Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 35: “Detective Di Renjie” adds a female lead!

Shi Lei flipped through the scripts one by one. Since the names might be changed when the TV series is broadcast, he couldn't judge directly by the names.

Soon, a memorable drama appeared in front of Shi Lei, "Detective Di Renjie", which was written and directed by his senior from Beijing Film Academy, Qian Yanhao.

He went to buy the copyright in 02, but Qian Yanhao said he wanted to shoot it himself.

Unfortunately, all his money was invested in movies at that time, and he had no money to make TV series. Later, he heard that Qian Yanhui had found an investor, and it was the CCTV Art and Film Center that invested, so he didn't inquire about it anymore.

I didn't expect that the script is now in his hands.

There are supplementary explanations at the end of the script. After a long speech, it can be summed up in one sentence: there is not enough money and Shi Lei's investment is needed.

Seeing this, Shi Lei showed an understanding look. "Detective Di Renjie" was indeed short of money. When filming the first part, they borrowed the scenery of "Water Margin", so there were several scenes that were not in the style of the Tang Dynasty.

Take out your cell phone and call the number on the script.

"Hey, who is it?"

"Brother Qian, my name is Shi Lei. I have seen your script. Did you know that you are trying to get investment from CCTV?" Shi Lei did not give Qian Yanqiu a chance to exchange pleasantries and went straight to the point.

"Junior Brother Shi! I've been waiting for your call for a long time." Qian Yanhao said somewhat incoherently.

It is difficult to make a movie, and it is even more difficult to make a TV series. He did not sell the copyright to Shi Lei before because he was worried that Shi Lei’s ability was not enough to make his work unable to be adapted into a film or TV series. After Shi Lei won the award, he planned to find Shi Lei to discuss it immediately, but he didn’t know how to start the conversation for a while.

After Shi Lei returned to China, he announced that he was preparing to raise $1000 million to make a movie. The copyright fee for "Empty Room" was only more than $ million. He must have invested all the money in the new film and had no money left for his TV series.

At that time, he just made a routine call to congratulate.

Now that "The Matrix: Keeper of Prophecy" has been a huge success, with overseas copyrights sold for $1750 million and domestic box office revenue of 1.13 million RMB, Taolin Company has become a nouveau riche among film and television companies, so he is here again.

There is no way, the investment given by CCTV is too little!

"Okay, I know you're happy, but let's get down to business! I have a pile of scripts waiting for me to read, and I'm dizzy reading them all." Shi Lei did not lie. Some of the scripts were considered good by Deng Hongxu and others, but they were very unpleasant to him.

Influenced by short videos of later generations, he prefers to communicate directly by talking about business. He used to be patient enough to flatter others, but now that he is a big shot in the industry, he is too lazy to talk nonsense.

Qian Yanhao wanted to ask about her well-being, but when he thought about how they were not very familiar with each other and their only conversation was somewhat unpleasant, he immediately calmed down and said, "I asked, CCTV doesn't mind."

"Do you still have the copyright of "Detective Di Renjie"?" Shi Lei continued to ask.

"Here I am."

"Are you interested in joining Taolin Films?"

"Well..." Qian Yanhui fell silent. He also wanted to start his own company.

"In this way, you can set up a studio first, with Taolin Film and Television holding a 51% stake, but the decision-making power of the studio is in your hands. The only requirement is that you can use Taolin Film and Television's actors if possible. Of course, the casting rights are still in your hands. What we want is priority." Shi Lei made another suggestion.

"Okay." Qian Yanhao agreed immediately without much hesitation.

With the decision-making power and casting rights in his hands, he had no reason to refuse.

"Very good, you choose a time to sign the contract with Taolin Film and Television. Vice President Deng Hongxu will bring someone to talk to you then, and I won't show up." Shi Lei was still very happy. Qian Yanhao was a good TV director. "Detective Di Renjie" was able to shoot three parts in a row, and it also created famous memes like "Yuan Fang, what do you think?" It was a very popular drama, but the lack of female characters was a pity for him.

"Brother Qian, there is one more thing. Can you add a female character to your play? This female character is Wu Zetian's attendant and joins Di Renjie's case-solving team. She doesn't need many scenes, just a female thug or a vase."

