Who says Beijing Film Academy has no great directors? (2002)

"It's a success! 'Stone' has grossed 2500 million at the box office! Chen Yan!"

Chen Yan has been working non-stop these past few days. Last night, he had some drinks with the film company and talked too late, so he was still a bit dazed when he received the call.

"Congratulations!" Chen Yan replied with a smile.

Ning Hao lowered his voice: "Sigh, in the end we still couldn't beat 'Cellphone'. His movie was too bad, it was still showing until the end of January, and I couldn't keep up."

"How much did 'Cellphone' gross at the box office?" Chen Yan asked, as he had been too busy with things in Berlin to go see it.

"More than 5600 million! That son of a bitch!" Ning Hao cursed.

Chen Yan offered some words of comfort: "He's a veteran director, he still has potential. I'm already very satisfied with the box office performance of 'Stone'."

"By the way, how's your 'Incense' project coming along?"

Originally, this film was intended to be submitted underground, without a film license, to film festivals to try its luck.

When the investors from his previous life heard about the rule that underground films would be penalized with 50 times their investment, they immediately withdrew their funds. Helpless, Ning Hao had to take over with all the money himself, and in the end, of course, he didn't make much money.

In this life, he met Chen Yan, who helped Han Sanping resolve the issue of the dragon seal and secured investors. However, many obstacles still arose during filming.

"Don't even mention it, we ran into obstacles everywhere." Ning Hao's film involved some sensitive issues, and even though it obtained the film's production license, its release was still delayed.

"It's okay, I'll fix it."

Ning Hao is also optimistic. Anyway, "Stone" has already made him a star, and he doesn't have to worry about finding investors for his films.

Chen Yan couldn't go back either, so he could only say, "Let me know if you need anything, and I'll do my best to help you."

"Why!"

The two hung up the phone, and Chen Yan let out a sigh of relief.

What follows is a tough battle.

When Chen Yan, Liu Yifei, and Liu Xiaoli landed in the United States, the mother and daughter seemed quite familiar with the place. It was only then that Chen Yan remembered that Liu Yifei was still a US resident.

We need to find a way to get her back. Times have changed. Liu Yifei no longer needs to rely on her foreign citizenship to break into Hollywood.

Chen Yan is more useful than this identity; in a sense, he is capital and a resource provider.

Even if an actor becomes a top star in China or a Hollywood superstar, they cannot escape the fate of being bound by capital and controlled by resource providers.

Because they are essentially at the very end of the production line, the food being selected, while Chen Yan is the chef, the one who has the recipe and actually does the cooking.

"It's been a long time since I've been back." Liu Yifei closed her eyes and felt the wind blowing on her cheeks.

"Do you miss it?" Chen Yan asked, amused, looking at the girl's well-defined and delicate profile.

Liu Yifei opened her eyes, turned to look at Chen Yan, and her eyes revealed a hint of disgust.

"not at all."

Chen Yan's heart was struck abruptly for a moment.

He remembered why Liu Yifei disliked this place. She had come to this foreign country with her mother when she was young, and she was beautiful. This place was also known as the bullying capital of the United States.

It's easy to imagine that the little girl must have suffered a lot while in school.

Chen Yan bent down slightly to meet Liu Yifei's gaze and said, "Our Qianqian, you've worked hard."

Liu Yifei's lips instantly curled up, and her eyes narrowed into slits.

"It's not hard work!" she said, raising her rather thin arm.

"Okay, let's go. If we chat a little longer, Auntie will disappear." Chen Yan smiled.

Liu Yifei then smiled, pulled Chen Yan up, and ran towards Liu Xiaoli.

......

Upon arriving at the hotel arranged by James, Chen Yan let the mother and daughter rest for a while, as flying is very tiring, not to mention jet lag.

I took a shower and called Anne Hathaway and the others to let them know that we would be starting work the day after tomorrow.

Anne Hathaway was thrilled. "Is it finally going to start?! I'm ready, Chen!"

After hanging up the phone, the first thing that flashed through Anne Hathaway's mind was Chen Yan's face, the Asian face that had amazed her from the first moment she saw him.

Anne Hathaway rolled around in bed in surprise.

Depp was either drunk or something, Chen Yan couldn't get through to him on the phone.

Chen Yan could only send him a text message, telling him not to be late the day after tomorrow.

When the crew meets for the first time, it's best for everyone to get together and do a script reading so that everyone can get to know each other.

For the next three months, they will experience the torment from Chen Yan, the master of details from the East.

This film is ultimately intended for global release, so Chen Yan is prepared to put in extra effort. Moreover, this is Liu Yifei's first foreign-language film and her ticket to the international stage, so it cannot afford to go wrong.

Thank goodness, everyone was there when we started work. We're not filming today, just having a simple opening ceremony and then a script reading.

Although burning incense is not a common practice in the United States, Chen Yan, who has been a director for over a decade, still wanted to follow the traditional Chinese custom and do it simply.

For this reason, some red envelopes were specially prepared to be distributed for good luck.

"Good luck on your first day of work." After bringing Liu Yifei to the film set, Chen Yan gave her the first red envelope.

Liu Yifei smiled as she accepted the red envelope and politely replied, "Thank you, Director!"

"Okay, let's make a deal. On set, I'm Director Chen, and I won't go easy on you." Chen Yan gave the girl a heads-up, just in case she cried from his scolding.

Liu Yifei nodded emphatically, "Understood, Director Chen!"

She even gave a perfunctory bow, though it didn't look quite right.

"Hmm, not bad, take a break."

Chen Yan left after he finished speaking.

Liu Yifei immediately followed, and then Chen Yan gave everyone he met a red envelope.

Many members of the crew were pleasantly surprised when they accepted the offer. After Chen Yan left, one of them quietly remarked, "Everyone says that Chinese people possess special magical arts and feng shui skills. Is this part of it?"

"I don't know... Wow! $100, my God, whatever his magic is, I love him." Another employee kissed the red envelope in his hand.

Hollywood operates on a completely different model than China. In China, it's a director-centric system, where the director is the absolute core of the team.

Otherwise, why would many directors in China be called tyrants on set? It's because directors have absolute authority on set, like Director Zhou.

Hollywood, on the other hand, operates on a producer-centric system, which can be simply understood as capital dominance. Whoever pays the money calls the shots, and the director is more like a senior technician hired by the production team, only responsible for controlling the camera angles and coordinating personnel.

This time, Chen Yan replaced some of the production staff. China Film Group only had one accountant on set, and all other authority was delegated to Chen Yan.

Chen Yan led Liu Yifei to the entrance of the script reading room.

Chen Yan pushed open the door and entered. Anne Hathaway immediately stood up. "Director Chen!"

But when he saw a young girl in the prime of her life behind Chen Yan, he was stunned.

"This is the actress who plays Alice in our show. You can call her Crystal."