Chapter 478 Find a Producer for You

Zhou Yan took the script and roughly flipped through it. It was a script that was quite in line with the times. It mainly told the story of how a twelve-year-old boy dropped out of school to work in the city, and how he became a thief at the age of seventeen and was finally caught.

To be honest, Xiao Can's writing ability is average. The story looks good, but the script is not well written, including the design of some lines.

Of course, the final result of the movie cannot be fully reflected by the script. Xiao Can's practical ability must be stronger than his writing ability, and the things shot may be better than what the script reflects.

Originally, movie scripts are different from literary scripts. Movie scripts only need to consider whether they can be filmed, unlike literary scripts, which also need to consider literary quality.

After reading the script, Zhou Yan nodded, "It's really good, but the budget of 800,000 is a bit too little."

If you go back a few years, it would be good for a film studio to invest 800,000 in a movie, but the current situation is completely different from the previous years. Everything is rising in price, and the price increase in the film and television industry is even more severe.

So now if you want to make a movie, 800,000 is not enough.

Moreover, Zhou Yan also noticed that Xiao Can might have been affected by the budget. The script was written with restraints and a feeling of being unable to let go.

There are obviously better ways to deal with many places, but Xiao Can did not choose them because they are more expensive.

Han Sanping smiled and said, "Of course I want to give Xiao Can more support, but the factory has just breathed a sigh of relief and the funds are not very sufficient. Moreover, there are so many directors in the factory. I gave the quota to Xiao Can, which may have made many people dissatisfied. If the investment is increased, they will be even more dissatisfied. Moreover, this budget was applied by Xiao Can himself."

Zhou Yan nodded, and what Han Sanping said made sense.

Although Xiao Can has been in Yanjing Factory for many years, there are a lot of people in the factory who are better than him in terms of seniority. Many senior directors have no movies to shoot now.

Han Sanping gave the quota to Xiao Can, and someone must have scolded him for nepotism behind his back.

When Chen Zhigu was in charge before, he gave a lot of quotas to Xia Gang, and was also scolded privately.

Besides, Xiao Can only wants 800,000 yuan, so Han Sanping will not raise his price.

"How about this, don't touch the 800,000 yuan in the factory, and Tang Chen and my studio will contribute another 1.2 million yuan, a total of 2 million yuan."

"If you say so, of course I have no objection, but this is Xiao Can's first independent director, isn't 2 million a bit too much?"

Zhou Yan shook his head, "Not much."

Han Sanping said with a smile, "Indeed, it's not much compared to you. Your first movie had a budget of 6 or 7 million yuan, right?"

"No, the budget of my first movie was actually only tens of thousands of yuan."

Han Sanping was stunned for a moment and said, "You are talking about "Ants". Don't count the short film. If you say so, then you haven't even been an assistant director, but a director directly."

Zhou Yan's path to directing is different from most people. Before he shot his first feature film, he only shot a short film of a few minutes.

And he became a director in one step. He has never been an assistant director or an assistant director, let alone a script supervisor.

Looking around the world, Zhou Yan is unique.

However, Zhou Yan received a lot of baptism in the crew of "Raise the Red Lantern". For a period of time, Zhou Yan basically took on the role of assistant director in the crew, so he got started so quickly when shooting "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly".

Of course, the success of "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" is inseparable from the photographer Zhao Fei. When shooting that movie, Zhou Yan often asked Zhao Fei for advice.

"Although Director Xiao has never directed a feature film independently, he has solid basic skills, is calm, and has experienced the baptism of some big projects. He should be able to handle this kind of small project."

"In that case, I'll let Xiao Can come over and tell him about the matter, and also talk about the script."

Zhou Yan nodded, "Okay."

Then Han Sanping called the director's office and asked them to call Xiao Can over.

About three or four minutes later, Xiao Can came to the director's office.

"Director, please... Director Zhou is here too."

Han Sanping pointed to the chair and said with a smile, "Director Xiao, sit down. I told Director Zhou about your movie. He read the script and thought it was pretty good."

Xiao Can only mentioned the new movie to Zhou Yan once. The reason why he didn't mention it again was that he was worried that Zhou Yan would misunderstand that he wanted to take a backdoor.

