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

Chapter 297 Project Earns Money Project Spends Money

Let Zhao Jinmai continue to review his homework, while Meng Bai, Guo Fan and Gong Geer, the "Three Giants of The Wandering Earth", changed places and discussed the current situation of the crew.

"I had another chat with Wanda's new CEO Jiang a few days ago."

Gong Geer smiled bitterly and said, "This time he finally told me with certainty that Wanda's withdrawal of investment is a certainty."

Although it was just confirmed, everyone was actually mentally prepared for this result.

"So Wanda Film and Television will not invest in film projects this year?" Guo Fan asked casually.

Meng Bai knew this: "I heard them mention it before. Because the New Year's Day movie "The Lover" was a huge hit, Wanda got the copyright for the sequel and has started preparing for "The Lover 2."

This year's New Year's Day and Spring Festival box office was very strange. Major blockbusters like "The Great Wall" almost all failed, but some small productions performed surprisingly well.

Just like "The Love Master", with a production cost of 4000 million and a group of second-tier actors, it achieved a box office revenue of over 6 million.

It also made the Korean actress Clara famous.

Wanda also made some money back from this movie, but unfortunately they were only the third producer and did not invest much.

But it doesn’t matter. If I didn’t dare to follow the first part, I can make up for it in the second part.

It is said that Wanda has already started looking for someone to write the script, and the production team will remain the same. As for the leading actors, in addition to the male lead Xiao Yang, they are also planning to invite Bai Baihe and Wu Xiubo.

It just so happened that the budget funds that had just been withdrawn had been found.

What projects Wanda plans to invest in has little to do with the crew of "The Wandering Earth".

However, in this way, Wanda’s 8000 million investment was left vacant.

With such a huge gap, Guo Fan and Gong Geer really had no way to make up for it. They even mortgaged their garage.

The only one I can count on now is Meng Bai.

Seeing the expectant eyes of the two elder brothers, Meng Bai said: "I have visited several cooperating companies recently, such as Huace, Penguin Pictures, and Taiyang Chuanhe, and raised nearly 20 million."

"Arc's funding has already been used to secure projects at the beginning of the year, and the current cash flow is mainly for daily operations. But I can probably get another 20 million from myself."

After that, he also said with emotion: "The rest of my funds are here. If I want to increase it, I can only sell houses like you do."

In addition to the assets of Arclight Pictures, Meng Bai also has a lot of personal funds.

The main sources are the "production pay", "screenwriter pay" and "script copyright fees" from various film and television projects in recent years.

Although he is the producer himself, he has always paid himself according to the market price.

Like the previous courtyard villa and the large flat given to Li Yitong, they are all his personal assets.

It was because I bought several big items last year that I didn’t have much money left, and now I have to spend it all.

This is what is called "earn money through project, spend money through project, and take everything home".

Guo Fan and Gong Ge'er listened to his introduction and felt happy at first, then disappointed.

The total amount of money from the cooperative company and Meng Bai's personal share is 40 million, which is still half short.

Where can I find another sucker, er, a kind-hearted investor?

The three of them discussed for a whole day but still couldn't come up with any good ideas.

"Forget it, let's not think about it for now. There will definitely be a way out when the car reaches the mountain." Guo Fan said: "At worst, I can compress the story line of the 'space station' and focus on the plot of the 'ground line'."

Having said that, everyone knows that this is the only solution.

In the first part of "The Wandering Earth", the "space station" plot line and the "ground" plot line are one main and one auxiliary, and are interrelated.

If any one of them is missing, the completeness and excitement of the whole story will be greatly reduced.

I would never make this choice unless it is absolutely necessary.

"Let's take our time to think about the investment, and first decide on the actors for 'Liu Peiqiang' and 'Han Ziang'." Guo Fan said.

"Liu Peiqiang", the father of the male protagonist "Liu Qi", is a lieutenant colonel pilot and a ruthless man who dares to drive a space station to blow up Jupiter.

"Han Ziang", the grandfather of the male protagonist "Liu Qi", is the last generation of the post-90s generation. He is good at watching soft girls through VR and drifting cars in the base.

As for the actors for these two roles, Guo Fan has always wanted to find two big-name actors.

Like "Han Ziang", he and Gong Geer had considered Wu Mengda before.

"What did Uncle Da say?"

"I took our script and setting collection. Uncle Da is very supportive of our project and the role, and he also accepted the salary of 20. But..."

Guo Fan asked: "But what?"

Gong Geer frowned and said, "But Uncle Da's physical condition is not very good, especially his heart and breathing. With the intensity of our filming, I am worried that he can't hold on."

The shooting intensity of "The Wandering Earth" was very high. It's not because it took a long time, but mainly because the props were too heavy.

As a work that describes the future, props and equipment such as mechas, protective clothing, and exoskeletons are naturally indispensable.

These models of the crew were all custom-made at high prices from Weta Digital. A set of "combat protective clothing" in the movie cost 200 million yuan and weighed 40 kilograms.

The "civilian version" is slightly lighter, but still weighs more than 20 kilograms.

Wearing this outfit and shooting for seven or eight hours, you can imagine how much physical energy it consumes.

Zhao Jinmai, for example, now has to get up early every day to run and exercise in addition to reviewing his lessons and rehearsing his roles, so as to avoid being unable to hold on after the filming starts because of poor physical strength.

