HuaYu2003: This producer is a bit reckless!

A quiet and elegant private room, with a table full of exquisite dishes.

Ling Yuan diligently served food to the two young girls.

After chatting for a while, Ling Yuan looked at Liu Yifei and said, "Qianqian, the lead role I promised you before wasn't a joke."

Liu Yifei smiled and said, "Really? What kind of role is it? I won't take on a bad one!"

Ling Yuan said with a touch of mystery, "There's a novel that's been quite popular lately. It's under my Xinghan Literature Network, and we've already bought the rights."

Shu Chang interjected, asking, "Is it that 'Zhu Xian'?"

Ling Yuan: "You've seen it too?"

Shu Chang nodded repeatedly and said, "I've read it, I've read it. It's still being serialized, not finished yet. It's really good. I didn't expect it to be from your company."

Liu Yifei nodded, her eyes sparkling: "I've seen it too!"

Ling Yuan said, "What do you think of the character Lu Xueqi? My plan is to make a movie version first, and then adapt it into a TV series. Because movie shooting time is shorter, the capital turnover is faster, and it's more profitable."

Liu Yifei was naturally pleased: "That's great. You do have a conscience!"

Lu Xueqi was naturally a good match for her; her appearance was ethereal and exquisite, her temperament aloof and otherworldly, and she wore a white robe as white as snow. She was a genius disciple of the Qingyun Sect. This was also very close to her usual persona.

She had heard that Ling Yuan had asked his classmate Liu Jing to give him a role, and she felt a little jealous.

Shu Chang exclaimed, "What about me? Is there anything suitable for me?"

Ling Yuan thought for a moment, snapped his fingers, and said, "How about Xiao Bai? She's the nine-tailed celestial fox from the book, with a thousand years of cultivation, one of the highest-ranking cultivators in the celestial fox clan. She's also very beautiful, with unparalleled looks, a gentle and ethereal temperament, and a bit mischievous. She's a perfect match for you."

Shu Chang clapped her hands and laughed, "This is good, this is good, I like it! It's a deal, President Ling, you can't lie to us."

Ling Yuan said, "Qianqian is my classmate. If I were to lie to you, she'd tear me apart, wouldn't she?"

Liu Yifei spat out, "Am I that cruel?"

Shu Chang: "By the way, who should we cast as Zhang Xiaofan?"

Ling Yuan shrugged and pointed to himself: "Me!"

"Tch~"

"Look at you, so vain!"

Ling Yuan: "What, am I not handsome enough?"

Shu Chang bluntly said, "You're handsome, but you're a complete newcomer who's never acted before. You're playing the lead role right away... can you... guarantee the quality?"

Liu Yifei jokingly added fuel to the fire, saying, "Don't let your actions ruin a good show!"

Ling Yuan: "I'm about to play the international thief Mike in 'Crazy Stone,' so you guys should watch my performance."

Liu Yifei encouraged him, "If you give a great performance, I'll write a film review for you!"

Shu sang, "I've also mobilized my classmates to come and support you!"

"Thank you, thank you." Ling Yuan refilled Liu Yifei and Shu Chang's glasses with juice, and then went on to introduce the big IP, Zhu Xian, and his future development plans.

"Start with the movie version, then the TV series, games, anime, merchandise, and so on. It's definitely a big goldmine. Of course, the novel publishing is already starting to make money now."

"The script for the movie version is already being adapted. As it is a fantasy epic, the investment will be huge, with an initial budget of 1000 million."

"Wow!" the two girls exclaimed.

These days, a movie with a budget of 1000 million is definitely a big production.

"Looking forward to it, looking forward to it."

"Longing, longing!"

"Come on, let's toast to this big production!"

The three raised their glasses in celebration. Ling Yuan was confident that once this big-budget production was released, he would definitely have a place in the film industry—a very important one!

However, the adaptation will take some time, and he currently lacks sufficient funds to undertake such a large-scale production.

If a film like "Zhu Xian" has a low budget, it will have cheap special effects, which will negatively impact the viewing experience.

Ling Yuan figured he should shoot a few other low-budget films first to make more money. It would be like a warm-up for Xinghan Pictures.

As for the script adaptation, Ling Yuan has already instructed Mu Jing to start recruiting people in full swing. If Xiao Ding has time, he can also be called over and given a screenwriter position to participate.

