I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 288 New World!
The air in the meeting room suddenly froze.

Zhou Yang's words were like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, cold and menacing, echoing in the conference room for a long time.

His sharp gaze swept over everyone present, a faint smile playing on his lips, before he slowly sat down.

Everyone stared intently at him, their gazes becoming unusually complex...

As Zhou Yang sat down, the young directors appeared uneasy. Some nervously rubbed their hands, while others unconsciously swallowed, their eyes darting between Zhou Yang and the other bigwigs.

An indescribable sense of oppression lingered in everyone's hearts.

Seeing Zhou Yang's overtly aggressive demeanor, Chen Li instantly felt a headache coming on.

He rubbed his temples, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart...

The mediation meeting hadn't even started yet, and the atmosphere was already incredibly tense.

really……

Shortly after Zhou Yang finished speaking, Liang Xiaogang slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly: "What arrogance! A greenhorn who's only been in the business for two years dares to talk about 'showing swords' in front of us?"

He pointed to the photos of filmmakers from previous years on the wall, his voice filled with coldness: "Which one of you here didn't work your way up from script supervisor and assistant director? You, Zhou Yang, besides knowing how to market and hype, do you even know how to spell the words 'film art'? How many days of schooling have you had? Do you even understand film?"

As soon as Liang Xiaogang finished speaking, Chen Kesen deliberately slammed his teacup heavily on the table, making a dull thud: "A 34% share of the cinema market is something to be proud of? Back when we were filming 'Yellow River Ballad,' there were less than 500 cinemas nationwide, and the film still became a hit across the country and internationally, didn't it? These young people nowadays, they get a little success and then they don't know their place! When we were at our peak, you didn't even know where you were!"

The two directors slammed their fists on the table and stood up!

Several young directors slammed their fists on the table and launched a fierce attack on Zhou Yang.

Someone pointed at Zhou Yang's nose and demanded sharply, "You, a self-taught amateur who hasn't even stepped foot in a film academy, dare to talk about film art here?"

Someone rolled their eyes sarcastically: "I heard you didn't even graduate high school? With that level of education, you're going to instruct others on how to make movies?"

Some even slammed their fists on the table and roared, "When we were making movies, you were still wearing open-crotch pants! Now that you've made a few bucks with some marketing tricks, you dare to swagger around in front of industry veterans?"

Faced with a barrage of insults, Zhou Yang didn't respond. He simply picked up his teacup, gently blew away the foam, and then took a sip, completely ignoring the accusations.

however……

However, Shen Long, standing behind him, suddenly stood up and slammed a stack of data reports on the table: "Director Liang said we don't understand movies? Then last year, when 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' flopped at the box office and didn't even recoup its costs, should we blame the audience for not understanding art?" He sneered and slammed his finger heavily on the report. "'Wu Hun 3' has a 91% audience satisfaction rate, and theaters have proactively increased its screenings to 40%. That's called market selection, unlike some people whose films are scheduled for prime time but can't even maintain a 30% occupancy rate!"

Che Xiao then directly opened his notebook, pulled up a set of data, and projected it onto the wall: "The seniors always say that we 'win through marketing,' but the marketing cost of 'The Swordsman' was 60 million, and the box office was only 80 million, while the marketing cost of 'Wuhun 3' was less than 20 million!" He pointed to the huge difference in return on investment on the graph, and said sarcastically, "Is it that the audience is brainwashed by marketing, or are some people just unable to understand the laws of business?"

Liang Xiaogang's face turned ashen, and he was about to retort when Li Mingrui suddenly slammed his fist on the table: "Insolence! Who do you think you are—"

“We’re really nothing special,” Shen Long interrupted him, his eyes sharp as knives. “But when ‘The Mine’ was shortlisted for the main competition in Berlin, the jury president said, ‘We’ve seen a new language in Chinese cinema.’” He suddenly grinned. “By the way, I heard that Director Li’s last submission didn’t even pass the preliminary round?”

The meeting room erupted in chaos, with several veteran directors trembling with anger.

Chen Li quickly stood up to smooth things over: "Calm down, everyone! Today we're here to discuss industry development..."

"Let's discuss this, leaders. We just want to have a word. We don't mean anything else, we're just a bit dissatisfied!" Che Xiao took a deep breath and pulled out a screening schedule from the cinema alliance. "Our 34% share was built with our own hard-earned money, unlike some people..." He swept his gaze across the crowd meaningfully: "...relying on administrative orders to forcibly occupy prime time slots... Ha, back when we were small directors, when we were called a cancer, when we cried out to heaven and earth in vain, how much resentment did we hold back?"

"Yes, leader. Now that we've started this meeting, I want to vent all my anger. Mr. Zhou and I started filming 'Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2.' Almost everyone in our crew has been bullied to the point of being speechless by certain 'master director's apprentices' who have all the power... They call us cancer. Well, can we call them cancer too? We're lucky. If we hadn't fought our way through, we wouldn't even have the right to say a word to you. Besides, it's not just us. How many young directors in the entire Chinese film industry are being suppressed like this and unable to get ahead!"

