

In fact, many popular dramas during this period were sold abroad, such as "My Fair Princess"~
But if such an obvious common sense mistake was actually sold, it would only make people laugh.

So it must be changed.

Xingchen Entertainment’s consistent purpose is to have dramatic conflicts, but also to avoid making basic common sense mistakes.

Low-level mistakes like those in Buddhism are absolutely not allowed to occur. If "Beauty's Secret" was produced by any other group in the screenwriter team, if such mistakes occurred, the bonus would be lost.

It is Yu Zheng who is given special treatment and thus receives this kind of treatment.

……

The next morning, Yu Zheng came to the company in high spirits, and saw a new email as soon as he opened his mailbox.

When you click on it, you will see a large area highlighted in yellow, with notes next to it indicating what the problem is.

If it were anyone else, seeing such a note would have been enough to ruin their story, but Yu Zheng was filled with joy, because Zhang Chen's comment was - the story was good, but the details needed to be revised. After they were perfected, you could try to make it into a TV series.

(End of this chapter)