Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 536 Criticism
Perhaps because the withdrawal of "Mr. Six" had caused too much damage, Huayi Brothers hurriedly released part of its New Year's film list on the first day of the new year.

There are domestic films as well as international co-productions.

Among the more noteworthy domestic films are Feng Xiaogang's "I Am Not Madame Bovary," adapted from Liu Zhenyun's novel "I Am Not Madame Bovary"; the all-star fantasy 3D blockbuster "League of Gods," a collaboration with Xiang Laoban (this film was originally produced by Huayi Brothers); and "Run for Love," which will be released on Valentine's Day.

Two major foreign blockbusters are "Warcraft" and "Rock Dog".

More films will be officially released at Project H in March.

To be fair, although Huayi is on a downward trend and its performance last year was not good, there are still some nails left in a broken ship—Huayi is not a broken ship now—and the films it releases still look quite attractive.

However, Autumn Films' 40-day silence period has ended.

The nation's largest film and television company can finally speak out and take the time to retaliate against its competitors' previous smear campaign.

Business warfare can sometimes be very simple and straightforward, and can be summarized in two points, totaling ten words:

Wait for our competitors to commit suicide; our competitors are idiots.

The best example of the former is Ali Pictures. Ali's arrogance has led them to constantly court disaster. In November, its vice president openly declared that Ali does not need professional screenwriters, saying that Ali will invite the moderators of IP forums and fan fiction authors to have a writing competition, and whoever writes the best story will be used.

The result was naturally angered by the entire screenwriting industry, with some screenwriters even posting that they would not work with Ali. Although the matter ended with Ali clarifying and apologizing, the reputation of Ali Pictures can never be completely cleansed.

As for whether the competitors are idiots, that's a question for Autumn Pictures to answer.

In an interview, Chen Zhixi, vice president of Autumn Pictures, criticized the chaos in the industry: "Some companies use films that have just been approved or are even in the creative stage to fill their film slates, releasing a dozen or even dozens of films a year. Of course, this looks good on the surface, but it deceives the audience to some extent."

"Some films that are on the list of films to be released this year will still be on the list next year, and might even be on the list the year after next."

“My colleagues also advised me to learn from others and release twenty or thirty films a year, which would be much better. But I disagreed. If I’m going to release a film, it will be one that will definitely be released this year. I’d rather it not be as good on the surface than deceive the audience.”

"If we really want to release them, our company can release thirty or forty films a year, including those we invest in, those we co-invest in, and those we distribute. We have many films."

Then, Chen Zhixi added: "Some creators are too audacious. Although we talk about creative freedom, creators must not be self-righteous or think they are clever, otherwise they will only suffer the consequences in the end."

Those who understand will naturally understand that Chen Zhixi was criticizing Huayi.

After Li Qiutang finished her report at the ministry, she didn't receive any response and assumed that the ministry was discussing her report.

People need time to get things done, so he wasn't in a hurry.

Anyway, he has a lot of work to do.

First, there's the preparation work for "The Wandering Earth." The script has been finalized, and he's now building a team, recruiting people, and starting preparations.

From this point onward, as the director, Li Qiutang will be fully involved in the work of the production team.

But before "The Wandering Earth," he had another film, "The Butterfly Lovers," to make.

The script for "The Butterfly Lovers" is still in Li Qiang's hands, and there is no final draft. This script is tormenting Li Qiang, and also tormenting Li Qiutang.

Li Qiang has already written 3 versions, totaling 10 drafts and 70 words, but Li Qiutang is still not satisfied. He is also dissatisfied with the parts he wrote himself, and has to keep revising them.

Currently, less than 50% of the stories are usable.

Li Qiang even advised Li Qiutang to give up the script, believing that Li Qiutang was still young and not suitable to touch such a heavy family subject: "Wait 10 years, when you are 40 years old, and you will have a mature understanding of life and society, then it will be better to film it."

But Li Qiutang wouldn't listen. There was no other reason; he wanted to film it. His passion for this story was no less than that for "The Wandering Earth." The director insisted on making it, so as the screenwriter, he could only continue writing.

At the same time, Li Qiutang was also doing his homework. The story of "The Butterfly Lovers" was set around 2008, which is six years ago. In those six years, the development of China has changed dramatically. He needed to re-examine and try his best to restore the social status quo at that time.

With two major productions intertwined, Li Qiutang's daily life is busy and fulfilling.

It's already the end of the month, late at night.

"Director, aren't you leaving yet?" The last colleague who was working overtime was also leaving and came over to say goodbye to Li Qiutang.

"You can go first. I still have some things to finish here. I'll close the door." Li Qiutang looked up from behind the computer. "Is the cafeteria closed?"

"It's already 11 o'clock, and the cafeteria is out of food." Autumn Film Studio's cafeteria serves late-night snacks from 8 pm to 10 pm. "What do you want to eat? I'll order takeout for you."

"No need, you can go back now. Be careful on your way." Boss Li wouldn't let his employees pay for a late-night snack.

Goodbye, director.

Li Qiutang is currently drawing storyboards for "The Wandering Earth." Although she has ideas in her mind, drawing them out is still a very large task.

At 12 o'clock, Li Qiutang asked his first assistant to go home after get off work—Li Qiutang usually has 2-3 assistants when he works, as one assistant can't keep up with him.

Ten minutes later, the second assistant arrived at work, bringing the boss some late-night snacks.

"Director, take a break. You're working so hard every day. When Yifei comes back, she'll complain that we didn't tell you to rest properly." The assistant set out the late-night snack.

"She can say whatever she wants, don't listen to her." He himself doesn't listen to his wife.

But Li Qiutang still put down her pen and paper and ate something with her assistant.

Seeing the table laden with dishes, Li Qiutang said, "Eating so much for a late-night snack is a waste."

The assistant laughed and said, "These are all takeout orders I placed. Ordering takeout is cheaper now; this whole meal only cost a little over 100 yuan."

"It's quite cheap."

"Several food delivery platforms are now offering huge subsidies to attract users, just like ticket subsidies, so you can order a lot of food for very little money."

It's not surprising that even the wealthy eat cheap takeout.

Just as Li Qiutang picked up her chopsticks, her phone rang. It was Wu Jing, who sent her a final draft of the script for "Wolf Warrior 2" and said, "Qiutang, this is the script for the second movie. Take a look and see what you think."

Li Qiutang simply replied with a voice message: "I'm at the company now. Come over and chat if it's convenient for you. I just had my late-night snack. Let's eat and chat at the same time."

Wu Jing didn't think there was anything wrong with bothering me so late at night, and immediately agreed: "I'll definitely come if there's food. I'm in Huairou, and I'll be there now. Eat slowly, and don't leave me any leftovers when I get there."

Li Qiutang and her assistant ate while waiting for Wu Jing, and discussed work arrangements.

Including a video conference with the US in two hours; and having to leave for Hebei Province early tomorrow morning to attend the opening ceremony of the company's new cinema, Li Qiutang can only rest in the car.

It's another long night; being a boss is no easy task.

Just then, Wu Jing arrived carrying a bag of several boxes of vegetables and a bottle of wine.

(End of this chapter)