Depressive Screenwriter

#170 - Controversy and announcements

In mid-November, temperatures began to drop across Xia Country.

However, the buzz around "Tokyo Love Story" continued to grow.

While many Xia Country drama enthusiasts felt the plot was too convoluted.

Revolving around the same five people and their relationships.

Unlike "The Love of Hypnosis," which had a subplot of military and political struggles.

Or "Rurouni Kenshin," which had a subplot of saving the nation.

Or "April," which had a musical competition subplot.

"Tokyo Love Story" was purely about romance.

The main characters were constantly entangled with each other.

Some younger viewers might find it tedious.

However, this drama was extremely appealing to middle-aged and elderly drama fans who weren't as demanding.

They enjoyed the bold, exaggerated, and unpredictable romance.

Previously, Su Yan's dramas were criticized by the media for failing to attract middle-aged and elderly viewers, but now... "Tokyo Love Story" had the opposite target audience.

Everyone in the Xia Country television industry understood that "Tokyo Love Story" was guaranteed to win the quarterly championship, leaving "Blood Road" with no chance.

Now everyone just wants to know if "Tokyo Love Story" can surpass the viewership record set by "The Edge Walker" this year, and if so, by how much?

Tokyo, Japan.

While monitoring the success of "Tokyo Love Story," Su Yan and Shinozaki Ikumi began casting for "Like a Bouquet of Love" and "5 Centimeters Per Second."

A large number of Xia Country stars flew from the mainland to Tokyo to participate in the auditions for a chance.

Among them, the role of Yamane Mai, the male lead in "Like a Bouquet of Love," was extremely competitive.

As for "5 Centimeters Per Second," because the story spans three stages of the male lead's life—middle school, high school, and adulthood—there isn't a true main character in the strictest sense. Multiple actors play the same role, which is less appealing to many actors, but a large number of child stars and young actors from Xia Country still submitted their resumes.

Due to the outstanding success of Su Yan's previous work, "The Garden of Words," even top stars in the film industry were extremely interested in Su Yan's new films.

After all, even film emperors have a high probability of their films flopping. As Su Yan's debut film, "The Garden of Words" grossed over 500 million at the box office. For many A-list stars who are famous but box office poison, a screenwriter like Su Yan, whose works have a high chance of success, is definitely a hot commodity.

Moreover, although Shen Liqian was confirmed as the female lead in "Like a Bouquet of Love" and had never starred in a film before, her popularity in the television drama circle this quarter spoke volumes.

The popularity of television stars may not fully translate to film, but when someone is as popular as Shen Liqian's Rika, anything is possible.

After several days of auditions, Su Yan and Shinozaki Ikumi achieved some results.

"For the role of Akari in middle school in '5 Centimeters Per Second,' let's choose Xu Lingyun and Iwasaki Hiroshi, who are very popular child stars in Xia Country in recent years. And for the high school period, Xia Ze and Ni Ting, members of a popular idol group, can play them."

"Idol group? Are their acting skills good enough?" Su Yan frowned.

"You don't have to worry about that. Although Xia Ze and Ni Ting debuted as idols, these popular idols in Xia Country often end up entering the film and television industry. Their agents arranged acting classes for them early on, and they have also participated in several film and television dramas before," Shinozaki Ikumi paused and said.

"They both had roles in the competitor dramas that aired during the same period as our previous dramas, 'The Edge Walker' and 'April'. Their acting skills are definitely commendable. It's just that hiring these people will cost a lot."

"Don't worry about the salary. The money in the company's account can be invested without holding back," Su Yan said.

Although Su Yan had always looked down on the whole capital operation thing, many times, when your position changes, your actions must change as well.

If he only had 100 million, he would definitely choose to use the 100 million to make a movie and improve the quality of the work, rather than using it for publicity.

But if he had several hundred million, then he would choose to spend money to improve the quality of the film while also spending money to promote the work.

In short, as long as the work can succeed and Su Yan can obtain more emotional value, then he can earn more money sooner or later.

Su Yan is different from those cautious capitalists. Those people don't have a cheat, so they must look before they leap and be afraid of losing money. He is different. Not to mention that he has never lost money so far, even if he did, so what?

He liked both "5 Centimeters Per Second" and "Like a Bouquet of Love" very much in his previous life. Since he chose to bring them to this world, he must give them a beautiful record.

"Understood," Shinozaki Ikumi took a deep breath.

"As for the selection of the male lead in 'Like a Bouquet of Love,' there are seven or eight film stars competing. There are first- and second-tier film stars."

"Among these people, Bai Zhezhan, Tao Feng, and Qin Boyu are the most suitable candidates we can contact."