This is the case for young people, let alone Wu Mengda, who is already in his sixties and in poor health.

"Let Uncle Da try first." Meng Bai suggested: "He must be confident about his physical condition. Let him try the intensity and see if he can bear it."

"Okay, I'll contact him then." Gong Geer responded, "And what about Liu Peiqiang? We haven't decided on a candidate yet."

"We still have to find a big name." Guo Fan stroked the stubble on his chin, "We approached Andy Lau before, but unfortunately he didn't have time."

Meng Bai glanced at him and said, "You guys are really bold."

With the current salary budget for "The Wandering Earth", they still dare to go for Andy Lau, which really takes some courage.

Guo Fan smiled and said, "Actually, I was thinking of taking the opportunity to talk to him and see if he would agree to act in the film, and if so, could I invest in it as well." Although many people have complained about King Liu's acting skills which have remained the same for ten years, apart from being an actor, his contribution to the development of domestic films is still huge.

For example, more than ten years ago, a new director funding fund was established to support new directors and to lower the pay for new directors to star in their films.

People like Ning Hao, Wuershan and others have all received his help.

Including the "Bad Monkey 72 Transformations Plan" that Ning Hao has been carrying out in recent years, it is also related to him.

Therefore, if Guo Fan could really trick him into coming over, maybe he could really solve the remaining investment gap.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out.

However, Guo Fan's words gave Meng Bai inspiration.

"I've thought of a suitable candidate, but he has a movie coming up soon, and I don't know if his schedule is convenient."

"Who?"

"Wu Jing."

Guo Fan suddenly realized that, indeed, although this person was not as big a star as Andy Lau, he was also a first-line actor.

"I remember his movie Wolf Warrior 2 is going to be released in the summer. Is he available?"

"So I have to ask. Besides, it hasn't been launched yet."

Meng Baidao looked at Guo Fan and said, "Brother Guo, how can you drink?"

"I'm from Jining."

"That's it." Meng Bai said, "Let me arrange a party in a couple of days and have a meal together. I'll bring two boxes of Moutai over then. Whether we can get it or not depends on you two, Brother Guo."

"Aren't you going to drink?"

"I am from Blue Island, so of course I support local specialties."

"Fuck!" Guo and Gong cursed with laughter.

Meng Bai didn't take it seriously. After thinking for a while, he said, "Oh, by the way, I remember his wife Xie Nan seems to have always been interested in science fiction. We can try to start from there."

"Okay, try your best."

There is not much time left until the scheduled start date, so we have to hurry.

Guo Fan was at Landao, watching the finishing work of setting up the studio while waiting for Qu Chuxiao to come over for a makeup trial.

Meng Bai went back to northern Beijing first.

He had been in contact with Wu Jing before because of his investment in Wolf Warrior 2, so he called him directly to ask when he was free.

Wu Jing was a little surprised that Meng Bai contacted him suddenly, but he still generously told him about his schedule and set a free time.

Because the distance was not very far, Meng Bai did not run away and stayed in northern Beijing for the past few days.

I originally wanted to find Li Yitong, but unfortunately the remake of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" that this girl filmed last year is about to be released, and she is currently promoting it and is not in northern Beijing.

Naturally, Jin Chen, her best friend, also went back.

As for Li Qin and Song Zhi, they were also absent due to their own schedules.

Even Qin Lan is still filming "Peace Hotel" in Harbin.

Meng Bai suddenly became a lonely man.

That’s not right. My “eldest niece” should be rehearsing her graduation play at school right now.

But if it comes to going to find Meng Ziyi, Meng Bai would rather stay alone for a while.

It's a rare opportunity to have some time alone, and it feels pretty good.

Especially since the beginning of this year, I have been almost busy, so this can be considered a two-day break.

However, after only staying in his own courtyard villa for a day, Meng Bai still couldn't sit still and prepared to go to the company to check on him.

"Good morning, Mr. Meng!"

As soon as I entered the company building, some unfamiliar greetings were heard.

Meng Bai looked at the front desk and found that the person standing there was the same clerk from the administrative department.

"Where is Xiao Yang?" Meng Bai asked casually.

"Chao Yue has asked for leave during this period."

"sick?"

"Uh, no. Um, didn't Mr. Liu tell you?"

Seeing her boss looking confused, the clerk girl quickly explained, "There was a web drama project we were working on before, and we had an audition. The director thought Chaoyue had a good image, so he invited her to play a small cameo role."

As she spoke, the clerk girl looked envious.

No wonder people say that good looks are the biggest advantage.

Although so many directors have come to ArcLight in the past few years and there have been so many auditions, Yang Chaoyue is still the first employee to be chosen.

On the other side, Meng Bai had a "black question mark" expression on his face.

As someone in the film and television industry, I have heard of but never seen such a thing as "a completely unrelated passerby being suddenly selected by the crew."

I never expected that the first time I saw him in real life would be on Yang Chaoyue.

This girl's luck is surprisingly good.

But then again, Meng Bai really couldn't see any acting talent she had.

I guess the guest role is just a minor supporting role that is not very important.

By the way, even though I am not here, Liu Jun must know about this, as he has all the details of “eating melon”.

(End of this chapter)