Abstract Art Award Winner

Chapter 228 A sea of ​​people

"Sister Ruonan, I think you could collaborate with us sometime, since you have a lot of male fans."

Zhang Ruonan herself rose to fame as an internet celebrity, but now that she has tasted the sweetness of being a star, she is less inclined to go back.

"Okay, let's go back to our original question: do you want to make money or pursue further education?"

"I want both."

"I want both, and I also want to be an actress."

Zhou Le pondered for a moment: "Either you try to achieve upward compatibility, but that's clearly not an option, or you try downward compatibility."

"What can you do with backward compatibility? Make web series?"

Just then, an idea suddenly popped into Zhou Le's mind.

He glanced at Zhang Ruonan.

He hadn't thought about it this way before, but as they talked, he suddenly felt like he had grasped something.

Although the domestic short drama market was already considered novel back when "Men's Diary" and "Unexpectedly" were produced, the overall production still tends to be more refined.

The content must be of high quality; otherwise, despite the existence of some short dramas with workplace or family themes over the years, they have not taken off.

But whether it's the rise of Douyin or other joke platforms, they all ultimately utilize people's fragmented time.

If that's the case, why can't we also break down movies and TV shows into smaller, more fragmented formats?
Are they trying to imitate those short anime series that only last two or three minutes per episode to make TV dramas?

After that, Zhou Le didn't say anything more. While MCM's operations could be discussed openly without Zhang Ruonan's knowledge, the short drama was something he couldn't just talk about.

After that, they chatted about this and that for a while, and finally Zhou Le told Zhang Ruonan that he would think of other ways later.

After all, Zhang Ruonan's real problem right now isn't that her fan base is all male, but that she can't monetize it. If she could monetize it, she would be willing to keep acting in idol dramas.

And then, isn't that also a drama?

After the dinner party ended, Zhang Ruonan went home first, while Zhou Le dragged Guo Qiling to his own home.

"Brother Le, do you have a good idea? I just saw you seem to have a flash of inspiration, but you looked like you couldn't say it."

"Indeed, Qi Ling, do you read novels?"

"I watch it occasionally, but not often."

"Do you know anything about Dragon King, God of War, son-in-law, or those female-oriented novels about real and fake heiresses, rebirth and revenge, etc."

"I know, but I've never seen anything like this before."

"I have an idea now, which is to turn this kind of novel into a screenplay. The main focus is on being short, fast-paced, and full of showing off and face-slapping moments, so that people don't have to think too much and the pace is quick. We don't even need to hire expensive actors and directors."

As long as it's plausible, we can attract traffic on some platforms first, and later we can even make our own app, just like those online novel sites.

"That's a good idea. We can take a two-pronged approach and even arrange for the internet celebrities we've signed to act in movies. After all, which internet celebrity doesn't want to be an actor?"

"Okay, okay, let's do it that way."

"But Brother Le, this thing..."

"You do it, and I'll invest in it later."

Because not many people are doing this model yet, Zhou Le felt it was too time-consuming. He figured that being able to make money while lying down was much better than going through all the trouble.

But Guo Qiling thought again that the chances of success were very high, since the initial investment wouldn't be much.

Besides, since it was Zhou Le's idea, he didn't want to steal the spotlight.

"Brother Le, why don't we start a company in your name? At worst, I'll work for you."

"Either is fine, but I definitely won't have time to deal with these things."

“It’s alright, leave it all to me. I’ve been studying company management lately. You can take 70 or 80% of the shares, and I’ll contribute some money for 10 or 20%. I’ll take care of the company’s affairs. You just need to focus on the general direction and collecting money.”

"also."

Just do it.

However, their first step is to get the company up and running; they need to establish a film and television company first.

The two went to register the next day.

Guo Qiling's office has already been rented; it's just a matter of putting up a sign outside to give the company a place to be located.

Immediately afterwards, Guo Qiling contacted various novel platforms to purchase the copyrights.

The copyrights of those female-oriented online platforms sell relatively easily; they are often sold in bundles for 50,000 or 100,000 yuan each.

Just then, the prize money for the Magnolia Award and the Five-One Project Award was distributed, and Zhou Le took out two-thirds of it and gave it to Guo Qiling to acquire the copyright.

Guo Qiling will use some of the remaining funds to maintain the company's daily operations, and Zhou Le plans to use the remaining third to prepare for filming short dramas.

Anyway, we'll cut corners in the beginning, reducing the cost of each episode to a few thousand yuan. That way, even if we film a hundred episodes, it will only cost a few hundred thousand yuan.