Su Yan can only be said to have made a name for himself in the film industry now. But it is still very difficult to contact actors at the level of film emperors and film queens.

Although Su Yan's reputation may not be inferior to those people, those people are all backed by various capital networks. Su Yan does not accept investment from others or engage in profit exchanges with others, so naturally others will not pay attention to Su Yan's films.

"Among these three candidates, Bai Zhezhan and Qin Boyu have relatively normal requirements. As for Tao Feng, he requires the capital behind him to invest in the film, then requires a designated distribution company, and requires a few actors to be inserted into the crew."

"Alright, no need to say more. This Tao Feng is not considered. What are the conditions for the other two?"

"Bai Zhezhan is fine. His salary requirement is not high, a basic salary of five million is enough, but he wants 2% of the box office revenue..."

"Hmm," Su Yan thought for a while.

He recalled his impressions of these people auditioning for the male lead Yamane Mai during yesterday's auditions.

In fact, these people can get to this point in the industry, so there is no need to talk about acting skills, appearance, and strength. They are all very high-level.

But this 2% box office revenue?

"What about Qin Boyu?" Su Yan asked.

In fact, among Qin Boyu, Tao Feng, and Bai Zhezhan, Tao Feng has the greatest influence, otherwise he would not have made those outrageous conditions before, but Su Yan could not accept investment from others, so he directly rejected him first.

The next is Qin Boyu.

As for Bai Zhezhan, he rose to prominence last year during the Spring Festival season by starring in a film.

"Qin Boyu's requirements are very simple, he wants a salary of 20 million," Shinozaki Ikumi said.

The difference between Bai Zhezhan and Qin Boyu is whether 5 million plus 2% box office revenue or 20 million is more valuable.

If "Like a Bouquet of Love" can gross more than 700 million at the box office after its release in Xia Country, then choosing Qin Boyu will definitely be more profitable.

As for Su Yan, he definitely hopes that "Like a Bouquet of Love" will perform better at the box office than "The Garden of Words."

"Talk to Qin Boyu, let's try to lower the price a bit," Su Yan said after thinking for a moment.

"I'll try my best. But I estimate that it won't be lowered too much, that's his market price," Shinozaki Ikumi said.

Shinozaki Ikumi and Su Yan's conversation about the actors of the two dramas was just a preliminary decision.

There will be in-depth cooperation negotiations with major film stars later, and there are changes at any time during the process.

But from this preliminary decision, a lot can actually be seen.

Dimension Films is now really rising in influence and strength.

Su Yan only frowned when asked to hire these stars at such high salaries.

This is confidence.

"Alright, work is over," Su Yan stood up and began to pack his belongings.

"What do you want for dinner, my treat!"

"No, thank you. I still have a lot of work to finish," Shinozaki Ikumi refused with a smile.

"The filming of 'Tokyo Love Story' and 'Madoka Magica' will be over soon. Then there's the preparation for '5 Centimeters Per Second' and 'Like a Bouquet of Love'. The special effects of 'Madoka Magica' also have to be supervised, and many overseas company executives have to come to Tokyo to negotiate introductions for 'Tokyo Love Story', so I have to arrange the time..."

"Now that you say that, I feel a little embarrassed. After writing the script, I leave work on time every day," Su Yan said with an awkward expression.

If he creates the script and does not participate in the role, then there will indeed be a lot less work.

"What's there to be embarrassed about as the company boss? Besides, you write four or five scripts a year, which is the workload of many screenwriters for several years. It's a good thing that you have high work efficiency. On the contrary, I need to pile up these things to complete them by working overtime, which only shows that my ability is not enough," Shinozaki Ikumi said with a smile.

"But if you go home after work, you should think more about the candidates for the two films. After all, based on the current preliminary look, according to the currently scheduled cast, the investment in the two films alone will be at least over 100 million, and if you add the later publicity and distribution, it will be an astronomical figure. It is definitely the largest investment since the establishment of our company. But if these two films are more successful than 'The Garden of Words', then Dimension Films will be unstoppable in Xia Country."

"I understand," Su Yan said after a pause.

On Sunday, the seventh episode of "Tokyo Love Story" aired.

The plot of this episode continues to focus on the emotional entanglements of the four main characters.

Then, Rimi and Mikami finally broke up.

Then, Rika and Kanji's relationship also faced a crisis because Rimi and Mikami broke up and then went to Kanji again.

In this episode, Rika repeatedly asked to go to Kanji's middle school, to see the place where he used to be.

But Kanji always refused the request with excuses.

Even in the seventh episode, he felt sorry for Rimi's breakup and did not consider Rika's feelings.

