1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Lin Juan arranged a seat for Zhang Ziyi, not far from her own seat.

She had just taken Zhang Ziyi out to the logistics department to get supplies.

All students participating in the school-enterprise cooperation, like other employees of the studio, can get a standard set of supplies, except for fewer meal tickets, everything else is similar.

The meal tickets for students participating in the school-enterprise cooperation are only 60 yuan, more than half less than those of employees.

However, for students, this 60 yuan is already very good, after all, they can't come to the studio for every meal, and their school cafeteria is subsidized.

Zhang Ziyi was tidying up her desk here, and Hong Xin came back from outside.

Seeing Zhang Ziyi, Hong Xin said in surprise, "Xiao Zhang, why are you here today?"

Zhang Ziyi smiled and said, "Sister Xin, I'm here to report."

"Report?"

"Ziyi is the second batch of students participating in the school-enterprise cooperation of the Central Academy of Drama, and she came to report in advance today. She wanted to come to our workshop first, so I arranged for her to come." Lin Juan next to her helped explain.

"Oh, you participated in the school-enterprise cooperation." Hong Xin nodded, "This is a rare opportunity. Since you are here, you should study hard. If you don't understand anything, just ask, whether you ask Juan'er or the rest of us. Don't worry, everyone in our unit is very easy-going."

"Thank you, Sister Xin, I will definitely work hard."

"You're welcome." Hong Xin smiled and said to Lin Juan, "The studio is collecting short film scripts and needs to form a jury. Brother Qing was originally in the group, but now he has other things to do and can't go. General Manager Liu asked me or you to go. After thinking about it, I think you are the right one."

"Me?"

"Yes, aren't you usually interested in literature and screenwriting? This is also an opportunity."

Lin Juan thought about it and nodded, "Okay."

There is nothing going on in their workshop recently. Although she is also in charge of the school-enterprise cooperation of the Central Academy of Drama, her daily work content is very small, which does not prevent her from being a judge.

"Then it's settled. I will report your name to General Manager Liu later."

"Sister Xin, when will this collection start?" Lin Juan asked.

"Two days ago, the call for submissions was sent to all schools, and it will automatically close in a month."

"Does that mean that our review work will start in a month?"

"That's not the case. It should start in a few days. If we wait until the deadline to start, it will be a bit of a waste of time. For the specific situation, let's wait for Mr. Liu to arrange it."

"Okay, I understand."

After explaining the matter, Hong Xin returned to her office.

After Hong Xin left, Zhang Ziyi whispered to Lin Juan, "Sister Juaner, what does this short film script collection mean?"

"Our studio will face several colleges and universities to collect short film scripts. If the script is selected, the studio will provide funds to help shoot. Your school is also within the scope of the collection, and Sister Xin said that it has been notified. Maybe your school has not announced the news yet."

Zhang Ziyi scratched her temples, "It is also possible that the school only notified individual classes and did not publicly notify them."

Script collection is actually not suitable for their acting class, and they are still freshmen. The school probably doesn't want them to waste their energy on this matter.

"It's possible." Lin Juan smiled and said nothing more. She also felt that this matter had nothing to do with Zhang Ziyi.

...

Regarding the call for submissions, Zhang Ziyi was wrong. In fact, not long after she and Duan Yihong arrived at the studio, the school posted the call for submissions, and they just missed it.

Originally, the school had thought of only telling students majoring in screenwriting and directing, but later decided to notify the entire school, so that students' confidence in school-enterprise cooperation could be strengthened.

Besides, students from other majors may not necessarily have no good scripts. Letting everyone submit more scripts will also make the data look better, but the main thing is that it cannot be too much worse than Yanjing Film Academy.

That's right, the Central Academy of Drama has already tacitly agreed that their school cannot compete with Yanjing Film Academy in this kind of script collection activity. After all, the two schools have different focuses.

There is a gap for sure, but I just hope it won't be too big, otherwise it will be embarrassing.

Unlike the Central Academy of Drama, Yanjing Film Academy quickly posted a notice on the bulletin board after receiving the news.

In the past two days, the collection of short film scripts has become a hot topic in their school. Regardless of major, grade, or even teacher or student, the topic of discussion is inseparable from the collection of short film scripts.

In Room 618 of the male dormitory, the base of the Youth Experimental Film Group, Wang Hongwei looked at Gu Zheng and Jia Zhangke expectantly, "How is it? Is this script good?"