"I actually always wanted Director Zhou to help check it, but Director Zhou is really too busy. I'm afraid Director Zhou doesn't have time."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Old Xiao, you are too polite. I read the script. The story is very good, and the theme just hits the current social situation. Is this script original?"

"Yes, I wrote it myself." Xiao Can nodded, "Actually, I also came up with the idea of ​​writing this script because of "The Chorus". When I was filming "The Chorus", I also read a lot of materials related to children's education, many of which were about child labor."

When filming "The Chorus", many child actors were child laborers, such as Li Haining and Xia Guobao, who had worked in restaurants before.

In addition to reading a lot of information, Xiao Can also talked with Li Haining and others many times and learned a lot about child labor.

In the script he wrote this time, some of the prototypes of the stories came from Li Haining and others.

"The factory is ready to approve your project application," Han Sanping said.

Xiao Can's eyes lit up, "Thank you, director."

"Don't thank me in a hurry. Although the factory is ready to approve your project, there may be some problems with the budget."

Budget... Xiao Can's heart sank. The budget he requested in the application he submitted was 800,000.

He decided on this number after thinking about it for a long time.

According to his vision, it would be difficult to shoot this movie for 800,000 yuan, but if it was higher, he was worried that the factory would not approve it.

So he combined the situation in the factory and the filming situation of the movie to determine the number of 800,000.

If it's any lower, it doesn't mean that the movie can't be made, but that Xiao Can is not confident that he can make a movie that satisfies him.

After pondering for a moment, Xiao Can gritted his teeth and said, "Director, I need at least 50...400,000, otherwise I won't be able to shoot."

Han Sanping knew that Xiao Can had misunderstood, but he still decided to tease Xiao Can, "Is it five hundred thousand or four hundred thousand?"

"Four hundred thousand."

"Then I'll give you four hundred thousand."

"Okay." Xiao Can breathed a sigh of relief, at least the project was confirmed.

However, the cost was reduced to 400,000 yuan, and the subsequent filming was a headache for him, as his previous plan had to be rewritten.

Zhou Yan smiled beside him and said, "Director Han, please stop teasing Lao Xiao."

Han Sanping also laughed, "Haha, Director Xiao, I was just teasing you. That's right, in addition to the 800,000 yuan in the factory, Director Zhou and Tang Chen also decided to invest 1.2 million together, for a total of 2 million Ten thousand."

Xiao Can was stunned. One second he was worried about how to shoot the movie when the cost was reduced to 400,000 yuan. The next second, Han Sanping told him that not only would 800,000 yuan not be reduced, but an additional 1.2 million yuan would be added, and the budget would be doubled. More than twice as much.

The sudden ups and downs made him feel a little dazed.

"Really? Director Zhou." Xiao Can looked at Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, so now you have to think about how you should spend the extra 1.2 million. With this extra money, is there anything that can be optimized in the script? I see that the character that appears in your script There are relatively few and the scenes are relatively simple. Is it because of budget constraints?”

"Yes, the budget is limited, so we try not to use too many extras. Few scenes can also greatly reduce investment."

"Now you can make some modifications appropriately. There are very few classmates of the protagonist in the script, which is very detrimental to the shaping of his student identity. In addition, you cannot focus all the perspectives on the protagonist alone. Children drop out of school. In fact, it is a common phenomenon, and there should be many of his classmates who are in similar situations. If you take the protagonist’s experience as a typical example, it will lose its meaning,” Zhou Yan said.

Xiao Can nodded, "I made a note of it and I will make adjustments."

Zhou Yan thought for a while and then said, "Old Xiao, do you want me to find someone to help you?"

"Can you find me an assistant director?"

"No, I'm going to find a producer for you."

Many directors don't like the existence of producers, because producers will limit the director's performance, but Xiao Can knows the role of producers on the crew, so he nodded and said, "Of course, Director Zhou, who are you planning to find for this film?" Producer?

"Huo Jianqi." Zhou Yan said a name.

Xiao Can thought for a while, nodded and said, "I think it's okay."

He and Huo Jianqi are old acquaintances. The two have known each other before, and later they filmed "Spring of the Cowherd Class" with Zhou Yan, and they have a very good relationship.

Therefore, he knew Huo Jianqi's abilities.

