I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

Seeing Cheng Sheng's confusion, Xu Xiaozhong explained, "This year, there were twice as many freshmen applying to our Central Academy of Drama as to Beijing Film Academy. Most importantly, those applying to Beijing Film Academy are all scoundrels. It's no wonder that people at Beijing Film Academy are jealous."

puff!

Cheng Sheng couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this.

No wonder the Beijing Film Academy came to cause trouble for Xu Xiaozhong and even blamed himself for it.

It should be.

As top art schools in China, the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy attract a large number of applicants every year, making the competition extremely fierce.

The Central Academy of Drama's acting department is hailed as the "Whampoa Military Academy of Chinese theatrical arts." Alumna Gong Li once revealed in an interview, "The Central Academy of Drama taught me to use every cell in my body to create characters."

This training model, which emphasizes stage presence, gives graduates of the Central Academy of Drama an absolute advantage in the fields of drama and musicals. In recent years, graduates of the Central Academy of Drama have accounted for 63% of the recruitment by the National Theatre of China.

The Beijing Film Academy's acting department places more emphasis on film and television training. Data shows that graduates of the Beijing Film Academy accounted for 41% of the leading roles in popular TV dramas in the past three years, with outstanding performances, especially in youth dramas and commercial films.

But things have changed in the last two years. The proportion of students admitted to the Central Academy of Drama has been increasing, while the proportion admitted to the Beijing Film Academy has been decreasing.

The leaders of Beijing Film Academy got anxious, which is why they came to cause trouble for Xu Xiaozhong.

How's filming for "The Yellow Turban Rebellion" going? How long until it wraps up?

"Have Cheng Sheng sit down," Xu Xiaozhong asked.

"The filming went very smoothly. As for wrapping up, if nothing unexpected happens, it should be about six months away."

Cheng Sheng thought about the work process he had arranged and replied.

"I hope it goes smoothly. This film is your graduation project, so you must make it well and let everyone see that directors who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama are no worse than those from the Beijing Film Academy."

"Understood, Principal."

"Xiao Cheng, Li Naiwen's award this time is largely thanks to you," Xu Xiaozhong said.

"Don't thank me. It's because Teacher Naiwen is capable. If she wasn't capable, my recommendation wouldn't have helped," Cheng Sheng said.

"Haha, that's right, Naiwen really lived up to expectations this time." Xu Xiaozhong said with a smug smile.

He felt that recommending Li Naiwen to Cheng Sheng was the right thing to do.

After chatting with Principal Xu Xiaozhong for almost two hours, Cheng Sheng said goodbye as it was getting late.

But instead of going to China Film Group immediately, he went back to his old dormitory.

Unfortunately, my former roommate graduated last year, and now the people living here are students from the directing department.

Cheng Sheng chatted with them amicably for a while, and then went to find Zhang Yang and Teacher Yang Chao.

The two teachers were very happy to see Cheng Sheng. As Cheng Sheng's teacher and director, their status at the Central Academy of Drama was rising because of Cheng Sheng. They heard that they would be promoted to full professor in a year or two.

Around 5pm.

Amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the entire faculty and students, Cheng Shengcai left the Central Academy of Drama, then hailed a taxi and arrived at China Film Group.

In President Han's office.

Cheng Sheng and Master Han sat together, drinking tea and chatting.

Han Sanye sought out Cheng Sheng mainly for three things.

The first one is related to "Buried".

Buried won an award at Venice, but the domestic release of the film has not yet been decided.

Master Han hopes that Cheng Sheng will hand over the domestic distribution rights of "Buried Alive" to China Film Group.

To show his sincerity, Master Han offered a very high percentage of the profits.

The basic revenue sharing is usually 43% of the net box office revenue (after deducting distribution, publicity and other expenses, the actual percentage received is less than 43%).

But this time, Master Han offered a base percentage of 48%, an increase of 5%. This is a revenue-sharing percentage that other distribution companies cannot offer.

China Film Group originally wanted to acquire the overseas distribution rights, but fortunately, Ning sold the overseas distribution rights for "Buried Alive" during the Venice Film Festival.

The Americas were sold to Colombia, the Europe to a new distribution company, and the Southeast Asia to Media Asia.

Buried grossed $1500 million, which is a little over a small fortune.

What was the production cost of "Buried Alive"?

Do you have a million?
No.

The entire filming process, from start to finish, took less than half a month. The props included a coffin, and the crew consisted of fewer than ten people.

The movie didn't feature any big stars.

Li Naiwen only received one yuan in payment.

Ten thousand yuan is definitely a lot for Li Naiwen, because his previous film salary was less than a thousand yuan.

However, Cheng Sheng was still very kind. Since "Buried Alive" was a big hit overseas, he was not stingy and directly asked Ning Hao to give Li Naiwen a million-dollar red envelope.

Lee Nai-man was overjoyed when he received the reward; it was probably the most lucrative payment he had ever received since entering the entertainment industry.

Li Naiwen was extremely grateful to Cheng Sheng for this.

If it were another production company, they would definitely not share the profits with others.

Since Master Han gave up such a large profit, Cheng Sheng naturally wouldn't refuse and agreed to hand over the domestic distribution rights of "Buried Alive" to China Film Group.

After finishing the first thing, Third Master Han began to talk about the second thing.

The second matter is also related to the movie. It is Cheng Sheng's script for "The Great Tang Dynasty 2" submitted to the Copyright Bureau, and the script is currently awaiting review.

I just didn't expect this matter to alarm Master Han.

Regarding "The Great Tang Dynasty 2", Han Sanye's meaning was also very simple: China Film Group still wanted to invest in the project in the same way as before.

"Mr. Han, the script is still under review. Isn't it too early to talk about investment now?" Cheng Sheng said hesitantly.

"Haha, it's getting late. You have no idea how many people are watching your new movie," Han Sanye said with a laugh.

Master Han wasn't exaggerating; Cheng Sheng's every move is now being watched closely by people in the industry.

From the moment "Buried" entered the main competition, and subsequently Cheng Sheng won Best Screenplay and Li Naiwen won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, people in the industry realized one thing: anything produced by Cheng Sheng is bound to be a masterpiece.

Moreover, Cheng Sheng's films not only win awards, but also make a lot of money.

The fact that "Buried" grossed $15 million at the Venice Film Festival couldn't be kept secret from those who were interested; a little investigation would reveal the truth.

How much was the budget for "Buried Alive"?
Those who have seen this movie don't think it will surpass 500,000.

A movie with a budget of 500,000 yuan has already achieved a small goal before its release, and that doesn't even include domestic sales!

Therefore, both big names and artists in the film and television industry hope to participate in Cheng Sheng's new film.

As soon as Cheng Shenggang submitted the script for review, many big names in the industry found out.

Han Sanye from China Film Group acted the fastest, inviting Cheng Sheng immediately.

The others also wanted to invite Cheng Sheng, but very few people had his phone number, and since he wasn't in Beijing, it was too difficult to contact him.

Ring ring ring!
Just then, Cheng Sheng's cell phone rang.

"See? They must be those sharks that smelled the fish," Master Han said with a smile.

Cheng Sheng took out his phone and saw it was Yu Dong from Bona Film Group. (End of Chapter)