Chapter 577

On Lu Yan He's side, *Chinese Paladin* has already officially started, and on the other side, after some communication, Liu Bige also decided to film *Dragon Inn* first.

This means that the start of *Storm Calmer No. 1*, which he is collaborating on with Lu Yan He, will have to be postponed again.

"Teacher Wen Shengming's wife is having surgery next month, and he needs to accompany her, so he doesn't want to come out to film this year," Liu Bige sighed. "I want to wait for him."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan He expressed his understanding and said: "Fine, then you film *Dragon Inn* first. I'll arrange other work for myself as well."

For an actor of Wen Shengming's level, even if he doesn't come out to film for three or five years, his status remains solid, so unlike many young actors, he doesn't have to worry about stopping his work.

Lu Yan He actually quite envied Wen Shengming.

In fact, it is said that Lu Yan He's position has already reached the super first-tier, but even Chen Ziyan wouldn't dare say that Lu Yan He could simply disappear for three to five years without it affecting his status.

This kind of national recognition and position completely requires time. Why can Wen Shengming have such confidence? Because in his generation, everyone else has already been worn down by him, and even if someone else emerges, they cannot stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

Lu Yan He is different; he is only temporarily in the lead. In the future, there will be thirty, forty, fifty years old—at every stage, there are many people who can overtake him on the bend. His status is never stable; he can only keep struggling to keep the momentum going.

This year, the film projects for which Lu Yan He serves as screenwriter that are starting production include Wang Zhong's *Raise the Red Lantern*, *Lost in Thailand* starring Jia Long and Wang Dashan, and Liu Bige's *Dragon Inn*.

As for Lu Yan He himself, he will be filming *Chinese Paladin*, Huang Tianlin's *Tropical Rainy Season*, and the second season of *Friends* at the end of the year.

It remains a busy and productive year.

Looking at the timeline, he has to take *Love Letter* to the Xitu'er International Film Festival in May, and then he has to go to Malaysia to film *Tropical Rainy Season*—the good thing is that his filming time for this movie doesn't need to be very long; he can finish his scenes in one to two weeks.

After that, it's *Chinese Paladin*.

The originally planned *You Are the Apple of My Eye* was postponed to next year because he took a liking to Wu Chi and wanted him to finish filming *Oh My Sea* first to accumulate some experience before filming *You Are the Apple of My Eye*.

Therefore, *Chinese Paladin* must be finished in the third quarter so that he can be relatively more relaxed when he goes to film the second season of *Friends* in the fourth quarter, without the time being so tight.

"The show *The Birth of an Actor* has indeed discovered quite a few actors and directors," Chen Ziyan said to Lu Yan He. "Yuehu TV and Beijiguang Video have both taken a liking to several short film directors and signed contracts with them. We didn't manage to snatch any of them; we only managed to snatch Wu Chi."

"Good directors are even scarcer than actors," Lu Yan He said bluntly. "The training cost is also higher. Using the show to have them film short films to test their ability as directors is actually the most economical way."

Chen Ziyan: "That's right. An unexpected joy of doing the show *The Birth of an Actor* is that it has unearthed many new directors."

If it weren't for this show, under normal circumstances, even for a web movie, the cost would generally start at seven figures—in other words, to test whether someone has the talent and ability to be a director, you have to use a project of at least seven figures to verify it.

Where are there so many projects for you to test—a project can have many actors, but only one director. This also means that good directors are harder to discover than good actors.

Now, "Jump Up Theater" has also become another stage for discovering directors. It is conceivable that many directors in the country who couldn't get an opportunity will now have a chance to let the industry recognize them.

Lu Yan He asked Chen Ziyan: "Is *Girl's Adventure* ready to be broadcast?"

"Yuehu TV wants to film two more films to keep in reserve. One drama a week—if we don't have a few dramas in reserve, it's easy to have a break," Chen Ziyan said.

Chen Ziyan added: "Yesterday, a media outlet even published an article saying that this way of doing things at Jump Up Theater is very likely to lower the quality of TV dramas again. A one-week filming time is destined to result in shoddy production."

