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

Chapter 487: No Limit for Eliminating Crime and Evil

At the beginning of 2018, the state issued a notice to launch a special campaign to eliminate organized crime and evil forces across the country for a total of three years. As of now, the special campaign is nearing its end and has entered the final summary stage.

It was in this context that the Political and Legal Affairs Commission decided to shoot a film and television work depicting the work of "cracking down on gangsters and eliminating evil" based on real cases during the special operation.

After all, it is difficult for most ordinary people to read work reports, and the dissemination effect is not as good as if they were made into a drama.

Because this subject matter is quite serious and requires high quality, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission has been selecting suitable producers.

As one of the top teams in the industry in recent years, ArcLight has always cooperated with the public security and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, so it is naturally at the top of the shortlist.

Just in time for the recent hit of "Guarding Blue Mountain Shanxi", the Political and Legal Affairs Commission discovered that Arc Light is not only capable of shooting "criminal investigation dramas" with strong storylines, but also has made great achievements in documentary works based on "authenticity".

In this case, there was naturally no need to hesitate, and the Political and Legal Affairs Commission contacted Arc Light through the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Facing Zhu Dong's invitation, Meng Bai did not refuse. Since Arclight is centered on suspense dramas, it will inevitably need to rely on relevant departments in the future. By building good relationships through project cooperation, it will also be convenient for them to "pull the tiger's skin and pull the big flag" in the future.

After finalizing the preliminary cooperation agreement, he went directly to the Political and Legal Affairs Commission building outside the east gate of the Forbidden City the next day.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Meng." Zhu Dong said with a smile: "During the preparation of the next project, you can let us know if you need anything."

Meng Bai said: "Director Zhu, you are too polite. We do need help. We are laymen and do not have a deep understanding of the content of 'sweeping away gangs and eliminating evil', so it would be best to find professionals to provide us with guidance from the beginning of script writing to the filming period."

"That's easy. We will set up a special project team to connect with Arclight. If you have any questions, we can communicate directly."

"That puts me at ease."

Meng Bai chuckled, then said hesitantly, "Director Zhu, there is another question. It would be best if we could determine it before we start planning for the project."

Zhu Dong raised his hand: "Mr. Meng, please feel free to speak."

"As you know, topics like anti-gang and anti-corruption are often very sensitive in terms of content standards and censorship. So I want to ask, what is the highest limit that our plot can touch?"

For the producer Arclight, the "content scale" must be clearly defined in advance. Otherwise, if they shoot according to the volume of 40 episodes in the early stage, and then cut off or episodes after the later review, no one can bear it.

Zhu Dong was not surprised to hear Meng Bai's words. He had obviously anticipated this question. He did not rush to answer, but stood up and took Meng Bai to the archives room.

"Om-"

A slight electric current sounded, and the closed room was illuminated by yellow-white light. Meng Bai looked inside and saw rows of bookshelves and tables with thick file bags neatly arranged.

"Director Zhu, these are..."

"From the beginning of 2018 to the end of April this year..." Zhu Dong said: "All the information on related cases is here."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Meng Bai and said, "All of these case materials are open to you as long as you need them, Mr. Meng. You can choose to adapt them at will. As for the scale of the content involved, we only have four words: no upper limit."

“No upper limit…”

Meng Bai repeated it, savoring these four words in his mind.

It can be seen that the Political and Legal Affairs Commission is indeed very supportive of this film and television project. If they can really let go of their hands and feet to produce it, the final results and effects of this project will definitely not be bad.

But then again, the scope of the "anti-gang" campaign can indeed be relaxed a little.

After all, no matter how much the latter climbs upwards, it is still limited to the place. In comparison, the former has "no upper limit".

Meng Bai glanced at the rows of bookshelves, then looked at a batch of file bags on a table near the door: "Are there any special features of these cases?"

Zhu Dong explained: "Oh, these are the cases we selected that have a greater impact and are more representative in the special operation. If we want to adapt them, we can give priority to choosing from these."

Meng Bai walked over and took a look at them one by one. As expected, they were all cases that had previously sparked heated discussions online.

He reached out and tapped the file bag a few times, then looked up and said, "We shouldn't have this situation in the movie In the Name of People a few years ago, right?"

