1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 587 Everyone expresses his or her own opinion
"What about people?"

Jiang Xian arrived without dawdling. He took a sip of water, waved his hand, and said, "Call people over for a meeting and pass the notice that the holiday is over."

The entire "Haima Film and Television Creation Center" suddenly became bustling with people, and a group of screenwriters who were bored to death quickly gathered in the "Haima" conference room.

"Have you all arrived?"

Jiang Xian sat in the most conspicuous position and glanced down. Almost all the members of "Seahorse" had arrived. The last one to arrive was Yu Hua, who said he was taking a class at Peking University. Liang Zuo had to ride his bicycle to Haidian to call him back.

"Alright, I don't need to say anything more. I'm here today to get straight to the point. There's only one thing: let's start the film."

Jiang Xian glanced down and said, "The requirements are: films that reflect the new era, new life, and new thinking. As you know, old tricks won't work for me; they have to be original. In short, to summarize, the content must be 'deep, the characters vivid, the story engaging, and the language flavorful.' Okay, everyone, tell me what you think. Speak up boldly and liberate your minds!"

Wei Ren glanced around, adjusted his glasses, and opened an old notebook.

"Boss, here's the thing, I've been working on a notebook that I want to write about the hutongs and time-honored brands in Beijing."

"Tell me in detail." Jiang Xian struck a pose as if he wanted to hear more.

"Cough cough."

Wei coughed twice. "I've tentatively named this restaurant 'Baiweiju'. It's based on the old-established restaurant 'Baiweiju' outside Qianmen, which has been passed down for generations. The old owner is conservative and insists on old rules, but his sons and daughters have different ideas."

"How is it different?"

"Well, it needs to reflect the characteristics of this era. For example, the eldest son wants to take over the business, run it independently, and introduce new dishes; the second daughter works in a state-owned enterprise and feels that the 'iron rice bowl' is still the most stable; the youngest son is an unemployed youth who became one of the first 'middlemen,' so he's urging us to turn the shop into a more fashionable karaoke restaurant. In short, the story is about this family's conflict over whether to uphold or reform the old brand, and we'll also include some glimpses of the lives of the neighbors."

"Old Wei, isn't this just 'The Best Restaurant Under Heaven' with a different shell?"

Wang Shuo was sharp-tongued, "The very thing you copied is sitting right in front of your face, and you call yourself Baiweierju?"

Jiang Xian waved his hand, "It's alright, don't mind it. We're here today so we can speak freely. What Lao Wei said, through a family and a shop, shows the changes in the mindset and lives of ordinary citizens after the reform and opening up. There's warmth and conflict. I think it's alright. Let's put it aside for now. Does anyone have more?"

“I have one.”

The speaker is Qiao Yu, a native of Chengdu. He is not good-looking and is not particularly noticeable at "Haima". However, he participated in the screenwriting of "Stories from the Editorial Department".

In addition, several of his novels were very famous at the time. "The Song of the Sins", "The Major General" and "Let Me Show You a Difficult Scripture" all caused a great stir in the literary world. There is also a novel called "Big Life", which should be familiar to people in Sichuan Province. This novel was later adapted into a TV series starring Zhang Guoli, Zhang Jiayi and Jiang Yiyi.

"A while ago, I saw a news report about adopting abandoned children."

Qiao Yu spoke with a strong Sichuan accent, "My story mainly begins with a predicament in love. A young, beautiful, and well-paid female worker was being pursued by two men: one who had been kind to her, and the other who was in dire straits. The former was honest and kind, while the latter was highly educated. In the end, the woman chose the latter, but due to cultural differences and different family backgrounds, the conflicts in their relationship continued to escalate. Later, this woman adopted an abandoned baby, and the baby's background was...?"

Qiao Yu's accent was unpleasant to listen to, but that didn't stop everyone in the room from enjoying it.

"This dilemma is quite interesting," Liang Zuo said, stroking his chin.

As for Jiang Xian, he was shuddering. How could he not realize that the drama Qiao Yu was talking about was a national masterpiece, worthy of being called a legend?

--"eager"

The core plot can be summarized as follows: Liu Huifang, a needleworker in Beijing whose saintly aura dazzles the entire city, picks up a baby girl during a special era, which results in her, two men, and two families getting tangled up in a "hellish Chinese ethical scenario".

