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

Chapter 358 A Night of Fish and Dragon Dance
"Uncle, congratulations! You are the youngest person to win the Magnolia Award for Best Screenwriter!"

As soon as the call was connected, Meng Ziyi's cheerful voice came from the phone.

"Is it enough to just say congratulations? Why not give a gift or something?"

"Hey, you won the award, so you shouldn't be the one giving out red envelopes! Besides, I stayed up so late to call you and congratulate you, and my skin has become worse."

"Okay, thank you for staying up late. I'll give you a red envelope to compensate you later." Meng Bai said, "You are quite free, and you still have the mind to check the ages of previous winners."

"I didn't check it. It was reported in the media. I just checked a few of them." Meng Ziyi said, "I've been very busy lately."

"What are you busy with?"

"I have to film, and I also have to worry about whether you have won the award. In two days, Chaoyue's program will have its first ranking, and I have to see if she has been eliminated." Meng Ziyi sighed, "Oh, I am really worried about you."

Meng Bai didn't pay attention to her sigh, but asked in surprise: "Xiao Yang, the elimination round is about to begin so soon?"

"There are only ten episodes in total, and the fourth episode is coming soon. We must eliminate some people first." Meng Ziyi said: "According to the last episode, half of the people will be eliminated in the first ranking."

"You seem to be having a lot of fun chasing after me."

"Even if you, the boss, don't care, I, as a friend, should at least care. Besides, this show is really interesting."

As she spoke, Meng Ziyi introduced the program to him, as well as several of her favorite contestants. Of course, the one she paid the most attention to was Yang Chaoyue.

Meng Bai switched to hands-free mode and lay down on the sofa in a comfortable position: "Do you think Xiao Yang will be eliminated?"

"No way, little uncle, you're asking me about this?"

Meng Bai was embarrassed. Indeed, he could find out the news by calling Tencent Video or Yang Ming. However, he had been busy with Bai Yulan's affairs recently and didn't pay attention to anything else for the time being.

However, he still tried to save face by saying, "It's just like opening a blind box. What's the point of asking? It's only fun if we guess it ourselves."

"what--"

Meng Ziyi made a sound of "I don't believe you", but continued: "I don't know what she is like, but this first ranking should be no problem."

"Oh, what do you say?"

"There is a voting ranking on the official Tencent Video page, and her votes have always been high." Meng Ziyi said: "Also, their program is recorded in a closed manner, and the contestants' phones have been collected. The next program must be aired on time, and it must have been recorded by now. But when I called Chaoyue today, it was a staff member who answered, which means she should not have been eliminated yet."

"Sure girl, I didn't realize it, you're so smart."

"That's right. I've said it before. Most of the time I'm very smart!"

"Wow, you're awesome."

Meng Bai responded perfunctorily without any emotion. Meng Ziyi didn't care either. She was happy anyway as long as someone praised her.

As they were chatting, Meng Bai suddenly heard an electronic prompt to enter a password at the door of the room.

"Okay, the congratulations are over, go to sleep, and I'll ask Chaoyue about your situation when I have time."

"Don't!" Meng Ziyi said hurriedly, "I'm still following the show, don't give me any spoilers, just tell me whether she was eliminated or not."

"Tsk, then just watch the show honestly, why are you asking?"

"I thought you were their boss, so you should pay attention to them."

"I have so many people following me, how can I pay attention to them one by one?"

"Oh……"

Meng Bai had already seen Li Qin coming in, and said casually: "Okay, hurry up and go to bed, so you don't have to blame me for letting you stay up late and hurt your skin."

"Stupid uncle, how can young people go to bed before twelve o'clock?"

Meng Ziyi complained about the hung up call, then put away her phone and walked out of the room, excitedly saying to the assistant team member who was waiting for her: "I'm back, hurry up, let's continue the game."

On the other side, Li Qin, who had just entered the room, happened to see Meng Bai hanging up the phone, and rushed over to hug him.

"Have you been drinking?" Meng Bai asked, looking at the blush on the girl's cheeks.

"Yeah, a little bit."

Li Qin pinched her thumb and index finger together and made a gesture, then quickly explained: "The crew had a dinner together, and Sister Hai Lu and the others wanted to toast, so I drank two glasses..."

"I didn't say no." Meng Bai hugged her, "You are the biggest winners tonight, it's normal to celebrate, just don't drink too much."

"hey-hey……"

Li Qin smiled sweetly, then looked around the room: "Where is your trophy? Let me see it."

"On that table over there."

Meng Bai pointed, Li Qin looked at the table with eyes that lit up, and ran over quickly, took the golden magnolia trophy in his hand, and touched it over and over again.