After watching this episode, "Tokyo Love Story" fans were about to explode.

After scolding on the Internet for so long, the plot is still developing in this direction.

Moreover

The plot is getting more and more abusive.

"I feel like this drama is going to be a tragedy."

"Why does Rika so strongly request to go to Kanji's hometown, Ehime, in this episode!"

"I feel like Rika has already noticed something. Mikami and Rimi broke up, and Kanji immediately wavered. Rika probably already sensed something was wrong, so she wanted to save it at the last minute?"

"She probably knew from the beginning that it would be difficult for her to squeeze into Kanji's group of three. People like Kanji are very traditional. To put it bluntly, the importance of someone in his heart is strongly correlated with the length of time he has known them. In his heart, no matter what he still thinks about Rimi, Rimi's position always feels higher than Rika's."

"Is the current girlfriend not as good as the childhood sweetheart?"

"It's not this problem, Rimi is not just a simple childhood sweetheart. But the white moonlight in Kanji's heart. Although I can understand the weight of the white moonlight, Kanji, you have to show a bit of masculine courage, the person who can overcome his own personality defects is the male lead!"

"This episode made me want to cry. Even when Rika encountered this situation, she did not give up on herself, and encouraged Kanji, and did not reprimand Rimi for her dependence on Kanji. Damn it, you should be laughing secretly if you encounter this kind of girl, Kanji. Su Yan, you must not let Kanji be a scumbag!"

"To be honest, after all, if the girl you have liked for more than ten years suddenly comes to you crying after breaking up, no one can be indifferent. But Kanji has to have a sense of distance!"

"Forget it, it's the routine of romance dramas. I feel like Rika and Kanji should still be together in the end."

"Your 'should' has already exposed your worries."

"Su Yan, don't make traditional romance dramas depressing. Let Rimi and Mikami make up in the next episode!"

"I finally understand why Rika was so nervous whenever she heard that Rimi and Mikami were having conflicts in the previous episodes."

"Alas, it's so tangled to watch."

"The fact that this drama has this viewership and popularity now is all thanks to the character Rika. Su Yan, don't be confused?"

All night, Su Yan's account comment section was miserably sprayed by fans.

On the hot search lists of major film and television drama websites, at least three of the top ten were related to the plot of "Tokyo Love Story."

On the surface, as the plot progressed to this point, Su Yan was already hated by everyone.

The audience knew from the first episode that Rimi was a green tea, so they were not surprised by her performance in the seventh episode.

But the male lead Kanji?

What is this?

Are you blind?

Who to choose between Rimi and Rika, can this be a multiple-choice question?

Kanji was scolded, and Su Yan was also sprayed along with him.

But this is actually the situation that film and television drama creators most want to see.

Whether the audience or fans scold or praise because of the plot, it's all good.

The worst thing is that no one discusses it.

Su Yan got up in the morning and saw a pile of private messages scolding him in the background, feeling a chill in his neck.

"Fortunately, I listened to Shinozaki Ikumi's advice and came up with an IF line plot out of wit. Otherwise, I really don't know what these Rika fans would do by the finale."

It can only be said that everything is still under control now.

At noon, the viewership rating for the seventh episode of "Tokyo Love Story" was released.

5.49%.

As before, the viewership rating increased significantly almost every week.

Judging from the current discussion heat of "Tokyo Love Story."

There is almost a 70-80% or more chance that the viewership rating of this drama will exceed the score of "The Edge Walker" in the later stage.

When this consensus was reached, the Xia Country media collectively fell silent.

Is the Xia Country viewership record so easy to break?

Although it is only a five-year viewership record, it was continuously broken by the works of the same screenwriter and the same company in the same year.

Is this really reality?

The fans' angry scolding and the media's wild praise pushed Su Yan, Dimension Films, and the drama "Tokyo Love Story" to a new peak of popularity.

At this time, Dimension Films also began to release some other big news.

As early as before, the Xia Country film and television industry had rumors that Su Yan's company had a new work being born and had begun to hold auditions for actor roles in the Xia Country film and television industry

But if Su Yan does not announce this, it is uncertain news for fans.

But just on Monday.

On the official website of Dimension Films.

The official websites for "5 Centimeters Per Second" and "We Made a Beautiful Bouquet" appeared.

On the official websites, the confirmed cast members for both films were listed.

Shen Liqian, Qin Boyu, Ni Ting, Xia Ze, Xu Lingyun, Iwasaki Hiroyuki, and other names were released as well.

This caused an immediate sensation.

Chinese film enthusiasts were somewhat stunned.

What's going on?

Two movies?

Moreover, this cast lineup is too luxurious, right?

They're all top-tier stars in the Chinese film market.