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

Chapter 470 Movie Reboot
There is an unwritten rule for domestic film and television works that if the plot content involves a certain official department, in addition to the review by the radio and television itself, it also requires review by the relevant department.

Just like "Day and Night" obtained the permission of the Ministry of Public Security's Golden Shield Center, "The Silent Truth", which focuses on prosecutors, also approached the Supreme People's Procuratorate Film and Television Center when it was launched.

The original novel of this drama was originally called "The Long Night", which sounds very negative, but it perfectly echoes the ending of the book.

However, it is naturally impossible to shoot a TV series like this, so under the guidance of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the script was finally revised to "justice will prevail" which is more in line with public sentiment.

Because of this, the Supreme People's Procuratorate was deeply impressed by the drama, especially the male lead "Jiang Yang", who was deeply loved.

Now that the series is aired, it is quite popular and has a very good reputation. The Film and Television Center has communicated with the publicity department and forwarded it.

Of course, their main purpose is definitely not to help promote Arc Light and Strange TV, but more to take advantage of the popularity and let the public know more about the prosecutor.

Among the three public security, procuratorial and judicial departments, everyone is familiar with "public security" and "court", but the procuratorate, which mainly deals with criminal and public prosecutions, is relatively unfamiliar.

A sea of blue V accounts forwarded the message, forming a "blue ocean" that looked quite spectacular. The entry #Supreme People's Procuratorate Supports Jiang Yang# also became a hot topic, looking quite impressive.

Perhaps thanks to this wave of support, the popularity of the drama, which has been hovering for a long time, has begun to rise slowly again. Unfortunately, this drama only has 12 episodes and will end next week. Judging from the current rate of increase, whether it can finally "break " depends on luck.

Of course, if it really comes to a close at the end, Strange TV will definitely intervene manually to give the entire trilogy series a satisfactory ending.

Meng Bai contacted the leader of the Supreme People's Procuratorate's Film and Television Center to express his gratitude. The latter was very polite and said that they would have many film and television projects in the future and hoped to cooperate more with ArcLight.

The "Zijin Chen Trilogy" has come to an end, and Arclight's next focus will be its own "Tracing Back Series".

"Twinkle, Twinkle Star" has given the series a good start, but its subsequent performance will still depend on the quality of the next two dramas.

It’s not entirely without merit to say that “The Silent Truth” wasn’t as popular as expected, as Arclight learned a lot from experience and readjusted the script details of “The Beginning” and “Want to See You”.

In previous years, the college entrance examination would have already started at this time. However, due to the flu this year, the exam was postponed for a month.

As a student taking the college entrance examination this year, Zhao Jinmai is currently in the sprint review period, which naturally makes it unsuitable for filming, so Hu Guang gave priority to filming "Want to See You".

The heroine of this drama is Li Qin, which was decided as early as when Meng Bai just started writing the script. The character setting of "Huang Yuxuan" was also more or less based on her own personality.

As for the male lead, Li Ziwei, he is set as a senior high school student in the play, so a younger actor is definitely needed. The director team auditioned many people and finally decided on Wu Lei.

Born as a child star, he is well-known and popular, of the right age, and has good acting skills and image. It can be said that he is quite suitable for the setting characteristics of Li Ziwei's "Little Sun".

The filming location was naturally chosen as Blue Island. After all, the projects shot by Arclight here have numerous subsidies and support policies, which can save a lot of costs.

In fact, Meng Bai has always been considering whether to set up a filming base in Blue Island. After all, Arc Light produces a large number of works here every year, and there are many scenes that can be reused.

Instead of looking for a set and then refinishing it every time, it’s better to just build one yourself.

Of course, what he wants to build is not a super-large one like Oriental Movie Metropolis, but a relatively small film and television base, and the studio is mainly based on modern cities and criminal investigation units.

He had this idea last year, which was similar to buying a building for Arc Light, but was interrupted by the flu.

Although the flu trend is still fluctuating and it is unknown when the storm will pass, Meng Bai feels that we can start preparing in advance.

It just so happens that the prices of various assets are much cheaper now, which is a good time for Arc Light, which has a large amount of cash flow, to expand.

In addition, horizontal videos have also begun to develop this year, and they also require a recording studio similar to the one used to record programs like "Sisters Who Make Waves". The two can be combined.

