Huayu: From Prisoner to Movie King

Chapter 589 Voting
The first person to arrive in the evening was Chen Xuebin.

Old Chen entered Xu Kun's villa with his briefcase under his arm. He waved his hand at Xu Kun with a dejected look on his face and said, "Don't bother with me for now. Let me have some peace and quiet for a while."

As he said this, he threw his middle-aged and fat body onto the sofa, looking even less handsome than Jiang Yiyan in the afternoon.

Xu Kun also knew that he had been very busy recently. Lao Chen was in charge of the logistics for the Youth Directors Association, two variety shows, and the films he was investing in.

These past two days he has been busy contacting media outlets to buy press releases...

Xu Kun silently poured a cup of tea for Lao Chen, pushed it in front of him, and said "thank you for your hard work".

"What's hard? It's just a hard life."

Old Chen closed his eyes and raised his hands, complaining helplessly: "Your sister-in-law hasn't checked my post yet. She has become an inspector with no title and no status. She is suspicious all the time..."

There was a conflict in the relationship with the mistress, and Xu Kun realized that he had expressed his feelings to the wrong person.

He silently put the teacup back in front of him and asked curiously, "When did you hook up with this little sister-in-law?"

"Just before the New Year."

Old Chen opened his eyes and wondered, "Didn't I tell you?"

"No."

"That means I forgot - never mind, I won't tell you. Anyway, I don't plan to stay with this woman for long. I'm tired, so damn tired."

Xu Kun nodded in agreement: "This is what kidney deficiency is like."

"Go away, I'm talking about being tired!"

Chen Xuebin glared, picked up his bag, took out a few resumes, and pushed them in front of Xu Kun: "The results of the re-examination for the selection of concubines are out. I was afraid that you were not in the mood to ask, so I didn't show them to you yesterday."

The re-examination was organized by Chen Xuebin and Li Yixiang. Xu Kun did not participate in the whole process to avoid suspicion, which made the re-examination less popular. It was not until the recent blog post suddenly popped up that people remembered this matter again.

Xu Kun flipped through the pages and asked in confusion, "Aren't there three major colleges? Why is there one from Beijing Dance Academy?"

"Oh, you mean these two? They passed the preliminary test pretending to be students from Beijing Film Academy. Later, I saw that they had good conditions in all aspects, so I kept them."

Chen Xuebin said, flipping out another resume from the list and placing it on top: "This one doesn't actually meet the regulations, but apart from her, all the students from Shanghai Theatre Academy were eliminated. I thought it was not appropriate for Shanghai Theatre Academy to have no one in the finals, so I gave her the pass."

Xu Kun took a quick glance: Jiang Shuying, born in 1986, graduated from Shanghai Theatre Academy Class of 04 - it turned out that she was not a student, no wonder they said she did not meet the rules.

Xu Kun looked at the photos again. They were not close-up photos, but two daily photos and four makeup photos.

"This one can only run with me."

Finally, Xu Kun singled her out: "Besides not meeting the selection criteria, the character in the setting is a female college student who is a bit naive in the early stage, cheerful and enthusiastic. This girl looks a bit cold, which is the same as Liu Yifei's character, and her temperament is also more mature."

Chen Xuebin shrugged, crumpled up Jiang Shuying's resume and threw it into the trash can next to him - anyway, it was just to save face for Shanghai Theatre Academy and Hao Lei, and letting her enter the third round was already an explanation.

Xu Kun was too lazy to look at the rest and asked directly, "Do you and Brother Li have any good ones?"

"That depends on what you mean."

Chen Xuebin raised his eyebrows and smiled: "But those who can come to participate in this selection should have been mentally prepared."

"I won't consider this for now. There will definitely be a lot of people staring at it when the time comes." Xu Kun roughly organized the rest of his resume, swept it into a corner, and then changed the subject and asked, "How are those movies going?"

"'Night Club' is about to start filming, and our Youth Directors Association has a relatively small share in 'Perfect Match', so I didn't care too much about it - as for 'The Piano in a Factory', Li Yixiang followed Zhang Meng to the Northeast to experience life, so I guess we won't talk about it until the second half of the year."

“Experience life?”

Xu Kun wondered, "Brother Li was born as a worker in a state-owned factory and worked as a mechanic for more than a year. What else does he need to experience life?"

"The Piano in a Factory" is indeed good. The protagonist must of course take care of his own people, and Li Yixiang is indeed quite suitable for this role, both in terms of acting skills and life experience.

"He said that the atmosphere in the Northeast is different from that in Henan, and he wanted to find a factory to polish it himself. You know his temper, and this book suits his taste, so he hopes to be more fully prepared."

"alright."

I can only say that Brother Li is indeed a person with artistic pursuits.

After talking about the business of the Youth Directors Association, Xu Kun suddenly remembered that he had not yet notified Baoqiang to come over, so he picked up his phone and sent Baoqiang a text message.

