The Rise of Chinese Entertainment in 2008

Tian Zhuangzhuang was incredibly fast; before the National Day holiday even started, Gu Ning received the news that the short film had already been sent to Berlin.

The deadline for short film submissions to this year's Berlin Film Festival is November 3rd, and notification of selection will not be received until after January 20th of next year.

The awards ceremony won't be held until February.

We can only wait for news.

…………

"Our studio is rather simple, please excuse the poor quality."

Tian Yusheng led Gu Ning on a tour of his studio, and said somewhat embarrassedly.

He graduated from the Department of Dramatic Literature at the Central Academy of Drama. Before graduation, he and several classmates founded a studio to focus on screenwriting.

The studio has been established for three years, and so far it has only created the script for one suspense TV series on its own.

The rest of the time, I take on copywriting and script improvement jobs for others.

Therefore, they are financially strapped, and their studio is still located in an old neighborhood.

Calling it a studio is an understatement; it's more like their living quarters. They live in their own rooms, while the living room serves as their workspace.

"It's not about how high the mountain is, but that's what matters. I've seen your drama; it's very well written."

Gu Ning smiled and said, "Let's talk about business first."

"Mr. Gu, please have a seat."

Tian Yusheng gestured for Gu Ning to sit down on the sofa and gave him a bottle of mineral water.

Gu Ning then took out several A4 sheets of paper from her bag, which contained the general plot of "Lost in Thailand".

"Take a look first, then give me a price," Gu Ning said.

"Mr. Gu, please wait a moment."

Tian Yusheng took the script, read it carefully, and after a moment of contemplation, said, "The story framework is very complete, and it won't be difficult to perfect it. Our studio will take this job for 10,000 yuan."

"Too expensive, five thousand."

Gu Ning also had a general understanding of the market for screenwriters.

A script that you write yourself will typically cost anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Some people will even work for free so that their scripts can be made into films.

This wasn't done to do good, of course, but so that the script could be filmed and achieve a certain level of viewership or box office success, thus gaining fame.

However, this usually involves new screenwriters, and the director needs to be somewhat famous.

Another option is to have someone provide general requirements, and then write the script accordingly.

These types of fees depend on the other party's requirements.

Suppose Gu Ning proposes to write a comedy road movie about the Spring Festival travel rush, with nothing else, it would probably cost tens of thousands.

But he already has the overall story framework; all that's needed is to fill in the dialogue to perfect it, and the price isn't expensive.

After some haggling, the price was finally settled at seven thousand.

Tian Yusheng promised to complete it within half a month, and then make revisions according to Gu Ning's requirements.

After signing the contract, Gu Ning paid a deposit of two thousand yuan and left the studio with Tian Yusheng seeing her off.

Back at school, as soon as Gu Ning entered the dormitory, she smelled smoke and knew that Liu Sanxi had returned.

"He made a complete mess of the dorm as soon as he came back."

Gu Ning opened the window to let in some fresh air, and said with some disdain.

Liu Sanxi, who was lying in bed playing on his phone, sat up, stubbed out his cigarette, and said, "I brought you a phone, a Samsung i8510C smartphone, and I had to pull some strings to get it for you."

Thanks.

Gu Ning took the phone box, opened it, and took out a black slider phone.

He didn't feel anything about the mobile phones of this era.

"Where did you go?" Liu Sanxi asked.

"I put together a script and found a studio to help me refine it," Gu Ning said.

"script?"

Liu Sanxi was taken aback, then urged, "Quick, let me see."

"See for yourself on the computer."

Gu Ning took out his Nokia phone and replaced the SIM card.

Is this a story about a person lost on their journey?

"It's that one."

Gu Ning fiddled with the phone for a while, mainly to get used to such a non-smart smartphone.

Liu Sanxi, having finished reading the script, frowned and said, "Even though it's a movie, it's too outrageous. In reality, how could anyone be this unlucky? It's completely illogical."

"Big brother, this is a comedy. What logic does a comedy need? As long as it's funny, that's enough," Gu Ning said.

To be honest, the plot of "Lost in Thailand" is indeed a bit outrageous.

The biggest problem during the Spring Festival travel rush is not being able to buy tickets.

In the movie, they managed to buy tickets for airplanes, trains, and buses, but all of them ran into problems.

This is also the part of the film that has been most criticized.

Secondly, the part about the female con artist was criticized for being overly sentimental.

However, similar events have occurred in later generations, making it difficult to evaluate.

Gu Ning made some minor changes to the plot, setting Li Chenggong as the owner of a construction company, while Niu Geng was an ordinary construction worker.

Li Chenggong subcontracted the project to a large contractor, who in turn subcontracted it to many smaller contractors.

The contractor usually only pays a small living allowance, and the rest of the wages are paid on IOUs.

When it was time to settle accounts before the New Year, Niu Geng's contractor ran away, and a group of people surrounded the main contractor demanding payment.

The foreman, holding the payment receipt, told Niu Geng and the others that he had already paid them.

Although the others were angry, they all accepted their bad luck. Only Niu Geng was stubborn and insisted on going to the contractor's house to find him.

Seeing this, the contractor even sponsored Niu Geng's plane ticket.

This makes much more sense for Niu Geng to travel by plane.

Otherwise, it would be unrealistic for a milkmaid to buy a plane ticket during the Spring Festival travel rush if she couldn't even get her wages.

Li Chenggong only realized it was related to his company after seeing the IOU.

However, he believed that he had already paid for the project, and it was none of his business if Niu Geng didn't receive the money.

But because they had spent time together along the way and learned about the hardships faced by migrant workers, they eventually had someone give Niu Geng his wages.

This also allows us to focus on the issue of migrant workers' difficulty in getting their wages.

Even so, there are still many unreasonable aspects.

However, there's no way around it; if a comedy ends in tragedy, the audience will curse it to death.

Liu Sanxi asked, "Are you planning to wait until after the Berlin Film Festival to film?"

"It would be best if this kind of movie were released around the Lunar New Year. Let's watch it then," Gu Ning said.

He just wanted to secure the script first; he hadn't decided when to film it yet.

"How much will this movie cost?" Liu Sanxi asked.

"Around six million."

Gu Ning remembered that the film cost seven million, and if they were frugal, five million should be enough.

"Then why not film now?" Liu Sanxi asked.

"Brother, are you kidding me? Where did the money come from?"

Gu Ning said speechlessly, "I'm a photography student, and I can't even attract investment."

"Have you forgotten what my family does?"

"Even if you own a mine, it's useless. Can Uncle Liu give you six million?"

"My dad definitely won't give it to me, but I know a lot of people whose families own coal mines."

Liu Sanxi said, "Before the Olympics, the country cracked down on environmental issues and tightened regulations on coal mining. We thought things would relax after the Olympics, but there's no sign of it being relaxed at all."

Some of my friends have contacted me, asking me to help them find resources to invest in film and television.

"If I get them involved, raising six million won't be difficult."

After hearing this, Gu Ning thought about it carefully and realized that it might actually work.

The film was originally shot in a month, and he already had a finished product in mind, which made the filming process easier.

As long as the actors are in good form and there are no major accidents during filming, it should be completed in a month.

This year's Spring Festival was at the end of January, and it's only October now, so there are still almost four months to go.

Although it was a bit rushed, there was still enough time for filming and promotional activities.

The difficult part is submitting the application for review and obtaining a screening permit; these two steps take a lot of time if there is no one available.