Zhu Dong was stunned for a moment, but immediately understood and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Mr. Meng, things are different now. If you have any questions, you can come to us directly."

At this point, he paused and continued, "Also, regarding the person I just mentioned, Mr. Meng can pay more attention to the news recently, and perhaps he can see some of his recent situation."

"Really?" Meng Bai smiled. "Then I'll have to pay more attention to it. Maybe I can get some material from it."

"Haha, it's a pity that our project is on a tight schedule, so we may not be able to wait for the data summary, otherwise we could add it to the story."

"It's okay, you can use it as a character background."

"Okay, then we'll look forward to Mr. Meng's script."

……

According to Zhu Dong, the special operation started in early 2018 and will end in early 2021, lasting a total of three years.

Since this project in cooperation with Arc Light is aimed at showing the results of the first round of actions, the broadcast time naturally cannot be too late. The Political and Legal Affairs Commission hopes that it can be broadcast during the summer vacation next year.

As a result, the time left for the preparation, shooting and production of Arc Light is less than a year, which is still very tight.

Therefore, after confirming some cooperation requirements with Zhu Dong, Meng Bai did not delay and called a meeting with the screenwriter team as soon as he returned to Arc Light.

After so many years of working together, he and his own screenwriter team now have a very good understanding of each other.

Every time there is a new project, he usually comes up with an overall plot framework first, including the story content and character settings, and then the screenwriter team fills in the details to complete the specific episode scripts.

This time is no exception. Meng Bai and the screenwriter team first integrate the information provided by the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and select content suitable for adaptation.

With sufficient real case data from the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, this work is not difficult. The only problem is that these materials cannot be taken away and can only be viewed internally.

Fortunately, the filming of "The Beginning" in Blue Island is nearing its end and will be completed before the end of the month, so Meng Bai doesn't have to worry too much.

Only Zhao Jinmai was not very happy. She finally got a "boyfriend" and they had been together for only a year, but he disappeared after just a few days.

Meng Bai comforted her on the phone, saying that after the filming was finished, she would return to Beijing to study. By then, they would be close and would have many opportunities to meet, so ten days or half a month wouldn't matter.

The girl thought about it and felt that it made sense. Her mood brightened up and she began to look forward to finishing the filming as soon as possible.
-
In late October, the Golden Eagle Awards, the last of the three major domestic TV drama awards, opened in Changsha.

The last Golden Eagle Awards caused the authority of the entire award to be questioned, and the Internet even directly called it a "third-rate award." Of course, this is essentially due to the unreasonable selection criteria of the Golden Eagle Awards itself, which caused the functions of the "Most Popular Actor" and "Most Popular Actor" awards to overlap.

Therefore, this year's Golden Eagle Awards simply separated the two awards and changed them directly to "Best Actor" and "Audience Favorite Actor". The former highlights professionalism, and the latter highlights traffic, which can be regarded as taking care of the needs of all parties.

In order to avoid the possibility of fans cheating, the organizers deliberately launched a wave of de-watering for the online voting for the "Audience Favorite Actor" award a few days before the awards ceremony. A total of more than 1.5 million votes were cleared for the 12 male and female nominated artists.

Unfortunately, even so, online comments on the Golden Eagle Awards are still full of distrust. It can only be said that if the authority of the award is to be restored, it will probably be difficult to recover without eight or ten sessions.

Compared to the fans' attention to the actor awards, the industry is more concerned about the work awards. The most eye-catching one is "The Bad Kids".

A few months ago, no one would have thought that a web drama could show such strong dominance and win both the Magnolia and Feitian Awards.

If it wins the "Best Film or TV Series" or "Outstanding Film or TV Series" award at this year's Golden Eagle Awards, it will be equivalent to completing the "Grand Slam" of the three major awards.

Although it is easier for a work to win the Grand Slam than for an actor, after all, there are many winners of the Feitian Award and the Golden Eagle Award. But to be honest, works that can win this honor do not appear every year.

The last work to win all three major awards was "White Deer Plain" in 2017.

After three years, a new "Grand Slam" work appeared in a web drama, and this year is the first time that web dramas are allowed to participate in the registration, which has a huge driving effect on the entire industry.

Now, it depends on whether the Golden Eagle Awards jury will go with the flow or go their own way.

