Chapter 544 Youth Directors Association Regular Meeting
When Deng Chao was sent home by his assistant, Sun Li was leaning against the head of the bed, wearing a facial mask and reading a book.
Deng Chao pulled off his tie in annoyance and threw his coat casually on the bedside table. Seeing that Sun Li ignored him, he deliberately walked back and forth in front of Sun Li with one hand in his pocket.
Sun Li quietly rolled her eyes, then simply turned sideways and slapped him on the back of his head.
Deng Chao took two steps back upon seeing this, took a running start and threw himself onto the bed, then turned over and began to do some somersaults, but he was able to stand up every time, causing the spring mattress to bounce up and down.
"Ah~"
Although the amplitude of this shock was not enough to make Sun Li feel uncomfortable, she also knew that if she didn't say anything, this person would make a scene. She had no choice but to put down the book and sighed, "Can you be more mature?"
"Of course!"
Deng Chao immediately sat up cross-legged, holding his cheek with one hand, posing as a thinker, and raised his eyebrows at Sun Li and said, "How about it, do you look like a big director?"
"You should win the Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award first."
Sun Li habitually hit him with a remark, then frowned and asked, "What's wrong? Are you having a quarrel with Xu Kun?"
"That's not true."
Deng Chao sighed and said, "I was too embarrassed to even say hello to him, so how could I have the chance to have a quarrel with him?"
To be honest, he often has a strong sense of frustration recently. When he was filming "The Young Emperor", he was the absolute C position.
At that time, Xu Kun's background and status were not as good as his, and even his acting skills were... Well, their acting skills were about the same at that time.
Anyway, overall, the Deng Dynasty has the upper hand.
Who could have thought that in just a few years, Xu Kun would become someone he could never reach?
It would be fine if Deng Chao had just been playing badly, but the problem is that he also worked very hard, and even relied on the huge influence of "Struggle" to surpass Huang Xiaoming.
Since it’s not a problem of hard work, then it’s a problem of the track!
So the idea of becoming a director came to my mind.
But Sun Li's words just now, "Win the Venice Film Festival Best Actor Award first", immediately exposed the emperor's new clothes - even in the field of actor, he has fallen far behind.
Sensing Deng Chao's lost mood, Sun Li moved over and hugged his arm, resting her head on his shoulder and said, "Don't always think about competing with Director Xu. In every era, there are always a few people who others can never catch up with, and you are already better than most people now."
After a pause, he continued, "Of course, if you really want to make a movie, I will definitely support you."
Deng Chao raised his hand and gently stroked her hair. After a long while, he let out a breath and said, "Wait two years. I'm not sure if we can shoot now, but if we don't shoot forever, I won't be willing to give up."
Sun Li nodded slightly, and then asked cautiously: "Then you and Director Xu..."
"That's it for now."
Deng Chao embraced Sun Li and lay down together, looking up at the ceiling and said, "I can't get over the hurdle in my heart now - it would be fine if he owed me, but the problem now is that I owe him, and there is a high probability that I can't pay it back."
…………
Compared to Deng Chao who was determined to escape, Xu Kun was brave and courageous that night, and would rather break than bend. However, he got up a little late the next day and almost missed the meeting of the Youth Directors Association of the China Film Association.
In just ten days, most of the people with connections have arrived. Although we can't rely on them for big things, the Youth Directors Association finally has someone to run errands.
Six people held a meeting behind closed doors, and someone prepared tea, snacks and other things in advance.
There are five presidents and vice presidents in total. The extra one is none other than Xu Kun's favorite gold medal producer Chen Xuebin. Old Chen now holds the title of secretary-general in the Youth Directors Association, so he is naturally qualified to attend the meeting.
After the meeting started, Xu Kun first announced two things: First, the Youth Directors Association should form a tradition of holding regular meetings, tentatively scheduled for twice a month.
You can take leave, but you must find time to read the minutes of the meeting afterwards to understand the latest developments within the association - shorthand clerks are already being recruited.
The second thing is that the Youth Directors Association has reached a strategic cooperation with a famous accounting firm in Beijing. In the future, not only the association’s internal affairs, but also the film and television works invested by the association will be subject to financial audits by accountants dispatched by the firm.
When Xu Kun finished speaking, Ning Hao continued, "These past two days, I have reviewed Yang Qing's advance payment with the firm's accountant. There are basically no major problems. In addition, the cost of "Nightclub" is initially calculated to be 240 million..."
"240?"
When Liu Haibo heard this, he couldn't help but question: "Isn't this amount of money enough to pay the salaries of several leading actors?"
