Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 397 Interview Transcript (34)

It takes at least a year for a movie to go from planning to release.

Most of them are two years!

Investing in movies is roughly equivalent to predicting whether a stock will rise or fall two or many years from now.

Therefore, many viewers think the investors are idiots...

Why won't you invest in "Wolf Warrior 2" or "The Wandering Earth"?

The first "Ne Zha" film was later abandoned due to a withdrawal of funding, with only 60 million yuan remaining.

But Shanghai Fortress actually managed to secure 3 million yuan in investment!

The reason is simple: information lag…

You need to understand that when "Shanghai Fortress" was in its initial planning stages, it was still the era of young heartthrobs and big IPs. The lead actor, Lu Han, was a top star; his announcement of his girlfriend crashed Weibo. "Shanghai Fortress," an IP from Jiangnan…

Not only "Shanghai Fortress", but also "Europe Raiders" and "Asura" are typical examples of films that failed due to production delays while trying to replicate the sure-fire money-making business models of the previous era.

However, the times changed so quickly that capital was caught off guard.

Shen Yan continued, "Study the market, study the genres... Don't always try to produce something big. In the current creative environment, what profound and great masterpieces can you expect to create?"

"...Is this all you need?"

"We also need to add a touch of sincerity... Also, once the overall framework is finalized, it shouldn't be changed... Therefore, the directors I chose are all very pure; we're making purely commercial films, without any pretentious or empty so-called artistic expression..."

"But Hong Kong filmmakers are also very pure!"

"Their approach is a bit outdated... You can't rely on nostalgia every time; the audience's taste is evolving!"

Yang Lan nodded: "I heard you made the movie 'The Purge'?"

Shen Yan thought for a moment, then said, "It was my suggestion... There are many independent film companies in New York whose business is to find films at film festivals around the world and release them in the United States... A24 initially had the same plan... I proposed to make a film called 'The Purge'..."

"I heard the cost was less than $200 million?"

"Yes, filming took 12 days in total, and the sets were very simple... just one house and a few cars..."

"That's awesome!"

Shen Yan waved his hand: "Some movies rely on creativity and scale... 'The Purge' is a work derived from a concept, which is legal violence and legal massacre... The rest was done by the screenwriter!"

"Why would you invest in an American film company?"

"The main investment was in David Fenkel..."

Shen Yan recounted the process: "Back then, we were making 'Finding Mr. Right' and needed to film in North America. Then I met David Fenkel and talked to him. He suggested that we film in Vancouver... The filming costs in Seattle were too high. We did the math and realized that if we were to film in Seattle, it would cost at least $500 million, but if we went to Vancouver, we could do it for $300 million. Plus, Vancouver offers tax refunds, and he helped us get a 25% tax refund... Later, I learned that he had partnered with someone to start an independent film company, so I invested a little and became a co-founder!"

"Invested in an independent film company?"

“Yes… there are a lot of independent film companies in New York, and they say they know a lot about the North American market… I didn’t initially intend to invest. The Purge was originally planned to be a collaboration with Lionsgate, but it just happened to be a coincidence!”

……

When it's your first time on a TV show, you'll definitely have to talk about your family background and such.

"My grandfather used to work as a lighting technician at the Hunan Film Studio. Later, when the studio was restructured, he and my second uncle were laid off... They both went to Changsha TV Station to continue working behind the scenes... They worked on shows like 'Yongzheng Dynasty,' 'Towards the Republic,' 'National Action,' 'Ming Dynasty 1566,' and 'The Young Pioneers'..."

"So, you've known Director Zhang Li for a long time?"

“We’ve only met once,” Shen Yan shook his head. “The film crew was divided into groups. My second uncle was in the art department, working with Professor Cui Weidong… So later, when Professor Cui became the director of photography for ‘National Anthem,’ he called me over to join the crew…”

"That first EP..."

"Teacher Wen Zhang took me to a bar. Fan Fan was a shareholder in that bar, and he often sang there... They asked me to go on stage and sing two songs, so I did..." "And then, they released an EP for you?"

"Pretty much. Teacher Wen Zhang introduced me to Sister Hua, who signed me, introduced Brother Ji Xiang as my manager, and then found Teacher Zhang Yidong as the producer. That's how my first EP came about!"

"And what about 'Architecture 101'? Was that your first film?"

“Yes!” Shen Yan nodded: “Back then, Brother Ji Xiang pulled all sorts of strings to get me a role in a movie…”

"You don't want to play a supporting role?"

"No, it's not that... it's just that those projects sounded unreliable... and they didn't think much of me, so I told them I'd write a script myself!"

"And then you wrote 'An Introduction to Architecture'?"

"Hmm..." Shen Yan nodded: "Thank you, Sister Bingbing, for your generous participation... Without her, we wouldn't have been able to secure any investment!"

Yang Lan shook her head, not quite believing it: "Such a good script can't attract investment?"

"Many investors don't understand film. If you ask them to pick films to invest in, they can only judge whether it's worth investing in based on obvious things like the director and actors..."

“I don’t understand these things…” Yang Lanzhu changed the subject, then took out three books: “Lotus Pavilion, Bandits, Snow Swordsman… are they all your works?”

"Yes... Lotus Pavilion is the first one!"

Which book is the best-selling?

“That must be ‘Lotus Pavilion’,” Shen Yan added. “After the TV series aired, another edition was published, which sold 170 million copies!”

"I read a bit of 'The Snow Sword'...it doesn't seem like a wuxia novel?"

"Pure martial arts films don't sell well... let's add a touch of fantasy..."

Yang Lan continued, "I've seen many netizens say that 'A World Worthy of Honor'... is also a novel you wrote?"

"Yeah, web novels... I was pretty poor back then, and I wrote 'Lotus Pavilion' and 'Peerless in This World' at the same time..."

"They said you update 20,000 words a day?"

"Haha..." Shen Yan chuckled, "It's not like I update 20,000 words every day... but I did finish writing 'Peerless Supreme', a 4.4 million-word novel, in ten months..."

Do you still have plans to write online novels?

"Not at the moment..."

We chatted for a while, and I casually asked about his rumored relationships...

Since his debut, Shen Yan has been rumored to be dating Liu Shishi and Yang Mi.

Yes, those two are the most popular right now!
Yan Ge's answer was perfectly watertight—they're just friends, and he's not considering dating for the time being…

Then, we finally got to the topic of "The Big Shot"...

As I said before, almost all variety shows eventually become the same type, as mentioned in this promotion.

"This is an experiment, an experiment in the police and crime genre! In the past, due to various uncontrollable factors, we were always constrained in our filming. Although some excellent police and crime films have emerged, most of these films have storylines that are detached from reality and have conflicting values."

"This movie, from the very beginning of its creation, was about venting anger and seeking fairness... The recent scandals involving a bunch of rich kids and children of officials have made everyone feel very aggrieved!"

So, the male protagonist is named Sun Wukong (the Monkey King), and in the end, he even brings down the so-called big shot!

"The story is simple: a junior police officer confronts an arrogant and domineering rich kid... Once the theme was decided, our job was to present it... Initially, we considered giving the rich kid a tragic childhood... but then we felt it wasn't necessary. A murderer is a murderer; there's no need for reasons or explanations of the perpetrator's suffering..."

　I went out for a walk, Chapter 4 will be delayed...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)