Chapter 950: The Pragmatist

Lu Yan He had always been a pragmatist.

Although most of the time, others would call him an idealist.

Whenever he encountered a problem, Lu Yan He's first reaction was actually how to solve it.

It was just that sometimes the means of resolution didn't quite align with reality.

Sometimes, there would also be a state of "better to be a shattered jade than an intact tile."

Many industry norms, or rather, some conventional rules, were things that could be discarded by Lu Yan He as long as they were not conducive to solving the problem.

However, Jia Long was different.

Jia Long would care about many things.

For instance, choosing to start filming because of pressure from investors, even when the script was clearly not mature enough to begin.

Lu Yan He had no intention of criticizing anyone in this regard.

He also clearly knew that everyone's choices were related to the situation they were in, the resources they possessed, and the scope of their options.

Lu Yan He simply hoped that through some of his own attitudes, he could help Jia Long resolve the current predicament.

"It's not difficult to come up with a script; what's difficult is balancing the requirements for the script from all sides," Lu Yan He said. "The actors' requirements for the script, the investors' requirements for the script, and the partners' requirements for the script are not the same. Jia Laoshi, including the screenwriters you invited before, they might not be willing to let others share the screenwriting credit with them. I understand all of this, but either give up on this project, or you must abandon the needs and interests of some people. Nothing is more important than the script itself being good enough—good enough that the people truly creating it believe they can make this movie well."

Lu Yan He was incredibly grateful that his Linghe still did not accept equity investment or financing from outside capital. His projects were also often solely funded or controlled by them, not allowing any capital side to point fingers at the creative process.

As one project after another succeeded, not only was the cash flow in their own hands more abundant, but his authority and say were also unprecedentedly large.

Now, not a single person dared to raise any questions about his scripts.

Uh... except for Li Zhibai, Yan Liang, and a few others.

Of course, in reality, they weren't questioning him either.

Was his script so good that it was beyond reproach?

Of course not.

But his success had endowed him with god-like authority.

If the script for the third installment of *Lost in Journey* had been written by him, apart from Jia Long, there absolutely would not have been a second person to raise any objections to the script. Including the investors—

Because Lu Yan He's style of doing things was very straightforward: I give you an investment, it's an opportunity for you to make money, not an opportunity for you to point fingers. If you aren't happy, you can withdraw your investment; there are plenty of people outside waiting with sacks of money.

Especially since, most of the time, Lu Yan He wouldn't even give outsiders the opportunity to invest.

He, Linghe, Shi Huo, Jump Up... and Li Zhibai, Yan Liang, Luo Yuzhong, Xin Zixing, Huang Kai, Jiang Yuqian, Hua Ruzhen... many times, the investment share for a project was already carved up by these people around him.

Sometimes, Yuehu Tai, Arctic Light, and Ice Field would also invest a portion.

Of Lu Yan He's projects, not one was unprofitable or didn't make money.

Such a profit rate was never an investor's market.

"Jia Laoshi, if you need me, you can tell me at any time—of course, I really can't write the script anymore; I truly don't have any good ideas. If I had a good idea, I absolutely wouldn't need you to come find me; I would definitely have called you," Lu Yan He laughed. "I'm not afraid to be the bad guy for you, if a bad guy is needed to resolve these interfering factors."

Jia Long was silent for a long while on the other end of the phone before saying, "Okay, I understand, Yan He. Thank you for making this call."

"Don't be so formal with me, Jia Laoshi," Lu Yan He said with a smile. "When shall we work together to make a movie again?"

In Lu Yan He's heart, Jia Long was one of the best comedy masters in this space-time.

It was just that he had a very terrible problem: because he had owed too many favors since his debut, and had too many relationships to consider, every project could not be produced purely.

Regarding the idea proposed by Chen Yin on how the five-episode short drama *Light of the Tiles* could be made profitable, Chen Lingling's attitude was not very clear.