"Hmm, so this is what the Magnolia Trophy looks like."

"Your crew has some, too. Three of them."

"That belongs to the crew, not mine."

"Then this isn't yours either."

"Yours and mine are the same." Li Qin touched the trophy lovingly, "Hey, how about taking this back and putting it in the villa?"

"It's up to you, just let it go as you see fit." Meng Bai said indifferently.

There are many trophies in Arclight’s Hall of Fame. Although the Magnolia Award is more prestigious, it is only an individual award for “Best Screenwriter” after all, so it doesn’t matter where it is placed.

When we win awards like "Best Picture" or "Best TV Series" in the future, we will have to display them in the company.

Compared to Meng Bai's casual attitude, Li Qin paid much more attention to the trophy. He carefully placed it on the table and opened the certificate beside it.

"The 24th Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award, Best Screenwriter, Meng Bai."

She read the words above and then couldn't help laughing, as if she was the one who won the prize.

After putting the certificate away, Li Qin continued, "We were discussing this at dinner just now. You should be the youngest winner of the 'Best Screenwriter' in the entire history of the Magnolia Awards."

"Alas, I have the ability, there is nothing I can do." Meng Bai spread his hands, "It's a pity that you didn't win the 'Best Supporting Actress' award, otherwise you would be the youngest winner of the Magnolia Award."

Although they were both born in 90, Li Qin's birthday is in September, half a year younger than Meng Bai.

"It's great to be nominated. I know myself well." Li Qin said, "Besides, even if I win the award, I'm not the youngest. There have been younger winners before me."

"Who?"

"Guan Xiaotong, she was the Best Supporting Actress winner at the Magnolia Awards last year, a young girl born in 97."

Meng Bai checked it on his phone, and surprisingly, it was true.

With her role as Peng Jiahe in Mr. Good, she surpassed Hu Jing in In the Name of People, Yang Zi and Wang Ziwen in Ode to Joy, and Dilireba in Eternal Love, and won the Best Supporting Actress Award at last year's Magnolia Awards.

Meng Bai wanted to laugh when looking at the list.

How should I put it? Except for Hu Jing, the remaining candidates are actually similar, and no matter who is chosen, people will not be completely convinced.

As for why Hu Jing didn't win the award...it might be because Shanshui Group didn't sponsor her.

Although the Magnolia Awards have always been called the "three major" along with the Feitian Awards and the Golden Eagle Awards, the awards themselves are not national in level and are more industry-specific. Therefore, there are always one or two surprising candidates in the list of winners every year.

Meng Bai shook his head. Forget it. Why bother studying this? He had already won the award. He might as well study something more valuable. He put his arm around Li Qin's slender waist and let her lean against him, while his fingers gently caressed her fair skin.

"Teacher Li, I finally won an award, shouldn't you show some appreciation?"

Li Qin felt the hardness coming from her waist, and her already rosy cheeks became even brighter.

"You...you won the award, why do you want me to express my appreciation?"

"Didn't you just say that there's no difference between yours and mine?"

"..."

Li Qin was speechless after being hit by her own boomerang. However, compared to usual days, she was much bolder today due to her excitement and alcohol.

Just go for it. That's all the stuff on this guy's mind anyway, so just consider it as a reward for him.

Li Qin thought secretly in her heart.

"Go ahead, whatever you want to do, am I afraid of you?"

"Really? Anything?"

"Of course!" Li Qin, drunken, immediately responded generously.

But as soon as she said this, she regretted it because the man opposite her showed a triumphant smile on his face.

"I wonder if Mr. Li, who has been in Shanghai for several years, has ever enjoyed the night view of the Huangpu River?"

"You, what are you going to do...ah!"

Li Qin had just asked a question when the next second, she was picked up by Meng Bai and strode towards the terrace.

"Kaka——"

There was a slight sound of gears, and the sliding door of the terrace was opened. The refreshing river breeze outside blew in, refreshing people.

Li Qin had already guessed what the man wanted to do, and hurriedly struggled, "Wait a minute, not here, we'll be seen..."

"Don't worry, no one can see it." Meng Bai stopped her from speaking.

The hotel is located on the bank of the Huangpu River, across the river from the Bund. Their rooms are on the 20th floor, facing the direction of the Bund, there is no such high building within a few kilometers, and they can completely overlook the entire Bund.

As for the terrace itself, it is also a semi-open space surrounded by four sides, with a railing more than half a person's height in front.

Although it is called outdoors, it is actually no different from indoors.

However, having said that, Li Qin was still filled with nervousness as he felt the river breeze blowing on his face.

She wanted to refuse, but she couldn't help feeling a strange excitement and anticipation in her heart. And she had just said something big, and Meng Bai would definitely hold on to her words.

