Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 518 Li Qiutang's heart skipped a beat
Later that day, Li Qiutang received a message from the American team at the front lines.

Autumn, Legendary Pictures, and Universal Pictures have not yet reached a specific cooperation agreement, but Zhang Zhao took the initiative to advance a sum of money, which temporarily kept the production team afloat.

Toro and his team are already in Toronto, waiting for Legends to send the money. Toro still refuses to listen to the advice of Legends and Universal, and refuses to revise the script or reduce the budget.

He had become a "sucker" and had to pay money upfront before the contract was even signed, but this kind of thing could be told as a long story in China.

"Autumn Pictures has already allocated the first batch of funds to the 'Pacific Rim 2' production team, and Liu Yifei will join the crew next week." Which word is wrong?
Even if a company were to seek verification from Legendary or Universal, it would only receive similar statements.

Domestic companies became even more anxious upon hearing this news, as they really wanted to get on board with "Pacific Rim 2".

But the ticket is firmly in Qiu Tian's hands. Liu Yifei is about to start filming next week, and Qiu Tian hasn't released any of his shares. It seems that, as rumored, Qiu Tian wants to monopolize "Pacific Rim 2".

Such a big film, you wouldn't be afraid of overeating it if you ate it all yourself!
There was no other way but to repeatedly visit them to request a negotiation.

Li Qiutang knew the principle that the longer he held on, the more he would earn, and he wasn't afraid of letting the film spoil. He refused to see any requests for negotiation.

It's real fishing, and it's also really busy.

Li Qiutang is busy with three films: "Mojin: The Lost Legend" is set to be released in a month, and the crew is currently doing the final foreign language dubbing work. The version released in English-speaking countries will be the original Chinese audio with English subtitles, while the version for non-English-speaking countries will be the original Chinese audio with subtitles in the local language. Of course, there will also be a version dubbed in the local language. The crew has been recording Korean and Thai dubbing this week. It is worth mentioning that, except for Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia have all signed simultaneous release contracts with Vanta. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it will be released simultaneously across Asia on the 18th. The work on "The Butterfly Lovers" is the easiest, as Li Qiang has not yet given him the script.

The most gratifying progress is in the work on "The Wandering Earth". Under Li Qiutang's leadership, the scriptwriting for "The Wandering Earth" has progressed rapidly. The screenwriter has been on the team for only half a year and has already finalized half of the script. The remaining half will still need to be revised continuously.

Alongside the script, the writing of "Chronicles of the Wandering Earth" was also progressing. Written by Li Qiutang herself, it took half a year to complete and is now finalized.

Chronicles belong to the worldview part. Li Qiutang believes that the establishment of a worldview is like an iceberg. 90% of it is submerged underwater and not shown in the movie, but without this 90%, it is impossible to support the tip of the iceberg in the movie.

In a typical production team, having half of the script would be enough to start the project and begin preparations. However, Li Qiutang refused to do so. He demanded at least 80% of the script be finalized before he would start the project.

The company naturally respected his ideas. Everything on this project was done according to Li Qiutang's wishes. No one dared to start the machine without his approval.

Today, Li Qiutang invited several producers to her studio for the first script presentation of "The Wandering Earth".

A 50% final draft of the script plus a 50% draft is enough to support a script presentation.

Li Qiutang personally took to the stage and performed the entire script with screenwriter Zhang Jialu.

Neither of them were good at acting, and they made a lot of mistakes at first, but since the presentation was about the script and story, no one cared about their acting anymore.

La Dong was engrossed in the performance. After the two finished, La Dong led the applause, feeling that the story was already very complete and touching.

He particularly praised a working method called "saturation rescue" that appeared in the second half of the script, saying, "This idea is excellent and very much in line with our work style." La Dong didn't talk much about ideology, but rather focused on the film itself, saying, "It effectively solves the shortcoming of individual heroism in American blockbusters, where the protagonist saves the world while everyone else is doing nothing."
"I think your angle is very good. Our camera focuses on the protagonist, which is correct. The protagonist is saving the world, but people outside the focus are also saving the world. Saving the world cannot be done by a few people; it requires the power of the collective. I think your way of presenting it is very good and unique."

However, the writing team has not yet decided whether to use "saturation rescue" because such a rescue method does not highlight the contributions of the main characters, and the writers are worried that the audience will not accept it.

Such concerns are not unfounded, and Li Qiutang has no intention of blaming anyone.

But at the same time, he also knew that the screenwriters were waiting for his approval.

What was Li Qiutang afraid of? The crew leader was in charge of this kind of work, and he immediately decided to use the saturation rescue concept: "As long as the process looks good, the result is a successful rescue anyway." The reason was that simple.

Chen Zhixi's time in Hollywood was worthwhile; without Li Qiutang even having to say anything, she knew it was time to bring in the art team.

Are you looking for actors?

"No rush." ​​It's too early to find actors now. "You should focus on raising money first."

Currently, only two companies, Autumn Film Group and China Film Group, are working on the "Wandering Earth" project.

Speaking of this, Chen Zhixi looked troubled: "I tried talking to several companies, but no one believed me."

"Nobody believes me?" Li Qiutang laughed.

Chen Zhixi then shook her head: "It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I don't trust the brand of domestic science fiction. Many company bosses say that Chinese science fiction is not ready yet. Even if you make it, can you guarantee that it will make money?"

“I promise,” Li Qiutang said with a smile, “If this film doesn’t gross 40 billion, I’m quitting.”

Chen Zhixi dismissed it as a boast or joke, and continued, "Money is a minor issue. Even if others don't invest, China Film Group and I can come up with the 3 million or 5 million. The real problem is trust; nobody believes in us." As the executive producer, Chen Zhixi felt this most acutely.

The day after the script presentation meeting, Li Qiutang was invited by Mr. Hu, who worked in the publicity department, to a hotel's long-stay room for a discussion.

When Li Qiutang arrived, besides Mr. Hu, there were two other unfamiliar middle-aged men in the room.

Mr. Hu introduced them on his behalf: "This is Chairman Zhao of Changchun Film Group, who is about to take office; this is Director X of the Cultural Affairs Department."

After hearing the introduction, Li Qiutang was slightly taken aback. What important matter were the two directors and the chairman discussing behind closed doors?
This was a private meeting, not a formal conference. The three avoided formalities, exchanging a few pleasantries before getting straight to the point:

"The film and television industry, especially the film industry, is highly valued by the authorities. Our film market is growing every year, and the box office is getting higher and higher each year. The relevant departments are very satisfied with the achievements in recent years. But there is one problem: we in the mainland do not have a film award that we can be proud of. Although the Golden Rooster Award is the highest academic award in the mainland, to be frank, we really can't beat the Golden Horse Award from the other side."

Li Qiutang nodded.

"The idea now is to establish a film award with real prestige. Our box office is so high every year, but if the awards don't have any prestige, it's like we're crippled and can't move forward quickly."

Li Qiutang nodded again.

“It’s unrealistic to start a new film festival; it’s too extravagant. Some veteran comrades also wouldn’t allow it. Starting the awards from scratch would be too difficult. The organization’s idea is to try reorganizing an established film festival, adhere to long-termism, and spend 5-10 years to enhance the prestige of the film awards.”

Li Qiutang nodded and listened attentively.

“You are young and energetic, knowledgeable and professional, so we would like to invite you to come and talk, to see if we can come up with some ideas together, which can be considered as pooling our wisdom... The organization still wants to set up a pilot project at the Changchun Film Festival. You are from Northeast China, so working together to make the Changchun Film Festival a success can be considered as contributing to your hometown.”

Li Qiutang's heart skipped a beat.

(End of this chapter)