Chapter 329: Extra-Long Extension, Start of Filming, Cameo Appearance

Movies have peak seasons, and television dramas are the same, but the timing for the two is vastly different.

But there is no doubt that during the summer vacation, the addition of the student demographic is absolutely an excellent boost for skyrocketing television ratings.

In view of this situation, *Snow Sword Stride* was jointly scheduled by Hui Province Satellite TV and Jiangzhe Satellite TV to be broadcast in early August.

Entering early July, the promotional warm-up for the drama had already begun, and the two major television stations announced the purchase price of *Snow Sword Stride* to the public for the first time.

Once the news came out, it could be said that one stone stirred up a thousand ripples.

"Damn, 2.2 million per episode; a single drama is nearly 100 million for the first round!"

"Shanhe Media is truly badass. They don't make a move unless they have to, but once they do, it's a blockbuster. It seems no drama they lead the production of has ever been less than a million per episode."

"Fun fact: the previous publicly disclosed record for a single television episode price was 2.4 million per episode for *Ghost Blows Out the Light: Jingjue City*. In fact, several years ago, because of a gambling agreement, the price per episode for *My Love from the Star* directly broke through 2.6 million. That is the true ceiling price!"

A crowd of companies in the industry were so envious their eyes turned red. At 2.2 million for the first round, as long as the ratings hold steady, the second and third rounds plus the online copyright will definitely exceed this figure. Calculating it out, a single drama directly profits over 100 million; Shanhe Media is practically robbing money.

*The Last Supper* film crew.

Watching the news online, Ceng Jia had a flushed face, as if she had experienced an intracranial orgasm, and turned to start pumping up Yang Mi.

"Mimi, did you see that? Only by becoming capital is making money easy."

"Yeah, my nearly three months of filming only earned a 2 million salary, while Senior Brother is going to earn one or two hundred million from one drama."

Yang Mi's tone was full of emotion, and then she added with a hint of envy.

"Fan Bingbing has really hit the jackpot. She has participated in the investment of several movies and TV dramas this year. Meitao Entertainment's profits this year are likely to exceed most companies in the industry."

"Don't envy others. Once this drama airs, you should be completely stabilized in the first-tier rank, and you'll have opportunities then too."

Ceng Jia had joy on her face, as if she had already seen the day she would gorgeously transform into capital.

"By the way, the scenes here are about to wrap up, and the drama's promotion will start immediately after. Can your body handle it?"

Yang Mi's face was full of high spirits; she was the female lead of *Snow Sword Stride*, so her screen time would be immense.

"No problem, Jia Jie, these days are truly so fulfilling."——Shanhe Building, inside the Chairman's office.

Assistant Wang Zixuan walked in with some documents and began to report.

"Boss, news came from Director Jiang that Shanghai Film Group Investment has arrived. The start dates for *Heart Surgery* and *Princess Agents* are set for one week from now."

Wei Jin nodded upon hearing this. The casting for these two dramas had been completed a few days ago, and the preparations were going smoothly; it was time to start filming.

"Alright, I know."

The main filming location for *Heart Surgery* was Shanghai. Previously, when smoothing out the joints, Shanghai Film Group helped put in a lot of effort. Since they took the opportunity to propose a partnership, Wei Jin found it hard to refuse and gave away a 20% share.

Come to think of it, the script department had previously spent a lot of effort on these two scripts, handling the loose ends.

The original screenwriter for *Heart Surgery* was Liu Liu, a female author. That very popular *Dwelling Narrowness* previously came from her hand.

This person was quite responsible for her own work. In order to write *Heart Surgery*, she specifically went "undercover" at a hospital for several months. After the script was produced, it was bought directly by Shanhe Media.

Perhaps it was a common failing of female screenwriters; a medical drama had quite a few romance subplots forcibly added, making it truly a bit of a hodgepodge. In the end, the script department stepped in, made many adaptations, and cut the main thread of the romance.

After all, as the country's first realistic medical-themed television drama, the script still needed to be serious to reflect professionalism.

The problem with *Princess Agents* was that it was suspected of plagiarism. The script department discovered this issue while adapting it, and subsequently bought the plagiarized *Legend of Fuyao* at the first opportunity to avoid subsequent trouble.

"Additionally, Emperor Motion Pictures is very satisfied with the script for *SPL: Sha Po Lang 2*. Our 40% investment share has been finalized, and preliminary preparations have begun. Emperor Motion Pictures expects to start filming in mid-September."

Wei Jin nodded; he could understand Boss Yang's eagerness.

"Alright, are there any other important matters?"

