Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 1: Starting with Graduation Assignment

Li Qiutang's studio is located in a residential area outside Beijing Film Academy. It has three bedrooms and two living rooms, and he usually lives here.

The conditions are average, but it is great to have such a place to stay. Many students from the Directing Department, Acting Department, and Photography Department use this place as an off-campus base to complete their assignments.

"Qiutang, someone's looking for you." A young boy carrying a camera tripod pushed the door open, followed by a middle-aged man in a hat.

Li Qiutang sat at the table eating noodles, slurped a mouthful, and asked, "How was your scene?"

"No. Let's go to Hebei Province tomorrow." The young man casually placed the tripod in the corner. "I met him on the way here. He said he wanted to see you, so I brought him here. You guys chat. I'll go in and take a nap."

The middle-aged man glanced at Li Qiutang and said with a smile, "I'm from XX Music Company, my last name is Liu." Then he handed over his business card.

Li Qiutang didn't know him. He took the business card, glanced at it, and said, "The person who has been in contact with me in your company is Mr. Wang."

"Yes, Mr. Wang is working on a new album recently. I have heard of your name for a long time, so I came here on my own initiative." The visitor smiled but was very surprised in his heart because Li Qiutang looked too young.

Li Qiutang waved her hand: "What a big name, not worth mentioning."

"You're welcome. The two songs you gave our company both sold very well and made us a lot of money."

"It's a win-win cooperation, and we all make money together." Li Qiutang took over this sentence, because he did make a lot of money from the two songs he wrote.

Mr. Liu pushed a bank card over and said, "The company wants to make an appointment with you for two more songs. This is a deposit of 10 yuan."

However, Li Qiutang did not agree immediately: "No one expected the popularity of "Ten Thousand Reasons" and "Pray to the Buddha", and I can't guarantee that the songs I write later will be popular."

Mr. Liu said: "Of course I know this, but "Ten Thousand Reasons" and "Pray to Buddha" are so popular, it is reasonable for you to collect a deposit of 10." The music company is paying a high price for a good product.

Li Qiutang still refused: "Forget it. I have to work on my graduation project this semester and I really don't have time to write songs."

It was then that Mr. Liu, who had just arrived, realized that the songwriter in front of him who had brought huge profits to the company was actually a student who had not yet graduated.

"What is your major?"

"I'm a directing major," Li Qiutang said. "To be honest, I wrote the two songs "Ten Thousand Reasons" and "Pray to the Buddha" in my spare time. I really don't have time to write songs this year."

Mr. Liu tried to persuade her twice more, but when he saw that Li Qiutang still refused to give in, he let it go for the time being: "Well, there's no rush for the new song. The most important thing is that you finish filming the short film and graduate successfully. We will have the opportunity to work together again in the future."

"No problem." Li Qiutang stood up and shook hands with Mr. Liu to say goodbye, saying with a smile, "If I can't be a director after graduation, I will come to work in your company. Mr. Liu must take me in then."

Mr. Liu smiled and said, "It's a deal then." Everyone can say such a nice thing.

After seeing off Mr. Liu from the music company, Li Qiutang's noodles were clumping together. He was wondering whether he should pour some hot water and mix it again.

Li Qiutang's refusal to sing with Mr. Liu was partly true and partly false.

It’s true. This is the second semester of his senior year, and he has to spend most of his time and energy on the graduation short film.

What’s false is that he does have a lot of hit songs that he can write and sell, such as “Wait a Minute” and “Autumn Will Not Come Back”.

Li Qiutang simply didn't want to do it anymore.

He was ambivalent, or a little bit pretentious, about these songs.

On the one hand, he earned more than 500 million every quarter from the ringtones of the two songs "Ten Thousand Reasons" and "Pray to Buddha". He felt really good during those few days when the money arrived in the bank. When signing the contract with the music company, Li Qiutang only wanted the lion's share of the ringtone income and almost gave up on commercial performances and income from other channels.

On the other hand, he also admitted that the musical aesthetics of these songs were indeed not that high-end, but he wanted the money and just wanted to do the job secretly, make the money and leave quickly, and he didn't want to engage in a "music career."

In the column for the composer of the two lyrics, Li Qiutang's made-up stage name was filled in.

"Hey," Li Qiutang said to herself as she used chopsticks to stir the clumping noodles, "It's all about making money. You're living a second life, but you're still so pretentious. Ning Hao was still shooting commercials and music videos before he became famous."

But Ning Hao didn’t make as much money as Li Qiutang does now by shooting commercials and MVs!
Once people have some money, they want to pursue more money.

Li Qiutang's savings should be enough to support his progress. In his previous life, Li Qiutang was also a director, a director who went with the flow - he usually filmed everything, did some professional work, and took his own share of the money.

Once I have saved enough money, I want to create my own original work, mainly to pursue my artistic dream and imagine myself as the next Apichatpong.

If the original work fails, just continue to do your job.

so repeatedly.

Li Qiutang clearly remembered that his last thought before his rebirth was: "Box office revenue is still the most tangible thing."

Just as he was lost in thought, the classmate who had been sleeping inside called him:

"Qiutang, what are you shooting for your graduation short film? Have you submitted it yet?"

Li Qiutang said: "I haven't thought about it yet."

“Don’t know what to shoot?”

Li Qiutang shook her head: "There are too many ideas, I don't know which one to shoot."

He was choked and his friend scolded him: "You will be beaten to death sooner or later if you pretend like this."

But think about it, Li Qiutang is the most promising one in the 02 directing class, and his student assignments have won many prestigious short film awards, so he must have a lot of ideas.

But it is very difficult for new directors to come to the fore nowadays. The most prominent young director in recent years is Lu Chuan. However, he has a good father and has been a screenwriter for so many years, accumulating a lot of connections and resources. He almost couldn't get investment for "Looking for the Gun". If Lu Chuan hadn't secured Jiang Wen in advance, China Film Corporation would not have invested at all.

Li Qiutang was a student. No matter how talented she was, without help from others, it would be harder than climbing to the sky for her to become a director after graduation.

Li Qiutang was well aware of this reality, so he had been worried recently. With graduation in less than half a year, he had to make some achievements.

In fact, it’s not that there were no film crews that invited him. Li Qiutang won many short film awards and was praised by school teachers. Some film crews invited him to be executive and assistant director.

In fact, doing these jobs is a normal start for a directing student. Li Qiutang has also done it - and can be considered to have officially entered the industry - it is almost the second semester of her senior year, so she has to come back to shoot a graduation short film.

The noodles were completely clumped up and inedible, so Li Qiutang simply threw them away.

Li Qiutang took the notebook and opened the document, where he listed a few ideas that he wanted to shoot and could shoot:
The Tuner

"Black Hole"

Room 8

"Mirror"

"Love Boy"

Li Qiutang looked at the cursor flashing on the screen, still unable to decide which one to take a picture of.

The familiar Nokia ringtone sounded, and Li Qiutang picked up the phone without even looking at it: "Hello."

"Qiutang, Qiangui, fellow villagers gathering."

"You guys play, I have something else to do." Li Qiutang refused.

"Let me tell you, Qin Lan is hosting today, and they are asking why Qiu Tang didn't come. There are several other directors on site, so you can come and build some connections."

This was the truth, and Li Qiutang didn't bother to think about why Qin Lan wanted to see her. She just put on her clothes and went out.

　I'm a newbie on the road, and I'm asking for all your support. If you want to invest, please hurry up, the status will change soon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)