Chapter 432: Success, Boating on the River

This lesson left Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi both in awe.

The two of them prided themselves on being eloquent, but compared to Chen Ziyan, their little skills were like children playing house.

Chen Ziyan, in a few quick strokes, without any effort, kept the person there and started chatting until she convinced her.

Chen Ziyan said to the two stunned people: "You should leave first. With you here, I feel she might not be able to relax."

"Ah?" Lu Yan He asked, "Why can't she relax with us here?"

He thought to himself, they were still so young.

What was there for Zhang's mother not to relax about?

"Zhang Ruozhi's family situation is a bit special. In front of you, she might not dare to let down her guard. After all, you are stars and public figures. Not many ordinary people can be relaxed when they see public figures," Chen Ziyan said, "You probably don't know yet that Zhang Ruozhi's father passed away when she was young, and Zhang Ruozhi was raised by her mother alone. How much bitterness a woman has to go through to raise a child independently is something you cannot understand. With you here, she will definitely be tense, not letting herself reveal any emotions other than strength."

Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi both opened their mouths, wanting to say something but stopping.

This was truly something they didn't know before.

However, they certainly believed in Chen Ziyan's judgment.

So, they left.

Chen Ziyan stayed in the coffee shop alone, waiting for Zhang's mother to return.

Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi left the coffee shop and walked out, taking the opposite direction to avoid running into Zhang's mother.

"Zhang Ruozhi's mother appearing suddenly just now really gave me a fright," Chen Siqi said.

Lu Yan He nodded, "I was also given a fright."

Chen Siqi: "Do you think Sister Ziyan can persuade her mother?"

"I don't know, but if Sister Ziyan can't persuade her, we definitely have no way," Lu Yan He sighed.

"This is also your own fault; who told you to take a fancy to a high school girl."

"Why does this sound so strange?"

"You are thinking crookedly, aren't you? Where did you think?" Chen Siqi shot a glare at him.

Lu Yan He felt wronged: "Didn't you say this?"

"I said it, that's true, but aren't you the one thinking crookedly?" Chen Siqi said righteously.

Lu Yan He decided to give up arguing with Chen Siqi and honestly admitted his mistake and apologized.

"I misinterpreted it."

Chen Siqi hummed softly.

They didn't have any destination, so they wandered aimlessly.

Chen Siqi asked: "For the movie *Love Letter*, you invited so many friends to help; you didn't make them help for nothing, did you?"

"Of course not, everyone was given remuneration," Lu Yan He said, "The contracts were all signed, and the down payments were all made."

Although it was helping, what should be given to others still had to be given.

It wasn't like they were really so poor that they couldn't afford to pay. Lu Yan He couldn't do such a wicked thing as taking advantage of people for free when he could clearly pay remuneration.

"For the movie *Love Letter*, how much box office do you expect to get?"

"I don't dare to predict," Lu Yan He said, "Our domestic movie box office has no rules to follow. I can only set a bottom line for myself, the minimum it cannot be lower than, and then look at how much money to spend on producing this movie. I can't take the risk of losing money."

"Then what is the bottom line you set for *Love Letter*?"

"With Sister Bige and me starring, it shouldn't be lower than 50 million, right? That's what I think, and there's no basis for it, it's purely a feeling," Lu Yan He said, "So, the production budget I set for this movie cannot exceed 20 million at most."

"How much is it expected to cost now?"

"I am the lead actor and screenwriter, taking a salary of 1 million, and everything else is a share. Sister Bige takes 2 million, and then takes a box office share," Lu Yan He said, "The two of us suppressed our own salaries, so the production budget is a bit more abundant. Counting the entire production team of Luo Dao, Liu Bige, and Sister Zixing, the labor costs are about 8 million. Then counting the logistics such as venue, set construction, transportation, accommodation, etc., all in all, Sister Zixing calculated a number, saying that filming this movie will cost at least 15 million."

"That's not a small amount either," Chen Siqi said.

"Um, it's mainly photography, lighting, costumes, makeup, and props. I don't want to save money in these aspects. Through the connections and resources of Luo Dao and Liu Bige, we invited a top-tier team in the industry, so it costs a lot of money," Lu Yan He sighed, "Filming a movie is really quite expensive."

"But think about it, with the status of you and Chen Bige, even if *Love Letter* is not a commercial film and cannot reach your market price, it should at least have a salary of several million, not just what it is now. It has already saved a lot," Chen Siqi said, "According to this production cost, counting the subsequent promotion and distribution expenses, the pressure for *Love Letter* to break even is not very high."