Not long after the text message was sent, the doorbell rang. Chen Xuebin rushed to get up and walked out to greet the door while saying sarcastically, "It's good that it's close. I can get there in no time. If I had known this, I wouldn't have rushed to buy a duplex."

As a result, he opened the door while muttering to himself, only to find Jia Zhangke, Ning Hao, and today's protagonist Han Jie outside.

Chen Xuebin quickly put on an eager expression and greeted them with a smile, "Oh, the directors are here, come in, come in."

Jia Zhangke and Ning Hao had dealt with him a lot recently and were familiar with each other, so naturally they didn't have any special reactions. However, Han Jie was very excited and his hands and feet were shaking uncontrollably.

After entering the room, Han Jie stretched his neck and looked around like an otter, and then his expression quickly fell. Without waiting for Xu Kun to invite him to sit down, he asked anxiously: "Why didn't Mr. Wang Baoqiang come? Is he not satisfied with the script?!"

"Nothing."

Xu Kun pointed to the next door and said, "He's right next door. I think he'll be here soon."

As he was speaking, the doorbell rang again.

Xu Kun went over and opened the door personally, and this time it was indeed Baoqiang who came.

As soon as he entered the room, he made eye contact with Han Jie. Bao Qiang even took the time to say hello to Jia Zhangke and Ning Hao, but Han Jie ignored everyone else and pulled Bao Qiang straight into the study.

This is understandable. Without this obsession, such a depressing script as "Hello Mr. Tree" would not have been produced.

"Never mind them."

Xu Kun looked at the clock on the wall and said to the three of them, "It's almost time. I'll have someone bring the food and wine over. When Director Li Yu arrives, we can eat and chat."

Today, the only vice president missing is Liu Haibo. Lao Liu is currently filming "Iron Pear Flower" in Shanghai - Chen Shu will return to Beijing in a while to film the first episode of the group variety show, and he has to rush to shoot Chen Shu's scenes recently, so he really can't get away.

Fortunately, Chen Shu will only participate in the first episode, otherwise Old Liu would definitely be very anxious.

Although Xu Kun said that they would wait for Li Yu to arrive before eating and chatting, Jia Zhangke was obviously unable to hold back and after a few pleasantries, he eagerly brought up the preparations for the director's talent show.

Currently, this variety show is still in the field research stage. In addition to students and graduates from several major universities, Jia Zhangke also mobilized the network of the sixth-generation directors and stuffed in several underground filmmakers to cooperate with the research.

During the research process, Jia Zhangke and Ning Hao gradually had some differences - the current focus of their debate is the review criteria for the preliminary round.

Jia Zhangke believes that fewer resources were invested in the preliminary round, the resources allocated to the contestants were limited, and the auxiliary personnel involved in the filming could not be industry veterans.

This requires the contestants themselves to have certain experience and coordination capabilities, which is very disadvantageous for some contestants who come from independent backgrounds.

Therefore, he advocated that we should not only select the best from the finished products, but also pay attention to more off-site details. Ning Hao believed that this talent show was an unprecedented initiative, and many people were watching it. Only by producing good enough works and even ensuring the subsequent success rate can the value of this talent show be reflected.

Therefore, the people mentioned by Jia Zhangke should not be included in the draft consideration for the time being, at least not this time - and Jia Zhangke’s proposal will also add extra burden to the primary election.

From the differences between the two, it can be seen that Jia Zhangke is more concerned about talent selection, while Ning Hao pays more attention to reality and the opinions of those above.

But this does not mean that the former is selfless and the latter is despicable, because the vaguer the selection criteria are, the more likely it is that there will be private transactions.

After listening to the two people arguing for a while, Xu Kun had actually already thought of a compromise in his mind.

But he did not rush to say it. Instead, he waited until Li Yu arrived and asked Li Yu to express his opinion on this matter first.

Li Yu's idea is more inclined towards Jia Zhangke, because women who want to become directors usually lack practical experience and scheduling ability. Jia Zhangke's approach is definitely more beneficial to female candidates.

But at the same time, she was also a little worried that making the primary election too complicated would add too much burden to the program team. If mistakes were made in a hurry and jokes were made, it would have an impact on the newly established Youth Directors Association.

All in all, she wanted it but was also worried.

"In this case……"

Xu Kun waited for her to finish, pretended to ponder for a while, and then expressed his thoughts: "How about we add a FLASH animation option in the preliminary stage?"

"Flash animation?"

Ning Hao's eyes lit up: "This is indeed a solution. Without factors such as lighting, conception, and actors, it can better reflect a director's storytelling ability."

Then he hesitated again: "But this will also increase the budget, right? And the workload..."

“It’s actually not as hard as you think.”

Xu Kun interrupted him and said, "We can invite a group of above-average FLASH animation creators from major video websites. As long as we remove those with big names, the fee will definitely not be too high.

Besides, this is also an opportunity to become famous, and there will definitely be people who will participate enthusiastically - and these creators can also sign up for our variety shows. After all, some excellent FLASH creators have the potential to be directors.

