I am a director, but I have the skills of an actor

Chapter 93 Plagiarism, determine the actor

"Okay, Brother Bo, don't come down. It's only a few steps away. Is there anything you can give me?"

In the airport parking lot, Wan Qingshan loosened his seat belt and said quickly when he saw Yu Bo also wanting to loosen his seat belt.

Yu Bo stopped moving and looked at the airport not far away.

"Okay, then I won't give it away. Qingzi, next time you come over, I will take you for a nice stroll."

Originally, Yu Bo planned to let Wan Qingshan play here for two days.

Yesterday, after dinner with Zhang Jin and Yang Junyi, Wanqingshan walked around under the leadership of Yu Bo. After dinner, Chen Chen suddenly called.

The content of the phone call prompted Wanqingshan to buy a plane ticket back to the capital early the next morning.

After landing in the capital, Wan Qingshan went home to put down his luggage. After arriving at Qingshan Film and Television Company, he met Chen Chen.

"Tell me, what happened when I said on the phone that someone copied my movie?"

"Director Wan, after get off work yesterday, my cousin and I went to the movies. We watched a Hong Kong movie that had just been released. I found that the plot of the movie was plagiarized from "The True Meaning of Love" and that the screenwriters were the same two people who had switched jobs before."

Wan Qingshan is not angry because someone plagiarized. It is difficult to define film plagiarism legally, whether it is plagiarism or borrowing. Let alone now, in the Internet era where plagiarism is easily discovered in the future, plagiarism is not yet common in the film market.

Wan Qingshan was not angry, but was surprised. What kind of fool was this? He couldn't even plagiarize.

What kind of domestic movies should I copy? If I want to copy, I should also copy foreign movies.

If you copy a foreign movie, few people will see it. If you localize it better, you may still have box office success.

Plagiarizing domestic movies. Who would watch the plagiarized version after having seen the original version?

"Who shot it? What's the name of the movie? I'll go check it out later."

Seeing that Wan Qingshan was not angry at all, Chen Chen did not answer Wan Qingshan's question, but asked curiously, "Director Wan, someone copied your movie, are you angry?"

“Haha, don’t you know there is a saying that says, those who learn from me will live, and those who resemble me will die.

If he really learned from me, he wouldn't plagiarize. Plagiarism is just fake.

So, why should I be angry if I copy a movie that doesn't sell much at the box office?

Okay, tell me who the director is and what the name of the movie is, so I can go and see how far he has plagiarized. "

"The director is Hong Kong's great director Huang Baiming, and the movie is called "Ghost Horse Love"."

Wan Qingshan was not surprised at all when he heard it was Huang Baiming. After 2000, Huang Baiming's movies were all just flip-flop movies.

"Ghost Horse Love", directed by Huang Baiming, starring Louis Koo, Cecilia Cheung, Wu Yanzu and Yang Qianhua.

The director and star cast are not bad, but not many viewers watched it.

When the movie started, Wan Qingshan looked around and found that the attendance rate was only one-third.

"It has just been released, and it is a Saturday. With such attendance and such a cast, the domestic box office will definitely not be able to recoup the cost. It depends on whether the Hong Kong box office can be a hit, otherwise the movie will lose money to investors."

After Wan Qingshan murmured something in his heart, the movie officially started.

The first ten minutes of "Ghost Horse Love" are very similar to "The True Meaning of Love", describing the warm life of two couples.

Then there was the same body swap, but this time it was a little different. The two male protagonists swapped bodies.

There is also a joke plot in the middle, but compared to the joke plot of "The True Meaning of Love", the joke of "Ghost Horse Love" is to imitate Wang Jing's peeing.

This set of shit and piss was pretty good in the 90s.

But now, even Wang Jing, who knows the audience best, can't attract the audience, not to mention Huang Baiming, the audience didn't find anything funny, only disgusting.

At this time, some viewers couldn't stand it anymore and got up and walked out of the theater.

When a couple passed by the aisle next to Wanqingshan, the woman complained, "I wouldn't have watched it if I had known it. What a rubbish movie."

"I have said before that this movie is not good to watch, and many people on the Internet have said so. It is a malicious imitation of "The True Meaning of Love", and the jokes are the same as those in Hong Kong dramas," the man complained.

"How did I know this was the case?"

After some spectators left, Wan Qingshan watched for a while and then left too.

Because the plot was really too much for him to watch, after the two male protagonists changed their bodies, they found that they fell in love with each other's girlfriend, and then they chased each other's girlfriend.

"If you have a little understanding of the mainland market, you won't end up like this. Those two people shouldn't have written it like this. It should be Huang Baiming. Hong Kong movies have always been so weird in the emotional scenes between men and women."

