2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 97 Love, Death & Robots

At the end of September, the crew traveled to Shanghai to make final preparations before filming began.

Almost the entire original cast and crew of "With You" returned.

Thanks to Chu An's generous red envelope, everyone had extra money and felt secure.

Core members like Dong Wende and Ji Yinglai turned down other offers and rested for more than half a year. To put it bluntly, they were specifically waiting for "You Are My Glory" to start filming.

Wang Zheng was the last to report for duty. As Lu Mingze's long-term assistant director, Wang Zheng was also ambitious and had a clear plan for his career.

For the past six months, instead of working with Lao Lu on the pre-production and other preliminary work, Lao Wang used the money he received from "The Best of Us" to fund and produce an art-house short film.

I heard that he took a few people and went to the northwestern desert and stayed there for four months, getting completely skinned.

Lu Mingze was very dissatisfied with this, saying, "You deserted when the organization needed you, and you must be criticized!"

Wang Zheng was a little unaccustomed to this. What was going on? Why had Lao Lu's tone changed? He wasn't as serious as before.

Quietly, I asked Ma Lan, "Is Lao Lu in a relationship? Why is he pretending to be so young?"

Sister Lan sighed, "Alas! It's a long story, you'll find out soon enough."

As a result, Ji Yinglai came over and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Don't say anything out of line when you see Teacher Chu later."

"Director Lu was forced into it by Teacher Chu."

Wang Zheng, “.”

Chu An also knew that Wang Zheng had joined the production team, and that he had spent all his money on an experimental short film that he wouldn't be able to recoup a single penny of.

As the core of the team, he keenly realized that Wang Zheng was ambitious and unwilling to be subordinate to others, and it was unlikely that he would be able to remain Lao Lu's deputy for a long time.

So, Chu An took the opportunity of dinner to have a private chat with Wang Zheng.

What kind of movie was it?

Wang Zheng was initially quite wary after Ji Ying's reminder. But judging from her words, Teacher Chu seemed perfectly fine.
The answer was truthful: "It was just a random idea, a practice exercise."

Chu An replied, "If you want to practice, come to me. Earning money isn't easy, so don't waste it."

Wang Zheng: "Hey!! It's something I do out of interest, and I don't regret it."

But then Chu An turned around, took out a script, and handed it to him, saying, "Take a look at this first."

Wang Zheng took it and read it: "Love, Death & Robots".

Wang Zheng was taken aback, his eyes widening. "Science, technology?" He subconsciously looked at Lu Mingze.

He muttered to Chu An, "It's already a miracle that Lao Lu went from period dramas to modern dramas, and you're making him do sci-fi?"

Okay, Wang Zheng was being very conservative. What he actually wanted to say was...
After hesitating for a moment, I decided to tell the truth: "Isn't Lao Lu suited to such avant-garde topics?"

Science fiction themes are not avant-garde, but they are very avant-garde in China.

Unexpectedly, Chu An gave a cool, "unpredictable" smile and said, "It's not for Lao Lu, it's for you."

"!!!" Wang Zheng suddenly became serious, put down his chopsticks, stopped eating, and started looking at the script on the spot.

Chu An's behavior pattern is currently very different from Yu Tu's, but his thinking is still Chu An's, and Chu An can still distinguish between the two.

Chu An had anticipated and prepared for Wang Zheng's scheming nature long ago.

This preparation is not just aimed at Wang Zheng, but at Chu An's entire business strategy.

Looking back at Chu An's achievements over the past year since his transmigration, he has acquired the identities of an actor and screenwriter, and has gained a certain degree of public recognition and a distinct behavioral label.

As for the creative team, he has the only team in China that is familiar with the weekly drama production model.

In the realm of television dramas, Lu Mingze is involved in the production of both period dramas and modern dramas.

Furthermore, he majored in film and television directing. This means that Chu An is determined to make a significant contribution to the field of film and television production in the future.

The agency, though not yet large-scale, only has two key members: Lin Wanxing and Fei Mingyu.

But at least Xu Shu and Lu Mingze will join in the future.

It covers several major fields including acting, singing, and directing.

Chu An himself does not possess any resources within this circle in this time and space. Moreover, it is foreseeable that he will not be able to develop himself into "capital" in the short term.

This is the basic situation within the entertainment industry.

In addition, the Weibo account co-founded with Lin Wanchen was launched soon, and Chu An was also steadily acquiring shares in Green Field Company.

