The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 495 Little Apprentice

“I still don’t recommend you take on this role,” Xu Jiuyang said after thinking for a moment. “For a girl your age, it’s not a good thing to project your own experiences into a movie.”

Jing Tian bit her lip, about to say something, but Xu Jiuyang raised a hand: "How about we play something more interesting, more fun, and bigger?"

"More interesting...more fun...bigger?" Da Tiantian blinked curiously.

“Yes,” Xu Jiuyang nodded with a smile, “For example, we made a low-budget film set in the Republican era, and you played the female lead. Then, after the story ended and the credits were all approved, suddenly a short clip was shown, showing you dressed in modern clothes, searching for something in an old study, and finally finding something left behind by your grandmother, who is the character from the Republican era.”

"And then what?" Jing Tian seemed to have caught something and urged him to continue asking.

"Then, we'll make another movie with different actors, but it will be connected to the movie set in the Republican era. You'll still appear in the post-credits scene, continuing to lay the groundwork through a few minutes of story. Then we'll make two or three more movies, all with somewhat connected but independent stories, and you'll still appear in the post-credits scene."

Finally, let's make another movie, with you as the lead actress, and then revisit all the clues left from the previous films. In this way, we can combine several movies into an even better series, forming a cinematic universe. Wouldn't that be great?

Xu Jiuyang said this.

"Um... um..." Da Tiantian stammered, unsure of what to say, but her eyes were bright and she looked quite excited.

So someone added another weight: "Perhaps, we can call it the Jingtian Universe."

"Oh dear, I'm so embarrassed." The girl immediately covered her face with shyness and shrank back, but her shoulders were shaking violently, and it was hard to tell if the corners of her mouth were turned up to the back of her head.

“Of course, if you don’t want to…” Xu Jiuyang drawled out.

"Yes, yes, of course I'm willing!" Jing Tian exclaimed repeatedly, then threw herself into his arms, pitifully raising her head as if afraid he would change his mind.

A strange feeling welled up in Xu Jiuyang's heart. Why did he feel like he had seen this scene somewhere before?
"Alright, alright," he coughed lightly, "This is just a concept right now, and it will take many more steps to turn it into reality."

"Oh..." Da Tiantian finally let go, then jumped aside in realization, "Um... um... I didn't mean to..."

Hesitant and shy, with her face flushed, she was quite adorable.

Xu Jiuyang had to cough again to focus his attention: "In short, if you really want to, don't rush into acting in movies and TV shows right now. Finish your music album first, and then work hard to learn acting. We can officially start this project once I think you're qualified. Of course, before that, I'll have someone prepare the outline."

"Mmm-hmm!" The girl nodded repeatedly, then hesitated before speaking.

"What's wrong?" Xu Jiuyang asked again.

"This... we can't tell anyone, right?" Jing Tian blinked.

Xu Jiuyang felt there was something implied in her words. After thinking about it carefully, he flipped through the script again and realized that the copyright belonged to Wanda Pictures.

Wait a minute, if I remember correctly, Wanda Pictures was only established in 09, right? Wanda Cinemas was established in 05, wasn't it?

He finally couldn't hold back any longer: "So they've already hooked up with your family?"

"Hehe..." Da Tiantian shrank her neck and chuckled awkwardly, neither admitting nor denying it.

“Alright, let’s leave it at that,” Xu Jiuyang sighed. “Let’s keep it a secret for now. Just tell them that I have a… a big plan for your acting career.” “Don’t worry, Brother Yang, I won’t utter a single word beyond what you’ve told me!” Da Tiantian nodded vigorously again.

The meeting was about over. After she left, Xu Jiuyang let out a somewhat dejected sigh and shook his head with a wry smile.

I've really brought this big trouble back with me, but then again, when I was describing "Jing Tian Universe," I initially just wanted to comfort her, but I ended up getting excited myself as I talked about it.

After all, it's really feasible, and they've even come up with the general storyline—it would be quite interesting to connect Pacific Rim and The Great Wall through monsters. Besides, the roles that impressed Da Tian Tian the most in her past life were Si Teng and Shao Liwen.

Of course, the specifics still need careful consideration, but it is indeed very interesting. While Marvel is developing its own cinematic universe, creating its own cinematic universe will surely attract a lot of attention.

Anyway, he's not short of money now, and the future will be an era where capital and power manipulate the entertainment industry, so it's perfectly fine for him to have some fun like this.

But as I said before, the script needs to be polished, the director needs to be carefully selected, and the story doesn't have to be logically perfect, but the way it's told must be excellent.

"It's an experiment, I guess. I wonder how far Angela's attempt to acquire Marvel will go. Maybe we can do a crossover sometime." With that thought, Xu Jiuyang left the meeting room and went to the record company's corridor, where he saw Yang Yuying talking to a young girl.

"President Xu," she greeted first.

“Producer Yang.” Xu Jiuyang nodded.

“This is my little apprentice, Zhang Hanyun,” she continued, “Xiaoyun, this is General Manager Xu of the company.”

"Hello, Mr. Xu," the young woman said softly, bowing slightly, looking a little nervous.

"Hello, Xiao Hanyun." Xu Jiuyang maintained his smile, but sighed inwardly. No wonder the little girl looked so sweet and sour earlier; it really was her.

"Speaking of which, how did you take on your apprentice, Producer Yang?" he asked curiously.

“Last year,” Yang Yuying smiled slightly, “I had been thinking about taking on apprentices for a long time, but I couldn’t find a suitable one until last year when I noticed Xiaoyun during the auditions for Super Girl. She was very suitable to be the successor of sweet songs, both in appearance and voice, so I went to her home to ask her about it.”

"It's...quite unexpected." Xu Jiuyang clicked his tongue.

He was indeed somewhat surprised, because he rarely paid attention to the entertainment industry outside of Fan Bingbing and Angela, and naturally did not notice that "Super Girl" had already held its first season.

Of course, the first season of "Super Girl" in the previous life didn't have much popularity. The champion, An Youqi, had a little popularity, but the runner-up, Wang Ti, was completely forgotten. On the contrary, the third-place winner, Zhang Hanyun, became a hit because of the advertising song for Mengniu Yogurt.

But after becoming famous, she had to face the dark side of human nature. After all, she was selected through a proper audition, and her rise to fame was real and visible. So, some people were envious that they were just as good as her, wondering why the lucky one was that unremarkable girl instead of themselves. As a result, all sorts of lewd rumors kept emerging in online communities.

Unfortunately, her family made a strategic mistake at this time. Instead of signing with Hunan TV's Tianyu Media, they signed with Tianzhong Culture, a relatively unknown company that was using Andy Lau's name.

I won't go into what kind of person Hunan TV is. As one of the earliest local TV stations to undergo commercial transformation, although its cooperation with Hong Kong and Taiwan capital has greatly promoted the commercialization of film and television dramas, it has also learned all the bad things from there.

We provided you with a platform and an opportunity to showcase your talents, and you still won't sign with us? Well, of course we'll teach you a lesson, otherwise people will think I'm just some nobody!

Thus, due to a combination of factors, even though the photos circulating online were fabricated, most netizens, caught up in the frenzy, still subjected the young girl to slut-shaming.

(End of this chapter)