Chapter 767

Lu Yan He didn't know how much of a workload this would cause for Lucy Bates's styling team, but even so, Lu Yan He would not lower his requirements in this regard.

The image of a character is too important.

This goes without saying.

And regarding the opinions put forward by Lu Yan He and the agreement of Lucy Bates's team, Ignaz Bell had no objections.

He actually had an attitude of being happy to see it happen, stating that if there wasn't enough time, Lu Yan He's scenes could be filmed later.

Lu Yan He did not want to become the excuse for this director to "go over budget."

Him understanding it himself is one thing, but becoming the excuse for a director to "go over budget" is another.

When the time comes, a huge pot falls from the sky; even if it were him, he would be hit until he saw stars.

He immediately went to communicate with Lucy Bates and asked her how long she would need; if she was short-handed or didn't have good ideas, he could invite some Chinese stylists to help.

As a result, Lucy Bates said solemnly: "This is my job, Lu, do you not trust me?"

Lu Yan He actually knew that if he said this, he would definitely be rejected by the other party. Anyone—especially technical talents who have reached the top position in the industry like Lucy Bates—would not allow their work area to be encroached upon by others in the name of "helping."

Hearing this sentence from Lucy Bates was enough for him.

Before this, Lu Yan He still found a time to go and communicate his understanding of this character to Ignaz.

Ignaz, however, said: "I don't really want to know these specific details, Lu. I am only responsible for preparing all the settings on set. I need to see what form your character will appear in on set; I don't like to imagine an actor's performance."

At this moment, Lu Yan He was truly as surprised as one could be.

Having worked with so many directors, he was the first director who didn't want to understand the actor's specific thoughts and designs before official filming.

Lu Yan He suddenly realized a bit why Ignaz's previous projects frequently went over budget.

Lu Yan He went to ask Darren Wilson about it.

He didn't know until he asked, and once he asked... it was truly a shock.

The thing Ignaz Bell likes to do most is to discuss an actor's performance on set, and then "hand-in-hand" guide the actor on what adjustments to make.

He even likes to go on set himself, act it out for the actor, and tell the actor what kind of performance he wants.

Lu Yan He asked: "Does he do this for those actors who are very good at acting too?"

"Yes." Darren Wilson nodded, "Yes, so he actually doesn't have a very good relationship with many big-name actors he has worked with."

Lu Yan He could imagine it.

Although it is said that big-name actors often have their own tempers, there really aren't many who don't have solid professional skills to become big-name actors in Hollywood. It can only be said that some big-name actors are not famous for their "acting skills," but it can never be said that their acting skills are bad, for example, the famous Marilyn Monroe, for example, Leonardo DiCaprio.

How would such actors allow themselves to be "hand-in-hand" guided on set?

The more excellent the actor, the more they demand freedom.

Lu Yan He actually has a bit of this thought now, more or less. He also doesn't want to be a robot-like actor. During the phase of filming "The Golden Age", he had just entered the industry and was full of self-doubt, so he often hoped that the director would give clear and explicit guidance.

Later, as he went further and further on the path of an actor, had his own accumulation, and had his own ideas, he didn't like directors who treated him like a marionette. Of course, he hadn't actually encountered one either.

He is considered a relatively lucky actor; after entering the industry, he had never encountered a terrible director, nor had he encountered a movie that was truly filmed badly.

If Ignaz Bell really is the kind of director who demands that actors execute completely according to his design, Lu Yan He felt that he might also have a dispute with Ignaz Bell on set.

It's just that he doesn't know what the situation is with Ignaz Bell. After all, now that he wants to communicate with him in advance, Ignaz is not willing either.

Conflicts between actors and directors are common.

Of course, there are all kinds of situations.

Even, this doesn't affect some movies being filmed very well in the end.

However, Lu Yan He still prefers a pleasant cooperation atmosphere.

At least, he is used to acting in such an atmosphere.

"Don't worry about things that haven't happened yet either." After Chen Siqi heard about his troubles on the phone, she said, "Maybe it's not like that at all. You also know that for many things, although the appearance is true, the meaning can be misinterpreted by people. Didn't Darren say it before? If he likes an actor, Ignaz is even the kind of director who will completely treat the actor as a character and be willing to kneel and worship them. You know as soon as you hear about such creators; they will be more or less paranoid, and the thing you lack the least is the experience of working with paranoid creators."

"..." Lu Yan He had to admit that what Chen Siqi said truly soothed his mood immediately.

Indeed, is he still lacking experience in working with paranoid people?

Whether it is Liu Bige or Huang Tianlin, they are all such directors.

"Moreover, you are the big-name actor I know who is most tolerant of directors." Chen Siqi said, "Just stop thinking about these things and messing up your own pace."

"..." Lu Yan He was amused by these last four words from Chen Siqi.

At the same time, Linghe.

Chen Yin received two guests with some astonishment.

Chen Yin almost wanted to use the four words "uninvited guests" to describe these two guests.

"Mr. Huang, Mrs. Huang."

Generally speaking, such visits have prior communication.

Confirming the time in advance, conducting the reception officially, and making relevant arrangements.

But this time, Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang came to Linghe, but they only called Chen Yin half an hour in advance to ask if it was convenient.

Chen Yin also didn't know their intentions, hesitated for a second, and then agreed.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yin immediately called Xu Tianming to ask if he was at the company and if he could rush back.

It wasn't because of anything else, but—

Chen Yin had been the "Grand Steward" at Linghe for so long, and he had never directly dealt with Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang.

Chen Yin of course also knew that this was because Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang had always regarded Lu Yan He and Chen Ziyan as the true power holders of Linghe, and at the very least, there was a proper CEO Xu Tianming here; Chen Yin, a "Grand Internal Steward," was not at the same level as them, so they usually wouldn't "lower their status" to communicate with him directly.