Although they are all still in their infancy and far from being fully operational, a closer look reveals that, unknowingly, Chu An has woven a rather large industrial model.

It has already covered the entire entertainment industry, and even the internet and gaming sectors are being targeted.

Logically speaking, this does not conform to conventional business logic. Even Chu An himself believes that in the startup phase, it is safest to specialize in one area.

But the problem is, he was unconventional to begin with!
What logic is there for a time traveler? With access to film and television resources from another timeline and prior knowledge of its general development direction, Chu An's task is to seize every opportunity to rapidly strengthen himself.

Whether it's the scale of wealth or team development, go as far as you can, and play as big as you can.

Only in this way can he gain the upper hand at certain points in the future and achieve what was previously impossible.

For example, he is now expanding his production team so that when the Chinese film market booms, he can create box office miracles with Chinese blockbusters.

For example, by establishing a presence on Weibo today and securing a portion of the internet's traffic base, he can seize the opportunity to take off when the mobile internet era arrives.

So, to sum it up, Chu An's current goals are actually very simple: make money, recruit people, and gain fame!

Only when all these elements are in place will he have the resources to do something earth-shattering.

Then the question comes
The current layout is in place, but with Chu An's limited connections in the industry and his limited financial resources, how can he support such a large operation?
In other words, Lin Wanxing and Lu Mingze need to act in movies, and Fei Mingyu needs to sing.

People like Wang Zheng, Ji Yinglai, or even some unknown names, if you recruit them, you have to make sure they have work to do, right?

Otherwise, why would anyone follow you?

Based on the above requirements, the script for "Love, Death & Robots" was created.

To be precise, "Love, Death & Robots" is not a traditional TV series, but rather a collection of short films.

Each season consists of independent short dramas, with each episode lasting 5-20 minutes and covering diverse genres such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comedy.

Through the three keywords "love," "death," and "robot," the series explores philosophical themes such as human culture, identity, free will, and technological ethics, with some episodes focusing on only one or two of these themes.

In its previous life, this unconventional collection of short films performed exceptionally well in terms of reputation, depth of content, and profitability.

However, the reason Chu An chose it as the team's next project was not actually because of these reasons.

Rather, it's the characteristic of short film collections.

At this moment, Wang Zheng stopped eating and focused intently on the script: the first episode, the first unit, "Zhuoma's Advantage," of *Love, Death & Robots*. Chu An had translated the script into Chinese, changing as many of the Western elements from the original work as possible.

The story tells of a future world where "monster fighting" competitions are popular, where contestants control genetically modified monsters through neural connections to engage in bloody battles.

The top fighter in the monster fighting are female fighters named Zoma, who boasts a 17-game winning streak. Her monster, "Predator," is directly controlled by her via a brain-computer interface, and its fighting style is ferocious and efficient.

After a brief background introduction, the story immediately begins:
A wealthy man offered Zhuoma 50 yuan to deliberately lose a competition. After being refused, he sent an assassin disguised as an admirer to approach her, attempting to destroy her consciousness connection through assassination.

However, what the wealthy businessman didn't know was that Zhuoma's human body was merely an "empty shell," her consciousness having already transferred to the monster's body. Her human form was just a disguise; the true controlling consciousness resided within the monster.

In other words, Zhuoma's "advantage" is not fighting skills, but her extreme fear of death. Because her body is bound to the monster by life and death, she must fight for survival with all her might, thus creating an overwhelming psychological advantage over the other fighters.

Wang Zheng was initially misled by Chu An's script, believing that the human Zhuoma refused to accept the wealthy merchant's bribe and was simply insisting on a fair competition.

When the plot twists, the human Zhuoma dies while the monster Zhuoma continues to fight. When the mystery is finally solved, Wang Zheng's hair stands on end.

As an artist, he was able to accurately capture the profound philosophy and reflections that Chu An expressed through the story.

"That's impressive!" Wang Zheng exclaimed. "Quite stunning!"

Next, Wang Zheng watched two or three more short stories, becoming increasingly agitated. "Take a picture of me?"

Chu An nodded. "That's what I think."

"You can practice with one or two units first, and after you get used to it, I'll hand over the whole series to you!"

"At that time, you can direct a part yourself, or you can take charge of the whole thing and act as the producer."

Wang Zheng, “.”

Suddenly, he didn't know what to say. It turned out that Teacher Chu had already planned everything for him, and he still spent all his savings to practice his skills.

Thanks! That's all I wanted to say!

Wang Zheng is quite sentimental and full of hope for the future.

