Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 179 Quota, Buying Another Villa After Becoming a Father

Compared to other movie series, it has been almost six years since the sequel to "Goodbye Mr. Loser" was announced. Many people have been eagerly anticipating it since the news broke two years ago.

It's fair to say that when the project was announced, it instantly ignited the film and television industry.

What are the advantages of comedy films?
Low investment.

It's prone to exploding.

Chen Shouzhe's investment of 20 million yuan yielded a return of 1.5 billion yuan, laying a solid foundation for him. Although the comedy film was criticized, Chen Shouzhe's success made it the first film in China to break 1 billion yuan, and all subsequent records were inseparable from a good start.

Now, six years later, "Goodbye Mr. Loser" is still considered by many to be the best comedy film. Chen Shou's plan to film a sequel has naturally attracted much attention.

The film companies that had been contacted before all inquired again, indicating that this movie was destined to make money.

Who wouldn't want to release a movie that can make money? Even Alibaba and Tencent have come to inquire.

How could Chen Shouzhe possibly involve them? He was already being generous by not taking all the food for himself, let alone sharing it with others.

They refused outright without a word, not even to those who paid extra to get on board. Dream on! They just wanted to gain fame.

In the end, seven investors were finalized.

The investment amounted to 100 million, and Chen Shouzhe increased the actors' salaries. Shen Teng and Ma Li continued to star, basically the original cast of "Charlotte's Lost".

The other six investors also arrived.

China Film Group, Xi'an Film Group, Wanda Pictures, Enlight Media, Daqian World, and Deyun Society – a closer look reveals that these six companies were the original investors in Charlotte's Troubles.

Six years have passed, and it's still the same seven families gathered together. The one from China Film Group is still Vice Chairman Wang, the director from Xi'an Film Studio is now the vice president, Ye Ning from Wanda has been replaced by Liu Xiaobing, Old Wang from Enlight Media came in person, Master Yu Qian from Daqian World came, and Old Guo from Deyun Society came with his investment department. His beloved apprentice is in charge of performances, not investment. The investment department is run by someone else, his godmother Wang Hui.

Since they were all acquaintances, Chen Shouzhe didn't dawdle. This time, he wanted 40%, and the remaining six companies would split it equally, with each company receiving 10%, or 10 million each. Wanda and China Film were the first to be dissatisfied with Chen Shouzhe's division of the shares. They wanted more. China Film's investments over the years had suffered huge losses, especially on the Taiping Ship. If it weren't for Chen Shouzhe's efforts to salvage some of their investments, their situation would have been even more difficult.

So Vice Chairman Wang came with a mission this time, demanding at least 20%. Liu Xiaobing of Wanda also wanted the same. When Ye Ning was in charge, Wanda was the main investor, so he was naturally not satisfied with only 10% this time. Wanda has plenty of money, and he even wanted more.

Knowing they couldn't compete with them, the remaining rays of light simply decided to hold onto their 10%.

Xi'an Film Studio was fairly satisfied with this. Since it was their fellow villagers who were helping them get ahead, they wouldn't ask for too much. As long as they had their share, that was enough.

Guo Yu was even less likely to give it up. They knew Chen Shou was leading them to make money, so why should they give it up? They had supported Chen Shou from the beginning to the end of the first season, so they were sure they would succeed in this season as well.

"Isn't Director Chen's share a bit too small?" Liu Xiaobing said, unwilling to accept it.

“It’s still the seven of us. We can’t expect you to just maintain the share of the first division, can we?” Chen Shou said with a smile.

Liu Xiaobing was speechless. Indeed, it was impossible to maintain the first film. Chen Shouzhe was weak back then, but Wanda has made too much money over the years. Chen Shouzhe was willing to take them along mainly because he valued their theaters, not because of any personal relationship. That relationship had already been repaid long ago.

Vice Chairman Wang said, "Director Chen's share of China Film Group is getting smaller and smaller, only 10%, while Chairman La's minimum requirement for me is 30%."

Chen Shou rolled his eyes inwardly and said, "It's impossible for us to give you that much. China Film Group only has 10%. See if the other companies are willing to give it up. It's impossible for me to give it up, or rather, China Film Group will not invest."

Vice Chairman Wang looked at the others, and after surveying them, he realized that there was absolutely no way they would give up the opportunity to China Film Group.

Who would give up a project that can make money? That would be foolish.

Helpless, Vice Chairman Wang had no choice but to accept it reluctantly. 10% it is, it's better than nothing. Chen Shouzhe has already taken all the credit for himself so many times.

Even if they eat it this time, China Film Group can't say anything.

Marketization inevitably leads to the weakening of state-owned enterprises, and their influence and competitiveness will also decline.

China Film Group's status is increasingly being ignored, and Chen Shouzhe is too lazy to bother with him. Let him be resentful if he feels resentful; he's not going to give it up.

After the distribution was completed, those who were supposed to go back went back. Chen Shou led a few elders around the company a few times before going to a gathering for dinner.

While the outside world was discussing this movie, Shouzhe Pictures had already made preparations.

[Announcement from Shouzhe Pictures: The film "Hello Mr. Billionaire" has been approved.]

Producers: Zhong Lifan, Liu Xiaobing
Director: Chen Shouzhe
Screenwriter: Chen Shouzhe
Starring: Shen Teng, Ma Li, Zhang Yimin, Liu Yan...