"Old Zhang!"

At the Golden Eagle Awards ceremony, Meng Bai looked at Zhang Ruoyun not far away and raised his hand to greet him.

"Where did you come from?" Zhang Ruoyun came over and asked curiously, "I didn't see you walking on the red carpet?"

"I'm the only one from the crew who came here. I was too lazy to leave so I just walked in." Meng Bai joked, "Sure, I heard that you're also nominated for the 'Audience Favorite Actor' tonight. Do you have the confidence to win it?"

"You didn't even read the selection rules." Zhang Ruoyun complained, "This award is based entirely on online votes. I'm only ranked third, there's no way it's my turn."

"I didn't really notice that. You're so popular this year, but you're only ranked third? Who are the top two?"

"The first is Wang Yibo, the second is Yi Yang Qianxi."

Meng Bai understood immediately after hearing this. If it was just the actors who were voting, with Zhang Ruoyun's popularity after the hit drama Joy of Life at the beginning of the year, few people would be more popular than him this year. But with these two idols, they would have to fall behind.

There's nothing we can do about it. What they're playing for is traffic and popularity, which is a professional match for them.

"Do you have any other nominations?" Meng Bai asked.

"No."

"Why are you staying here all night if you can't win a prize?"

"I'm too lazy to come, but I'm the publicity ambassador for this year's Golden Eagle Awards, and I'm also responsible for presenting the awards, so I can't refuse." Zhang Ruoyun spread his hands, "Let's not talk about me, what about you? The Grand Slam is right in front of you, don't let it down at the last minute."

"No." Meng Bai said without any worry: "The Golden Eagle Awards this year lacked popularity. It's rare to have a gimmick that can be brought out. Even for the sake of award attention, they have to give the award to The Bad Kids."

After saying that, he chuckled and said, "Besides, I'm here, so I dare not deny the Golden Eagle Award to me."

"Fuck, I told you to pretend."

"I call this confidence, okay?" Meng Bai said, "By the way, I remember that Teacher Tang's due date is approaching, right?"

When this topic was mentioned, Zhang Ruoyun's eyes softened instantly: "It will be soon. The doctor said it will only take ten days or half a month."

"Then it will happen soon." Meng Bai put his arm around his shoulders and said with a smile, "Congratulations. I remember it's a girl, right? Let me know when the baby is born. I'll go see my future daughter-in-law."

"Get lost, who will be your daughter-in-law?"

Zhang Ruoyun laughed and scolded: "You don't even have a seed, so you are sure it is a son?"

"Make an appointment in advance. What if one of your sons is a simple man like his father and can't even talk to a girl?"

"How dare you say such a thing?"

Seeing his friend's shameless words, Zhang Ruoyun shook his head and said, "If you really have a son in the future, I will definitely tell my daughter to hide away early to avoid being cheated."

Meng Bai chuckled, then stroked his chin: "But in this case, you should have to take care of Teacher Tang for the next year, so you shouldn't have much time, right?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I originally wanted to find you for a new drama, so now I think I should contact Lao Bai."

"Hey, Mr. Meng, what you said is far-fetched. If it was another company's project, I would definitely turn it down, but given our relationship, I have to support my brother!"

After that, Zhang Ruoyun said, "Well, now that I have a daughter, I have to start earning money for her milk powder."

"Fuck, you have the nerve to say that? I think your income this year is higher than mine."

"You, a capitalist, want to compare your income with mine? You should really be hung on a street lamp!" Zhang Ruoyun complained, "By the way, what kind of movie do you plan to film with me?"

Meng Bai said: "You saw the Weibo I posted a few days ago, about that project."

"That's not right. This project didn't just come out. You don't even have a script yet, but you know I'm suitable for it?"

"The script and project plan have already been prepared, but I just happened to bring it up at this opportunity to attract some attention."

"... As expected, it has to be you." Zhang Ruoyun raised his thumb and gestured, "I have to take care of Yi Xin for a while before the end of the year. I will be free after the Chinese New Year."

"That's just right. We were originally planning to start filming next year."

"Thank you very much." Zhang Ruoyun patted his friend's shoulder, "What is the name of the new project?"

“Police Honor.”

(End of this chapter)