Bai Lu got scammed, but I became a superstar through e-commerce.

Little Lucky Heaven picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"President Qing, there's something in your eyes. It's not just acting—it's something you've experienced. The character of Changsheng needs someone who can convince the audience, and your chemistry with Bai Lu is still very influential in the online film industry."

Ju Xingmao remained silent the entire time. Leaning back in his chair, twirling a teacup in his hand, he waited until Xiao Jixiangtian finished speaking before slowly opening his mouth: "President Qing, after the web series 'Soul Ferry' finished filming, I've been wanting to make a spin-off movie. But the online movie market is too chaotic—a few hundred thousand yuan to make one, relying on piggybacking on IPs, trending topics, and six minutes of cheap entertainment to lure viewers in. Xiao Jixiangtian has been waiting for an opportunity worthwhile to write the script. You have a script, funding, and sincerity, which is all good. But the most crucial question is—do you really want this series to be made? Or are you just trying to make your company's actors famous?"

"We invested six million to make an online movie, and the return rate reached 80% within two weeks of its release. This time, the total investment for 'Huangquan' is eight million. I invested the majority of it."

Qingxiao placed the teacup on the table.

"If I make Bai Lu famous—that's what I should do. But I can't make myself famous, and I don't want to be famous. Once Gu Nian finishes acting, there won't be a second season. Director Ju, I just want this drama to be made."

Ju Xingmao was silent for a moment, then slammed his teacup on the table.

"Okay, I'll take it."

The project launch meeting was very formal.

In the screenwriting studio of Tianmen Film and Television, Qingxiao pushed the whiteboard to the center of the conference room and drew a timeline on it.

The left side indicates that filming began in May 2014, the middle shows the filming and post-production schedule, and the right side indicates the expected release date.

Bai Lu sat opposite him, holding a script in her hand, listening quietly.

Chen Yu, as a co-producer, sat next to Bai Lu. Several pages of printed scene outlines were spread out in front of Xiao Jixiangtian, while Ju Xingmao leaned against the window, twirling a pencil in his hand.

"Let's set the tone first." Qingxiao wrote a line at the top of the whiteboard: "God-level online movie".

"These are the exact words of director Guo Jingyu at the opening ceremony of 'Huangquan'. He said he wanted to make this film a new benchmark in the online movie market, so that people would know that online movies can be made like this. Gong Yu, the founder of iQiyi, personally attended the opening ceremony. He said that this was the first time he had attended the opening ceremony of a film, and he hoped that this film would become a landmark of online movies and a widely circulated excellent work."

"Then let's do it according to the standards of a top-tier online drama." Ju Xingmao walked over from the window, picked up a marker, and wrote four words on the whiteboard: Costume, Makeup, Props, and Scenery.

"The biggest difference between online movies and theatrical films is not the actors, but the aesthetic threshold of quality. Most online movies have an investment of hundreds of thousands of yuan, and the post-production special effects are outsourced to the cheapest team. Viewers can tell at a glance that they are cheap products. Our total investment is eight million yuan, and three to four million yuan are directly invested in production and post-production. The world of the underworld cannot be a five-cent special effects underworld set. It must have a movie-level quality. In terms of scene art, Meng Po Village must have the desolation of a desert with lone smoke. The road to the underworld must be designed as a path covered with sand and gravel, and real dried plants are used on both sides to create the artistic conception of 'eight hundred miles of desert, without flowers or leaves'."

Little Lucky Heaven pushed the scene outline onto the center of the table: "The story is based on the love between Meng Po Sanqi and the young Changsheng. Sanqi had a wisp of her soul taken away by her biological father, making her naturally simple-minded and unable to brew a qualified Meng Po soup. Changsheng was created to get close to Sanqi—but he fell in love with her while deceiving her, and in the end, she used her own soul to fulfill his wish."

Bai Lu opened the script, her fingertip hovering over the character introduction section. She looked up, her voice steady, yet with an undeniable light in it: "The character of Sanqi has so many layers. In the early stages, she's naive and clueless, unable to brew a proper Meng Po soup (a legendary soup of oblivion). After meeting Changsheng, she experiences 'wanting' for the first time. On her wedding day, she learns that Changsheng has been lying to her from beginning to end—the breakdown at that moment isn't anger, but heartbreak. In the end, she gives him her own soul, and when Zhao Li asks her if it was worth it, she says it was. Each of these four stages requires sufficient support from the script. In the early stages, she can't be portrayed as mentally challenged; in the middle stages, she can't be portrayed as love-struck; and in the later stages, she can't be portrayed as a saint. I've already discussed this with Qingxiao, and he will solidify every turning point in the script."