"Heh." Lu Yan He curled his lip directly. "The time is short, but if the filming time isn't controlled within a week, the production cost will increase. As for what kind of results this theater can actually broadcast and whether advertisers will renew their contracts with us later, it's all still an unknown. To be honest, who doesn't want to have sufficient filming time to do a project and produce a masterpiece? It's easy to talk while standing, but it doesn't hurt your waist. Moreover, one week is something we have repeatedly verified. As long as you make a good filming plan, a two-hour-long drama episode can absolutely be filmed in one week."

What is the biggest advantage of Jump Up Theater? It's to build a brand that cultivates the audience's viewing habits, maximize the brand effect as much as possible, reduce reliance on big directors and big stars, lower production costs, and return to content being paramount.

Why control the filming time to one week? Because this way, they can control the filming costs as much as possible, so they won't fall into the current cycle of aesthetic fatigue due to high risks. They can try all kinds of themes that might not be popular in the market—at worst, the ratings for this episode will be a bit lower. They can afford to lose money, as long as the entire Jump Up Theater is profitable.

This is a production model and brand model that has never appeared before, but it is also one that truly achieves innovation, uses new people, and emphasizes content.

Like the first work, *Girl's Adventure*, where in domestic film and television dramas now can you find this kind of story about the life adventures of high school girls? High school girls in film and television dramas are basically synonymous with the four words "youth romance."

When Lu Yan He saw this story at the time, he thought of Studio Ghibli's animations, *The Cat Returns* and *Whisper of the Heart*.

He sincerely hopes that this theater can use film and television dramas to tell stories and show aspects of life that are rarely seen in the market.

Seventeen or eighteen-year-old young people don't just have the three themes of dreams, love, and rebelling against parents.

"Has Lu Yan He talked to you about this drama for Jump Up Theater?"

Zhou Ping'an asked Yan Liang while holding a script.

Yan Liang glanced at the script cover and shook his head. "He didn't tell me. He didn't manage what specifically is being filmed for Jump Up Theater either. What's wrong?"

Zhou Ping'an said: "They want to find you to film this script."

Upon hearing this, Yan Liang asked: "How is the script?"

"Not bad, I'd give it over eighty points. And it's quite innovative, telling the story of the struggle between a male intern who just started working and a difficult female leader," Zhou Ping'an said. "Usually, this kind of character relationship has more or less a bit of ambiguity and romance, but this story doesn't. It's purely about the workplace, about the process of getting along."

Upon hearing this, Yan Liang said: "Oh, I know now. I've read this novel. The novel is good, but there isn't any major dramatic conflict. It's just quite funny, and the ending is also quite warm, landing on the two people having a bit more understanding of each other."

"Yes." Zhou Ping'an nodded. "It's actually the volume of a movie, it's just that it's going to be filmed as a drama."

"I'll take a look at the script. If the script is as good as the novel, I'll take it," Yan Liang said. "This story sounds quite fresh."

"I thought this story was left for you by Lu Yan He."

"He only left the role of Tang Yu Xiaobao in *Chinese Paladin* for me; nothing else. Just pick scripts normally; if I don't like it, I'll turn it down," Yan Liang said. "This is what we agreed on long ago. In the future, more and more projects from his side will come looking for us. It's not that he is managing every project, especially Jump Up Theater, with dozens of dramas over the course of a year." Zhou Ping'an: "But if you act in this drama, for one week of filming, they only have a salary budget of 1.5 million for us."

"That's fine." Yan Liang nodded. "It's only two episodes anyway. Calculated, the salary for each episode is over 700,000, which is very high, even higher than my usual salary."

"Then when you usually film two episodes, it doesn't take a week," Zhou Ping'an said. "However, this script is indeed good, and it's a type you haven't acted in before. I'm quite optimistic about it; you can give it a try. One week of time isn't long, so you don't need to specifically move your schedule."

"Mm."

Zhou Ping'an said: "However, I want to fight for the role of this female leader for Chen Lu. Are you okay with that?"

"Chen Lu?" Yan Liang looked at Zhou Ping'an with some confusion.

"Don't you know her? A quite famous actress from twenty years ago who later retired from acting to get married and have children. She made a comeback to film a few years ago. She didn't have a very happy cooperation with her agency, so she contacted me, preparing to sign with me once her contract expires."

Upon hearing this, Yan Liang suddenly realized. "I see. That's fine."

Zhou Ping'an: "As long as you don't mind."

