This star’s style is wrong

"The boss wants to make a martial arts drama?"

Qiao Yinghong is very good at reading people. After managing the studio for so long, she has figured out the boss's character.

Although Fang Xing looks very young, Qiao Yinghong can feel that the boss sometimes talks wildly on the show, but in fact he is very calm in his work.

"There are plans to make a TV series. The current idea is to make a martial arts TV series, but it is not a traditional martial arts TV series." Fang Xing explained briefly.

Qiao Yinghong nodded and thought about it, then asked: "Does the boss plan to invest on his own? Or come up with a project to attract investment from film and television companies?"

Regarding investment, Fang Xing has already considered it: "We will invest our own money. If a film and television company wants to invest, we can also consider it, but the premise is that the company must not interfere with the production of the show."

Qiao Yinghong probably understood what it meant, and asked again: "Does the boss plan to cooperate with the film and television company? Or find someone to build a crew ourselves? If we form a team ourselves, I'm afraid things will be very cumbersome."

A crew is very complicated inside and out.

Without a mature crew, it would be very energy-consuming to build a crew from scratch.

More importantly, the crew itself also has a circle.

If you are not in the circle and want to form a team, there will be many problems that are difficult to solve.

Not to mention the core members such as directors and photographers.

Just talking about the prop team, if you are not an acquaintance, it is not easy to find a reliable prop team.

Add to this the lighting, set management, actor coordination, and group performances. If you want to start from scratch, you won't be able to do it within a year or two.

"Find a mature crew to work with. If you know a crew over there, you can make an appointment to chat. I'm going to have a dinner with Yan Lan and He Rongchang in two days to see if there are any opportunities for cooperation."

Fang Xing doesn't plan to open a film and television company, so he doesn't need to form a crew by himself. It's easiest to find a crew to cooperate with.

Qiao Yinghong has been a manager for so many years. Although she has always managed singers, she occasionally involves actors, variety shows, and film appointments, so she still has some connections in the film and television industry.

She thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, I'll try to visit Zheng Lisong's crew. Their movie will be finished this month. I can try to see if I can continue the movie they just finished and work on a movie together." "

Sometimes, when a movie is being filmed.

The film and television company feels that this crew is reliable and will invest in another film.

…

After the work meeting.

Fang Xing sent Yan Lan a WeChat message: Sister, happy New Year.

Yan Lan: The Lantern Festival is over, why don’t you just think of celebrating the New Year now?

Fang Xing: Isn’t it because the 2G network speed in my hometown is too slow, so it was just delivered now.

Yan Lan: Nonsense. Tell me, what's the matter?

Fang Xing: Let’s have a meal tomorrow. If Director He is free, please call us.

Yan Lan: It turned out that I wanted to talk about work, but I wasn’t happy about it.

Fang Xing: Let’s talk about it when we meet. I promise you’ll be happy.

After a few more nonsense words, the chat ended.

The next night.

Fang Xing called Qiao Yinghong and made a reservation at Shanghai Lilac Restaurant to have dinner with Yan Lan and He Rongchang.

Both parties arrived ten minutes early, just in time to enter the restaurant.

We are all punctual people, so working together in this way will save a lot of trouble.

As a manager, Qiao Yinghong met Yan Lan and He Rongchang many times during the Spring Festival Gala rehearsals.

She reached out her hand proactively: "I haven't seen you for a while, and Teacher Yan is becoming more and more brilliant."

Yan Lan smiled happily and said, "Mr. Qiao really knows how to praise people."

After the four of them sat down, they ordered their meals and before the food was served, they drank some red wine and started chatting.

Fang Xing took the initiative to bring up the business: "I have a script that I plan to make into a TV series. I am in the process of preparing it. Director He and Sister came to mind immediately."

Yan Lan smiled angrily and said, "I'm just telling you, it's not that good. You invited me to dinner. You really want to talk about work."

She said this, but she was very interested in the script Fang Xing told him.

Because the previous skit "Hello, Li Huanying" won the first place in the language program in the audience voting after the Spring Festival Gala, and there was a big gap between it and the second place.

The success of this skit is, firstly, because of the good acting of the actors, and secondly, the script is the foundation of everything.

If you don't have a good script, it will be useless no matter how talented the actor is.

Therefore, Yan Lan was curious about the script Fang Xing told him and asked, "Where is the script?"

Fang Xing took out two scripts printed on A4 paper from his bag, handed them over and said, "This is the first half of the script. The rest of the script has not been sorted out yet. Let's see if you are interested."