Huo Jianqi has the ability to coordinate the crew and has a sense of proportion. The second point is very important. If the producer has no sense of control and interferes in everything, the director will be very uncomfortable.

In addition, Huo Jianqi's qualifications and relationship with Zhou Yan Studio make it very suitable to be the producer of this film.

"In this case, it's better to choose a day than to hit it. I'll call Huo Jianqi over now and let's have a meeting together."

"I have no problem."

…

Huo Jianqi was at the studio right now. After Zhou Yan called him, he arrived quickly.

Han Sanping did not participate in the subsequent discussion, and Zhou Yan and the other three found an office alone.

He was also very happy to learn that Zhou Yan wanted him to be a producer for Xiao Can. Although he had never been a producer, he was not worried at all.

Since making his first feature film, he has become more and more confident.

The key is that he has Zhou Yan Studio behind him, so it is very easy to be a producer.

Being a producer for Xiao Can can also increase his crew experience.

The three of them chatted for a while, and Huo Jianqi asked, "Lao Xiao, do you have any ideas as an actor?"

Xiao Can shook his head, "Director Han just told me today that he would approve this project. I didn't dare to think about actors before."

"Don't want to think about it now?"

"These students must be found from outside. As for the main adult roles, let's first see if there are any suitable ones in the factory."

"Well, let's first see if there is anything suitable in the factory. If not, you can go next door and have a look."

The next door Huo Jianqi refers to is Yanjing Film Academy.

Yanjing Film Academy is too close to their factory, and they usually like to go there and hang out when they have nothing to do.

"There have been many good talents in the past few years next door, including Jin Qiaoqiao, Jiang Qinqin, Chen Zihan, Fu Dalong in '94, Zuo Xiaoqing, Sun Li, He Shengming in '95, and there are quite a lot of people in the '96 class, including Zhao Wei, Chen Kun, Guo Xiaodong, Yan Danchen... "

Zhou Yan looked at Huo Jianqi in surprise, "Why are you so familiar with these students? Even those who just entered school this year know them all."

Huo Jianqi smiled and said, "I'll run over there if I have nothing to do. I'll ask anyone I see close eyes. Maybe I'll use it when I make a movie later."

"You really have some free time." Zhou Yan sighed.

"I'm still not free enough, otherwise I would definitely know about it at Zhongxi."

In fact, the Chinese Theater Theater is not very far away from them, but it can't be compared to the Yanjing Film Institute, which is within walking distance.

In the early days, Zhou Yan often went to Yanjing Film Academy, but later he went less frequently.

"When we have time, let's go to China Theater and Yan Dian to see it together." Zhou Yan said.

It suddenly occurred to him that there were many outstanding students in the 1996 Chinese Opera class, and he thought that if he could observe them, he might be able to seize the opportunity and sign them into the Zhou family.

"How about we go take a look today?" Xiao Can said suddenly.

Zhou Yan was a little surprised when he heard what Xiao Can said. Xiao Can was not the kind of person who said what he said was what he said.

Even Huo Jianqi was surprised.

Being stared at by Zhou Yan and Huo Jianqi, Xiao Can smiled sheepishly, "I just thought about it and felt that there are not many suitable actors in the factory, so I'd better go and see those students early."

The reason why Xiao Can suddenly made this suggestion was because he wanted to take Zhou Yan with him while Zhou Yan had time today.

Mainly because he believed in Zhou Yan's vision and wanted Zhou Yan to help him provide advice.

If he missed today, he would be embarrassed to ask Zhou Yan for help next time. He also knew that Zhou Yan was usually very busy.

Zhou Yan really had nothing to do today. The manuscript was sent to the magazine. Wang Zuxian also returned to Taiwan yesterday. He had been planning to rest in the past few days.

"Okay, let's go there after dinner."

It was almost dinner time, so Zhou Yan thought of having a meal at Yanjing Factory first, and then going for a walk.

Huo Jianqi said, "It's best to go during meal time. Most students can see it. Senior Lu has meal tickets for their school cafeteria. I'll get some."

Zhou Yan asked unexpectedly, "Senior, why do you have meal tickets from Yan Dian?"

"Hey, I'm there for him."

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes, Huo Jianqi was really good at it, he even had meal tickets from Yan Dian. (End of chapter)