Chapter 202 Expansion
"You guys really had an uncensored party in the KTV?"
"Not really. Apart from Sister Xiaolu, the instigator, everyone at least left their underwear on. Some didn't even take off their bras. You know what, Sister Xiaolu's trick was quite effective. When everyone came out of the KTV, they were obviously more relaxed than before."
After the storm, Jiang Yiyan collapsed limply in Xu Kun's arms, drawing circles on Xu Kun's chest muscles with her slender white fingers, while chatting idly about the sisterhood party during the day.
"Hmm~ Just like some men like to talk in the bathhouse?"
"I don't know. I've never been to a men's bathhouse."
Jiang Yiyan suddenly stood up, holding onto Xu Kun's chest, and said, "I have to take a shower first. I feel so uncomfortable with all the sweat on my body."
Having said that, he went to the bathroom as if he was walking on cotton.
Xu Kun grabbed a cushion and covered his belly with it, then flipped open the biography he had written.
Perhaps because he is used to being a drama director, Tian Youliang's script is quite concise and efficient, with almost no redundancy, so the whole story is told in 22 episodes.
The advantage of this is that the plot is compact and not dragged out, but the disadvantage is that some places lack some emotional support.
For example, although Meng Hao’s identity and status were set off in the first episode, Xu Kun always felt that it was still lacking something.
For example, the scene of delivering a piano to the orphanage was too monotonous with only the children cheering and the teachers excited.
Someone had to come out and say that this kind of imported piano was not sold locally, and our orphanage couldn't even afford the shipping fee, let alone buy one.
When the heroine went out to express her gratitude, Meng Hao casually said that it was airlifted from the Magic City overnight.
Although this kind of contrast may seem low-level to rational people, many women fall for it - and since it is a fantasy created specifically for women, it should be exaggerated where necessary.
Haven’t you seen that “Meteor Garden”, which is so LOW in every aspect, has become successful and popular across Taiwan Straits and Hong Kong and Macau with its exaggerated characters and fabricated plots?
The core of "Meteor Garden" is similar to "My Dear Mr. President" except that the protagonist is a rich second-generation instead of a business elite. Therefore, Xu Kun felt it necessary to learn from it.
Of course, Xu Kun had never thought of making it so exaggerated, he just hoped to make this fantasy bubble even more dreamy.
In addition to highlighting the male protagonist's wealth and power, Xu Kun thinks that the scene of Hao Liang, the school hunk in the Department of Literature, being popular in school, and the clip of elite lawyer Mu Bai **** should also be highlighted.
He is currently collecting relevant materials and plans to have a thorough discussion with Tian Youliang during the casting in a few days.
"what?!"
Just as she was thinking about how to convince Tian Youliang, she heard a scream from the study. Then Jiang Yiyan, wrapped in a bath towel, rushed back to the bedroom and said excitedly, "Why are those luxury goods gone? Could they be lost?!"
"How can it be."
Without even looking up, Xu Kun explained, "I feel uneasy leaving those things here, so I put them in a safe place first."
"Oh~"
While Jiang Yiyan breathed a sigh of relief, she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. She had wanted to try them one by one in the evening, but who would have thought that the things were gone.
Sensing her emotions, Xu Kun became more alert, took out the relevant soft-text advertisements he had collected, and showed them to Jiang Yiyan for review.
The above basically uses all kinds of flattery to brag about the craftsmanship and cultural background of foreign luxury brands.
After Jiang Yiyan finished reading, Xu Kun asked hopefully, "How about it, after reading this information, are you more disappointed?"
Jiang Yiyan said speechlessly: "Brother Kun, you sent those things away, you didn't just want to tease me, did you?"
"Of course not. I want to test how effective these soft-text ads will be if they are inserted into the drama." Seeing that Jiang Yiyan was still a little confused, Xu Kun simply used the plot of giving the piano as an example.
On one side, the original version was showing ordinary joy, while on the other side, a teacher exaggeratedly stroked the outer shell of the piano with his fingers and said excitedly: This is an original imported Stangraeber, one costs at least hundreds of thousands, and it is simply not available here. Our orphanage cannot afford the shipping fee alone.
Then he would go on to brag a few more times, saying that this kind of piano required professional personnel to be on hand for debugging during transportation, and that the whole process was so cumbersome and so on.
After watching Xu Kun's moving performance, Jiang Yiyan decisively chose the latter - after all, this set of moves is not yet popular, and it is also the most lethal to women at this time.
…………
While Xu Kun was thinking about adding "spice" to the play, the news about Xu Kun's self-financing of a new play also spread further, and naturally more people came to ask for help from connections.
And it wasn't just Xu Kun who encountered this problem. Tian Youliang also encountered a lot of requests.
Originally, Tian Youliang was thinking of holding an open casting call, but by April 18, when the two of them discussed it, there were more than 20 young actresses who came to them on their own initiative.
In the end, the two decided to screen this group of people first, and if there was really no suitable one, then hold an open casting.
The audition is scheduled for April 25th.
Taking advantage of the few days left, Xu Kun sorted out and revised some of the plot and gave it to Tian Youliang for review.
Tian Youliang was very unhappy at first, because he felt that the script he had spent more than three years polishing, although he couldn't say it was perfect, was at least perfect.
Now Xu Kun insisted on adding some things to set off 'Meng Hao', and he felt that this was Xu Kun's way of highlighting the male protagonist he played.
However, Tian Youliang has always firmly believed that the core of this drama is the various experiences of the heroine.
Even though Xu Kun argued that this was to better serve female audiences, Tian Youliang still disagreed.
The two of them could not reach an agreement, so at Xu Kun's suggestion, they conducted a perception test on the campus of the Central Academy of Drama.
The scene used for the test was the one where Meng Hao delivered the piano to the orphanage. The first time, it was performed according to the original version; the second time, an emotionally excited female teacher who knew the origin of the piano was added.
At Xu Kun's strong request, the audience chose only female students and young female teachers.
The final result of the blind vote was that 92% of people thought the latter was more impactful than the former - of course, they also felt that this scene was a bit exaggerated and not suitable for a serious drama.
But is "The Overbearing President Falls in Love with Me" a serious drama? Just by listening to the name, you know it is definitely not!
Faced with this overwhelming result, Tian Youliang finally began to waver.
However, what really made him decide to modify the script according to Xu Kun's wishes was the support of the original author Zhong Mo.
Zhong Mo said that his original intention in writing this book was not to expose the dark side of reality, but just to write about Cinderella's adventures. Since it is an adventure, what's wrong with adding some details to highlight the dreamlike nature of the story?
She even suggested that the finale be changed to an open one, without showing the scene of Meng Hao going to jail, to leave a suspense for the girls in front of the TV.
Tian Youliang firmly disagreed with this point. He felt that the plot in which Meng Hao took out the note that Lin Yuxin left on the windshield after she scratched his car in the first episode when Lin Yuxin went to visit him in prison, saying that he had liked Lin Yuxin since then, served as a link between the past and the future.
If these were deleted, there would be no sense of destiny.
Besides, if Meng Hao did not take the initiative to turn himself in, what if he was suspected of advocating incorrect values and this affected the broadcast of the TV series?
Xu Kun also felt that there was no need to change the story to an open ending. In any case, Lin Yuxin had already discovered that Meng Hao had been supporting Hao Liang's hometown since Hao Liang's death, and she was determined to wait for Meng Hao to be released from prison.
For someone who is used to prison life, this is already a dream ending.
After many compromises, the show finally retained the final ending while adding some plots that specifically showcased the male characters' power, wealth, literary talent, and professional level, expanding the content from 22 episodes to 25 episodes.
(End of this chapter)
