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

Chapter 50 A Congenial Director

For many young people working away from home, going home for the Spring Festival may not be easier than going to work. In addition to being nagged by their parents on a daily basis, they also have to visit relatives non-stop during the Spring Festival.

For example, Meng Bai's family basically keeps going back and forth between the homes of their parents from the evening of New Year's Eve to the fifth day of the New Year.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Meng Bai followed his parents back to his grandmother's house according to custom. This day in previous years was usually the most boring time for Meng Bai. His grandmother's house was in the village and there was no Internet connection. He used his mobile phone to go online, but the 3G network was slow and expensive.

But this year, with the popularization of 4G, mobile phones can finally come in handy in this ancient village.

Meng Bai leaned on the sofa, holding his phone and constantly replying to WeChat messages.

Although the audience generally does not pay attention to the producers and screenwriters when watching dramas, people in the industry will certainly not ignore them. With the popularity of "Soul Ferry", Meng Bai has also gained some fame in the industry, so this year there are particularly many people sending New Year greetings text messages and WeChat messages.

Although many people were just nodding acquaintances and had little contact with each other, Meng Bai's current status was not yet at the point where he could do whatever he wanted, so he responded to every greeting that came his way.

"Teacher Li, Happy New Year!"

"Lao Zhang, where are you? Oh, I forgot you are from Beijing North. Let's get together when I get back."

"Boss Li, the teacher has made the contact for you. When you finish your New Year work, I will take you there."

"Happy New Year, Junior Sister!"

……

Meng Bai was replying to the messages one by one, either perfunctorily or seriously, when suddenly a phone call came in.

"Hey, Brother Guo, Happy New Year!" Meng Bai took the initiative to speak.

"Happy New Year, Happy New Year." A man's voice came from the phone.

The man who called was Guo Fan, a director Meng Bai had worked with before.

When Meng Bai was in college, he posted a short story online called "The Adventures of Li Xianji", which was a love story with science fiction elements.

This novel was later picked up by a company called Dasheng Film and Television, which bought the adaptation rights and planned to make it into a movie. They also invited Meng Bai, the original author, to be the screenwriter.

The director of the film was Guo Fan, who was not a professional, but because he liked science fiction and movies, he went to school to learn on his own. When he was on the set, he and Meng Bai had a good chat, and the two seemed to be of similar temperament.

Unfortunately, Meng Bai was dissatisfied with the constant changes made by the investors and the leading actors to the script, and the two quarreled and parted ways unhappily. As for the fact that the movie flopped due to mediocre word of mouth and Meng Bai was put on the gray list, that is another story.

Guo Fan was actually standing with Meng Bai at the time, but unfortunately his influence was not strong enough to make a difference. However, because of their friendship of "sharing hardships", the two of them have kept in touch.

When looking for a director, Meng Bai also thought of Guo Fan, but unfortunately he had just finished a movie at that time, so he missed the opportunity for a second collaboration.

"How is it, Brother Guo, have you finished filming your movie?" Meng Bai asked.

"We just finished filming on New Year's Day, and have been busy with post-production recently. We just finished it." Guo Fan said, "By the way, I haven't congratulated you yet. I kept watching your drama a few days ago, but I didn't find out that you were the screenwriter until today. Congratulations, you finally made it."

"Well, it's just a web drama, how can it be called success." Meng Bai said: "Brother Guo, you have received another movie, this is called success. By the way, when will it be released?"

"I was just about to tell you. It's scheduled to be released in mid-April. If it's convenient for you then, come and join in the fun at the premiere," said Guo Fan.

"Ha, okay, I'll definitely be there." Meng Bai responded with a smile.

After hanging up the phone, Meng Bai searched for relevant information on the Internet, only to find out that Guo Fan was filming a youth film called "You, My Deskmate" this time.

Isn't this a song?

Meng Bai was puzzled, and then he searched and found out that the producer of the movie was Gao Dajin, the original author of this classic graduation song.

Wow, are these youth campus-themed movies so popular now? Everyone wants to take a look.

Should I take advantage of this wave of popularity for my next script? But the problem is that most of the themes I am good at are suspense, mystery, criminal investigation, and crime, which have nothing to do with campus youth.

"You just lie here and play with your phone as soon as you get home. Can you go out for a walk instead of working?"

Mother Meng, who was busy preparing lunch, became furious when she saw Meng Bai, who was half lying on the sofa holding his cell phone with a "dull" look in his eyes.

Meng Bai was searching for a story that could "take advantage of the trend" among the countless fragments of inspiration in his mind. Hearing what his mother said, he stood up obediently, went to the warehouse to get a broom, and started to clean up in a pretentious manner.