Gu Zheng glanced at Jia Zhangke, and seeing Jia Zhangke lowering his head and making an unfathomable look, he decided to be the bad guy himself.

"I'm afraid not." Gu Zheng shook his head, "This story is similar to "Border Town", but the theme is too monotonous and the content is empty. After reading the whole story, there is no character that I remember."

"Is it so bad?" Wang Hongwei was hit hard, and then looked at Jia Zhangke unwillingly, "Old Jia, what do you think?"

Jia Zhangke saw that he could not escape, so he could only raise his head and said tactfully, "You can try to submit it. Anyway, the notice does not say that there are restrictions on the works submitted by each person. It is also a good strategy to cast a wide net."

Wang Hongwei is not stupid, and naturally knows what Jia Zhangke means.

Delivery is possible, but the hope is slim.

"In that case, let's not go to the world." Wang Hongwei was quite carefree. He quickly adjusted his mood and asked them, "Where are your scripts?"

"Not ready yet." The two answered almost at the same time.

Wang Hongwei curled his lips, "You just know how to dawdle. There is only one month for the collection. Don't miss it, or you will regret it."

"The collection time is too short this time." Gu Zheng sighed, "And it is stuck at this time point. How can we have time to do these things."

"They gave such a time, which does not mean that we can submit new works. Besides, the script of the short film has little content. If we really want to write a new work, one month is enough."

Gu Zheng smiled and said, "Old Wang, work harder. Our Youth Experimental Film Group depends on you to become famous."

The three of them are students of the Department of Literature of Yanjing Film Academy and live in the same dormitory.

The so-called Youth Experimental Film Group was actually established by the three of them two years ago. Before that, they also filmed "One Day, in Yanjing" together, but the response was very poor.

Originally, they were preparing to shoot their first feature film "Xiao Wu" during this period, but the sudden call for short films made them decide to put "Xiao Wu" aside and get this done first.

"How about..." Gu Zheng looked at the other two, hesitant to speak.

"What's wrong? Come on, why are you still keeping us in suspense?" Wang Hongwei pouted.

"How about we shorten the script of "Xiao Wu" and make a short film script and submit it?"

Gu Zheng's suggestion reminded Jia Zhangke of their previous film "Xiao Shan Goes Home", which was a "short film".

Rather than a short film, it's better to say it's a "long enough feature film".

"Xiao Shan Goes Home" is 50 minutes long, which is a very embarrassing length. It's too short to say it's a feature film, and too long to say it's a short film.

Many film festivals have a requirement of more than 60 minutes for feature films, and less than 30 minutes for short films.

According to the film festival regulations, "Xiao Shan Goes Home" is neither a short film nor a feature film.

It's a pity that there is no such thing as a "medium-length film", otherwise "Xiao Shan Goes Home" should be considered a medium-length film.

At that time, because they saw migrant workers near the school, they decided to make a movie about the migrant workers. After discussion, they decided to shoot the script written by Jia Zhangke.

Later, after going through the difficult process of borrowing money and asking people to borrow equipment, they finally completed the 50-minute "Xiao Shan Goes Home".

After the film was shot, they first screened it in the dormitory.

At that time, there were about 20 people watching, but a group of them left after 15 minutes. When the movie was over, only a few of them were left.

At that time, Gu Zheng's mentality collapsed, and he directly locked the videotape in the drawer, asking Jia Zhangke not to take it out again to embarrass himself.

However, Jia Zhangke was unwilling to give up, and took the videotape to Yenching University to play it again.

The students of Yenching University were quite respectful. Not only did they finish watching the movie, but they also used the movie to discuss the problems of China's economy and migrant workers.

No mistakes, one song, one post, one content, one content, one 6, one book, one forum, one look!

Later, in 1995, the film unexpectedly won the Hong Kong Impression Festival Award.

It was precisely because of this award that they had the hope to shoot "Xiao Wu".

"I think it's possible. If the script is approved, we can get investment directly. I heard that after the script is approved, the investment can range from tens of thousands to millions." Wang Hongwei said.

"Millions?" Jia Zhangke expressed disbelief, "Who did you listen to? How many millions can a short film cost?"

"Anyway, that's what they said, but investment is not important. The key is that if the script is really approved and Zhou Yan's studio is willing to shoot, then the shooting equipment and post-production don't have to worry about it."

