Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 131: Arrogant at first and respectful at the end

Noon Sunshine initially positioned "The Disguiser" as a small- to medium-cost spy drama with a total budget of approximately 3000 million.

"With a cost of 3000 million, if we can sell it at 120 million per episode, we can double the return on investment." This was the beautiful vision that Hou Hongliang and Meng Bai had when they were chatting.

Unfortunately, when the official preparations began, we discovered that there was almost nothing left of the 3000 million budget after paying the actors' salaries.

So Noon Sunshine had to contact new investors for additional funds, and the final production cost doubled to 6000 million.

"Chen Qian and his team were the second wave to participate, and they invested about 8 million yuan," said Li Xue.

Meng Bai snorted and laughed: "Good fellow, with an investment of eight million, he pretends to be worth eighty million."

Although Li Xue was also very unhappy with Chen Qian's attitude, as a director, she had to consider the overall situation of the entire project. She also comforted Meng Bai: "Forget it, as long as he can cooperate with the filming, who cares how he pretends."

"Oh, people like this are bound to cause some trouble sooner or later." Meng Bai clicked his tongue.

"Ha, don't worry, I know what to do." Li Xue smiled, but didn't take it seriously.

But what he didn't expect was that Chen Qian really started his "performance" very quickly.

Because Wang Yuejun didn’t come before, many shots involving her on the “Mingtai Line” could not be filmed.

Now that she has joined the crew, Li Xue adjusted the shooting plan and concentrated on shooting the shots related to her.

However, the crew made a shooting plan, giving priority to weather and time for exterior scenes, and location for interior scenes. Therefore, although it was a concentrated shooting, there were still many shots of other leading actors.

"Director Li, we agreed on this before. As soon as Yuejun joins the crew, we will shoot her part first. Why is there such a long gap between the schedules?"

In the director's group on the set, Chen Qian sat on a chair with his hands folded, looking at Li Xue with dissatisfaction.

Li Xue frowned, but still tried to speak calmly: "Manager Chen, the crew has a mature plan for filming. It's not like we can just shoot whoever we want in a few days. Besides, we have tried our best to concentrate the filming. Now on the 'Mingtai Line', the plots of other characters have been moved to the back to make time for Xiao Wang."

"Our Yuejun is the heroine, she should be given priority." Chen Qian pretended to complain casually: "Besides, the supporting characters have too many plots. When the show is finally aired, it will be easy for the audience to misunderstand the role rankings."

Li Xue heard this, a little angrily but laughed.

He finally understood what was going on. It turned out that the guy's complaint about the shooting plan was fake, and what he really wanted to talk about was the problem of the role.

As for the "too many supporting roles in the plot", isn't it obviously referring to "Yu Manli" played by Song Zhi?

Let's not talk about the relationship between Song Zhi and Meng Bai, and Meng Bai's identity as a screenwriter. Let's just talk about himself - you, Chen, are just a representative of the petty bourgeoisie. Who gave you the face to allow you to interfere with the filming of the crew?

Li Xue's attitude became obviously serious, and she said in a cold tone: "First of all, when I gave you the script, I told you clearly that there is no female lead in this play. If you must say, the female lead should be the character of 'Ming Jing', and 'Cheng Jinyun' can only be regarded as the official match of the male lead at most."

"Secondly, the plot of the character and the amount of screen time have already been determined in the initial script. If you think there is a problem in a certain part, you can bring it up and we can discuss it. But if it's just that someone personally wants to modify the plot, then I can tell him in advance and just shut up." Normally, directors or producers are unlikely to conflict with investors, after all, they are the ones who pay the money.

However, this also depends on the specific capital size of both parties. For a "big second party" like Noon Sunshine, which has no shortage of investment in projects, tolerating you normally does not mean that they dare not scold you.

Chen Qian was obviously feeling a little uncomfortable with Li Xue's tough attitude. He coughed lightly and put down his arms.

"Hey, Director Li, I didn't mean to change the plot. It's just that the plot between our Yuejun character and the male lead is a little short, and the emotional development is a little stiff. So, do you think we can add a few more shots to show more interactions between the two characters?"

Compared to his attitude when he first entered the door, he was obviously much more docile now.

If Meng Bai were present, he would have to say - he was rude at first but respectful later, it's laughable to think about it.

Seeing the other party's attitude change, Li Xue's expression eased a little. After thinking about it, she felt that what Chen Qian said was not completely unreasonable, so she frowned and said, "If it's just adding a few shots, it's okay. However, I have to discuss with the screenwriter to see how to modify it specifically."

"Well, let's discuss it and then notify him. As for the screenwriter..."

Chen Qian was halfway through his words when he saw Li Xue looking at him coldly. He stopped talking immediately and made a "please come in" gesture.

Li Xue let out a long breath, pondered for a few seconds, and then dialed Meng Bai's number.

"Hey, Meng Bai..."

"Hello, Director Li. I'm Hua Yan. Are you looking for President Meng?"

The call was connected, and a girl's voice came from the other end. Li Xue realized it was Meng Bai's assistant who looked like a high school student.

After asking, she was told that Meng Bai was in a meeting. Fortunately, there was no rush for this matter. After agreeing to call back after the meeting, Li Xue hung up the phone and found an excuse to send Chen Qian away.

Meng Bai naturally didn't know why Li Xue was looking for him. He was currently discussing cooperation and franchising with Wu Bai, Wang Wei and others.

As early as last year when filming "Psychological Crime", Meng Bai had invited them to join Arclight Films.

However, at that time, there was not much cooperation among everyone, and Wubai and his team did not want to be restricted by other companies, so the matter was delayed.

Although they didn't agree, the two sides still wanted to continue the cooperation. So after many discussions, they finally decided to form a cooperative alliance in the form of partners.

This alliance is mainly composed of Meng Bai and Arc Light Films. Wu Bai, Wang Wei, and the photography and action directors who have collaborated in previous dramas have also joined as film and television companies or individuals.

The alliance has two main tasks. One is to cooperate on online drama projects with "suspense" themes, and the other is to absorb and cultivate new "suspense" type directors or behind-the-scenes staff.

As for the name of the alliance, it was decided in accordance with the previously agreed name of Arclight Pictures, and was called the "Arclight Alliance".

(End of this chapter)