"The original script had a female role, and my plan was to let Dong Xuan play the role, but Dong Xuan didn't have the schedule, so I deleted this role." Qian Yanhui was very happy.

If Dong Xuan doesn’t answer, just delete it?
What's the point?
Are you a fan of the Dragon Goddess?

"That's fine. I'll have someone talk to Dong Xuan."

After finishing the call with Qian Yanhao, he continued to read the TV series script. After a day, all the scripts were finished, but Shi Lei did not find any script that particularly interested him.

The company currently has three TV drama projects, namely "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", "Jade Guanyin" and "Detective Di Renjie", as well as a movie version of "Jade Guanyin".

There are not enough movies!

Shi Lei called Ning Hao and said, "Hello, Ning Hao, what are you doing these days? Aren't you going to make a movie?"

Perhaps because of the religious issues involved, "Incense" was ultimately not released in theaters.

"I'm working on a new script." Ning Hao's ears felt a little hot.

"Incense" won him some awards, but the film was not released in theaters, causing Shi Lei to lose half a million yuan in vain.

He was too embarrassed to ask Shi Lei for investment again.

"Bring the script here first and let me take a look." Shi Lei urged directly.

If he didn't urge him, he didn't know how long Ning Hao would drag on.

In the afternoon, Ning Hao came in with the script.

"Please sit down for a moment. Let me take a look at the script first." Shi Lei took the script and read it. He thought it was "Crazy Stone", but he found out that it was a series of stories about three grassland children who picked up a ping-pong ball.

This is an award-winning film, not a commercial film.

Today's directors all have a dream of winning the three major awards. He did not stop Ning Hao from pursuing his dream, but asked directly:

“How much investment do you need?”

"Five hundred thousand." Ning Hao estimated the cost and said.

"Okay, I'll have the finance department transfer the money to you. Please hurry up and shoot, and try to have it released next year."

"Okay, thank you boss, I will definitely make the best work." Ning Hao expressed his gratitude and walked out quickly.

He was grateful to such a generous boss and would make sure to shoot well this time and try not to lose money.

Shi Lei looked at Ning Hao's departing back and shook his head slightly. Ning Hao was still more suitable for making commercial films.

After "Crazy Stone", "No Man's Land" was filmed, which was obviously aimed at winning awards. Unfortunately, some things happened in the West and the film was banned for several years. In the end, a lot of deletions and revisions were made in order to be released.

Ten days later, Taolin Film and Television announced its plans to shoot three TV series and two movies.

The total investment of the TV series "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" is 6000 million yuan, of which Taolin Film and Television accounted for 60% with an investment of 3600 million yuan, and Tangren Film and Television accounted for 40% with an investment of 2400 million yuan; the director is Li Guoli, the male lead Li Xiaoyao is played by Taolin Film and Television actor Hu Ge, the female lead Zhao Linger is played by Taolin Film and Television actor Zhao Liying, the second female lead Lin Yueru is played by Taolin Film and Television actor Liu Tao, and the remaining actors will be decided by Tangren Film and Television.

The total investment of the TV series "Detective Di Renjie" is 1500 million yuan, with Taolin Film and Television and CCTV each accounting for 50%. The director is Qian Yanhao, Di Renjie is played by Liang Guanhua, and the heroine Shangguan Jing (newly added) is played by Dong Xuan.

The TV series "Jade Guanyin" has an investment of 800 million yuan, directed by Ding Yu, the female lead An Xin is played by Liu Tao, and the male lead Yang Rui is played by Zhang Songwen. The TV series has been completed and is in post-production.

The movie "Jade Guanyin" has an investment of 200 million yuan. The female lead An Xin is played by Liu Tao and the filming is in progress.

The movie "Green Grassland" has an investment of 50 yuan, directed by Ning Hao, and is in preparation.

In fact, both movies were just to make up the numbers. "Jade Guanyin" was to promote Liu Tao, and "Green Grassland" was to cultivate Ning Hao. These two movies were not intended to make money at all.

As soon as the company's shooting plan was announced, before any feedback from the outside world reached Shi Lei's ears, Yang Mi's voice reached him first.

Chapter 36 has been blocked, there may be duplication

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(End of this chapter)