Forget it, I'll just play with him today and consider it as a prize-winning gift to him.

Seeing the girl slowly calm down, Meng Bai laughed in his heart.

People are like this, once they accept an excessive request, they will make excuses for themselves and then their bottom line will retreat step by step.

If it were someone else, Meng Bai might not have such a bad taste.

Only Li Qin always made him want to see the conflicted expression on this girl's face, and the contrast that was completely different from her cold temperament.

There's nothing I can do about it. It's my fault that I'm a pervert.

Thinking of this, he lifted Li Qin's arm from behind and let her hold the railing.

"Hold on tight, Mr. Li. It's windy outside. Be careful."

"You should talk to yourself about this...ah!"

A beautiful scene at a good time, with a beautiful woman in my arms, fireworks in half the city, and fish and dragons dancing all night long.
-
The day after the Magnolia Awards, the winning results immediately became the biggest hot topic in the entertainment industry.

The most popular ones are naturally the two newly crowned "Best Actor" and "Best Actress".

Ma Yili was nominated for the Best Actress Award at the Magnolia Awards last year, but unfortunately lost to Yin Tao for Chicken Feathers Flying to the Sky. This year, she finally succeeded.

He Bing has won the Magnolia Award before, but it was in the field of drama. This is his first time winning a television award.

In addition, Meng Bai's winning of the "Best Screenwriter" award also sparked a lot of discussion, mainly focusing on his age.

Although netizens and viewers were surprised, no one thought there was anything inappropriate.

The achievements and quality of Peace Hotel are obvious to all, and it is not surprising that it won the award. Moreover, Arc Light Films has produced many excellent works in recent years, and more than half of the scripts were written by Meng Bai, so his strength has long been recognized.

There are even many fans and viewers of Arc Light who said that "Meng Bai Dad" has always been restricted by online dramas, otherwise he would have won the award long ago.

This statement made many people sigh. Unconsciously, the emerging online drama teams have grown to this point, and their strength is fully capable of competing with traditional film and television teams.

As for the last part of Meng Bai's acceptance speech, not many people cared about it.

There have been many people who have confessed their love on award-winning stages. He is not a star idol. Except for "interested people", no one would be interested in the love life of a producer or screenwriter.

For Arc Light Pictures, besides adding an extra point of honor, the most direct benefit of Meng Bai winning the award is the subsequent revenue of "Peace Hotel".

The full name of Magnolia is "Shanghai TV Festival Magnolia Award", so in addition to the award ceremony, it is also a trade fair to connect with other countries' film and television markets.

After Meng Bai won the "Best Screenwriter" award, "Peace Hotel" was naturally noticed by film and television distributors in many countries, who began to discuss the cost of overseas copyright with Arc Light.

In fact, many people had already been exposed to Arc Light at the screening before the award ceremony.

Compared with previous spy war dramas, the plot of "Peace Hotel" has many international elements, which is more friendly and more interesting to non-Chinese audiences in overseas markets.

With a larger potential audience, it will naturally be more popular with publishers.

For example, although "White Deer Plain" won the "Best TV Series" award, it is not as popular as "Suspense Drama" such as "Peace Hotel" because it has too strong a local cultural flavor.

In contrast, the popularity of My First Half of Life is similar to that of Peace Hotel. Many distributors say that in the Southeast Asian market, this kind of urban domestic drama full of "bloody plots" is very popular with audiences, and many of them are even local audiences.

Come to think of it, it makes sense. Thai dramas that are even more outrageous than this have a large audience in China. It can only be said that people just like this kind of drama.

After the Magnolia Awards, Meng Bai had nothing to do in Shanghai.

After a busy night, Li Qin woke up at noon the next day, secretly ran back to her room to pack up, and then returned to Beijing North first.

Meng Bai stayed to contact overseas distributors and also chatted with Qin Wen.

Although she didn't win the award in the end, it doesn't mean that her screenwriting ability is poor.

On the contrary, when "My First Half of Life" was broadcast before, many viewers said that the drama did a good job of adapting the original novel and optimized a lot of content that was inconsistent with the current situation.

Anyway, ArcLight is in the content business, so there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future.

The two of them were also considered to be senior and junior sisters from the same school, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious. However, when Qin Wen mentioned a new project that she had just taken over, Meng Bai was a little more surprised.

"A TV series directed by Wang Jiawei?"

Meng Bai asked doubtfully, "Let's not talk about the TV series first. Director Wang still needs a script for filming?"

Qin Wen laughed: "Haha, that's true. We can write the script, but whether Director Wang will use it is another matter."

(End of this chapter)