Yan Lan was not polite. She took it over and opened it to read: "Is this... a sitcom?"

Fang Xing nodded and replied: "Yes, I have seen the sitcom "Health Center" that you collaborated on, so I wanted to ask if you are interested."

A few years ago, He Rongchang and Yan Lan collaborated on a sitcom.

This sitcom is not a big hit, but it has a good reputation. It is a sitcom with a small investment and a good return rate.

Sitcoms have limitations, though.

The investment is too small to hire big-name actors.

If the investment is large, it will be difficult to recover the cost.

The main reason is that the management does not have much confidence in sitcoms, and it is difficult to make large investments.

Sitcoms themselves are not the kind of projects suitable for large investments. It is best to find actors with good acting skills and low prices to play them.

besides.

Sitcoms are not like idol dramas. You need to find a young talent to star in the drama. The drama itself does not need to be of high quality. You can gain a wave of success with just your face. If you stir up the CP, it will become popular very easily.

This also leads to the endless emergence of ancient puppet online dramas on the market. They don’t need to spend time polishing the scripts, and they can make a lot of money after filming.

Sitcoms are different.

It's not an idol drama, just relying on your face won't do it.

Moreover, most comedians cannot rely on their faces to make a living.

This causes screenwriters to polish their scripts and actors to polish their acting skills.

The crew put a lot of effort into making the drama, but the result may not be as popular as the ancient idols who rely on their faces and filters to make a living.

It's so thankless.

In a vicious cycle, investors are becoming less and less confident in sitcoms.

He Rongchang has filmed sitcoms, so he knows that sitcoms are now a thankless type.

As a director, he definitely wants to become famous and make more money.

Therefore, when he heard that the script was a sitcom, he was interested, but he didn't have much confidence.

However, he still opened the script and read it for a while.

Judging from the scripts of the first two episodes, this one is pretty good.

This was He Rongchang's first feeling.

However, to truly determine whether this script has potential, you need to go back and read the script carefully.

It's dinner now, so I don't have time to slowly read the script. I can only briefly browse the first few episodes to get a rough impression.

He closed the script and said: "The first few episodes looked good. However, the market for sitcoms is not very good now, and it is troublesome to attract investment. Do you plan to invest by yourself, or find a film and television company to cooperate?"

Fang Xing did not hesitate and answered directly: "I will invest myself. If there is a film and television company that wants to invest, we can also negotiate, but the premise is that the management will not interfere in the filming of the series."

He Rongchang could tell that Fang Xing was very confident in the script.

He thought about it and said: "Today's sitcoms are different from the environment ten years ago. A sitcom ten years ago could be produced with only 100,000 yuan per episode.

"Now the shooting cost has increased. The cost of shooting each episode has approached one million, and I can't save much even if I want to."

If calculated at a price of 1 million per episode, this means that filming a 40-episode drama will cost at least 40 million.

If 80 episodes are to be filmed, the investment will be 80 million.

The reason why He Rongchang asked about investment from the beginning was because he knew that the investment was too big and the risk of investing in photography personally would be too high.

Once the shot goes bad, you will lose all your money.

Fang Xing's current funds in his studio account, plus the income from his songs in the next six months, can support this investment, but once the investment fails, he will return to before liberation overnight.

Hearing He Rongchang's worries, Fang Xing smiled and said, "I can handle the investment, there is no problem. Director He doesn't have to worry about the investment."

As a director, my favorite saying is: "Don't worry about investment."

He Rongchang couldn't help but smile on his face and asked: "Are you so confident in this drama?"

"Yes, I am very confident. Besides, I can afford the loss, so there is nothing to worry about."

Fang Xing really could afford the loss.

After the Spring Festival Gala was broadcast, brand owners have stepped through the threshold of studios.

Even if you really lose money, the worst thing you can do is accept a few more endorsements.

Besides, this show would be damned if it failed.

He Rongchang was more rigorous in his work and nodded in agreement: "In that case, I will give you an answer after I go back and read the script."

Fang Xing nodded and agreed: "Okay, I hope we can cooperate."

He Rongchang looks at the script from the director's perspective. He will consider whether the script can be filmed, whether it will be a bad film, and whether the cost can be recovered.

Yan Lan is different.

She is an actor, and she habitually gets into the role after reading the script.

So, she looked a little fascinated.

The waiter started to serve the food, but she was still watching, completely ignoring the people next to her.