I rarely go home once a year, so why make my mother angry?

After walking around with a broom in his hand, Meng Bai saw his aunt's little cousin in the bedroom, who was also looking at his cell phone.

"What are you watching?" Meng Bai asked, "Pleasant Goat or Big Bear?" The cousin glanced at Meng Bai and said calmly, "Brother, I'm a freshman in high school this year, and I'm too old to watch cartoons."

"Ah, I'm already in the first year of high school." Meng Bai said slightly embarrassedly.

How come children grow up so fast? In his impression, this little cousin is still the little brat who cried and wanted to watch Bald Qiang chop down trees.

"Then what are you looking at?" Meng Bai tried hard to find some common language with the young man.

"The latest online drama is called Soul Ferry." The little cousin said, "Many of my classmates are watching it, so I have to watch it too, otherwise I will have nothing to talk about."

Meng Bai raised his eyebrows. Are the social interactions among high school students so social nowadays?

But it’s not bad either. “Pendulum” has expanded to the group of high school students, which will bring another large wave of views.

Moreover, he unexpectedly discovered a point that he had not thought of before. "Pendulum" was just updated with all episodes before the Chinese New Year, and then it caught up with the New Year holiday, so there must be many young people like him who are bored back home and will choose to watch the show.

Especially for students who are still in school, they all get lucky money when they go home for the Spring Festival. Although most of it will be taken away by their parents on the pretext of "keeping it for you", there will still be some left, in case someone gets excited and signs up for a membership or something.

Sure enough, it made sense for me to choose to go online before the New Year.

But then again, as a web drama, some units of "Soul Ferry" are quite large in scale and scary in nature. Is it not suitable for teenagers to watch?
Meng Bai glanced at his cousin's screen. As the "creator" of this drama, he could tell from just one picture that what he was watching should be the third episode of "Lust, Caution".

As expected, this unit seems to have some "not suitable for children" plots, and it seems to be exactly the part that my little cousin is watching now.

Listening to the various "gasping sounds" coming from "Zhao Li" and the female protagonist in the unit on the phone, Meng Bai tried to give his little cousin some "popular science" on correct values.

"You may not understand, their current behavior is..."

"Make an appointment to get a room, I know." The little cousin looked at Meng Bai calmly: "There are some couples in our school who are dating. After school, they will make an appointment to go to a hotel near the school. We will occasionally meet when we pass by."

After that, he looked at Meng Bai and said, "Brother, if you have anything you don't understand, you can ask me."

"Fuck, I'm a veteran brother, why would I need to ask a little brat like you?"

Are high school students now so awesome? I still remember when he was in school, he would talk about a boy and a girl holding hands and strolling around the playground for a week.

"You weren't with them, were you?" Meng Bai glanced at his little cousin.

"No, they are mostly athletes or people from wealthy families. They are not in the same circle as us."

"Then you don't have a girlfriend either?" Meng Bai asked curiously.

"No, I haven't finished my homework yet, so I don't have the mood to do that." The little cousin said, "Besides, the girls in our school are too ugly."

"Wow, you have high standards." Meng Bai asked, "Then what kind do you like?"

"How should I put it..." The little cousin said, tapping a few times on his phone and showing it to Meng Bai, "I think the girl who plays the female lead 'Wang Xiaoya' is pretty. Hey, brother, I heard from my aunt that you are also in the film and television industry? Do you know her? Can you help me get an autograph?"

Meng Bai narrowed his eyes, then smiled kindly and said, "Okay, I'll ask for you later."

"Thank you bro!"

My cousin thanked me cheerfully, and then sent a voice message on QQ to a friend or classmate: "Who's going out to play tonight? If there are many people, I'll go talk to my mom and go back to the city tonight."

Hearing this, Meng Bai volunteered, "It's okay, I'll go talk to your mother."

"Ah, no, brother, I..."

Meng Bai interrupted the little cousin halfway through his words. He shouted to the outer room, "Aunt, my cousin said he wants to go out with his female classmates tonight and get a room to play. He plans to go back to the city."

Cousin:?
"What nonsense are you talking about, you little bastard! Did your dad teach you that? You don't even look at your final exam score and you just want to go out and play every day. Did you change a word on the homework you brought back? I'm telling you, you're not allowed to go anywhere until you finish today's homework. You hold your phone all day and read these messed up things..."

Accompanied by his aunt's scolding and his little cousin's pleas for mercy, Meng Bai nodded in satisfaction and automatically ignored the following few words.

As a young person, the best thing to do is to study more and not just think about playing all day long.

Alas, I saved the flowers of my motherland again today. I am so kind.

　Thanks to the big boss “Le Jianshen” for the reward!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)