Chapter 560

After about an entire morning, nearing noon, the two sides finally clarified some previously controversial points and reached a resolution.

Throughout the entire process, Lu Yan He and Chen Ziyan were both present, as was Hong Qi, specifically so that if any issues arose, they could communicate on the spot and reach a consensus.

Once the contract time was up, Lu Yan He's management contract with Star Entertainment would automatically dissolve.

Chen Ziyan had also scheduled a lunch with someone else, a work meeting.

Lu Yan He wouldn't be joining her. He had no time in the afternoon and planned to go to the "Jump Up" company in the Lingyang District to see Chen Siqi.

He waited in the company's garden café for Zou Dong to drive over. He used to come here often, but he hadn't been in a while; the staff at the bar counter had all changed, and he didn't recognize any of them.

The company had a rule: no matter which celebrity visited, no one was allowed to take photos, nor could they approach to disturb them for autographs or group photos. Although some people still snuck photos, at least on the surface, no one dared to violate this rule. Once violated, the penalty was a bonus deduction at the very least, and for serious consequences, immediate termination.

Therefore, Lu Yan He felt quite at ease drinking coffee in the small garden, picking up a magazine they provided to flip through, which even contained a recent interview with Huang Kai.

Lu Yan He saw that Huang Kai mentioned his feelings about filming the show "My Own Swordsman" in the interview.

"This role was beyond my comfort zone. I didn't need to do as much preparation for playing the Twelfth Young Master in 'Rouge' as I did for this show, because it has an overall 'My Own Swordsman' style. I had to amplify the parts of myself that were similar to this style and hide the parts that were incompatible with the show's style, so it really required a lot of effort."

Huang Kai mentioned: "For this show, before almost every scene was officially filmed, we had to rehearse two or three times. Although it might look like a very relaxed sitcom, if you actually ponder the lines, the tone and rhythm of each actor's speech, you will find that each of us designed a specific speaking style for this show and this character, which is different from our own usual speaking rhythm. This really tests our foundation—I even had a period where I lacked confidence to the point that I needed to specifically hire an acting teacher to join the crew to help me with my lines."

Lu Yan He felt very moved after seeing this interview with Huang Kai.

In the past, when he wrote scripts like "My Own Swordsman," he always worried that a highly stylized script might not achieve the same effect as the original if it were copied and performed by a different group of actors.

In reality, as long as you are working with good actors, good actors with ideas, even if you change the group of actors, they will not let the role down. Good shows always give the audience a filter, making them feel that if the actors are changed, it won't have that same flavor. In reality, the actors themselves know that there is no role that is indispensable to them.

All classics considered irreplaceable are only because that classic has already performed an extreme that is hard to surpass within its scope—forming a classic memory.

But if there is no such classic memory, no such filter bonus, can other actors not shape this role?

That is not the case.

Lu Yan He once again firmed up his own thoughts.

No matter what kind of show it is, one must cooperate with capable and talented people. Because they are not there to subtract from you, they are there to add to you.

Fortunately, he had met many excellent people; only with these people together could his "success miracle" continue time and time again.

Lu Yan He photographed the interview page, sent it to Huang Kai, and messaged him: Saw this interview of yours.

Huang Kai replied: We are all still at the filming site.

"My Own Swordsman" had not wrapped up yet; they were still filming.

They were going to film all of "My Own Swordsman" in one go.

Lu Yan He: Is everything going smoothly?

Huang Kai: Quite smoothly. The popularity of "Friends" makes us all look forward to whether the second and third seasons can be even more popular than the first.

Lu Yan He: They will be.

"My Own Swordsman" already had the foundation of the first season, so the following two seasons would definitely only be more popular.

A show broadcast in seasons is not just a matter of effectively controlling production costs and reducing risks, but it can also lengthen the show's flowering period.

A show is always most popular before it ends.

Because everyone has expectations for an unknown ending.

Every year, new viewers join in, looking forward to this final ending together.

"May I sit?" a voice suddenly sounded beside Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He looked up and saw someone who surprised him a little.