Ju Xingmao opened the storyboard next to him; it was one he had drawn with a pencil for three months back then.

He pointed to the several camera position sketches above and said that the camera should pull down from the corner of Sanqi's eye when she first smelled the fragrance of immortality and couldn't move—like a drop of Meng Po soup sliding to her lips, both sweet and bitter.

Bai Lu turned her head to look at Qing Xiao, who had already marked the color zones of Huang Quan on the whiteboard. He glanced back at her—just once, and she felt that all the preparations were just a pre-arranged piece in his eyes.

Little Lucky Heaven tapped his scene outline with his pen: "How do you guys plan to film the part about Panax notoginseng eating longevity?"

The room fell silent for two seconds, then everyone burst into laughter.

After laughing, Ju Xingmao steered the conversation back on track: "Let's talk about the actors. Sanqi is Bai Lu, Changsheng is Qingzong, but there are two other key roles."

Xiao Jixiangtian flipped to the next scene outline: "Although 'The Ferryman: Huangquan' is a spin-off film, the character Zhao Li cannot be abandoned. Viewers of the original series have an emotional attachment to Zhao Li; this character is the emotional anchor connecting the web series and the film. My suggestion is that Zhao Li should still be played by Yu Yi."

He turned a page. "He played the role of Zhao Li in all three seasons of 'The Ferryman,' and the audience's recognition of him was very high. Moreover, Yu Yi's acting skills are amazing—he can call Sanqi 'little fool' with a grin on one hand, and swallow all the pain in silence when you can't see him."

"Where is Hua Ningxue?" Bai Lu asked. "Sanqi's birth mother?"

"Meng Qi," Xiao Jixiangtian corrected her, "Sanqi's mother, the previous Meng Po. This role doesn't have many scenes, but it's crucial—Sanqi's line 'Worth it' was learned from her mother. Meng Qi was also deceived by Sanqi's father back then. I suggest Yue Lina, someone from Guo Jingyu's side, who has worked with our company many times, has solid acting skills, and has enough presence to command the Meng Po aura. Ni Hongjie can also play A Xiang. The director himself also has a cameo role in the film, Wang Xiaolu."

Ju Xingmao drew a small house on a piece of paper, with seven or eight little figures standing crookedly next to it. Each little figure had a name on its head. It looked like a crooked tree with half a bunch of persimmons hanging from its branches.

He dusted off his hands: "The cast is almost complete, but there are still some supporting roles to be cast. I will have the casting team go to Hengdian for auditions for all the supporting roles, giving priority to extras with experience in supernatural dramas."

No one corrected him because the two seasons of "The Ferryman" had indeed accumulated a large number of veteran extras from Hengdian who were good at playing "ghosts".

Qingxiao put the whiteboard marker back on the table and began the last item on the agenda—capital allocation and investment return forecasting.

A professional film project launch meeting is the most crucial part and cannot be skipped.

"The total investment is eight million. Tianmen Film & Television is the lead investor, and iQiyi is a co-producer. The production cost is controlled at four and a half million, including set construction, costumes, props, and special effects. The screenwriter, director, and actors' salaries are two million. The publicity and distribution cost is one and a half million. It mainly follows iQiyi's 'shared profits' revenue-sharing model, which is settled based on the number of paid views. In 2014, the online film market was still booming. Just two months ago, a similar film with a budget of 280,000 leveraged a revenue-sharing return of over one million. For a top-tier project like ours with an eight million investment, as long as we guarantee the quality of the finished product and get promotional resources on an A-level platform after its release, the viewing data will be very impressive. Based on the revenue model of similar online films on previous platforms, the total revenue-sharing box office is expected to double or triple. This is just a conservative estimate."

Little Lucky Heaven put the scene outline into a file bag, buttoned it up, and stood up to lean back in his chair.

Qingxiao wrote the last column on the whiteboard—the start-up time.

He glanced at the date on the wall clock, then paused his pen on the whiteboard: "Today is Wednesday... so let's set May 27th for the official start of filming in Huairou, Beijing."