The saintly Liu Huifang picks up a baby girl, plunging two families into an ethical storm. Everyone's carefully constructed persona has its flaws: a self-destructive, benevolent saint; a ruthless, opportunistic manipulator; and a perpetually available backup option.
The sparks ignited by the collision of a group of extraordinary individuals illuminated the collective aspirations of the entire nation throughout the late 80s and early 90s.

When Jiang Xian watched it back then, he was cursing it at the same time, but he couldn't stop watching it.

The main reason is that every character in this show is incredibly well-developed.

Let's start with the Holy Mother Liu Huifang.

Picking up a child? Yes, you will!
Ex-boyfriend down on his luck? Take care of him!
Your current husband is unhappy? Just put up with it!

A difficult mother-in-law? Just put up with it!

The main theme is "sacrificing oneself to illuminate others, and incidentally making everyone around one lose their minds."

The audience wiped away tears, saying, "Huifang is so good," while also pounding their chests, "Please stop being so good! Take a break!"

This person is truly the "Mount Everest of morality" in the whole drama, but everyone who climbed to the top, including herself, was freezing.

In modern terms, he was definitely a "late-stage people-pleasing personality" plus a "level 10 patient with difficulty in saying no."

The male protagonist, Wang Husheng, is truly a scumbag, a giant baby, and a sophisticated egoist.

The first master of the "living off a woman" world.

When he relied on Huifang to support the family, he was like a quail; once he turned his life around, he immediately became a rooster.

The phrase she most often says is, "Huifang, can you please understand me?"

What do you mean? I'm about to become a demon, so you'd better bear with it.

This perfectly illustrates the saying, "Marry a virtuous wife, and then bully her relentlessly."

The audience hated him so much they wanted to slap him; he was practically the "number one person in the country who everyone wanted to slap."

The second male lead, Song Dacheng, was ranked among the top ten most touching backup lovers in the country.

In-depth analysis: A kind and honest representative of the working class, a "Chinese-style warm man" who silently protects others.

Huifang got married? I'll help!

Huifang is in trouble? I'll step in!

Huifang needs a kidney? Me.
Being friend-zoned throughout the entire series perfectly illustrates what it means to be a "simp who ends up with nothing."

In short, when this TV series aired, everyone on the streets was discussing "Should Liu Huifang have taken in the child?", and girls were asking "Can Wang Husheng be forgiven?" when looking for a boyfriend.

When Jiang Xian watched this show, he also felt that the screenwriter was truly deserving of divine recognition.

The "knife-striking technique" is unparalleled!

Good people must be tortured to death, and after being tortured, they have to get up and be tortured again.

The plot roughly goes like this: Liu Huifang does a good deed, which causes huge trouble. She silently bears it, Wang Yaru adds fuel to the fire, Song Dacheng tries to put it out, but the fire only gets bigger, Liu Huifang collapses, and the audience is crying their eyes out.
That was truly the original template for "heartbreaking dramas," and all subsequent melodramas have to call it their "founding father," as they all followed this model.

Take a look now.

Well, so the screenwriter was lurking right here all along.

"Xiao Qiao's suggestion is also good, let's put it aside for now, does anyone else have any ideas?"

Everyone in the meeting room had a cigarette, and the room was filled with smoke. Soon after, several people shared their ideas.

Wang Shuo suggested a "dance hall," saying, "I think we should stick to the editorial department format, which everyone is familiar with. But this time, let's change the location. Where? Let's change it to a dance hall. Everyone's familiar with that, we go there often. Then, we'll tell stories that happen in this dance hall, one story per episode. We'll continue to explore topics that ordinary people care about most, such as love, marriage, family ethics, and interpersonal relationships." "That's interesting," the roommates said, their interest piqued.

Jiang Xian sat in the chair, listening while tapping his fingers on the table.

It's clear that filming "Stories from the Editorial Department" has given these screenwriters a lot of experience; they all have their own ideas and thoughts.

As for what Wang Shuo mentioned, he knew about it too.

It's called "Hippocampus Ballroom".

At that time, Ma Weidu opened a dance hall and invested a lot of money, but the dance hall soon went out of business.

why?
It's not that dance halls aren't doing business; dance halls are very popular these days.

The main reason is that Ma Weidu has too many friends, so all expenses are charged to Ma Weidu and are waived.

If this drags on, it'll bankrupt him.

Later, Wang Shuo put his mind to it and came up with a plan for him: to film a TV series about a nightclub.

This one TV series allowed Ma Weidu to successfully turn his fortunes around and even earn several million.

