radicalducati Chapter 32 Oh my god, Yu Zheng is looking for me!
Chapter 32 Oh my god, Yu Zheng is looking for me!
A year is neither a long nor a short time.
In that year, Bai Lu filmed six short films about cats and trees.
"Meeting You Is Such a Wonderful Thing", "What More Do You Want From Me?", "There Are No Jokes in the World", "Did You Fall in Love This Winter?", "Can You Not Leave Me?", "Long Time No See".
The camera in "Cat's Tree" makes her increasingly story-driven. Unlike the typical internet celebrity's pretty image, "Cat's Tree" micro-films have the script structure and purity of a theatrical film.
Bai Lu's fame in the micro-film circle is growing, and she is recognized as the number one in the Taobao model circle. Merchants are lining up to have her shoot their products, and her price has risen from 5,000 yuan a day to 10,000 yuan a day.
People in the entertainment industry have also started to pay attention to her.
It's not just people in the modeling and micro-film industries who are paying attention to her; it's real film and television companies, and those people involved in web series and television dramas.
Every time Bai Lu went to Nanjing to film, Qing Xiao would go with him.
But not as the male lead, but as the founder of Tianmen Film and Television, or perhaps just Bai Lu's assistant.
When Yuan Shuang was filming, he would sit on a small stool behind the monitor to watch how Yuan Shuang directed the shots, communicated with the platform, and produced cinematic footage in a small 50-square-meter studio.
The more he saw during that year, the more he realized that the entertainment industry was a much deeper pool than he had imagined.
After filming wrapped up, the two of them would sometimes sit down at the Shaxian Snacks restaurant next to Yuan Shuang's studio and order two servings of wontons and two servings of mixed noodles.
Qingxiao brought up all the questions he had accumulated one by one.
The profit structure of platform customization and brand sponsorship, how to share publicity costs, how to assemble a filming team—over time, Yuan Shuang stopped hiding anything. He poured all the pitfalls he had encountered into Qing Xiao's bowl without reservation, and occasionally he would even dip his chopsticks in vinegar and draw flowcharts for him on the table.
Qingxiao had analyzed it carefully and had also had in-depth discussions with Yuan Shuang.
Even if he has a sum of money now, even if he can recall which low-budget movies from his past life later became box office hits, can he make money by throwing money into them?
The answer is obviously no.
Finishing a movie is just the beginning.
After filming, the first step is to obtain the dragon seal.
The Dragon Seal, formally known as the "Film Public Screening License," is a certificate issued by the State Film Administration to films that have passed censorship, and is a legal prerequisite for the public screening of films.
Films without permission may not be distributed, screened, imported, or exported.
The review process consists of three stages: project approval review, content review, and technical review.
Project approval requires a review period of 7 days.
Content censorship is the most stringent, determining whether a film needs to be edited or whether it can obtain a film license.
Then comes the technical review, with a pass rate of approximately 99%. The entire process takes 30 days.
After obtaining the dragon seal and passing the review, the production company must embed the license number in the opening sequence. When the dragon flies out on the screen, the license number at the bottom is the birth certificate of this movie.
However, obtaining the film's official seal does not guarantee that the film will be released.
Next, we'll be shooting for theatrical releases.
China's cinema scheduling is an extremely brutal resource allocation game.
On April 30, 2015, director Wang Xiaoshuai's "The Intruder" premiered. This art film, which won awards in Europe, only had a 1.6% screening rate nationwide.
The idol film "You Are My Sunshine," which was released on the same day, had a screening rate of over 30%.
On its 19th day of release, "Furious 7" still had a screening rate of nearly 15%.
Wang Xiaoshuai released a statement on Weibo that evening, calling it "the darkest day since I started making movies."
2015年7月10日，《大圣归来》上映首日排片只有9%，同期《小时代4》的排片高达40%以上。
Later, "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" made a comeback through word-of-mouth, and its screening share rose from 9% to 21%, becoming the biggest box office dark horse of the year.
But that's a miracle, not the norm.
The norm is that art films without big-name directors and actors are blocked from being rated four stars or lower, and theaters simply won't give them any screenings.
Then comes the publicity.
If a film doesn't have enough promotional resources before its release, the bombardment of press conferences and premieres with traditional and new media won't generate sufficient awareness.
Without awareness, there are no viewers; without viewers, there are no screenings; and without screenings, there are no box office revenues.
This is a vicious cycle with interconnected links.
In the 2015 film market, the marketing and distribution costs for commercial films often reached tens of millions of yuan.