Receiving their call suddenly today and even saying they were coming to the company to visit, Chen Yin couldn't help but overthink it.

Chen Yin's own personality is "defensive."

He is not a person with huge ambitions. His ambition is limited to his work being able to advance a step further from time to time, and his income being able to increase a little from time to time. However, if you let him achieve "fattening up by crossing the river" through frequent job hopping, he doesn't have that motivation either.

Compared to anything else, the most important reason why Chen Yin called Xu Tianming immediately was that he wanted to "clarify" his relationship with Long Yan.

Otherwise, this inexplicable, sudden visit would make it seem like he already had a lot of personal friendship with Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang.

Chen Yin didn't want to cause such a misunderstanding.

Xu Tianming knows Chen Yin's personality very well.

And precisely because he understands, Xu Tianming is particularly strange about what Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang are suddenly here for.

Others don't know, but the two of them are clear.

Although Lu Yan He has cooperation on several projects with Long Yan, Lu Yan He himself doesn't have such a good relationship with Long Yan, and many frictions have occurred in between.

This is definitely not as simple as coming over for a visit.

However, when they sat down in the conference room and exchanged pleasantries, the intentions of Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang completely shocked Xu Tianming and Chen Yin.

"Long Yan wants to let our Linghe do the peripheral development for "Burning Fire"?" Lu Yan He almost raised his tone on the phone, "Huang Zhongjing and Mrs. Huang came to talk about it in person?"

"Yes." Xu Tianming reported on the phone, "I also reported to CEO Ziyan, she asked me to specifically tell you about this matter, and she also asked me to tell you that she will go and investigate the situation behind this."

Lu Yan He said "hmm," "CEO Xu, thank you for your hard work."

"No, not at all." Xu, "However, the peripheral development of "Chinese Paladin" did indeed make many film companies jealous after they found out, and they even came to me to inquire on the side about how this was done."

Peripheral development for domestic film and television companies is completely a desert, currently still staying at a very primary stage. The difference between them and "Chinese Paladin" this time is like the difference between a flea market at school and a real shopping mall. The former is really just playing house.

Lu Yan He said: "There are already so many templates and examples placed in front of them, can't they even learn by imitation?"

"They don't dare, it's not that they can't learn." Xu, "Our requirements for quality control, our estimation of the market, our control over the scale of development for each peripheral product—these are not things that these companies can figure out in the short term. Even if they learn by imitation, to be honest, it is very easy for problems like unsalable products, out-of-stock, and quality control explosions to occur."

Lu Yan He heard this and said: "Isn't this stuff all tried out little by little?"

"The problem is, they haven't tried it at all." Xu, "Moreover, the cost of trial and error is also very high. We found factories and production companies, all of which were dealt with across the country with dozens or hundreds of them, and tried out little by little."

Lu Yan He: "That is indeed the case."

Xu: "Actually, CEO Lu, I have an idea."

"Hmm?" Lu Yan He was stunned.

"We can strive to take down this area of film and television peripheral development." Xu.

"Ah?" Lu Yan He was stunned.

Xu: "Everyone knows that film and television peripheral development is a big market, but before the market is truly built up, no one dares to really invest. Only our Linghe, because the starting point was different from other companies from the beginning, started from copyright operation, and after conducting business cooperation with many brands, explored various suitable peripheral developments and derivatives little by little. Actually, for many things, we even obtained the resources from the brand side."

Lu Yan He nodded.

It's not that a film or television show can be developed for peripheral derivatives just because it's very popular.

Moreover, this thing of peripheral derivatives has an even lower success rate than movies.

Therefore, many IP owners now do derivatives by directly authorizing another company to do it, and they only collect something similar to a naming fee. The thing that is made, under the name of a certain IP, actually has nothing to do with the IP, at most hanging a name of so-called "producer" or "supervisor."

Without a good ecosystem, without a recyclable industrial chain, the result is that peripheral derivatives have become an increasingly niche fan-oriented harvester of leeks.

Lu Yan He felt that Xu Tianming did this particularly well.

Everyone talks about quality control, but only Xu Tianming really takes the team to run around the country, conduct field investigations, and watch the whole chain.

Everyone knows that peripheral derivatives are fast-moving consumer goods; once the heat passes, they won't sell, so they basically don't do long-term planning. Only Xu Tianming starts to make some plans with a target in mind when a show starts preparation, and also positions peripheral derivatives as "using IP images to add value to the brand," and has done a lot of high-end development.

However, this of Xu's is very different from the copyright derivatives currently led by Linghe.

That of Xu's is equivalent to focusing on development, directly becoming an MCN company for film and television peripheral derivatives.

But Lu Yan He didn't refuse immediately either, but said: "CEO Xu, this field is very unfamiliar. Your vision is very good, but if you want to do it, I need to see something more grounded, how big the market really is."

Xu: "Understood, I will make an investigation report and relevant work plan. This is definitely a very big market, and most importantly, this market is currently not touched by traditional production industries. It needs a powerful integrator that can integrate production companies of different types and orientations together to meet various development needs. This market is currently blank. If we do it—"

"I know, I understand." Lu Yan He interrupted him, "The director is calling me here, I have to go over. CEO Xu, since you think this area is worth doing, you make a detailed report, and we will communicate in detail later."

"Okay."

Lu Yan He doesn't even need his identity as a transmigrator to know how big this market is.

However, he is also very clear that the market in this area is not that big either.

It is very dependent on big studios, big IPs, and very strong operational capabilities to truly build it up.

Whether it is Disney or the "Harry Potter" series, all are like this.

Linghe is not such a company.

More importantly, to do such a thing, maybe just the current employees of Linghe are not enough.

It is necessary to completely establish a new department, or even establish a new company. (End of chapter)