As directors Shen Long and Che Xiao passionately recounted the various injustices they had suffered, the entire conference room erupted in chaos. The older generation of directors, their sore spots touched, slammed their fists on the table and stood up, their faces flushed as they loudly retorted. The younger generation of directors, seeing the arrogance of these two self-taught directors, immediately pointed and launched into a tirade of insults…

Seeing the atmosphere in the meeting room growing increasingly tense, Chen Li finally slammed his fist on the table! "Enough! This isn't a place for arguments! The Film Bureau initiated this meeting hoping everyone would find common ground while respecting differences." He picked up his thermos and slammed it down, splashing water onto the film schedule, then took a deep breath: "President Zhou's commercial success is undeniable, and the artistic contributions of veteran directors to Chinese cinema are undeniable. The market and art shouldn't be at odds!"

With Chen Li's words, the tense atmosphere in the meeting room was briefly calmed down.

However, everyone's expression was extremely grim.

The film bureau official then took a document out of his briefcase.

"After deliberation by higher authorities, it has been decided to formally admit directors Zhou Yang, Che Xiao, and Shen Long into the China Film Association!" In the conference room, Chen Li's voice was particularly clear amidst the sound of the air conditioner. After glancing around and seeing that no one objected, he turned to another page: "At the same time, Comrade Zhou Yang is appointed as a member of the Association's Young Directors Working Committee!"

As soon as Chen Li finished speaking, the conference room fell into an instant silence. The faces of the veteran directors visibly darkened.

The young directors looked at each other, some of them secretly glancing at Zhou Yang, their eyes filled with shock and resentment!
Just at this time!
"Great, that's really great!" Chen Kesen suddenly stood up, looked around, and his gaze was like a knife: "Has the association's threshold dropped to this level now? A self-taught amateur who hasn't even stepped through the gates of a film academy can become a director of the youth directors' council?"

"Director Chen, is this what you call 'seeking common ground while reserving differences'? I think it's just some people using their cinema share to force a change of government!" Li Mingrui took a deep breath, his face ashen, grabbed the file folder on the table, and said with a sarcastic tone, "In that case, let's just hand over the first half of the year's film market to Zhou Yang! It's time for us old bones to retire!"

“That’s right!” At that moment, several directors also stood up one after another, their faces extremely grim. One of the directors glanced at Chen Li and said, “Ha, let a businessman guide artistic creation? What a joke! I’d like to see how far Chinese cinema can go without us ‘old fogies’!”

After finishing his speech, the director abruptly turned and walked towards the door.

As he passed a few young directors, he kicked one of their chairs and said, "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and make room, pack your things and go home! If you're late, you won't even have a place to stand!"

The meeting room erupted into chaos. Several directors who were on good terms with Liang Xiaogang stood up one after another, and the sound of chairs clattering against each other filled the air.

Some people deliberately slammed documents down, making a loud bang, while others walked by sneering, "Should the judging criteria be changed to which company sells the most toys from now on?"

Chen Li hurriedly stood up to try to stop him, but Liang Xiaogang had already strode to the door.

He abruptly stopped, turned back to look at Zhou Yang, who remained seated as steady as a mountain, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes: "President Zhou, since you're so capable, how about we hand over the entire film market to you this year? Let us old guys see what 'new era film art' really looks like!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yang calmly put down his teacup.

He didn't even stand up, but just looked around at the angry or mocking faces and sneered, saying indifferently, "Since Director Liang has said so, then I won't stand on ceremony. Seniors, thank you for making room for me. I'll take care of the rest of the film market. You seniors can retire early!"

Liang Xiaogang turned around abruptly, his eyes blazing with fury: "Fine! Very well! Young people are so arrogant! Director Chen, did you hear that? Since President Zhou wants to carry the box office, let's set a standard—if the total box office of domestic films this year doesn't reach 50 billion, President Zhou will have to make up the difference out of his own pocket!" He deliberately emphasized the words "50 billion," a figure that far exceeded the highest record of previous years.

"Alright! 5 billion it is, everyone keep your word! Those who are ready to retire, go retire and don't get involved in gangster affairs!"

The meeting room erupted in an uproar, and several young directors gasped in shock.

Chen Kesen seized the opportunity to slam his fist on the table and stand up: "Let's go! Let him play by himself!" Seven or eight directors stood up in a row, their chairs scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

Chen Li, sweating profusely, rushed to block the doorway: "Everyone, calm down!" He turned to Zhou Yang with a complicated look in his eyes: "President Zhou, don't take jokes seriously." He then sighed to Liang Xiaogang: "Director Liang, the association's reform needs to be carried out step by step..."

“Step by step?” Li Mingrui sneered, pointing at Zhou Yang. “He’s already riding on our heads!” With that, he abruptly shoved Chen Li’s hand away.

Just as the conflict was about to escalate, Chen Li suddenly raised his voice: "The Film Bureau is going to set up a special support fund of 1 million yuan next year! Aiming for 30 billion yuan in box office revenue for domestic films!"

These words were like a pause button being pressed, causing Liang Xiaogang, who had already reached the door, to pause in his steps.

The others also paused slightly.

Then, he looked at the documents that Chen Li had taken out.

(End of this chapter)