Meng Bai touched his chin. Perhaps he could talk to Evergrande about this matter. After all, it was related to their core business. Reaching an internal cooperation through Hengten Network would benefit both parties.
-
As July arrived, the college entrance examination, which was delayed for the first time in fifty years, finally came to an end amid national attention.

"Brother Meng Bai, I've finished the exam!"

As soon as the last exam was over, Zhao Jinmai called Meng Bai immediately.

"Congratulations on your official high school graduation." Meng Bai chuckled and said, "How did you do in the exam?"

"I think it's pretty good. I'm sure I'll pass the academic test."

Meng Bai said leisurely: "Don't blame me for not reminding you. The retest of the Central Academy of Drama will be held in less than half a month. You have already accepted this gift in advance. If you fail the retest, hehe..."

"Don't worry, I've been well prepared in the past few months, and there will be no problem with the retest!"

"From your tone, I thought you were going to say that getting first place in the acting department would be no problem."

"hey-hey……"

Zhao Jinmai smiled guiltily and said nothing.

First in the acting department? She herself had never thought about it.

"When I was admitted to the Department of Drama and Literature, I was ranked first in my major. You can inherit my legacy."

"That's different. I'm not as good as you, Brother Meng Bai."

"Have confidence in yourself." Meng Bai said, "If you think so, there will always be a first place, so why can't it be you?"

"..."

After motivating Mai Mai with some nonsense, Meng Bai continued, "'Beginning' will start filming at the end of September. You will have about half a month to experience college life after school starts. It's a good opportunity to get a feel for how to play a college student."

"But it's only half a month before school starts, so there should be military training, right?"

"That's why I reminded you to take protective measures and not get hurt."

"I probably won't get hurt, but I'll probably get a tan."

"That's okay. 'Li Shiqing' can be a tanned person who likes sports."

"Is this still possible..."

"I'm the screenwriter, so I have the final say on the character image."

After hanging up the phone, Meng Bai looked at the screen, shook his head and smiled.

Although he said that just now, he actually didn't think there would be any problem with Zhao Jinmai's re-examination at the Central Academy of Drama.

It wasn't because of his help or his popularity. Based on his understanding of the girl's acting skills, it would be no problem for her to pass the re-examination.

There is no point in thinking about these things now. This year, the college entrance examination results and the re-examination results will be announced at the same time, and the results will be known soon. Time passes day by day, and these days the Internet is basically concerned about the college entrance examination results. After all, due to the flu this year, many students have been greatly affected in the last six months, and no one can say whether the final results will be as expected.

However, two days before the college entrance examination results were announced, the film and television industry released a highly anticipated piece of news.

In light of recent changes in influenza trends, higher authorities have decided to gradually open public places in low-risk areas, including cinemas, starting from late July.

This is like "rain after a long drought" for the cinema chains and theaters that have been closed for more than half a year.

After all, the film and television companies' movies cannot be released, so they just have to wait a little longer. But if the theaters are closed for one more day, it will cost one more day.

Until now, everyone has finally waited for the permission for the theaters to open. Although there are still conditions, the impact is not great. After all, thanks to the excellent domestic control mechanism, most cities are "low-risk areas."

However, the reopening of cinemas is only one aspect, and the cooperation of film and television companies is also needed. If there are no new movies released, even if the theaters are open, few audiences will go.

So in the next few days, the film industry actually saw a rare phenomenon where theaters begged major film and television companies to schedule their films.

But the film and television companies also have concerns. Cinemas can indeed open, but due to the spacing regulations in public places, the number of seats in the same theater is equivalent to being halved.

In addition, cinemas are closed places. Once there is a suspected case, all the people in the theater must be quarantined. After more than half a year, everyone is very sensitive to this kind of thing. In order to avoid this kind of situation, some audiences would rather wait a little longer.

Moreover, the situation in various regions is fluctuating repeatedly, and the risk level is changing all the time. Cinemas may open today and be closed again tomorrow.

Once a movie is released, piracy resources cannot be controlled. If it is withdrawn or rescheduled, it will have a devastating impact on the overall box office.

So for the producers behind most movies, they only have one chance.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there is no benefit in releasing it now.

First of all, the audience’s demand for watching movies is real. After enduring for so long, there must be many people who want to go and watch it, just like the short trips before.

The second is the support of the cinema chains. If no one else dares to release your film, but you dare to release it, then it is equivalent to all the cinemas open across the country showing your film.