As soon as the news of the film's approval came out, it was immediately confirmed that it was indeed the second installment.

They were all familiar faces, including many members of the Deyun Society.

Chen Shouzhe tried his best to arrange for them to get in, since it would be good for them to show their faces anyway.

The filming will take place in August and is expected to be completed within a month.

These kinds of movies are filmed very quickly; the schedule has already been arranged with the actors.

Liu Yan posted a Weibo post.

[Thank you to Director Chen Shouzhe for taking me on the project six years ago when he was filming "Goodbye Mr. Loser," which made us friends. Six years later, he gave me the role of the second female lead in "A Chinese Ghost Story III" and invited me to continue acting. Thank you so much!!]

The incident of being pushed into the water during her wedding caused a huge uproar, and she was forced to apologize. Now that Chen Shou is backing her up, countless people have finally gotten their revenge.

The comments below were all comforting her and thanking Chen Shou for taking care of her.

Chen Shouzhe gave it a thumbs up after seeing it.

"You won't forget your lines this time, will you?" Chen Shouzhe joked when he saw Shen Teng.

When I went to see the play before, Shen Teng made a mistake in his performance, and Chen Shou watched and shook his head, unable to correct his inability to remember the lines. Plus, he's been on variety shows for too long; if he weren't a comedian, the audience would probably find it hard to accept him.

Some people are suited to appearing on variety shows, such as second-tier celebrities who don't have high popularity and don't have the pressure of maintaining a good on-screen image.

For example, someone like Yue Yunpeng.

Despite being criticized for lacking intelligence on variety shows, this is actually the persona he presents on those shows.

Starting with a certain singing competition show, variety shows have become completely scripted.

Even Go Fighting! has a script framework; it's just that the actors' performances are so good that the show is so outstanding.

How is it possible to do something completely without a script?

However, if you get used to acting in variety shows, you will lose the mystique that an actor should have when you go on to act in movies.

It's equivalent to losing the ability to create a character on screen.

Take Guo Degang as an example. He has a huge fan base for crosstalk, and with the theater stage and his personal image, he can create those character traits on the crosstalk stage.

But he couldn't do it on the big screen.

It’s so deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

You can recognize it's him just by listening to his movie dubbing; you can immediately tell it's his voice, and then you can't help but be pulled out of the movie.

Is Guo Degang's acting bad?

In Chen Shouzhe's opinion, he was not bad, and even better than the average actor, because he had a wealth of experience on stage.

But he's performed on stage too many times. It's not like a play. If you perform in a play every day and it's posted online every day, it will become a fixed image.

For example, actor Chen Daomin's portrayal of the emperor was so outstanding that everyone who saw him thought he was an emperor.

Therefore, actors need to maintain an air of mystery and keep their distance from the audience.

Comedians have a natural advantage on variety shows. They may be reserved in private, but they are skilled at making people happy on stage, which is why they are very successful on variety shows.

Faced with Chen Shouzhe's teasing, Shen Teng blushed and said, "I will definitely remember it. There won't be any problems this time."

Shen Teng has been studying a lot lately, but he has still gained quite a bit of weight.

“That’s just how he is; he has a hard time remembering things. It’s a memory problem,” Ma Li explained.

“I don’t mean to blame him. Filming is scheduled to start at the end of the month, and my plan is to finish it in one month. Can you do that?” Chen Shou asked.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Shen Teng nodded.

“No problem, Director Chen,” Ma Li replied.

Preparations are proceeding smoothly, and filming will begin at the end of July. However, the weather is really hot, which will cause some trouble.

After finishing his work, Chen Shouzhe arrived at a high-end residential complex.

"You came."

Yan Danchen, dressed in casual home clothes, opened the door, revealing a slightly protruding belly.

"If you do this, I'll have to postpone the movie's release until next year." Chen Shou saw her belly; she was pregnant, already more than three months along.

“That’s your business. Let me make this clear first: this child is mine, and I’m going to raise him myself. He can’t be like Yang Mi’s child,” Yan Danchen said.

"Okay, you'll have a tough time. What if they ask about the child's father?"

"You handle it, I won't say it's yours anyway."

"Women are truly unreasonable. Now that you've decided to give birth, what are your plans? What do you want?"

"Give me a bigger house, a quieter one. It can't be that your daughter grows up on the horse farm while my child has to stay in a bungalow."

"Okay, you can take a look later and buy whichever one you like." Chen Shou nodded.

"How about the rose garden?"

"also."

"Really?"

"Sure, I'll go ask around for you. If we buy now, and after renovation and ventilation, we can move in around a bit after the baby is born," Chen Shou nodded.

“Okay, let’s go with Rose Garden then. It’ll be convenient for you to see the kids.” Yan Danchen nodded.

Chen Shouzhe also thought of this. Old Guo lived over there. If he wanted to visit the children, there would be no problem driving in. No one would think he was going to visit the children; they would just think he was going to see Old Guo, which would be a good cover for him.

Make a phone call to arrange for people to view the property, and then you can buy it.

Seeing that Chen Shouzhe had arranged everything in a short time, estimated at around 50 million, Yan Danchen sat on his lap and hugged his neck.

"I've gained status because of my son, so here's a reward for you."

(End of this chapter)