After Wan Qingshan made a guess in his mind, he put the movie behind him. This movie was 100% a success, and he didn't need to launch a navy to fight against the gangsters.

In the following week, except for a trip to Shenzhen to see Chen Yumo, Wan Qingshan spent the rest of the time in the gym.

Then, Han Sanping called and Jiang Zhiqiang transferred the profits from "The True Meaning of Love" in Hong Kong and Wanwan.

The total box office of the two places is more than 4000 million, but one deduction is taken here, one deduction is taken there, and the distribution here in Wanqingshan is only a few million.

The budget of the new movie is 500 million, but Wan Qingshan's remuneration is 1000 million, so he only needs to pay 100 million.

Previously, the mainland box office revenue of "The True Meaning of Love" was more than 3000 million. He spent 2000 million to buy Penguin stock, and the remaining 100 million was Wan Qingshan's crew card number.

In addition, not counting sponsor fees, there will definitely be 100 million left by then.

Therefore, these millions did not stay in Wan Qingshan's hands for long before he bought Maoxiang Technology stocks.

When Wan Qingshan just came out of the securities company, Sun Yao called and the script was polished.

"Director Wan, take a look."

Wan Qingshan took the script, walked to the rest area, and started reading.

After about ten minutes, Wan Qingshan closed the script.

"There's nothing wrong with the script. As usual, I'll give you a week off this time."

Before Sun Yao, who had thick dark circles under his eyes, could get excited, he heard what Wan Qingshan said behind him.

"However, for this filming, you have to be with the team."

Sun Yao was stunned for a moment and asked curiously, "Director Wan, we are not afraid of hard work, but we didn't join the group before, why should we join the group this time?"

“Before, it was either literary films or romantic comedies. As long as the theme was clear, there was no need to worry about the details.

This time it’s a suspense film, so focus on the details. Some scenes may be found to have incorrect logic during filming, and you may need to make changes at that time. "

"I understand, Director Wan, let's go back and rest first. The suspenseful plot of the script is making our heads spin."

"let's go."

As soon as Sun Yao left, Wan Qingshan took the script to the General Administration for review.After two days of review and application for a filming permit, Wanqingshan called Li Yancheng and Yan Dong to come over.

In the past, with China Film as his backer, some sequences could be messed up, but now that China Film is no longer the backer, Wan Qingshan thought it was better to be cautious, follow the procedures, and prepare the crew after obtaining the filming permit.

"Brother Cheng, you go to Zhouyi Company and sign a contract with them for the martial arts design team, as well as a performance contract with Zhang Jin and Yang Junxi. I have already negotiated these with Zhouyi. You just need to sign the contract according to the market price."

Li Yancheng, who was reading the script, nodded and asked, "Qingzi, you are starring, and the supporting actors are Yang Junyi and Zhang Jin. What about the heroine and supporting actress? Do you want to send invitations to actresses in the industry?"

The heroine and supporting actress in this script are both vases, so Wan Qingshan has never thought about the candidates before.

He thought about it now and shook his head slightly.

"No, for the heroine, I'll contact Zeng Li. For the supporting actress, you can send an invitation to Dong Xuan."

Dong Xuan is not well-known now, and Wan Qingshan is afraid that Li Yancheng doesn't know about it.

"Dong Xuan is also from Nortel, and he previously starred in "Snowflake Goddess Dragon"."

Li Yancheng thought for a while, nodded and said, "I know, she's very beautiful."

"Of course the female characters and supporting roles must be beautiful, otherwise how will they attract the audience." Wan Qingshan said with a smile.

Immediately, Wan Qingshan turned around and said, "Long winter, you have to work harder. This scene involves smuggling and police killings, so it can't be filmed in the mainland.

Therefore, I plan to shoot this scene in Thailand. There are no special requirements for the scene. You can just follow the script. "

Yan Dong frowned slightly and said, "Qingzi, first tell me when the filming will take place? Thailand is a place I'm not familiar with, so I'm afraid it will delay your start-up time."

"It's April [-]th now. I plan to start shooting at the end of April, but the crew has to go there in late April, so you only have half a month."

Yan Dong thought for a while and said uncertainly, "Half a month should be fine."

"Brother Cheng, after you prepare the crew here, you can bring a group of people over first.

I'm afraid you'll have to put in a lot of effort when it comes to extras in a movie, road closures for filming, and props. "

"Qingzi, you are an internationally renowned director. All I have to say is that if you go make a movie, the Thai government will definitely welcome you. With the Thai government coming forward, these things will be a piece of cake." Li Yancheng said with a smile.

What Li Yancheng said was a bit exaggerated, but it was still close to the truth.

As long as you win a grand prize at a European film festival, some small countries welcome you to make movies.