Fu Li.

This female celebrity, with whom he had never truly interacted but had heard of and seen long ago, was standing beside his table with a smile, looking at him with an inquiring gaze.

Lu Yan He hesitated and nodded.

Fu Li sat down and said with a smile: "Thank you for letting me sit down, otherwise I would have had to lose face in front of many people."

In the small garden, there were others drinking coffee.

As Fu Li sat down at Lu Yan He's table, this table, which was already being curiously scrutinized by many, was now gathering gazes from all directions.

Lu Yan He asked: "Is there anything you want to say to me?"

"Yes." Fu Li nodded, a look of seriousness and determination appearing in her eyes, "I previously auditioned for the show 'The Birth of an Actor,' but in the end, I was cut. I heard it was because of some things I was slandered for before."

Lu Yan He knew about this.

He said: "The specific matters are not managed by me."

"But you can make them change their minds." Fu Li said, "Yan He, I really need this opportunity. I have already delayed for a long time. A female actor's best years are just these few. I don't want to be eliminated by this industry before I've even been popular."

Lu Yan He did not expect Fu Li to be so direct with him about these things.

"Your agent is Zhou Ping'an; as long as he is willing, he can make you popular at any time." Lu Yan He said.

"If he could make me popular, he would have done so long ago." Fu Li gently bit her lip, revealing a pitiful look, "Besides, he has now signed Meng Li; how could he still care about me."

Lu Yan He: "Fu Li, it's not that I don't want to help you, but every project I do determines candidates strictly according to auditions and interviews. I cannot change everyone's decision because of my personal opinion."

"If it were because I wasn't suitable for this show, that would be fine, but I was rejected because of an unfounded charge." Fu Li said aggrievedly, "I know that I have now been added to the list of tainted artists by many people, just because someone slandered me a while ago, saying that I bullied others in school, but it was later clarified that it wasn't like that at all. It was... it was Zhang Lan who didn't want me to play the second female lead in 'Flowing Light,' so she deliberately fabricated such news to get me out."

This surprised Lu Yan He quite a bit.

So Fu Li knew everything.

"I hope to get a fair chance to compete." Fu Li said.

At this moment, Fu Li was not acting; this was her true emotional outpouring.

She had done such things in the past, but so what? In this world, who hasn't hurt others? Why did this matter become so serious when it came to her? Could it be that those big, popular stars have no unspeakable secrets?

No, it's just that they are popular, so someone helped them cover it up.

Why should her acting career be cut short before she has even become popular?

Why should she go act in web movies with an image like this?!

Fu Li was not reconciled.

She knew that as long as Lu Yan He's attitude softened, her opportunity would come.

At this moment, Fu Li looked at Lu Yan He, who was handsome and thinking silently in front of her, and another thought suddenly sprouted in her heart.

If only Lu Yan He were her boyfriend.

If Lu Yan He were her boyfriend, she wouldn't need to beg for help so miserably for a chance to be on a show.

Fu Li had known since she was a child that she was a very beautiful girl. In the past years, there had never been a lack of men indicating and hinting at things to her. However, Fu Li never thought she needed them. She knew very early on that her beauty was her best card and could not be played casually. Cards that could be played casually were all cheap and would be looked down upon by others.

But if it were Lu Yan He, Fu Li thought it was worth it.

Fu Li's gaze fell on Lu Yan He, and her gaze changed slightly at this instant.

Lu Yan He noticed it almost at that very moment.

As an actor, his keenness meant that Lu Yan He rarely missed subtle changes.

It was just that sometimes he wasn't sure what this subtle change represented.

But in the change in Fu Li's eyes just now, Lu Yan He clearly felt an intuition—

He seemed to have been targeted.

Lu Yan He looked at Fu Li suspiciously, not knowing what she was planning.

"I can't help with this favor." Lu Yan He said bluntly, "Although I would like to help you, I cannot affect fairness. Currently, all candidates for 'The Birth of an Actor' have been determined. If I help you at this time, it means another person will have to leave."