Actors are much easier to find; there are plenty of them in schools, and extras are everywhere in Hengdian.

Guo Qiling went to busy himself with buying copyrights and recruiting people, while Zhou Le drove to the airport to pick up Zhao Jinmai and Zhou Ye.

"Xiao Zhao, let's go audition with your sister Zhou Ye first, and then we can do other things later."

"it is good."

Zhao Jinmai came out just to relax; it doesn't matter where she goes.

Zhou Ye took Zhao Jinmai to the parking lot of the Century Hotel building, where he touched up his makeup in the car.

Then they went upstairs.

He met with Han Jianu first, and Han Jianu was very satisfied with Zhou Ye after seeing him.

Zhou Ye's character in "Better Days" is so outstanding.

So much so that now many people feel that Zhou Ye looks fierce at first glance, as if he might turn hostile at any moment.

"She just looks younger than her age."

"You can wear makeup then, but Zhou Ye, can you portray a woman in her thirties?"

"Okay, sister."

"Alright, then come in and give it a try."

The lead actress in this drama plays Zhang Xun's wife, a role played by Zhou Le.

Zhou Le and Zhao Jinmai waited outside.

As Zhou Le stared at Zhao Jinmai's profile, he suddenly felt that she looked somewhat familiar.

I pondered it carefully for a long time.

"No, why does it look more and more like Xiao Zhan the more I look at it?"

Zhou Le's heart skipped a beat. Once he accepted this premise, he felt like he couldn't go back.

Has anyone ever said you look like Xiao Zhan?

Zhou Le asked.

Zhao Jinmai was taken aback for a moment: "No."

She then took out her phone to search for Xiao Zhan's photos and placed them next to her face.

"Yes, it's so similar." Zhou Le thought to himself, how come he hadn't noticed before?

But as he stared at Zhao Jinmai for a while, he felt that she looked a lot like Tan Songyun.

Has anyone ever said you look like Tan Songyun?

"There really is one. Sometimes they look alike, and the more you look at certain facial features, the more similar they become."

Afterwards, Zhao Jinmai found Tan Songyun's photos for comparison.

"You really do look alike. At first, I thought you had a very distinctive appearance, but now that I think about it, how come you look so much like those two?"

But Zhou Le pondered for a moment longer: "Do you know an actor named Xie Miao?"

Zhao Jinmai: "???"

"Wait, although Xie Miao looks a bit like him, why do I feel like you and Li Jian look a bit alike too?"

Zhao Jinmai then found photos of the two people, and Zhou Le could sense the similarities between them.

Immediately afterwards, Zhou Le felt that he could see the shadows of many people on the other person's face.

"Wait, why do you look like a sea of ​​people?"

Zhao Jinmai: "."

"Can't you?"

"That's my opinion anyway, but no matter what, it's still very beautiful."

Zhao Jinmai was indeed a bit taken aback. During the time she was waiting for Zhou Ye to come out, she kept looking at all kinds of photos on her phone. But she didn't know until she searched that there were indeed many people saying the same thing online. She just hadn't paid attention to this before.

There are also those who say they look like Wallace Huo, Fan Bingbing, Faye Wong, or Sun Li.

He felt that some of them did look different after comparing them, but some looked more and more alike the more he looked at them.

"This is outrageous! I feel like my face is made up of bits and pieces of everyone's features."

Zhao Jinmai also began to accept this situation.

The more I looked at myself, the less I felt like I looked like myself, to the point that the hairs on the back of my head stood on end.

After a while, Zhou Ye came out.

"How about it?"

"Of course I got it. I chatted with them for a while inside, and after I explained my understanding of the character, they had me act out a few scenes from the script. They were very satisfied with the performance."

"That's good. I'll go say hello to them later."

After the other actors finished their auditions, Zhou Le took Zhao Jinmai in, chatted with the others, and then went out for lunch together.

Director Liu Haoliang told Zhou Le that the original plan for this film was to invest around 100 million yuan, but after revising the script, they planned to increase the investment later and invite more actors.

But we still need to think about who to invite.

At least the members of the criminal investigation team and the Eagle Gang will have to be replaced.

Both the criminal investigation team and the Eagle Gang can use more familiar faces.

However, after coming out, Zhou Le did not drive away immediately. Instead, he waited for half an hour before driving with his people to another teahouse.

When they arrived, only Han Jianu was sitting inside.