Assistant Zixuan understood what the boss wanted to do as soon as she heard this. She placed the documents in her hand on the desk and consciously knelt down.

"Mmm."

Feeling the warmth of the avatar, Wei Jin was very satisfied.

"Zixuan, this role counts as your debut work. For follow-ups, I will try my best to arrange for you to participate in the company's projects."

Wang Zixuan had been with him for three years and would be 30 after the new year. Wei Jin felt it was time to promote her.

Hearing the boss's words, Wang Zixuan was somewhat moved, but also somewhat reluctant, and could only deeply lower her head.

A few minutes later, Wei Jin felt the heat was just right and reached out to pull Zixuan up.

"Alright, Zixuan, I might not be able to feed you enough while on set this time. Let the boss relieve your itch today first."——In the film market, the box office for *The Raid* was still surging forward, maintaining a daily box office of over 20 million.

Comparatively, the box office of other films was not looking very good. The daily box office of *Beginning of the Great Revival* had already dropped to three or four million and was still continuing to trend downward.

*Wu Xia* was the same. Following the collapse of its word-of-mouth, the second-day box office fell to 15.2 million, and the third day to 14.4 million.

With these figures, let alone breaking even, whether it could finish its one-month theatrical run was a problem.

Perhaps to maintain the face of the tribute film and the slogans shouted earlier, the Film Bureau issued the latest document, with only one core content: "The release time of *Beginning of the Great Revival* will be extended to 3 months."

Once the news came out, there was a chorus of curses in the circle; this was completely cheating.

Although theater scheduling would gradually decrease with the decline in daily box office, these 90 days of release time were truly a bit excessive.

Wei Jin ignored the chaos in the circle. On the 8th, he took the main creators of *Once Again* and rushed to Tianjin. At this time, the crew had already prepared the set in advance.

With the entire crew, Wei Jin held a simple opening ceremony and also accepted interviews from the reporters on site.

"Director Wei, may I ask, you are now the box office record holder; why would you think of filming such a low-budget movie?"

Hearing this question, Liu Yifei felt a bit embarrassed. It was all because of her that her own man would lower his status to film such a movie.

"This reporter, in terms of cost alone, my screenwriting and directing salary is worth 50 million, and Yifei's salary is also 10 million. Calculating it, the production cost of *Once Again* is as high as 80 million. I don't think it counts as a low-budget movie, what do you think?"

Watching his sophistry take effect, Wei Jin continued to add: "Furthermore, the production cost of a movie doesn't distinguish between large or small; as long as the audience likes to watch it, isn't *The Raid* the best example?"

"Director Wei, hello, may I ask what kind of story *Once Again* tells?"

"As the name implies, the story tells of a seventy-year-old grandmother who, after transforming into a 20-year-old young girl through a youth photo studio, returns to daily life with a new identity, thereby triggering a series of stories that are both ridiculous and deeply moving."

"But Director Wei, looking at your past film genres, this kind of warm, comedy-leaning subject matter doesn't seem to be your forte. Aren't you afraid of encountering a Waterloo?"

Glancing at the reporter's name tag, damn it, it's *Nanfang Daily* again. They are really going at it with me, aren't they?

Just as he was about to retort directly, Chen Xi had already stepped out to domineeringly protect her boss. "This reporter friend, our movie has already achieved profitability before filming has even begun. Embedded advertisements and trailer advertisements have currently secured over 80 million in commercial sponsorship. In addition, the remake rights for the film in South Korea and Japan have already been bid up to 8 million USD, so what are you worried about?"

Once Chen Xi said this, the scene was in an uproar. This was practically robbing money. But there were still reporters who wouldn't give up, wanting to dig out some big news.

"Director Wei, may I ask if you are in a relationship with Liu Yifei?"

Some reporters were already wailing internally; where did this idiot come from? Once this question was out, today's interview would likely be declared over.

Sure enough, as soon as Wei Jin heard this, he went straight into "chase them away" mode.

"This reporter friend, today is the film's opening press conference. Please do not ask questions unrelated to the film. Today's interview ends here. Thank you, everyone."

"."

After dismissing the crowd of reporters, Wei Jin began to relax on set; everything regarding the crew was handled by the Producer and the Executive Director.

Before long, all the main cast members had finished their makeup, and all the crew's preparations were complete.

"Yifei, this makeup look really suits you."

Looking at the vintage makeup on Liu Yifei's face, a temperament of a young lady from the Republic of China era came rushing toward him, and Wei Jin couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

"Mm, I also think it's quite pretty."