Then, when she started eating, she drank the soup with a spoon and stared at the script on the table.

Under normal circumstances, her behavior would not be very polite.

However, Fang Xing gave this script to her. The more she likes it, the happier Fang Xing will naturally be.

The meal took over an hour.

He Rongchang felt that the matter was almost over and needed to go back and read the script carefully, so he proposed that the dinner would end here.

Both sides stood up and shook hands to say goodbye.

Yan Lan also stood up, looked at He Rongchang, and said with a smile on her face: "I like this script and I want to act in it."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Fang Xing and asked, "Can I choose any role?"

Fang Xing nodded and replied: "Basically yes. However, there is a character in it, which is basically tailor-made for you."

When Yan Lan heard this, she became even more happy: "That's right. Then I know which one it is. Anyway, I like this script. If you can't get investment, I can help."

Fang Xing nodded in agreement: "Okay."

…

Two days passed.

Yan Lan and He Rongchang took the initiative to make a dinner date. After hearing the news, Fang Xing probably guessed the outcome.

As expected, He Rongchang was also very interested in this script.

Still, he worries about the future of sitcoms.

"This script is really good. Although it is only the first half, even if we only shoot this part, it would be good as the first part. The only problem is investment. How much do you plan to invest?" He Rongchang began to talk in depth about investment issues. .

"How much does Director He think we should invest?"

Qiao Yinghong took over the topic. Regarding investment matters, it would be more convenient for a broker to talk.

He Rongchang did not wait for an answer.

Yan Lan jumped in and said: "My remuneration can be given at a friendly price to help save shooting costs."

She went back and read the script twice more. The more she read, the more she liked it, so she offered to reduce her pay.

In fact, her original salary was not high.

However, after the Spring Festival Gala skit was aired, it went up a bit.

The collaboration on the Spring Festival Gala skit was very pleasant, so Yan Lan took the initiative to reduce her salary.

He Rongchang continued: "The specific investment depends on the actors used. Excluding the actors' remuneration, the cost per episode can be controlled between 400,000 and 500,000.

"According to current TV drama actors' remuneration, which usually accounts for 50% of the total investment, the shooting cost is about 900,000 per episode.

"If you want to invite popular celebrities to star, the cost will be difficult to calculate. An episode of 2 million or 3 million is available."

Fang Xing shook his head and said: "Instead of inviting popular celebrities, I think the actors who collaborated with us in the Spring Festival Gala skit are pretty good. We can also talk to the actors from the sitcom "Health Center" to see if there are any opportunities for cooperation."

He Rongchang understood it as soon as he heard it.

This means that if big-name actors are not hired, the actors' salaries can be reduced a lot.

In addition, Yan Lan took the initiative to reduce her salary for starring, so the cost of filming each episode will be even lower.

He Rongchang made a rough calculation in his mind: "If we don't hire big-name actors, the actors' pay should be lowered.

"However, judging from the script, the male lead has a heavier role. The other actors' salaries can be saved, and the male lead must find a better actor.

“Moreover, the script’s introduction to the male lead must be handsome.

"In the entertainment industry, the price for handsome and talented actors cannot be low."

Fang Xing pointed to himself with a smile and asked, "Director He, do you think it's okay for me to act?"

He Rongchang raised his eyebrows and said in surprise: "Are you going to act?"

"Yes, I'll act." Fang Xing confirmed.

He Rongchang initially thought that Fang Xing was going to invest in the production of this drama and would be mainly responsible for the script and some of the production work.

Besides, there is a big difference between filming and acting in sketches.

An actor who can act in sketches may not necessarily be able to film.

Sitcoms are slightly better, though.

From a certain perspective, sketches and sitcoms have many similarities.

Therefore, after He Rongchang seriously considered it, he said: "Judging from the effect of your skit, you can give it a try. But if you ask me to be the director, I won't be polite to you. If it works, it will work. If it doesn't work, then you have to." When you change people, you won’t have any privileges just because you are an investor.”

Fang Xing nodded and agreed: "Of course, if after the audition, the director feels that I really can't play the role, then we will find another actor."

He Rongchang is quite satisfied with this answer: "As long as you say this. However, you don't have to worry too much. Judging from your performance in the sketch, I think you should be able to perform, but you just need to make some adjustments.

"So I'm going to be the first to say something ugly. When I'm directing a play, I'm going to scold you when it's time to scold me. You'd better be mentally prepared."

"Of course." Fang Xing agreed with a smile.