Fu Li sighed and revealed a disappointed expression.

"Alright then."

? cO

After that thought popped up just now, Fu Li no longer had that obsession with "The Birth of an Actor."

If she couldn't get on, she couldn't get on.

If she could really take Lu Yan He down, what would she care about "The Birth of an Actor."

At this time, Zou Dong messaged Lu Yan He, saying he had arrived downstairs.

Lu Yan He: "I have to go."

Fu Li took the initiative to ask: "Can I add you as a friend?"

She tried hard to make herself smile innocently, "I hope that if there are roles suitable for me in the future, you can consider me, no matter how small the role."

Because they were both artists and had met several times at Star Entertainment, Lu Yan He took out his phone and added Fu Li as a friend.

At this moment, the thought in Fu Li's heart was: The first step has been taken.

When Lu Yan He arrived in Lingyang District, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

Chen Siqi and the others were on their lunch break.

Lu Yan He went with Zou Dong to find a hot pot restaurant nearby to eat something and fill their stomachs.

The snow was falling heavily, and Lingyang District was not like the city center; it was sparsely populated.

Looking out from inside the hot pot restaurant, apart from a few buildings, most of it was natural environment, covered in snow, silver-clad, looking somewhat desolate and cold.

However, the headquarters of "Jump Up" was set up very beautifully.

Entering from the gate, there was a small courtyard. In spring and summer, flowers and plants decorated the whole courtyard, making it look like a small garden. Everyone could come out from their workstations and find a place in the courtyard to work.

In winter, this small courtyard was equally pure and clean.

There was a temperature-controlled glass house—this was a place Chen Siqi and the others insisted on building.

Everyone said that working at "Jump Up" required a place where everyone could escape their workstations.

They all accepted the fact that "work makes people unhappy." Therefore, they created conditions as much as possible to make everyone relatively happier. Of course, in reality, working at "Jump Up" was definitely happy most of the time—

Especially those working at the headquarters, most of whom were editors responsible for content. Only their work nature required a fixed office location. Whether it was magazines, new media, or other platform content managers, their main work every day was to get the content they wanted.

Doing this job, the salary definitely couldn't compare to other positions—whether it was film marketing or market marketing, the bonuses were much higher than those for content editors.

Therefore, people who generally came to do this work were those who were interested in the work content itself.

Lu Yan He had been here several times and was deeply impressed by the working atmosphere here—he even somewhat yearned for the working atmosphere here.

Sure enough, when he passed the large cubicle area of the editorial room from the corridor, he saw everyone staying in their own little nests again, reading books, magazines, looking at computers... Although Lu Yan He knew their work content was definitely not as relaxed as it looked, this scene made Lu Yan He yearn for it.

Perhaps because he always needed to travel frequently between various places, it made him inexplicably envious of this kind of work where one could sit in one place without moving.

"Then I'll prepare a studio for you here? If you want a studio with a good environment when writing scripts, just come here to write." Chen Siqi said with a smile.

Lu Yan He said that if he were to write scripts here, his train of thought would definitely be smoother.

"Forget it, coming here and back takes almost three hours." Lu Yan He shook his head, "Don't you get tired driving back and forth every day?"

Chen Siqi said: "I don't commute every day either. I basically only stay here two to three days a week to concentrate on handling related matters. Most of the time, I am still in the city, living at Ziyuan Bridge. There are also dormitories here; if it's too late, I will sleep here too."

Lu Yan He: "This place is actually quite suitable for a vacation."

"Yes." Chen Siqi nodded, "Before, Mingyin also came to stay for a period of time. She was finishing a novel on hand and needed a place to concentrate and be isolated, so she came to us."

"Is it the novel she finished serializing at 'Jump Up' before?" Lu Yan He asked.

"Not that one, it's another one." Chen Siqi said, "It's about to start a new serialization on 'Jump Up.' The previously serialized 'Shadow Dancer' has already gone to the printing factory and will be on the market soon. Yuehu Station also bought the TV drama adaptation rights for this novel and is preparing to adapt it into a TV drama."