In short, there are pros and cons to going for it or not. For a while, all the major film and television companies in the circle were busy discussing whether or not to take a gamble.

Hengteng Network, conference room.

Chen Zhixi pinched her eyebrows. She has been busy with the "Sisters Who Make Waves" project recently, which has consumed a lot of energy.

However, as the person in charge of Hengten Network's film and television business, she has to host today's discussion.

There are two topics for discussion:

1. Do you want to go to the movies?
2. If you want to watch it, which one should you watch?
At present, Hengteng has two movies in stock, one is "The Accidental Murderer" and the other is "Famous".

In the conference room, besides herself, there were Meng Bai, directors Chen Sicheng and Wu Bai, and other staff members. They had just discussed for a while, and everyone had a different attitude.

After arguing for so long without making a decision, Chen Zhixi couldn't help but look at Meng Bai who was sitting not far away.

"Mr. Meng, what do you think? Should we make a bet?"

The eyes of Chen Sicheng and others in the room were all focused on Meng Bai.

If there is one person in this room who has the "vote", it is definitely him.

"Personally, I think it's worth a try."

Meng Bai said: "We have just seen the national box office data in recent days since the theaters opened. It only took a week to recover to the level of more than 80 million per day, and this is when there are no high-profile blockbusters released recently."

"That is to say, the audience's enthusiasm for watching movies is still very high, and the impact of possible infection risks on the market is not as great as we previously expected."

Chen Zhixi heard this and said, "So you think we can go?"

"I think I can, but not right now."

Meng Bai said: "The college entrance examination is over, and the results will be announced soon. According to previous years, it is now the summer season. The single-day box office of nearly 100 million is not bad compared to normal times, but for this period, it is not good enough for the time being, at least it can't support the performance of a high-profile blockbuster."

"According to the current data growth, if everything goes smoothly, the market should be able to recover to around 200 million per day by next month, which is a more suitable scale. So we can contact the theaters and schedule the release date for next month. This way, we can observe the market recovery at any time, and this period can also be used for publicity and promotion preheating."

"I think what Mr. Meng said makes sense." Chen Sicheng on the side said, "Anyway, there must be pre-promotion before the release, it can't be released right away. In this case, we can take advantage of this period of time to observe. If it goes well, we can seize the initiative; if it doesn't, the worst that can happen is that we can withdraw it from the schedule."

Upon hearing this, the other five hundred people also agreed.

"Take one step at a time" is a helpless move at normal times, but it is very appropriate at this point.

Chen Zhixi also nodded: "Then the second question is, which of the two movies should we watch?"

When this question was asked, both directors Chen Sicheng and Wu Bai fell silent.

Even brothers have to be separated, let alone they are two projects. Although they all thought the plan was feasible, when it came to using their own works as test products, they couldn't help but hesitate.

Everyone in the room looked at each other, and finally turned their gazes to Meng Bai.

"Sister Xi, I strongly request the company to give me a red envelope. Is it okay if I always have the final say?" Meng Bai joked.

"Fa Fa Fa, I'll turn to you right away."

Chen Zhixi sent a red envelope on WeChat: "Besides, everyone trusts Mr. Meng, so those who are capable should do more work."

"One dollar? That's a lot of money!" Meng Bai gave her a thumbs up, then returned to his serious tone and said, "Let's put "Famous" on. The style of "Manslaughter" is a bit serious, and it's not suitable for this time."

Although both were filmed in Thailand, "The Accidental Murderer" is different from "Detective Chinatown 1" in that there are not many comedy elements and the atmosphere of the whole film is relatively tense.

The current flu situation has improved slightly, and the audience's emotions, which have been tense for a long time, have just been relaxed. What they need is to adjust or vent. Therefore, the most suitable films are either those that can stir emotions, or those with big special effects that are enjoyable to watch, or comedies.

In comparison, although "Fame and Fame" is also based on suspense and reasoning, its style is absurd comedy, which is obviously more suitable for the current viewing atmosphere.

Although Wu Bai felt a little sorry, he didn't say anything and agreed to be a "touchstone".

"Look at it brightly. Maybe the film will have an advantageous schedule and the results will be good." Meng Bai comforted him.

As they were talking in the room, Chen Zhixi suddenly glanced at the message on his phone, then looked up at everyone and said, "It seems someone is one step ahead of us. I just received news that Huayi has contacted the theater chain and is preparing to release the movie "Eight Hundred."

(End of this chapter)