novelnext Chapter 51 Film and Television Situation
Chapter 51 Film and Television Situation
early morning.
Longgang Road, an abandoned semiconductor factory.
The factory was brightly lit, with a brightness no less than that of daytime.
Dong Xuan sat on the left side of the sofa, holding a book in her hands.
Shen Teng walked out from the direction of the kitchen, carrying two glasses of water, and sat down on the other side of the sofa.
Behind the monitor, Lin Cong stared at the screen, clutching a walkie-talkie, but remained silent.
When Dong Xuan finished reciting her last line, everyone on set held their breath.
"Pass."
Lin Cong's voice came from behind the monitor, and cheers and applause erupted on set.
Shen Teng was the first to jump up from the sofa, raise his hands high, and cheer loudly:
Filming has wrapped!
Qiao Zhenyu also stood up from the folding chair in the corner and clapped softly.
The lighting crew, props crew, stagehands... everyone was laughing and clapping, and some students even started hugging each other.
Although it was just a sitcom, and only one episode, they still spent countless days and nights working on it.
When everything finally settled down, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction was indescribable.
Lin An stood in the shadows of the bar's decor, hands in his pockets, watching the bustling scene before him, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Gao Yuanyuan walked up to him at some point.
"Aren't we going up to celebrate?" she asked softly, turning her head to the side.
Lin An shook his head: "For me, this is just the beginning, far from the time to celebrate."
Gao Yuanyuan understood what he meant and was momentarily lost in thought.
For some reason, she was the first person in the crew, besides Lin Cong and Ji Tao, to know about the gambling agreement.
She couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure?"
Lin An twitched the corner of his mouth and said self-deprecatingly:
"How can you be sure about something like this?"
A 10% viewership rating doesn't sound high.
But this means that 150 million Shanghai viewers would have to switch their remotes to Shanghai TV and watch an entire episode.
This is by no means an easy task.
"iPartment" was ultimately a TV series produced nine years later. It was made in 2000, and no one knew how well it would turn out.
When I confidently told Doraemon that I "would win," it was just self-hypnosis and self-comfort.
The excitement on set continued, with cheers, applause, and laughter mingling and echoing through the empty factory.
"Let's not talk about this now."
Lin An withdrew his gaze, turned to the side, leaned against the edge of the bar counter, and said softly:
"There's something I need your help with."
Gao Yuanyuan tilted her head slightly. "Go ahead."
Lin An remained silent for two seconds.
"You know a lot of people..."
He carefully chose his words, speaking a little slower than usual:
Are there people who have spare cash and are willing to take out short-term mortgage loans?
Gao Yuanyuan blinked, seemingly not having heard clearly.
Lin An repeated it, pointing in the direction of the warehouse:
"Anything in the warehouse can be used as collateral. If that's not enough, the unused costumes in the dressing room can also be used."
He was afraid of being rejected, so he spoke faster:
"If you're willing to help, I'll consider it a favor I owe you."
Gao Yuanyuan's expression turned strange. "Are you short of money?"
"We're really short of them, so very short..." Lin An muttered to himself, then chuckled awkwardly.
I'm a little short on cash right now.
"Is it in a hurry?"
"It's urgent, I need it by next Friday, and I'm short about 70,000."
Gao Yuanyuan's expression became even stranger, as if she felt that this number was seriously mismatched with Lin An's identity.
She stared at Lin An for several seconds, her gaze filled with scrutiny and curiosity.
Lin An felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze and was about to say, "If it's inconvenient, then forget it," when Gao Yuanyuan spoke first:
"Let me ask around for you. Um, if possible, could you provide a few photos?"
Seeing that she was really willing to help, Lin An felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders and relaxed completely.
"Okay, I'll go film it right away."
Lin An moved much faster than usual.
He turned and took two steps toward the warehouse, then turned back, took a camera out of his bag, adjusted the aperture, and walked toward the warehouse.
Gao Yuanyuan stood there, watching his figure disappear behind the set, smiled silently, and then turned and walked towards the edge of the film set.
……
……
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Earth.
Philadelphia, USA, a five-star hotel.
The afternoon sun streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a warm glow on the red carpet.
Countless men and women in suits, holding champagne glasses, gathered in small groups, talking in hushed tones.
On the giant projection screen in the center of the venue, the Chinese and English subtitles of "A Century of Chinese Cinema Retrospective" were scrolling.
Zhang Jianya sat on a sofa in the corner of the conference room, his phone pressed to his ear. A familiar Beijing accent came from the other end, as someone rambled on and on.
"Okay, I understand."
He laughed and scolded, "Stop chanting scriptures with me here, I still have to attend the meeting."
The person on the other end of the phone ignored his complaints and gave him a few more instructions.
"Okay, okay, I've got it."
Zhang Jianya responded repeatedly, his tone tinged with a hint of teasing.
"It's rare to see you so concerned about a student in a continuing education program. Who is he?"
The person on the other end of the phone ignored him and hung up after a few words.
"beep......"
Hearing the busy tone on the phone, Zhang Jianya cursed under his breath, calling himself an old fox.
"Director Zhang, why are you making a phone call here?"
A middle-aged man in a suit walked over and complained:
"This is a film seminar; there's no reason for the director to slip away halfway through."
Zhang Jianya smiled and said, "Excuse me, Director Wang, I have some personal matters to attend to."
That's what he said, but he himself wasn't really interested in these kinds of meetings.
In mainland China, film has always been considered a "career" rather than an "industry." Even today, film distribution still requires layers of approval based on administrative regions.
No matter how many meetings are held, it's all in vain if the market isn't opened up.
Wang Gengnian saw through the man's perfunctory attitude and said with a wry smile:
"The authorities are actively promoting the cinema chain system to facilitate cross-regional operations, but as you know, this will eventually take time."
Zhang Jianya said quietly, "That depends on whether they are willing to give us that time."
With China's imminent accession to the WTO, an increase in the number of imported films is a foregone conclusion.
Whether it's film quality or filming techniques, Hollywood is far ahead of mainland China; it's almost a generational gap.
In 98, Titanic grossed 3.2 million yuan at the Chinese box office, outperforming all other domestic films, which clearly shows the gap between them.
Wang Gengnian said helplessly:
"There's nothing we can do about it. In the past, film studios were used to centralized purchasing and distribution, guaranteeing profits regardless of market conditions. Letting them compete freely in the market now would be like sending them to their doom, wouldn't it?"
Zhang Jianya remained noncommittal, his gaze fixed on the giant projection screen in the center of the venue.
The words "A Century of Chinese Cinema Retrospective" scrolled slowly.
Below are a series of black and white photographs: "Dingjun Mountain", "Street Angel", "The Spring River Flows East"... Each one is a milestone in the history of Chinese cinema.
However, the foreigners present showed little interest, and several even secretly yawned.
They value the mainland's box office market of over a billion yuan more than cultural exchange.
The president of MGM's distribution division has made it clear that they are "ready to fully enter China," and other major Hollywood studios cannot lag behind.
Everyone present knew that whoever could open up the market in mainland China first would gain an advantage in the global film and television landscape.
As for mainland Chinese-language films...
What kind of garbage is that?
There's absolutely no comparison; just lie down and relax.