And when the crew goes to film, it will also drive a lot of consumption.In addition, the cast and part of the staff have to be hired from the local area, adding hundreds of jobs to the local area, and the local government will naturally provide full support.

Li Yancheng's words made Yan Dong's eyes light up. He was still worried about not being able to find a venue within half a month. Li Yancheng's words reminded him that he could ask the Thai government for help.

"That's it for now, call me if you need anything."

After Wan Qingshan's instructions, Li Yancheng went to copy the script and immediately got up to work. Without China Film's help, he had a lot to do.

Even in the cold winter, I went back to pack my things and prepare to go to Thailand.

Then, Wan Qingshan suddenly thought of something. After calling Zhang Zhao, he took the copied script and shooting permit and went to Enlight Pictures.

Upon seeing Zhang Zhao, Wan Qingshan immediately said,
"Mr. Zhang, I'm sorry. I was negligent before and didn't give you a script, which made it difficult for you to choose an advertising sponsor."

Zhang Zhao took the script and said with a smile, "Director Wan, you have so many things to do every day, it's normal for you to forget when you are busy."

"Mr. Zhang, someone from China Film Group was responsible for these things before, but now that I have taken over, I forgot about them all of a sudden."

At this time, Zhang Zhao's secretary brought water. After Wan Qingshan took a sip, he asked, "Mr. Zhang, how are the sponsors doing?"

Zhang Zhao, who was about to open the script, put it aside and said with a smile,

"Director Wan, why do you need me to attract sponsors for your movie? As soon as I let it out, a bunch of companies came to you, asking for millions, and they didn't even ask for any close-ups.

I just didn’t receive your script, and I didn’t know what commercial would be suitable, so I kept putting it off. "

When Wan Qingshan thought of filming "The True Meaning of Love," the sponsorship company offered only RMB 20 at most, and a few seconds of close-ups were required.

Now it's millions, and there is no need for close-ups. Box office success is everything. No wonder Feng Xiaogang makes urban comedy movies and can recoup the cost with sponsorship fees alone.

Thinking of Feng Xiaogang, Wan Qingshan suddenly thought of something.

"Mr. Zhang, don't choose too many sponsors, just four or five. There are too many sponsor ads, and it will become an advertising movie."

After saying that, Wan Qingshan thought of another thing and continued to ask, "Also, Mr. Zhang, it is best to choose sponsors such as clothing and drinks. These two types of advertisements will not be too obtrusive when placed in the movie. .”

"Director Wan, don't worry. This movie is Enlight Pictures' first hit. I definitely hope that the movie will be of good quality. I will read the script carefully and choose an advertiser that will not affect the plot."

"Mr. Zhang, I'm relieved if you think so. I'll leave the advertising and sponsorship aspect to you."

"Director Wan, don't worry about this."

After Zhang Zhao finished speaking, he thought about what Wang Changtian said before, so he asked, "By the way, Director Wan, when will the crew start filming the first movie? I'll go help you."

Wan Qingshan was stunned for a moment and advised, "The filming will start in late April, but the crew will go to Thailand in late April. Mr. Zhang, if you don't want to go, it's better not to go. It will be a long journey."

Zhang Zhao frowned slightly, "Thailand, Director Wan, if some scenes are not convenient to shoot in China, then they can be shot in Hong Kong Island. Why go to Thailand?"

"Mr. Zhang, the movie contains plots of smuggling people and killing police officers. It's no problem to shoot these in Hong Kong Island.

But the problem is that there are still large-scale gun battles and armed fighting.

As a mainlander, I filmed a plot like this on Hong Kong Island.

At that time, if someone over-interprets it and accuses me of slandering the image of Hong Kong Island, I will not be able to explain it.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought of going to Thailand to shoot. It would be troublesome to go there. "

Zhang Zhao's face wrinkled, "Director Wan, you have thought carefully. It's not just a matter of over-interpretation, but you also have to be careful of what your peers will do.

If it doesn't do well at the box office, they won't do it.Once the box office is good, maybe some colleagues will actually pull such a dirty trick.

Once this kind of thing gets serious, the higher authorities will definitely force the movie to be released for the sake of cross-strait relations.

Director Wan, I still listen to you and go to Thailand to shoot. "

After speaking, Zhang Zhao, who calmed down a little, thought for a moment and continued,

"Director Wan, please call me when your crew goes to Thailand. It's the first movie in Ray. Even if the journey is tiring, I have to go."

Zhang Zhao insisted on going, but Wan Qingshan refused to persuade him. He nodded and said, "Mr. Zhang, it's no problem. I'll let you know when the time comes."

Then, Wan Qingshan raised his hand and looked at his watch.
"Mr. Zhang, I have to leave first. The crew has just started preparations, and I still have a lot to do."

"Director Wan, I'll see you off."

(End of this chapter)