When Lu Yan He communicated with Chen Lingling, he realized that Chen Lingling just hoped *Light of the Tiles* would be *Light of the Tiles*, unaffected by anything else.

Lu Yan He said, "If that's the case, then we can only approach this project with the mindset of losing money."

Chen Lingling asked, "What if we sell *Light of the Tiles* on a video platform like a movie? You have to spend money to watch the whole series; would there be a possibility of profit this way?"

"Theoretically yes, but in reality, so far, even the highest-grossing video platform on-demand revenue hasn't reached 100 million," Lu Yan He knew these data points. "This includes on-demand for hit series and movies; the ceiling is right there."

Chen Lingling sighed.

"Or, produce it directly as a movie?"

"Produce it as a movie?"

"In the form of a movie, produce a trilogy," Lu Yan He asked. "Is that possible?"

Chen Lingling asked, "Is there a market for palace-themed movies?"

"I don't know," Lu Yan He shook his head. "But at least if it's produced as a movie, in terms of sales channels, our Linghe can help."

"You mean overseas sales?"

"Yes," Lu Yan He said. "100 million RMB is almost an unrecoverable cost for a five-episode series, but for a movie trilogy, the risk is much smaller. And, it can still be broadcast on video platforms and on television stations."

Chen Lingling fell into deep thought.

Lu Yan He said, "Director, no matter what, finding a way to film it is always better than letting it be shelved forever, right?"

Chen Lingling: "If it can't be filmed according to my vision, I would rather let it be shelved forever."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"I understand. After all, if it's truly ruined in the filming, then it's ruined," Lu Yan He said. "I didn't mean to lower the production standards; that's not what I meant."

Chen Lingling actually knew that wasn't what Lu Yan He meant.

"A five-episode short drama made into a movie trilogy—" Chen Lingling pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you really think this can work?"

"It can work," Lu Yan He nodded. "Filmed as a movie trilogy, even if the investment cannot be recovered at the box office, the subsequent sales of other rights and long-term income will not be doomed to loss like making it into a five-episode TV series."

"Using 100 million in production funds to make three movies, for movies, isn't that too cheap?" "Director, believe me, big productions have the magnificence of big productions, but that doesn't mean movies that aren't big productions can't attract audiences."

Do palace dramas need very high production costs?

Actually, they don't.

Unless you are like *Light of the Tiles*, wanting a one-to-one restoration, which means buildings need to be specially constructed, costumes and styling need to be designed and made one-to-one, and so on. The reason *Light of the Tiles* had such high costs was precisely because of these reasons—this was already at the standard of movie production.

Lu Yan He said, "I read the five-episode script of *Light of the Tiles*. In terms of the story plot, I think it can be completely adapted into a trilogy. What it presents is also the three stages of a woman in the harem: the purest and most cruel innocence, the most complex and turbulent struggles, and the prosperity that cannot be stopped even when trying to turn the tide. I initially thought it was a palace intrigue story, but later I found that palace intrigue only occupied a very small part. What it actually tells is the story of a person struggling with their own life and the surrounding environment—winning some battles, losing some battles. The final result seems incomplete, but they have already struggled thoroughly. I like the vitality that tries to break free from the shackles of life, which shines through the cruel appearance of this story."

Hearing Lu Yan He say this, Chen Lingling looked at Lu Yan He with great emotion.

"So, if filmed as a movie, it might indeed not be the kind of movie that can sell a very high box office; its commerciality isn't enough, and it isn't 'cool' enough, but there will definitely be a portion of enthusiasts of this genre who will walk into the cinema and be moved by this story," Lu Yan He said. "The most critical thing is that by producing it as a movie, its own quality will not be lowered at all. It can be filmed, and it will be able to meet the audience in the way you want."

Director Chen Lingling let out a long sigh.

"What you say makes sense; let me think about it."

Regarding the matter of making *Light of the Tiles* into a movie, Lu Yan He was not acting on a whim.

Palace dramas have always been a popular genre for Chinese TV series, but in the field of movies, they are rarely seen.