This is exactly what Chu An wanted. Wang Zheng is a talented person, but he hasn't quite reached the right level yet.

In fact, there are plenty of promising talents like Wang Zheng in the industry, but they all lack the opportunity to showcase their abilities.

Chu An values ​​"Love, Death & Machine" precisely for this reason.

With a seasoned, established director overseeing the entire project, the short films provide an excellent opportunity for newcomers to practice.

Short films of 5 to 20 minutes require low investment and are highly controllable.

Moreover, each unit is independent, so even if the shot isn't great, it's fine; it can be handled modularly. If a shot is bad, it can either be mixed in with a good unit to get by, or it can be completely cut and not used; it won't have any impact anyway.

If managed well, "Love, Death & Machine" could become Chu An's talent incubator, allowing newcomers like Wang Zheng to grow rapidly.

Another advantage is that this show is very suitable for weekly broadcast.

In the days that followed, Wang Zheng seemed like a different person, full of energy.

Moreover, the entire crew was worried about Teacher Chu's mental state, especially since he...
"Does Teacher Chu have a problem? No problem!"

"Even if he's different from before, he's getting more and more handsome!"

Lu Mingze said this with a hint of disdain, "I didn't realize you had the potential to be a simp."

In early October, the Shanghai stock market remained unbearably hot.

As agreed with CCTV and investors, the planned start date for "You Are My Glory" has passed.

Sun Jianyi from CCTV didn't react much. After all, given Sun's status, Chu An wouldn't dare to keep anything from him.

The old man knew that the young man surnamed Chu had found an extraordinary leading lady, and now the entire crew was waiting for Su Manqing's availability.

Well, if it were anyone else, Sun Jianyi would think it was unnecessary; no matter how famous a female star is, they are all just fleeting clouds on CCTV.

But Su Manqing is different!

That's an international superstar, and this is his first time acting in a TV series. Sun Jianyi wouldn't mind waiting a month or two, or even a year or two.

CCTV's schedule has been reserved for them.

But those who invested in the show and those who spent money on advertising in the show didn't know that!
In order to use the publicity effect at the right time, Chu An kept Su Manqing's role as Qiao Jingjing a strict secret.

Especially for these investors!!

Haha, doesn't that seem outrageous? Investors don't even know who the female lead in their investment project is?
It's actually not outrageous at all.

Many people don't know that the vast majority of leaks about film and television projects are not due to paparazzi having extraordinary abilities, nor are they due to actors or crew members being unable to keep their mouths shut; rather, they are caused by the selfishness and loose tongues of these investors.

To put it simply, even a powerful paparazzi or reporter like Zhuo Wei, even if he can dig up news, can't just report it whenever he wants.

In the entertainment industry, reporters and paparazzi are never adversaries to actors and film crews, but rather tools.

You went too far this time, damaging interests that shouldn't have been damaged. You'll be starving from now on.

Zhuo Wei is a prime example. Do you think he still has any room to survive?

Except for the core members, the actors and crew members did not receive the complete script at all; even the characters' lines were released episode by episode.

And core members.
It only includes: the director, screenwriter, head of the lighting and art department, and head of the photography department.

Assistant directors are not considered key personnel, meaning that they often don't even see the complete script.

As for the male and female leads, that's even less of an issue. For certain roles that are particularly difficult to perform, they might receive a complete script to facilitate character development, but the contracts would definitely be extremely restrictive, such as an exorbitant compensation for leaks.

This is no joke, especially for large projects. If someone leaks information, the losses will be substantial.

As for the investors, they shouldn't even think about it, because they are the most subservient ones.

For example, a sponsoring brand might say anything in order to get early exposure.

For example, an investor might actually sell you out for the sake of some exchange of benefits.

To put it simply, let's take the news that Su Manqing will play Qiao Jingjing as an example.

If a small investor or a brand sponsor finds out, the price offered by an exclusive media report could be more than their investment amount.

Do you think anyone might be tempted?
Therefore, the news of Su Manqing's casting was kept very secret.

Apart from Chu An, Lu Mingze, and Ma Lan, who knows the inside story, the identity of the female lead remains a mystery to everyone else in the crew and to the outside world.

.

Stop yelling! Stop yelling!

Old Cang is getting annoyed to death.
Anyone coming to Dali for summer vacation? Let's help Lao Cang boost his sales figures!
Ocean view resort hotels, ridiculously expensive! But ridiculously good!

(End of this chapter)