"If the production side already has a candidate, don't use me as a pretext. I don't accept bundled sales."

"Of course." Zhou Ping'an nodded.

Yan Liang: "There is one more thing I've been wanting to tell you."

"What is it? Go ahead."

"I don't want to film or collaborate with Meng Li. In the future, don't put the two of us in the same project."

"Fine, I won't do that either. You two are the most popular actors I manage right now, and I won't put all my eggs in one basket," Zhou Ping'an said.

Yan Liang: "You can let Meng Li bring Cheng Hai along. Cheng Hai is also getting quite a lot of attention and discussion in *The Birth of an Actor* right now. I don't mind you having another popular male actor on your hands."

This statement from Yan Liang actually means a lot of things.

Zhou Ping'an also looked at him with some surprise.

Yan Liang is far from having a rock-solid status right now. For him to express to his agent at this time that he is willing to accept him promoting Cheng Hai is actually a very incredible thing. Even the best of friends, when it comes to competition, it's a different matter; it means the allocation and tilting of resources.

When Zhou Ping'an gets a script, does he give it to Yan Liang first or to Cheng Hai first? The types of Yan Liang and Cheng Hai clash.

Yan Liang daring to say this caused quite a big impact on Zhou Ping'an.

Zhou Ping'an was silent for a long while, then nodded.

He added: "Zhang Lan seems to have some intention of hyping a CP with you. She has already sent two rounds of messages."

Yan Liang immediately frowned.

"*Flowing Light* is scheduled to be broadcast this summer, and the pre-heating has already started," Zhou Ping'an said. "I think hyping a CP with Zhang Lan is relatively negative for your image, and you aren't suited to hype CPs with people anyway."

Yan Liang nodded. "I think so too. Stop it quickly."

"She is currently stimulated by the momentum of Jiang Yuqian and has lost her footing," Zhou Ping'an said. "If the third season of *Friends* she participated in last year hadn't flopped like that, she wouldn't be this anxious. But after the third season flopped, she hasn't had any new dramas since, her popularity has continued to decline, and her public reputation has taken a bit of a hit, so naturally, she's anxious."

Yan Liang: "Will it affect *Flowing Light*?"

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"It hasn't reached that point; it won't," Zhou Ping'an shook his head. "She still has her base. For a female star like her who once reached the position of a top-tier traffic star, as long as she keeps herself together and doesn't mess up, it's not hard for her status to recover. She doesn't want to be compared to Jiang Yuqian at all right now. If I were her agent, why avoid Jiang Yuqian at this time? The more popular Jiang Yuqian is, and the more popular her development is, the more it's because of being tied together. In any era, the top-tier group of stars must have all fought their way up together. Being a star is an industry where a single tree cannot make a forest."

If Lu Yan He had heard this sentence from Zhou Ping'an, he would definitely agree.

At least in the space-time he came from, it was like this. The top-tier groups of people—the Four Heavenly Kings, the Four Dan Actresses, the '85 traffic actresses—these groups of the most influential and well-known fighting star groups, regardless of how they and their fan groups clarify their relationship with others, saying things like "we are no longer on the same level," in fact, when viewed from a more macroscopic perspective of the era, they represent a stage of the entertainment industry.

They fight and compete with each other, seemingly never meeting, but in reality, it is this situation that has created a scenario where no matter how popular or excellent others are, it is difficult for them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with this group. If you win Best Actress or Best Actor, as long as you haven't squeezed into this fighting circle, in the category of stars, you are still a bit inferior.

Zhou Ping'an understands this principle well.

So, Jiang Yuqian is a global sensation, and at this time, you, Zhang Lan, feel that you have been compared and don't want to be dragged out to be compared with her?

This is a wasted opportunity.

At this time, it is the best time for Zhang Lan to market her own status—

Not just anyone can be Jiang Yuqian's opponent and competitor.

But the fighting between her, Zhang Lan, and Jiang Yuqian has indeed lasted for many years.

The more popular Jiang Yuqian is and the higher her status, the more it means she also has the same status.

The last drama flopped, and there haven't been any other dramas broadcast since? Has her status declined?

Zhou Ping'an would only say: Heh.

If star artists all had to rely on dramas being broadcast well to become popular, this would have long been the world of acting powerhouses.