In addition, with the surge in popularity of Xinghan Literature Network, we also need to supplement our staff in editing, operations, and other areas.

……

Ling Yuan handed over the company's affairs to Mu Jing for full responsibility, while he himself took a train to Chongqing to join the "Crazy Stone" film crew.

Ning Hao had already completed all the preliminary preparations; everything was ready except for the final push.

It was also the first time that Ling Yuan had met Xu Zheng, Guo Tao, Liu Hua, and the others. They were also seeing him for the first time and were all secretly surprised. They hadn't realized that this kid was so young and handsome.

After Ling Yuan arrived, the crew held a simple opening ceremony. Then, filming for "Crazy Stone" began!

Summer in Chongqing is as humid as a steamer, but everyone's enthusiasm is as vibrant as the hotpot in Chongqing, accompanying "Stone's" crazy journey with boundless passion.

Although the vast majority of them were newcomers, and even those who were somewhat famous were only second- or third-rate actors, their presence already had the air of a blockbuster.

The filming process was naturally accompanied by many interesting incidents.

For example, in one key scene, Huang Bo's character, Hei Pi, crawls out of a sewer in a disheveled state to evade capture. To make it realistic, the props team actually found a long-abandoned, stinking ditch.

It's the middle of summer again, and that smell... it can knock you over from a mile away.

At the scene, many people were pinching their noses, their brows furrowed into tight knots.

Even Ning Hao himself felt a little embarrassed: "This smell is too strong. The camera can convey the meaning, or... how about we simplify it?"

As a new director, he was worried that the actors would quit.

To everyone's surprise, Huang Bo immediately jumped up, shaking his head like a rattle-drum: "No way, director! This is so realistic! It has to be like this!" He grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth that stood out against his dark face. "Come on! Smear it on me! Smear it all over me! The dirtier the better, the smellier the better!"

As he spoke, he proactively called out to the makeup artist, "Brother, don't be shy, mud! Cover me in mud! Don't forget my hair!"

The staff members looked at each other, then turned to Ning Hao.

Ning Hao then looked at Ling Yuan.

Ling Yuan smiled and waved his hand: "Listen to him, it'll flop!"

Huang Bo stood there stiffly, letting the sticky, smelly mud pour down from head to toe.

Shoot!

Huang Bo scrambled and crawled through the stinking mud, his disheveled appearance and the struggling spirit of a lowly person perfectly portrayed the character. One take!

Looking at the footage on the monitor, Ning Hao couldn't help but sigh to Ling Yuan beside him, "Huang Bo is absolutely amazing. It doesn't matter if he's ugly, I'm ugly too. Just based on his dedication, he's bound to achieve something great in the future, one thousand percent, one thousand percent."

"President Ling, you have an excellent eye for talent! You've discovered such a great general!"

As for the car crash scene, the script stipulated that it should involve crashing into a Ferrari, like in "Fast and Furious," crashing hard, and the harder the crash, the better the visual effect.

But it's clear that Ling Yuan isn't as rich as the characters in "Fast & Furious," so buying a car to crash into is impractical.

Therefore, Ning Hao's suggestion was to rent a car, and if it got damaged, spend tens of thousands of yuan to repair it.

Ideally, you should remove all the important internal components during the crash, leaving only the outer shell intact.

Even so, the cost is too high.

"How about we change it to a Mercedes? Or... never mind, let's just go for a BMW!"

Ling Yuan snapped his fingers: "BMW! I have a joke about BMW that's pretty good, let's incorporate it."

"What's the joke?"

"Don't touch me!"

"Huh?... " Everyone was stunned for a moment, then realized what it meant and couldn't help but applaud. Wasn't it "Don't Touch Me"? This was definitely going to become a classic.

So, the BMW crashed!

Man proposes, God disposes; making movies costs money like water.

This time, we accidentally exceeded the budget, from 150 million to 180 million.

Ning Hao was quite embarrassed, but Ling Yuan had actually expected it. He patted Ning Hao on the shoulder and said, "It's okay. It's my first time producing, so I'm a little inexperienced. But the quality of the film is there, so we won't lose money!"

1.8 million it is, now we'll see how it fares at the box office!