Han Jianu sent a WeChat message to Zhou Le while they were eating.

Let Zhou Le finish his meal and wait a while before we talk about the role.

"Sis, aren't the roles decided by the director?"

"Isn't casting Wang Qianyuan enough for him? Besides, the remaining roles will definitely need to be replaced. The people he looked for before are no longer suitable. We're on the same side, so I'm thinking you could recommend a few actors with similar acting skills who are suitable for the roles. We can look for the rest later."

"We can't expect him to find everything, can we?"

His words were full of domineering arrogance, something Zhou Le had never seen before on the set of "Dying to Survive".

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Since Han Jianu wants to get involved in this script, no one can stop her.

"So, do you have any suitable people from the Eagle Gang or the Criminal Investigation Team? We can talk about it first. If you know anyone, it will be easier and more harmonious for us to cooperate."

Zhou Le hadn't thought about this before, but after Han Jianu mentioned it, Zhou Le felt that he actually had a few good candidates.

"Let's start with the Eagle Gang. The main actors need to have the aura of villains and the acting skills, but they can't be too big stars. I think Zhang Benyu and Yin Zheng are both suitable."

Han Jianu thought for a moment: "I know these two people too. Zhang Benyu is good, and he has the air of a ruthless bandit. However, I do approve of Yin Zheng's acting skills, but he has always acted in comedies before. Will it feel out of place for him to play a ruthless bandit again?"

"This mainly depends on the individual's performance. Bai Ke used to play Wang Dachui, but he also performed well in serious dramas. Besides, using Yin Zheng can also have a promotional effect."

This year he also starred in a TV series called "Winter Begonia," which Yu Zheng directed, and it wasn't a comedy script.

Han Jianu nodded: "Indeed, Yin Zheng is very good at selecting people. Let's tentatively choose these two for now. Do you have any other recommendations?"

"Anything else... Wang Baoqiang?"

“Wang Baoqiang is definitely fine, but he’s too expensive. After all, the highest salary right now is yours at 3500 million, and Wang Qianyuan is also offering 2000 million.”

"Besides, even if we get Wang Baoqiang to come, he can only play a supporting role, and I guess he might not be willing to come. But I'll make a note of it and contact him later. If it's possible, we'll invite him to come. But we'll have to try the other two you mentioned."

What about the criminal investigation team?

"Sis, I can't possibly choose them all. I only know this many people. How about you take a look at the rest?"

Actually, Zhou Le also had recommendations from the criminal investigation team, but since it's someone else's movie, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to put all the main roles in it with his own people.

Regardless of whether it's Wang Baoqiang or Zhang Benyu, the reason for mentioning them is that Zhou Le wanted to include Yin Zheng as well.

"It's okay, just tell me. It's all about brainstorming. We can find the answer ourselves."

"If we really lose Sister, then Xu Zheng and Huang Bo aren't suitable either. I can only recommend a few people; the others really aren't appropriate."

"Alright, let's talk to Wang Baoqiang first. And Yin Zheng is from your company, right? We can have him prepare to come over in a while. I'll contact Zhang Benyu."

They then chatted for a while about their experiences filming "Dying to Survive," and she seemed quite interested in Zhou Ye, though it was a pity there wasn't a suitable role for Zhao Jinmai in the film.

"We can collaborate sometime in the future."

"Thank you, sister. You must come to me when you have the chance." Zhao Jinmai was also very happy. She didn't expect that she would meet a big shot on her first day after visiting Zhou Le.

"Sis, let's take it easy then. With your resources, she can keep filming non-stop, but she's still in high school, so she should focus on her studies."

"Haha, little sister, you're still in high school? You have such star quality! Where do you plan to go to college?"

"Sister, I want to apply to the Beijing Film Academy in the future."

"Yes, going to Beijing Film Academy is a good choice, and you can start filming earlier while you're there."

After finishing tea with Han Jianu, it was getting late. Zhou Le went out for dinner and then took Zhou Ye and Zhao Jinmai to their hotel.

"Sister Zhou Ye, can you stay with me tonight? During the day, Brother Le said I look like a lot of people, and the more I look at myself, the scarier I feel. Now I don't even dare to look in the mirror."

"can."

As Zhou Ye spoke, he glanced at Zhou Le and said, "Brother Le, why did you say all this to her? Look how scared you've made the child."

Zhou Le said apologetically, "I didn't think that much about it. I just thought it looked like her. You should spend some time with her tonight. We still have to go to Hangzhou tomorrow morning."

(End of this chapter)