This celebrity is overly enthusiastic!

Chapter 20 Talent must be cultivated by ourselves!

In China, directors currently hold a very high status in the entertainment industry.

Even if Chen Yuan humbles himself now, he will most likely be poached and leave to work independently once the other party achieves success, unless Chen Yuan can bind them with enough benefits.

Chen Yuan needs a director who is just like a scriptwriter, someone who can film (or plagiarize) the company's projects (Chen Yuan's rewards) according to predetermined requirements.

You won't feel sorry for someone who's gone.

If Metaverse continues to operate in this way, it doesn't resemble a domestic film and television company centered around directors at all.
Instead, it's similar to Hollywood, where the producer controls the entire project, and the rest—directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, prop masters, art directors, etc.—are all just tools in a producer-centric system.

The producer-centric system is something Chen Yuan is no stranger to.

Because in later generations, the Hollywood producer-centric system, which is now the mature paradigm of the global film industry, has successfully become the mainstream in China, although the way it evolved is rather regrettable.

The producer-centric system, as the name suggests, places the producer as the true project boss, coordinating the creative team, including the director, cinematographer, art director, and so on.

This frees directors from daily creative tasks, allowing them to focus solely on their creative work.

This is more in the best interest of investors and ensures a reasonable film budget and shooting schedule.

It also helps to formulate a unified overall strategy for project development, production, marketing, distribution, overseas expansion, and brand continuation from a holistic perspective.

Of course, Chen Yuan also knew that his self-indulgent escapades in his own company were only superficially similar to a producer-centric system, but in reality, they were worlds apart.

Upon closer reflection, the thought that Chen Yuan could turn the vast majority of people in the company into mere tools by relying on cheat codes sent chills down his spine!
If this were to be done, the safety and future of the entire company would rest entirely on his shoulders.

The company is still small, and its "face-to-face transmission" seems quite buggy.

But if the company's business expands in the future and it manages multiple different types of projects at the same time, will he still have to completely control and manage these businesses all by himself?
[Face-to-face transmission] First of all, it has to be face-to-face. At that time, Chen Yuan will probably have to chat with people face-to-face all day long to convey his thoughts, right?

If the company might malfunction as soon as his brain stops thinking, then did Chen Yuan actually start a company, or did he build himself a factory to work in?

The metaverse absolutely cannot be filled with mere tools; it must have a group of truly capable assistants to help him manage the company and projects.

Chen Yuan only needs to keep an eye on the company's overall direction and key projects related to the development of the metaverse.

Excellent management talent in the film and television industry almost always needs to have extensive experience as a producer.

Chen Yuan wants to find capable assistants. Besides searching and recruiting directly from outside, can he use his current cheat-like abilities to cultivate a group of excellent producers to support Yuan Universe Company?

After carefully learning about the domestic film and television industry environment, Chen Yuan felt deeply hopeless. It was difficult, very difficult, extremely difficult.

Implementing a producer-centric model in mainland China today is extremely difficult.

Hollywood's producer-centric system didn't just appear out of thin air; it's built upon Hollywood's well-established film and television industry chain.

The industrialization of the film and television industry is not simply about producing two heavily invested sci-fi films like "The Wandering Earth".

Industrialization is an industrial chain that relies on a precise division of labor, capital control, and professional collaboration.

With a clear division of labor and standardized processes across the entire chain, the domestic film and television industry is still largely operating under a workshop-style production model, both now and for a long time to come.

If Chen Yuan wants to establish a proper producer-centric system, it's no exaggeration to say he has to shoulder the responsibility of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and reshape the entire domestic film and television ecosystem. Unless Chen Yuan can manipulate minds like Yuri, the stakes are so high and complex that even a god would find it difficult to accomplish.

The domestic film industry follows the director-centric system of the Russians, which has always emphasized the artistic authority of the director.

Even though the unified purchase and sales system was broken in 93, the director-centric system had become the industry norm.

Fifth-generation directors, such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, have further consolidated their power as directors by monopolizing resources through their international reputation and personal brands.

Domestic film and television investors tend to bet on famous directors, and some people probably haven't even heard of what a producer is.

After 2010, a large amount of hot money poured into the film and television industry. Capital made the "traffic star + fan economy" model work, which led to capital relying more on directors and stars rather than producers to control quality.

There is also a significant lack of professional producers in China who possess both artistic appreciation and business acumen.

Most producers come from financial or administrative backgrounds, have weak creative intervention capabilities, and often become financing tools or nominal positions, with actual decision-making power often being undermined by investors or directors.

Audiences and the media are also accustomed to viewing films as the director's personal works, thus reinforcing the director's cultural authority.

Art film festivals, such as Cannes and Berlin, have elevated the status of directors by awarding prizes to directors.

During this process, some celebrities such as Xu Guangtou and Zhao Yanzi have also become producers, but their success relies more on their personal influence than on their professional production skills.

However, the producer-centric system did not always fail to take root in China. After the domestic television industry self-destructed, iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video dominated the market and adopted the producer-centric system.

This model aligns naturally with the project management structure of internet companies: video websites find producers they trust, and then the producers assemble teams to manage the projects.

However, they didn't learn the essence of Hollywood's producer-centric system, but they learned all its drawbacks.

While the picture quality, costumes, and props of web dramas are becoming increasingly sophisticated, the overall quality of these dramas is far inferior to those from ten or twenty years ago.

Moreover, once a theme becomes popular, many copycat works immediately emerge to grab traffic and popularity.

The current situation is that investors are more willing to trust directors, actors and agents are more willing to work with directors, and screenwriters are more willing to communicate directly with directors.

Producer? Who does the producer think they are?
As a result, directors are more likely to gain trust from producers in terms of creative direction, actors, and funding.

Producers have no opportunity to hone their skills. Day after day, year after year, without producers' deep involvement in projects, they will not grow.

Therefore, the most reliable way to find reliable talent is to cultivate it yourself.

Chen Yuan decided to pay closer attention to his company's employees and find those who were quick-witted and had strong communication skills to train.

We can't just talk the talk; we need to let them manage different projects, from easy to difficult, to cultivate the core management talent of the metaverse.

Of course, it's not just about valuing producer talent.
Chen Yuan can assign tasks to all employees in positions such as screenwriter, director, cinematographer, and art director, and then transmit suitable inspirational ideas via "face-to-face transmission."

Let's see who can create great works from this, and who are just mediocre people who would be useless even if given advanced ideas. We can use this efficient method to select and cultivate talent for the metaverse.

(End of this chapter)