After adding the FLASH option, you can further choose offline or online mode. Those who choose the offline mode can come to Beijing and communicate face to face with FLASH producers who also choose the offline mode.

Contestants who are temporarily unable to attend the event can communicate with the selected FLASH producers online to advance the progress of their work.

Of course, all of this must be monitored by the program team, and a liability agreement must be signed in advance to prevent plagiarism of contestants’ ideas.”

After discussing with each other, several people made preliminary improvements to the specific details of the FLASH option. They all felt that Xu Kun's idea was feasible. Although it could not completely solve the problem, it was at least as fair as possible.

By this time, the food had already been delivered, and Xu Kun began to arrange for everyone to take their seats.

He went to the study room in person, but saw through the crack in the door that the two people were "confessing their feelings to each other" with red eyes, so he did not go in to disturb them, but directly invited the three vice presidents and the butler Chen Xuebin to start eating.

Naturally, the topic discussed at the dinner table was the affairs of the Youth Directors Association.

While everyone was there, Xu Kun simply took notes himself, summarizing the entire rules of the preliminary round, the approximate scale of investment, and the resources that would need to be mobilized for assistance.

When he was in high spirits, Ning Hao also praised Xu Kun, saying that his FLASH options actually broadened the subject matter that contestants could choose from, such as large-scale scenes, action movies, science fiction, and even fairy tales, which could all be presented at a lower cost.

But once these words were spoken, Jia Zhangke and Li Yu began to worry, wondering if this would in turn put the live-action short film at a disadvantage.

Ning Hao didn't really care about this: "Then let's just give it a bias in the scoring, as long as it can ensure relative fairness."

Xu Kun had another flash of inspiration and suggested, "How about this? During the re-examination, we can add a few special effects companies to assist with the live-action short film."

Ning Hao frowned and said, "But as we all know, special effects are the most expensive. I'm afraid this is..."

"It's okay. I, Xu, have invested in this project!"

Xu Kun imitated the tone of a spoof on the Internet and said something.

Chen Xuebin laughed loudly and explained to the three people: "He had actually thought about it a long time ago. When he had money, he would invest in a special effects company. This time he just took the opportunity to do a screening, which was also a good thing for both the public and private sectors."

What else can the three vice presidents say?
I can only admire President Xu for being so rich and willful.

At this time, Han Jie and Wang Baoqiang finally came out of the study. After Han Jie was asked to sit down, his first words were: "President Xu, even if the Youth Directors Association doesn't invest in this script, Baoqiang and I will definitely make it!"

Baoqiang nodded vigorously with red eyes.

This script actually hits on some of his past experiences. He left home at a young age to learn martial arts in Shaolin. He was not good-looking and could not even speak fluent Mandarin, but he was determined to become a big star.

Before Wang Baoqiang really became famous, many people in the village treated him as a joke. Although due to their personality, they did not treat him as such as Mr. Shu, but they shared many of the same feelings.

"That's what I said."

Xu Kun smiled and said, "You have kidnapped my brother. Even if the Youth Directors Association does not invest money, I, Xu, will invest in this project. By the way, you have to keep the role of the older brother for me."

…………

It's early morning.

The basic framework of the preliminary and semi-final rounds of the talent show, along with Xu Kun's letter of apology, were sent to Han Sanping and the leaders of the Film Bureau.

Then these two things quickly appeared in front of the relevant leaders of the GDZ giant, ZX department, WH department, and even the WJ mouth.

In fact, the impact of this incident far exceeded Xu Kun’s own expectations.

The ZX Ministry even set up a special investigation team for this purpose.

Han Sanping was of course among them.

“Dear leaders and comrades!”

At the joint meeting held that morning, he held up the original draft of the talent show framework and spoke passionately: "Xu Kun does have a lot of problems, especially in his private life, but everyone knows the situation in this circle, so I won't say more.

Putting this point aside, this young comrade is indeed a rare talent in recent years, especially when the sixth generation of directors has been alienated on a large scale and even affected the new generation.

I believe that such a young person who is loyal to the motherland, has ability, ideas, and is willing to contribute to the development of the industry regardless of personal gains and losses must be supported and protected!
And don't forget that in addition to being an excellent director and actor, he is also a very visionary investment genius and marketing expert.

He currently owns assets worth more than one billion, and these assets are still appreciating rapidly.

If we don't protect him this time and he eventually loses confidence and interest in all this, then the biggest loss will not be to him, but to our entire cultural front!"

At this point, he looked around at everyone and said, "In order to prevent things from dragging on and becoming difficult to resolve, I suggest that we hold a vote now."

The participants whispered to each other and quickly agreed to Han Sanping's proposal.

Han Sanping was the first to raise his hand, and then more than a dozen hands were raised one after another. In the end, the proposal was passed with fifteen votes in favor and three abstentions.

(End of this chapter)