After Yuehu Station started cooperating with Lu Yan He and "Jump Up," they developed deep cooperation in many aspects.

Like this "Shadow Dancer" written by Mingyin, Yuehu Station came to negotiate the purchase of film and television rights while the novel was still in the serialization period.

Lu Yan He nodded.

Lu Yan He had been following the serialization of this novel.

Compared to the style and themes of novels Mingyin created before, there were some changes. This novel told a story of workplace elites with suspenseful colors, starting with an accidental death, and told the survival struggle within a foreign trade enterprise.

Because it was somewhat different from the themes Mingyin created before, the novel received some controversy when it was serialized.

However, Lu Yan He quite liked this novel.

Chen Siqi said: "We also negotiated an agreement with Yuehu Station. They will develop a short story adaptation plan column with us, where Yuehu Station will select some stories from our story library to shoot into high-quality short dramas."

Chen Siqi had always wanted to adapt short stories published by "Jump Up" into film and television dramas—to create a "Jump Up Theater."

The previous "Green Onion Plan" was actually a product of this theater, but it didn't succeed.

As a first-tier major station, Yuehu Station had sufficient production talent reserves. "Jump Up" being able to reach such a cooperation agreement with them now to create a "Jump Up Theater" completely made up for the shortcomings of "Jump Up."

Lu Yan He looked at the cooperation plan they reached before in Chen Siqi's office.

Yuehu Station planned to make "Jump Up Theater" into a short drama mode.

Because they were all adapted from short stories, it was basically the volume of a movie. It would be broadcast between 7:30 PM and 10:30 PM every Sunday.

In the past, this Sunday night slot was used to broadcast variety shows. However, with the impact of video websites, the ratings of this golden slot for variety shows gradually became lower, and many variety shows broadcast in the Sunday slot were cut short because of this.

Yuehu Station set it at this time point because they wanted to create a viewing habit: on the last night before work, watch a film, see the ending of the story directly, and then sleep peacefully, without having to experience the torment of chasing updates, nor worry about the number of episodes being too long and being unable to resist staying up late to watch.

"Jump Up Theater" was divided into three themes: "Youth," "Suspense," and "Workplace," according to the main themes of novels published by "Jump Up" at present.

This kind of theater mode had never appeared on any TV station before. Video websites had launched some XX Theaters in recent years, but they were just crowned with a name, and there was no real connection between them.

"Jump Up Theater" was truly building a brand.

Lu Yan He was very surprised after reading the plan.

The thing Chen Siqi had always wanted to do was really going to be done by her.

"Current dramas are all building high-quality products to achieve movie texture." Chen Siqi said, "However, most of the content provided by our theater will definitely not pursue that quality."

Lu Yan He said: "One show a week, this volume is still quite large. Can this production scale handle it?"

"We decided to adopt the production mode of your 'Friends'." Chen Siqi said, "Each show has about a week of filming time. We won't choose shows with particularly high filming difficulty, nor do we need stories that require special effects post-production. Yuehu Station's production talent reserve is still very large. I heard they have already contacted four or five filming teams for this theater."

"One show takes about a week to film..." Lu Yan He thought for a while and said: "What about the actors?"

"Each film will invite one or two stars to play one of the main roles." Chen Siqi said, "However, the filming mode of this theater is different from the conventional situation in the market. We are not doing it in the conventional filming mode. We don't know what the broadcast effect will be, so we can only try it first."

"Has the web broadcast platform been determined?"

"Northern Lights Video will broadcast it." Chen Siqi said, "They are very interested in this theater. Being able to launch a new film every week is like a web movie for them. However, the production quality is definitely better than web movies, and it has the popularity of the original work and the attention brought by different stars."

Unlike traditional TV stations, video websites now have their own basic traffic. In addition, they also value online topicality very much. Especially now that video websites are increasingly dependent on member acquisition, constantly having new content on the shelves is a crucial point. For Northern Lights Video, the launch frequency of one show a week like "Jump Up Theater" can be said to perfectly fit their needs.