As a result, except for him, everyone else was relatively calm. Ning Hao explained: "As long as the script is good, there will always be people willing to reduce their pay to act in the film. In addition, Director Xu wants to make a cameo appearance, and many people would rather act for free, hoping to establish this good relationship."
Jia Zhangke and Li Yu nodded in agreement, which made Liu Hai, who had never enjoyed such treatment before, feel uncomfortable.
"Let's mention 400 million."
At this time, Xu Kun said seriously: "Raise the pay of the leading actors. Sometimes free ones are the most expensive. After all, this is the first project after the establishment of our Youth Directors Association. We would rather spend a little more to ensure that there are no mistakes."
Anyway, the money was raised by him, and since he took the initiative to ask for an increase, others naturally would not have any objections.
Soon the filming cost of 400 million was approved unanimously. If nothing unexpected happens, the money will be directly transferred to the crew's account after the Youth Directors Association is officially established on January 2009, 1.
After talking about "Nightclub", Jia Zhangke talked about Han Jie's latest developments. According to him, Han Jie has found inspiration in his hometown and is now actively collecting relevant materials. It is expected that the script will be ready after the first month of the year.
However, considering the time for subsequent improvements and modifications, it is estimated that it will take until the second half of the year at the earliest to get a group to shoot.
Xu Kun heaved a sigh of relief when he said that. He nodded calmly and said, "The most important thing for a new author's new work is actually the script. It is necessary to spend more time and effort on polishing it."
Li Yu immediately took over the conversation and said, "So I hope the association can give priority to Jin Yimeng's script."
As he spoke, he handed several copies to everyone in turn.
It was obvious that she had already communicated this matter with everyone before Xu Kun arrived, so no one found it strange at all.
"Read the script carefully later and finish other things first." Xu Kun took the script but did not open it. Instead, he turned his gaze to Chen Xuebin.
Chen Xuebin hesitated and said, "There has been some progress with Happy Twist, but..."
Liu Haibo has been busy preparing for "Iron Pear Flower" recently and has not participated much in the association's affairs, so Chen Xuebin is responsible for the liaison with Happy Twist.
"Just what?"
Although Liu Haibo is not serious about his work, he still works very hard as a supporting actor.
"I see they have been copying scenes from online novels. Will there be any copyright issues with the scripts they produce?"
"What do they say themselves?"
"They said they would try to integrate the plot, and the plot in the novel was too smooth. If it were a movie, it would definitely have highs and lows, ambushes and twists. After adding these, it would be completely different from the excerpted novel."
Fusion?
Xu Kun frowned slightly when he heard this. He asked Yan Fei and Peng Damo to read online rebirth novels in the hope that they could broaden their thinking, but directly integrating the plots of other people's novels into them...
Am I being too aggressive, or does "Charlotte's Troubles" have problems in this regard?
Xu Kun finally decided to wait until he had time to sit the two of them down and have a good chat to find out where the problem lay.
But it is not possible recently. It is estimated that he will not be able to spare the time before the New Year. Moreover, the two of them are still in the process of copying and have not written the script, so some things cannot be concluded.
Let’s talk about it after the New Year.
After discussing the script, everyone discussed the issue of recruiting members after the establishment of the association.
What Xu Kun meant was that members should be divided into two types. One is registered members, who only need to fill in information on the website to successfully register, and then browse some announcements and articles released by the Youth Directors Association.
The other type is formal members, who need to produce sufficiently outstanding works or obtain recognition from the association's top management to obtain formal membership.
In addition, the top three graduating works from the directing departments of Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, and Shanghai Theatre Academy will be granted formal membership by default.
Formal members are eligible to participate in various activities organized by the association, have the right to submit scripts directly to the association's top management, apply for relevant funds, and are eligible to run for president and vice president in the future.
Others generally agreed with this way of division, except Jia Zhangke, who disagreed.
His reason was very simple. After this division, it would obviously be easier for formal members to obtain resources. Wouldn't this violate the core purpose of the Youth Directors Association to select 'newcomers'?
Xu Kun didn't indulge him and directly blocked him with one sentence: "According to your standard, is Han Jie a newcomer? Is Jin Yimeng a newcomer? Is Yang Qing a newcomer?"
Seeing that Lao Jia didn't say anything, he said seriously: "The term 'selecting newcomers' is actually not appropriate. From now on, our official term will be changed to 'supporting young directors'.
We call it the Youth Directors Association, not the New Directors Association. Our purpose is to support young people. Talent is the right way to go. If we force the other party not to have a criminal record, then we are missing the point. "
(End of this chapter)