Jia Zhangke nodded. In fact, their budget is mainly spent on these equipment and post-production, and the actual shooting does not cost too much money.

They are not going to invite professional actors to shoot, and some roles will even be played by themselves.

In this way, they can save a lot of film remuneration.

In addition to the actors, their production staff do not need any salary, but only spend some travel expenses, food and accommodation expenses.

If Zhou Yan's studio is willing to provide filming equipment, consumables and post-production equipment for free, Jia Zhangke is even confident that he can shoot "Xiao Wu" with 10,000 yuan.

As for changing "Xiao Wu" into a short film script, it is not difficult. In fact, "Xiao Wu" was quite short at the beginning.

If they want to save trouble, they can just use the early version.

But since they want to do it, they must do it well, and they must not use the previous version to fool around.

Jia Zhangke rubbed his hands, "This is indeed a good idea. Let's get started today and try to make the script as soon as possible."

...

Liu Wenwu and Liu Heping worked in the studio for two days and decided to cooperate with "Yongzheng Dynasty".

The original investment of "Yongzheng Dynasty" was 20 million yuan, and now Zhou Yan has invested 10 million, accounting for 40% of the copyright.

However, Zhou Yan will not need to pay much cash for this 10 million, because there will be a lot of cooperation between the crew and the studio later.

First of all, the soundtrack has basically been decided, and Zhou Yan will deduct this part of the cost directly from the 10 million.

There may be more cooperation in terms of costumes, makeup, post-production, etc. in the future. If the content of the cooperation is extensive enough, Liu Wenwu may have to pay the studio in the end.

Liu Wenwu was of course very happy about this cooperation, because Zhou Yan's studio had basically solved most of the problems of "Yongzheng Dynasty".

Now, his most important job is to decide on the actors.

…

The day after the cooperation was finalized, Liu Wenwu brought someone to Zhou Yan's office.

"Mr. Zhou, look who I brought."

Zhou Yan looked up and saw Tang Guoqiang looking at him with a smile.

Seeing Tang Guoqiang, Zhou Yan smiled and stood up, "I didn't know that the Prime Minister was coming. I'm sorry for not welcoming you from afar."

Tang Guoqiang was thinking that they had not seen each other for a long time and their friendship had faded. Now hearing Zhou Yan's words, he felt that the relationship between them was suddenly pulled back to the past.

When Zhou Yan was the music director of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he had the best relationship with the three brothers Liu, Guan and Zhang, but he also had a good relationship with Tang Guoqiang and others. Basically, they were together every time they got together.

In normal times, Tang Guoqiang and others liked to joke and call Zhou Yan "fourth brother", Zhou Yan also called Tang Guoqiang "Prime Minister", and added a Cao character in front of "Prime Minister" when calling Bao Guoan.

"Haha, how are you, fourth brother?" Tang Guoqiang also started to act with Zhou Yan.

After saying that, the two looked at each other and laughed.

Liu Wenwu was quite surprised. He only knew that Tang Guoqiang and Zhou Yan knew each other, but he didn't expect that they had a good relationship.

After laughing, Zhou Yan asked, "Why did you come together?"

Zhou Yan asked knowingly. The protagonist of "Yongzheng Dynasty" in the previous life was Tang Guoqiang. Now Tang Guoqiang and Liu Wenwu appeared here together, probably for the role.

Liu Wenwu explained with a smile, "He is set to play the Eighth Prince."

"Oh, the Eighth Prince."

Zhou Yan was a little surprised. Isn't he going to play the Fourth Prince? Why is he going to play the Eighth Prince?

Is it because of his appearance that the trajectory has changed?

If Tang Guoqiang plays the Eighth Prince, who will play the Fourth Prince?

Although he was confused, Zhou Yan did not ask, but just smiled and said, "Prime Minister, I didn't expect that our second cooperation would be in this form."

"I didn't expect that this play would be related to you."

Liu Wenwu smiled, "This is called fate."

"Yes, it is fate." Zhou Yan nodded, pointed to the sofa for them to sit, and then poured them tea. While pouring, he asked, "Has the director decided?"

"Not yet, I'll ask Hu Mei to come here tomorrow morning, do you want to watch it together?"

"Is it convenient?" Zhou Yan asked.

"Of course it's convenient, and you should have watched it anyway."

Zhou Yan nodded, "Okay, let's go and watch it." (End of this chapter)