One of the producers of "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" explicitly stated that they "would not invest so much in marketing and distribution," preferring to opt for low-cost methods such as preview screenings and WeChat Moments red envelopes for moviegoers.
Even so, if it weren't for those animation industry professionals taking the lead as "conscientious fans" and paving the way for "Monkey King: Hero Is Back," even the best quality film might have been crushed by limited screenings.
How many people actually saw that movie?
"All of these require resources. Without them, publicity and exposure are zero, and screenings are zero. Expecting a box office hit is a pipe dream."
Qingxiao compiled all the pitfalls Yuan Shuang had mentioned into notes.
In this Shaxian snack shop, he gradually realized that the entertainment industry is not lacking in people who spend money, but in people who can spend money in the right places, and what it lacks is connections and resources.
His meager e-commerce profits aren't even enough to qualify him for entry into this battlefield.
One year later, Bai Lu returned to Hangzhou after filming the last short film of Cat's Tree, "Long Time No See".
She was eating her boxed lunch and scrolling through her phone in the office of Tianmen Film and Television when she suddenly saw a private message.
It was sent by Yuan Shuang. It only had a few sentences, the gist of which was: Teacher Yu Zheng has seen the work you collaborated on with us and would like to arrange a meeting with you.
Bai Lu stuck his chopsticks into the lunchbox and jumped up from his chair.
Qingxiao thought to himself: With Bai Lu's early debut, Yu Zheng's appearance is also starting to come sooner.
He certainly knew Yu Zheng, one of the most controversial and influential screenwriters and producers in the Chinese film and television industry.
Established in 2002, the studio has served as the screenwriter or producer for more than 50 film and television works over the past 20 years.
He turned "palace idol dramas" into a genre, and his team has reshaped the Chinese TV drama industry time and time again.
The 2010 list of China's richest screenwriters and writers was released, with Yu Zheng topping the list with a total income of 3680 million yuan.
In 2011, the drama "Palace" propelled Yang Mi from a second-tier celebrity to a top-tier star overnight.
In 2013, the drama "Legend of Lu Zhen" propelled Zhao Liying to the forefront of the entertainment industry.
By 2015, his studio had assembled a regular production team of over 700 people, covering the entire industry chain from investment, production, distribution, and promotion to artist management.
The web series "Love in the Dark" and the variety show "Run for Time" were both produced by his team.
In 2018, "Story of Yanxi Palace" topped the Google search rankings in global popularity.
He has signed countless artists: Yang Mi, Zhao Liying, Cheng Xiao, Yuan Shanshan...
Each name represented a surge in popularity and generated significant buzz at the time.
People in the industry have mixed feelings about him, both loving and hating him.
"Top screenwriter" and "plagiarism controversy" go hand in hand, but no one can deny one thing: Yu Zheng has made more actors famous than any other screenwriter in China.
"Do you know who Yu Zheng is? He's the biggest talent scout in the entertainment industry!"
Bai Lu took the information that Yuan Shuang's studio had found and showed it to Qing Xiao, flipping through the stack of printed resumes in her hand.
"Palace made Yang Mi famous, and Legend of Lu Zhen made Zhao Liying famous. Whoever he promotes becomes famous. He has never failed. People in the industry say that he never looks at popularity when choosing people, but only at suitability. Yang Mi has a natural liveliness and charm, while Zhao Liying has a stubborn look in her eyes."
Qingxiao didn't speak, thinking that it wasn't entirely unexpected, at least Yuan Shanshan was an exception.
Bai Lu stopped reading aloud, looked down at the stack of documents, then looked up again, his eyes holding a somewhat unreal light.
"Qingxiao, think about it. We've all seen Cat Tree, Director Yuan, and his short films with hundreds of thousands of views, and we already think that's amazing. But Yu Zheng is a TV series. Not a short film, not a web series, but the kind of TV series that airs on satellite TV."
Her voice began to tremble.
"He contacted me and asked me to meet with him."
She suddenly realized something and jumped up from her chair.
"Yuan Shuang said that I acted in 80% of the works I filmed. Yu Zheng contacted me after seeing those works. It wasn't the kind of thing where I actively applied to dozens of film and television companies and got nowhere; he took the initiative to find me."
She scrolled through the news in the entertainment industry and pointed to one of them.
"My God, did you know? Yu Zheng rarely takes the initiative to meet with actors. More than 80% of his artists are trained by his company."
"Qingxiao asked me out. Am I really going to officially enter the film and television industry? Is my dream of becoming a star really about to begin?"
Qingxiao put down his chopsticks, looking at Bailu's flushed cheeks, seeing her excitement and joy, unable to contain herself.