"Um, because the investment for this movie is basically the money from myself and a few people around me, I don't want to take risks," Lu Yan He said, "Including Sister Bige, the 2 million salary, not a single cent went into her pocket; it was all given to me to make this movie."

"Actually, I think if the movie *Love Letter* can resonate, the box office shouldn't be low."

"Is that so?"

"Yes," Chen Siqi nodded, "You have to know, especially for female audiences, almost every girl's heart, in her youth, must have had, or fantasized about, such a boy."

Lu Yan He laughed.

He was someone who had truly experienced how much resonance the movie *Love Letter* had caused. After being released for twenty or thirty years, it was still a classic in the hearts of the audience. One could imagine how powerful it was as a movie about unrequited love and regret.

"I hope so, that's why we are in a hurry to start filming, so we can catch up for release on Valentine's Day next year."

"Do you plan to send this movie to a film festival?"

"Send it to a film festival? I don't even know how to send it," Lu Yan He said.

A drawback appeared immediately.

The production lineup of this movie was all Lu Yan He and the people around him; there was no formal company doing it. How to land in theaters and how to do promotion later were still unknown.

Chen Siqi thought for a while, "Since Sister Ziyan is the producer, she must have considered it clearly long ago."

Lu Yan He nodded.

Chen Siqi said: "Perhaps when you have filmed this movie almost to the end, she will start looking for a distributor."

Movie production and distribution are often not the same thing. Of course, in China, they are basically one. In fact, there are many movies filmed by small companies. After filming, big companies will come to watch the movie. If they like it, they will go to buy the distribution rights. Many movies go to film festivals to compete and exhibit, and finding buyers is also one of the important purposes.

Often, movies don't start making money only when they are released. Some movies have product placement during filming, and advertisers have to pay a sum of money first. Some movies have their distribution rights sold halfway through filming, which can also make a sum of money. Even some movies, as soon as they are launched, the stock prices of related companies rise, and the highly favored market even allows movie companies to make more money in the stock market than the movie eventually makes.

Besides these basic, widespread ones, there are more capital gameplays.

Lu Yan He's *Love Letter* certainly didn't play these. He was just honestly filming a movie.

"Actually, I'll tell you the truth," Lu Yan He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, "Although I told you that my bottom-line box office in my heart is 50 million, the number I really hope it reaches is 200 to 300 million, and I also believe it has the ability to get that box office."

You have to know, he thought of the movie *Love Letter* precisely to film a movie with a good box office.

One *Love Letter*, one *You Are the Apple of My Eye*, movie quality is one aspect, but box office was also what Lu Yan He was most concerned about when he chose these two plays at the time.

Chen Siqi: "It will. I will also help you design a set of promotional plans, striving to achieve this goal in the first weekend of release."

Chen Siqi was really not talking big.

It was just that the current movie market really presented this appearance.

Movies that sell well have a first-weekend box office of 100 or 200 million or even higher as soon as they come out.

Those that don't sell well take a month to break 100 million, and that still shows that the movie is being watched by people.

The market box office is not at all in the shape of a pyramid.

Either get a very beautiful box office number, or flop miserably.

Movies with a box office in the range of 200 to 400 million are very, very few.

Chen Siqi said: "The short film plan you proposed before, we are also going to launch it immediately."

"Short film plan?"

"It is to hold a competition, inviting people who aspire to be directors to pick stories from our *Jump Up* IP library, film a ten-minute segment, and PK. The winners can get the production budget we provide and film it into a complete feature film," Chen Siqi said.

Lu Yan He remembered.

Chen Siqi: "We have negotiated with Beijiguang Video and Bingyuan Video to do this competition together."

Lu Yan He asked in surprise: "Are they willing to join in?"

"Um, and they will provide sponsorship," Chen Siqi said, "They believe that this competition, as well as the short videos filmed by these contestants, can also bring attention and traffic to their platforms."

"This is definitely the case," Lu Yan He nodded.

Chen Siqi said: "And, the key is, aren't we planning to provide production budgets for the top three to help them film feature films? The sponsorship funds from Beijiguang Video and Bingyuan Video are for these three people, but the condition is that these three feature films must eventually be launched on their two video platforms, and they will settle accounts with us and the production side according to the revenue-sharing model."

Lu Yan He said: "This is quite good."

"Um, it is quite good," Chen Siqi said, "Do you plan to sign these directors?"

"Sign these directors?" Lu Yan He was a bit surprised.

Chen Siqi said: "When we were preparing for this, we suddenly realized that if we could discover some very talented directors, it would be a pity if we didn't sign them."