Liu Yifei was also very satisfied with the makeup for the show; taking advantage of the fact that filming hadn't started yet, she took out her phone and started taking selfies like crazy.

Shu Chang, who was on the side, couldn't help but tease when she saw this:

"Xixi, how come you didn't think the Republic of China makeup back during *The Noble Family* was pretty? I see some people, just... mm."

Before Shu Chang could finish, Liu Yifei reached out and covered her mouth; this best friend had too loose a tongue.

Watching the two young girls bickering, Wei Jin was in a great mood. He had a premonition that this shoot would be exceptionally easy.

He then composed himself, sat down at the monitor, looked around, and seeing that all units were in place, he picked up the megaphone.

"Start."

The floor manager immediately came over to clap the slate and announce the scene.

"*Once Again*, Scene 1, Take 1, action!"

This scene was of the elderly female lead passing by a photo studio, reminiscing about her youth and wanting to leave a memento for herself, only to transform into a 20-year-old beautiful young woman after the photo was taken.

"Cut."

Wei Jin looked at the image on the monitor and gave the instruction directly.

"This take is a wrap."

Liu Yifei was already waiting on the side; next was her first appearance. Although she had practiced this scene privately several times, she was still a bit nervous when it came down to it, after all, she hadn't appeared in a Wei Jin film for seven years.

Following the floor manager's signal, Liu Yifei took a deep breath and walked in front of the camera.

There was no time to think too much; following the word "action," Liu Yifei began to perform in front of the camera... "Cut."

Looking at the image on the monitor, Wei Jin issued an instruction.

"All units pay attention, this take again."

"Received." — Just as Wei Jin's new film was being shot in an orderly manner, Shanhe Media also announced the start of two new films for the second half of the year.

The media gave it extensive coverage.

"Jointly produced by Shanhe Media, Qiao Zhenyu Studio, and Meitao Entertainment, with an investment of 80 million, the costume legendary inspirational drama *Chuqiaozhuan* quietly began filming today at the Hengdian World Studios.

The drama is headlined by top male star Qiao Zhenyu and Starry Sky Culture's rising artist Zhao Liying, and tells the story of..."

"Jointly produced by Shanhe Media, Shanghai Film Group, and Meitao Entertainment, with an investment of 40 million, the country's first realistic medical drama *Heart Surgery* began filming today at the East Campus of Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, and tells the story of..."

Once the news was announced, Zhao Liying instantly became the object of attention across the entire internet.

"Who is this bun-faced girl?"

"Is the person upstairs from a village without internet? This is Zhao Liying, an artist just signed by Starry Sky Culture two months ago."

"Eh? Isn't this Qing'er from *Xin Huan Zhu Ge Ge* which is still being promoted?"

Looking at the news online, those few small artists at Huayi went silent; this person had truly latched onto a big shot.

Li Xuexue also couldn't quite believe it; this Zhao Liying was so plain, what was Shanhe Media thinking? Could it be that Huayi really misjudged her? — Tianjin, the *Once Again* set welcomed its first visiting actor, who was also a guest actor.

"Hua Ge, has your part finished?"

"Mm, Director Lu's efficiency is very high; concentrated shooting, even faster than the expected time."

"That's fine, let's finish filming first before catching up..."

Wei Jin patted Liu Tianwang on the shoulder and turned to shout at the floor manager.

"Someone come over, take Hua Ge to change costumes."

Soon, Liu Tianwang changed his clothes, put on a helmet, and appeared on set. The crew members all exclaimed, "Good heavens," this was exactly the look from *A Moment of Romance*.

Watching many people on set humming the theme song of *A Moment of Romance* involuntarily, Wei Jin nodded; this was the effect he wanted.

Over these years, with the rise of the internet, many classic shots from old films were repeatedly edited by netizens again, and the shot in *A Moment of Romance* where Liu Tianwang rode a motorcycle with his beloved woman, with blood from his nose dripping onto the woman's hand, was absolutely a classic among classics.

Especially the moment that song of the same name started playing, it absolutely gave people goosebumps all over.

Today's scene was very simple; Liu Tianwang wore a white suit, rode a motorcycle, and stopped in front of the elderly female lead, Wu Yanshu.

The camera gave a handsome close-up of his face, and Liu Tianwang said in an old-fashioned tone: "How is it? Looking cool, right? Get on the bike!"

"Cut."

Behind the monitor, Wei Jin gave the instruction; this kind of guest role was simply too easy for Liu Tianwang.

"Hua Ge, congratulations on wrapping up, I'll see you off tonight, haha..."

"Good."

(End of this chapter)