Well, more than 20 years later, Huang Lei starred in a similar TV series called "Midnight Diner," which had a similar structure to "Hippocampus Cabaret," but it received very poor reviews.

In short, to put it simply, "Stories from the Editorial Department" is like a few friends chatting idly over beer, "Hippocampus Dance Hall" is like a group of young people making a fool of themselves after drinking too much foreign liquor, and "Midnight Diner" is like a few idle people whining about nothing while drinking goji berry water.

"Old Wang's suggestion is alright, does anyone else have any?" Jiang Xian looked up and asked.

"Cough cough."

Liang Zuo tapped his cigarette ash. "I have one."

"Old Liang? Tell me."

Jiang Xian sat down and listened as Liang Zuo slowly began to speak: "Actually, my idea is similar to Lao Wang's. We should continue to replicate the 'Stories from the Editorial Department' model. Lao Wang's idea was a dance hall, but I think it doesn't need to be that complicated. Let's set the scene in a family."

The House of Birth?
Jiang Xian slapped his thigh.

No, no!

I Love My Family!
Needless to say, this show has contributed countless memorable scenes that are still being re-edited and re-released in later generations.

“I see that each of you has a lot of ideas and a good way of thinking, which shows that you haven’t wasted your time sitting here and have been thinking things through.”

Seeing that everyone had shared so many ideas, Jiang Xian leaned forward and began his concluding remarks:

“In the past, our conditions at Haima were not good enough, so we had to sell everything we owned to make a film called ‘Stories from the Editorial Department.’ Now it’s different. We have plenty of resources. If you are confident about what you’ve mentioned, go back and write a script and send it to me. As long as it’s decent enough, we’ll start filming immediately.”

"Oh my god!" Feng Xiaogang exclaimed, his heart pounding with fear.

That's incredibly ambitious!
Even the TV Art Center where he used to work wouldn't dare to say that they could make so many movies in one go!
Just as he was pondering this, Jiang Xian suddenly called on him, "Old Feng, so many people have spoken up today, why don't you have any ideas?"

"I?"

Feng Xiaogang grinned and said, "How can I compare to them? They are all great writers and screenwriters. What am I? I can't think of such a complicated thing."

"Okay, if you can't figure it out, then I'll give you a problem," Jiang Xuan said expressionlessly.

"what?"

Feng Xiaogang was stunned. "Assign questions?"

"Correct."

Are you kidding me?

Why would I tease you? Do you think I'm just bored?

Jiang Xian wiped her hands, glanced at him, and asked, "What's wrong? Losing confidence?"

"ber."

Feng Xiaogang quickly shook his head, "I feel I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy."

"Alright, stop being modest. Whether you can do it or not, listen to what I have to say first."

Feng Xiaogang was naturally troubled by Jiang Xian's "topic," but since he was already facing the same problem, he decided to listen to what the "topic" was first.

"Then you go ahead and say it."

“I want you to write a script about America,” Jiang Xian said.

"A script about America?"

Feng Xiaogang was stunned, then immediately waved his hand, "No, no, boss, are you kidding me? I've never even been to America, where am I supposed to write a script like this?"

"Don't worry, do you think I don't know you've never been to America? Besides, I work in the literary field, how could I let you make up something without any life experience?" Jiang Xian comforted him.

"Then what about me?"

"Well, a while ago, I read a novel by a Chinese man named Cao Guilin called 'A Beijing Native in New York.' The literary quality wasn't great, but I found the story very interesting because Cao Guilin actually went to the United States to make his way in the world in his early years, and he wrote about the setbacks and hardships he encountered there. It felt very real."

"Cao Guilin?"

Feng Xiaogang kept repeating the name as he listened to Jiang Xian's story.

“I’ve been to the United States, so I know what it’s like there. But in our country, there are many more people like you who haven’t been to the United States. Let alone having been there, most people don’t even know what Americans look like. I think it would be better to make a TV series based on the United States, like this one called ‘Beijingers in New York.’ It would definitely pique the curiosity of many viewers and the ratings would be good.”

"."

Feng Xiaogang understood.

So, he's supposed to adapt a novel.

Hmm. Then it doesn't seem too difficult.

"Okay, I'll think about it."

"Don't think about it for now."

Jiang Xian said, "You're not familiar with America, so what's there to ponder? Your most urgent task right now isn't to go back and ponder, but to go to America yourself."

(End of this chapter)