"But, if you want to sign them, you have to have the resources to help them film the movies they want to film, right?" Lu Yan He said, "Where do I have such strength now?"

Chen Siqi said: "Filming a movie doesn't mean you have to pay for it all yourself. We go to help them find investors, which is more reliable than them finding investors themselves, and we also have channels."

Lu Yan He couldn't laugh or cry; it seemed that no matter what problem it was, in Chen Siqi's eyes, it was definitely solvable.

"This matter is a bit big, I really don't have the confidence. I think I have to discuss it with Sister Ziyan," Lu Yan He said.

"If you don't sign them, I will sign them," Chen Siqi said, as if she had made up her mind to do so, "If we have a few directors who can stably adapt some of the novels on our *Jump Up* into movies and TV shows and push them out continuously, our Jump Up Theater can be directly built up."

Lu Yan He had forgotten that his girlfriend was someone with a stronger career ambition than him.

Say it and do it, never afraid.

Lu Yan He had no reason to say a word of 'no'.

At 4:00 PM, Chen Ziyan contacted them, saying she had settled Zhang's mother, and Zhang Ruozhi would join the crew during this year's summer and winter vacations to film this movie.

Lu Yan He heaved a long sigh of relief and said to Chen Siqi: "Look, I said for this kind of thing, it is still better to invite professionals to come out."

They met at a river fish restaurant by the river.

Chen Siqi curiously asked Chen Ziyan how she settled Zhang's mother.

Chen Ziyan said: "Figure out why she doesn't want Zhang Ruozhi to act in a movie, and then solve this matter."

It sounded very simple.

Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi looked at each other and smiled at each other.

Chen Ziyan said: "Actually, it's very simple. Zhang Ruozhi's mother wants her to focus on the college entrance exam, just to let her daughter have a stable future. She has always felt that she suffered from not studying, and she doesn't want her daughter to be the same as her. I made it very clear that I am willing to sign Zhang Ruozhi, and before the college entrance exam, Zhang Ruozhi will only film this one movie; I will help her refuse any other things. If Zhang Ruozhi's grades decline after filming the movie and her performance in the college entrance exam is not ideal, we will help Zhang Ruozhi contact a high school in Jiangguang, let her go to a high school in Jiangguang to repeat a year, and let her get better educational resources."

"Just like this?" Chen Siqi was a bit incredulous, feeling that this was too simple and plain?

Chen Ziyan said with a smile: "You guys don't know what a mother is thinking in her heart. You don't think about it, an opportunity to act in a movie with Lu Yan He, and to be the lead actress, unless it is a parent who deeply hates the entertainment industry, no parent would firmly say 'no' to such an opportunity. Especially, Zhang Ruozhi's mother is a mother who very much hopes her daughter will live well. She is not afraid of her daughter being an actor and acting, but is afraid that the acting won't be done well, the path of an actor won't work out, and the good university she could see she could get into will also be lost."

Lu Yan He suddenly understood and nodded.

Chen Ziyan was actually giving Zhang's mother a bottom-line choice.

If Zhang Ruozhi could both act and get into a good university, Zhang's mother would absolutely be willing.

Chen Ziyan was just giving Zhang's mother such a choice.

Chen Ziyan rushed over, dusty and tired, and negotiated this matter.

She didn't rush to leave, but waited for her assistant to fly over with the contract the next day, to nail down the matter in black and white with Zhang Ruozhi's mother.

Thus, that night, Chen Ziyan was also rarely able to relax and go boating on the river in Hezhou with Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi.

"This place is truly beautiful, it's just too hard to come here once," Chen Ziyan lay in the canopy of the small boat, only her upper body exposed under the starry sky, with the sound of water in her ears, "It's rare to still be able to feel this kind of rowing boat, instead of a motorized imitation antique boat."

Lu Yan He said: "If this place were easy to come to, it wouldn't be as beautiful as a paradise."

"That's true."

Chen Siqi and Lu Yan He leaned against each other, sitting at the bow of the boat.

The bustling streets on both sides of the river, sometimes far away, were hidden by trees, quiet and deep, and sometimes noisy, with chaotic light and shadow.

No matter what the situation was on the shore, they on the boat were always snuggling quietly like this.

Chen Ziyan watched the picture of the two of them snuggling together, a layer of gentle light rising in her eyes, intersecting with the moonlight crushed on the water surface.

Naturally, in this leisurely night, with water mist covering their faces, no one knew, and there was no need for anyone to know. ===== CHAPTER 433 =====