Life in the Light and Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

On July 21, news broke that Wu Yang and Liu Yifei were teaming up again to film an urban workplace movie.

As the news spread, many details of the new film were revealed, including promotional material from Cat Factory.

The following morning at 10 a.m., Wang Changtian held a grand press conference at the Guangxian Building.

At the meeting, it was first announced that the film "Love is Not Blind" had been approved, with an investment of 4000 million yuan, Wu Yang as director, and Liu Yifei as the female lead.

It was later announced that Wu Yang and Liu Yifei jointly held 1000 million shares of Guangxian.

Become the largest shareholder among all the celebrities in the industry!

These two pieces of news quickly ignited the scene, causing all the entertainment reporters to raise their microphones.

I wanted to conduct an interview first, but unfortunately there were people maintaining order at the scene.

During the media Q&A session, the questions were drawn by Wang Changtian and Wu Yang.

Both of them made the same choice: to ask questions to media outlets they were familiar with and had a good relationship with.

These media outlets that got the opportunity did so because of their good relationship with Enlight Media or Wu Yang's studio.

The questions asked were all very ordinary and not at all pointed. It was more like they were offering support than asking and answering questions!

Thus, under human control, the press conference ended "successfully".

Those who didn't get a chance to ask questions originally wanted to try and catch Wu Yang and Liu Yifei.

However, it turned out that Wu Yang and Liu Yifei, who had followed Wang Changtian upstairs, did not come out for a long time.

However, some people still managed to take photos online of Wu Yang and Liu Yifei returning to the manor, these were the entertainment reporters who were waiting outside the building.

I only found out that the target had left from the underground parking lot immediately after the press conference ended.

The outside world's noise and disturbances did not affect Wu Yang and Liu Yifei's preparations.

Liu Yifei was working on the script in the dance studio, while Wu Yang was drawing storyboards in the study on the second floor.

Pei Le was in charge of the filming plan and the formation of the crew, and he also served as the executive director this time.

The only difference is that there's an additional assessment task: the studio is being upgraded to a film and television company, and the number of employees is being expanded to 20.

But in reality, the number of people who came exceeded 100, reaching 103. After all, there were some relationships that even Wu Yang couldn't refuse.

"Love is Not Blind" is an urban drama. Although it can be filmed in Beijing, it is currently during the summer vacation.

The capital city is also a tourist hotspot, so Wang Hui, the assistant director in the behind-the-scenes team, had already arrived a few days ago.

The moment I received the notification, I went to various cities with few tourists to film.

Several days passed, and Wang Hui selected a few cities with fewer tourists.

Then communicate with the local authorities to see where they can offer more discounts and conveniences.

Ultimately, Wu Yang made the final decision to set the filming location in Gangcheng, a prefecture-level city located in Dongshan.

That was just a filming location; due to the needs of the plot, several scenes were still selected in the capital.

At least the big screen at the end of the movie wasn't there in Hong Kong, but it's not lacking in the capital.

The budget for filming "Love is Not Blind" was set at 4000 million.

Firstly, it was because of the huge success of "First Love" and "Love Like a Bouquet".

This has led to an increase in Liu Yifei's salary, with current offers ranging from 600 million to 800 million yuan.

A quote of 600 million usually indicates a large-scale production, while a quote of 800 million indicates a smaller production.

In the former, Liu Yifei was just the female lead, but in the latter, she was needed to carry the box office!

And most of them are bad movies!

As the wife of a director, she also encountered the glamour of wanting to go public, and this film, "Love is Not Blind," is still a female-led movie, with Liu Yifei carrying the main role!

Therefore, Wu Yang directly set Liu Yifei's salary at 800 million yuan, and Wang Changtian had no objection to this.

Furthermore, the team behind the scenes received their salaries based on the market rates for top-tier domestic production teams.

The package price was 5 million yuan. Apart from Wu Yang, Pei Le and the other nine people were allocated 4 million yuan according to their functions, and the remaining 1 million yuan was used to pay the salaries of 103 interns.

Wu Yang provided the script and had a 20% share of the profits, of which screenwriter Bao Jingjing received 10%.

China Film Group invested 2000 million yuan, accounting for 50% of the share, while Guangxian invested 2000 million yuan at a premium, accounting for 30% of the share.

Then Wu Yang and Liu Yifei jointly mortgaged the manor to obtain a loan of 2 million yuan from the bank.

With a subscription qualification of 20 yuan per share, they purchased 1000 million shares from Guangxian.

The shares are jointly held by Wu Yang and Liu Yifei, since Liu Yifei's name is also on the estate deed.

At the press conference, they also signed the rather simple agreement to become the sole strategic film and television partner.

With this agreement in hand, as long as it's not illegal, Wu Yang can cash out or hold the shares permanently.

There is no need to worry about Huayi's fate repeating itself, but rather because of what happened to Huayi after losing Wu Yang.

In today's secondary market, more and more people are optimistic about companies with impressive IPOs!

I imagine that once the company successfully goes public next month, the stock price will surge because of the news.

As for the percentage increase, that remains unknown!

7 month 28 day.

In just five days, the production team had completed all the preparations due to the increased recruitment.

Besides Pei Le and nine others, the behind-the-scenes team also includes a large group of 103 people, including those introduced by Pei Le and those recommended by the Beijing Film Academy.

It was thanks to these people that the production team was able to complete preparations so quickly, and even the actors were basically all in place.

The only roles that haven't been finalized yet are the male lead and a few guest-starring couples; the rest of the supporting cast will be the same as the original cast.

Using Bao Jingjing's script and Wu Yang's storyboard, Wang Hui cast a wide net.

The list of candidates who met the requirements for the male lead was sent to the talent agencies and studios of all film and television companies.

They agreed to audition in the port city on the same day, and the results would be announced by Wu Yang on the same day!

On July 29, Wang Hui and his behind-the-scenes team went to the port city ahead of time to set up the film crew.

Wu Yang, along with his cast, held a grand launch and promotion event in Beijing in cooperation with Cat Factory.

Although they said they were starting filming, no footage was taken, and even Wu Yang's assistant, Pang Hai, wasn't with him.

Wu Yang and others cooperated with the cat factory's planners throughout the entire promotional process.

They also proclaimed that November 11, 2011, would be the day when three Double 11 events would be simultaneously launched globally—a once-in-a-millennium occurrence!

From preparation to filming, and then to wrap-up and post-production, Wu Yang had exactly 100 days.

This is Wu Yang's first time rushing to film a scene since her time travel, a test for Wu Yang and a major test for the behind-the-scenes team.

On July 30, Wu Yang and the actors chartered a plane and landed in the coastal city of Hong Kong.

The next day, from among dozens of male actors who came to audition, it was decided that the male lead would be played by his fellow student, Ma Tianyu.

Because when the audition invitation was sent out, a character introduction and requirements were also attached.

Therefore, anyone who puts in a little effort will bring makeup to the audition.

Of the dozens of male actors who came, Ma Tianyu's audition was the most impressive.

Even though her acting skills are somewhat lacking, she manages to keep the audience engaged and perfectly highlights Liu Yifei's exceptional acting abilities.

Most importantly, Ma Tianyu is very good at dressing up as a woman, especially his walking and talking mannerisms, which have both a cheeky feel and a domineering masculine side.

With his height of 180cm, his proportions are not unbalanced.

Actually, Deng Chao could also play this role, but Deng Chao is indeed much older than Liu Yifei, and since it's not a period drama, there's no way to work on the makeup.