"Once this theater is launched, it is estimated that it will cause a big upheaval in the circle." Lu Yan He said with a smile, "There are 52 weeks in a year, which means 52 films need to be shot in a year. How many production staff are needed for 52 films, and how many actors are needed? If it can really be done, I can't imagine how much impact such a big cake will have."

This is equivalent to increasing the production of more than fifty shows a year on the existing basis.

What can be foreseen now is that the demand for production talent and actors will increase a lot.

Chen Siqi said: "Yuehu Station also said that if any film has a good response and the audience likes it, they can continue to develop sequels, or even make long dramas."

Lu Yan He: "Isn't this similar to what they do in the United States with pilots?"

In the United States, for many projects, before official filming, a budget will be allocated first to shoot a pilot episode, throw it into the market, see the response, and if the response is good and the data is good, then the green light will be given to officially start filming.

This is also a way to reduce risk.

Chen Siqi: "Yes, but unlike the pilot method there, even if there is no sequel here, it is still a very complete story."

Lu Yan He: "This move is too big. So, have any scripts come out yet?"

"Yuehu Station has initially selected eight novels to adapt into scripts." Chen Siqi said, "They have found screenwriters to do it, but they haven't been adapted yet."

"Actually, it's better to combine it with 'The Birth of an Actor'." Lu Yan He suddenly thought of this and said: "Anyway, the show 'The Birth of an Actor' is also broadcast on Yuehu Station and Northern Lights Video. The actors who come out of this show can let them act in these stories."

Chen Siqi: "I have the same idea as you. As long as there are suitable roles, actors who come out of 'The Birth of an Actor' can be found to act, and they can also advertise for Jump Up Theater on this show."

"One show has to be shot in a week, even if it's just the length of a movie, the difficulty is still quite high. In this case, we must find a group of actors who know how to act, and we can't waste time on the set." Lu Yan He said, "If Jump Up Theater can really be done, it will also be a good thing for the entertainment industry. How many directors, screenwriters, and actors can be cultivated."

"Yes." Chen Siqi nodded, "The general environment is not very good now, and everyone is engaged in cost reduction and efficiency improvement. If this kind of method, which focuses on telling a good story and not adding water, succeeds, it will definitely promote some changes in the entire industry."

Just like in the past few years, there are basically no long dramas with more than forty episodes in China anymore.

Even major platforms are specifically making a batch of high-quality short dramas, just wanting to replicate the success of "The Gold Rush," "Seventeen Layers," "Silent River," and "Friends."

They also found that for large-volume dramas with dozens of episodes, once the results are not good, they are really smashed in their hands.

In the era of TV stations in the past, long dramas could retain the audience and retain ratings.

In this era, the audience is no longer willing to watch long dramas.

Various platforms also need more content and more fresh content to attract the public's attention and grab traffic.

The way of playing is different.

From "Golden Age" and "Phoenix Station" to "Silent River" and "Seventeen Layers," Lu Yan He just caught up with a stage where the industry is developing from long dramas to short dramas.

Lu Yan He is even an important promoter of this change.

If it weren't for the blockbuster success brought by his many short dramas, it wouldn't have made the industry suddenly firmly believe that the short drama path is feasible.

Now, Jump Up Theater is even more exaggerated.

It started making TV movies directly.

Of course, they don't call this a TV movie, it's still a TV drama, but this TV drama only has two or three episodes and will be finished in one night.

Lu Yan He really wants to see what kind of impact such a fresh way of playing can bring to the industry.

Lu Yan He said: "If there is a script suitable for me, you can also find me."

"Yes." Chen Siqi nodded, "I will. Although not every show can be made into a high-quality big drama, time and budget do not allow it, but we will launch one or two benchmark works at key time nodes to build momentum for our Jump Up Theater."

After hearing this plan, the fatigue Lu Yan He had from working around the clock suddenly disappeared.

He himself was also like he had been injected with chicken blood, and he began to rub his hands.

Everyone is running forward, and no one is stopping.

He is the same.

How can he stop.