One could even say that in the last ten or twenty years, there have been almost none.

But this, in reality, should have been one of the very important genres in movies.

It should have belonged to a branch under the historical genre.

For example, *Behind the Curtain* starring Liu Xiaoqing, *Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch* starring Jiang Wen, and *The Banquet* starring Zhang Ziyi actually count as well.

Overseas, this type of genre movie has been filmed even more, especially when integrated with genres like character biographies, and many good works have been produced.

For example, *The Favourite*, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone and Olivia Colman.

In places where power is highly concentrated, a single hair pulled affects the whole body, and various stories will naturally occur.

It is a natural resort for film and television material.

What Lu Yan He didn't quite understand was why this type of film and television work in China was often filmed as a blockbuster.

Perhaps because the background it is in is too much of a power center?

So the sensory impression it gives is very "big"?

The theme that Chen Lingling focuses on is what Lu Yan He believes should truly be paid attention to in this type of genre.

Not just the conventional and common criticism, but the person.

Movies are ultimately works about people or "other things" in the eyes of people.

When it falls on a person, it must be real, regardless of what form of reality it is.

For a period of time, domestic movies were very popular with "blockbusters."

If you want to say those blockbusters were filmed really badly? Not necessarily. Actually, if you look at them without prejudice, you can see many advantages in those movies. However, they also generally have the drawbacks of themes coming first, concepts coming first, and characters serving the creative intent of the movie.

The story of *Light of the Tiles* tells the life of a person.

Therefore, Lu Yan He said, it may not be able to achieve a good box office for a commercial genre, but it is worth being made into a movie.

Because in the current landscape of Chinese movies, especially in the landscape of the last ten years, such characters are very lacking.

Lu Yan He was confident that Chen Lingling should adopt his opinion.

And not two days later, Chen Lingling called Lu Yan He. She told Lu Yan He that she felt the idea of making *Light of the Tiles* into three movies was feasible, and she wanted to film it.

Linghe opened a production budget of 100 million RMB for this movie by Chen Lingling, enjoying the copyright of these three movies for twenty years after their initial release. After twenty years, the movie copyright would return to Chen Lingling's own production company.

Domestically, the ownership of movie copyrights is not yet like the various ways of playing in Hollywood. Often, the investor permanently holds the movie copyright, and the director only enjoys the right to share in the profits according to the contract, or simply doesn't even have that.

In this 100 million RMB production budget, Chen Lingling's director fee was 7.5 million, which could be considered relatively low.

However, because the bulk of the budget had to be used for art-related things, Chen Lingling felt she had to lead by example and lower her fee.

The actors she invited could not be paid high fees.

Filming the trilogy back-to-back, there was actually no change in the actual filming content.

Chen Lingling also did not intend to further increase the requirements for all aspects just because this story was going to be filmed as a movie.

Lu Yan He wouldn't agree to that either.

He didn't want this movie to turn into an investment tragedy.

The movie's crew formation moved very quickly.

Linghe's first batch of funds had also arrived.

Chen Lingling set about selecting actors and talking to them one by one.

The filming cycle for the movie trilogy was 105 days.

According to the total production cost of 100 million RMB for the three movies, on average, the cost of each movie was only a little over 30 million. Placed in the current movie field, this meant the movie itself was only a medium-to-low-cost production.

However, Lu Yan He's name was listed among the movie producers, and the director was Chen Lingling.

With Chen Lingling's prestige in the film and television circle, no one would underestimate this work.

Although, it was a palace drama.

"How could Lu Yan He produce such a work?"

"This isn't the first time Lu Yan He has pulled a TV drama director he has worked with to film a movie."

"TV dramas and movies are completely two different carriers. Does he think that because Luo Yuzhong successfully filmed *The Boat*, all TV drama directors can come to film movies?"

"Chen Lingling herself is one of the three carriages among domestic TV drama directors; her artistic attainments must be there. You are being too excessive, as if she is completely incapable." ===== CHAPTER 951 =====