Chapter 13: Stockpiling Scripts

"Speaking of which, you and Shu Chang are quite close, aren't you?"

"Back then, Changchang and I met on the set of *The Noble Family*, and we really hit it off."

……

Hearing that Lin Nan had joined the crew of *Lotus Lantern* as a director, Miss Liu sent a message specifically; calling would have been discovered by her mother.

The matter from last time had just blown over, and Lin Nan felt it was quite nice.

However, he had heard some gossip recently about which girl next door was getting involved with a teacher.

Lin Nan was unfazed; at worst, one could just marry her. Look at Senior Brother Huang, Teacher Huang—wasn't his relationship with a student unconventional? They were almost ready to register their marriage.

……

He couldn't afford to be idle, so Lin Nan began to prepare his second film script.

He couldn't handle big-budget commercial films yet, and he lacked the confidence and certainty for them.

This time, he would either go for an art-house film or a drama; in any case, the budget had to be moderate.

He began to search through his mind.

Speaking of film scripts, some are adapted from novels, while others are original screenplays.

Lin Nan knew quite a few films, but he hadn't really paid attention to which ones were novel adaptations. He had to take this seriously; he didn't want to be sued for "plagiarism" later.

After thinking it over, he felt that for a director to do well in this industry, their films either had to win awards or sell well at the box office.

There were plenty of high-grossing films, especially comedies, which were the easiest to stand out. Although Lin Nan's *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind* was primarily about love, it also contained many comedic elements.

But if a film wanted to win awards, then perhaps box office shouldn't be the primary consideration; it would have to be an art-house film or a realistic subject, with the latter being easier to win awards with.

The final key point returned to choosing the script genre: what mindset and purpose should he have for making this second script?

Chasing awards or box office?

The films in his memory flashed through his mind like turning pages.

"When I get a chance, I'll write down all the high-quality ones from these scripts and get them registered and filed first," Lin Nan muttered.

He had a significant stock of Western films in his mind, and Lin Nan had already made up his mind—the American Writers Guild was a good organization.

"Social reality issues? That's hard to handle; it's easy to get crushed. Brother Li was banned for five years; I can't just go abroad and shoot films for five years like him."

Lin Nan finally decided to put the award-chasing on hold and focus on box-office films first.

Lin Nan opened his computer and began writing the script, *Returning to Youth* (*20 Once Again*).

……

"Yes, I want to ask you to help me find someone over there. To do what? Help me register scripts."

Lin Nan approached the Shanghai Film Studio, asking them to help him find an intermediary channel, mainly to continuously register scripts for Lin Nan with the Writers Guild of America; the costs would, of course, be borne by Lin Nan himself.

The other party was surprised, thinking Lin Nan was being overly ambitious and wanted to develop his career over there, and even advised him to stay steady for a few years first.

"If you look down on me, just say so. What do you mean by 'stay steady for a few years'?"

Lin Nan was stubborn, but he knew the other party meant well.

After pondering for a long time, he settled on this *Returning to Youth*.

No sooner said than done. Before going to the Golden Horse Awards at the end of the year, Lin Nan didn't plan to do anything else but write scripts, register them, keep writing, keep registering...

Sooner or later, the Hollywood Big Eight or an independent film company would come looking for him.

"I don't believe that with hundreds of film scripts, I can't become an honored guest."

Thinking about such a maniacal plan made Lin Nan excited.

As for *Returning to Youth*, Lin Nan planned to keep it secret for now. He would look for investment after coming out of the *Lotus Lantern* crew; this time, he would make it more refined and make a bigger move.

He took a moment to check film news; Hong Kong films could still struggle for a few more years, and there were quite a few Chinese-language films produced by Hollywood.

*The Warriors* was also set to be released in August, starring the stubborn Jiang Wen, along with talented woman Xu's *My Father and I*, but neither would impact the box office of *Cell Phone*.

In school, one could see many films that couldn't be publicly screened—from Hong Kong, from Europe and America—for teaching purposes, of course; that was a sufficient reason.

Uncle Dragon was still in his prime and a prolific period; *Rush Hour 2* from over a year ago was still fresh in his memory, and now there was *The Medallion* coming out. Although it couldn't get in, it was already on the students' menu.

"Linzi, what's wrong with you? Your dark circles are so heavy," someone asked Lin Nan.

"Hmm, stayed up late writing a script."

Lin Nan was very sleepy. He had been copying scripts for the past two nights, and inspiration kept flowing in his mind; the films played out as if right before his eyes, and he couldn't stop.

His young body couldn't make it to the third day, and he started dozing off in the film appreciation class.

It felt like he had slept for five minutes, so why was class already over? Lin Nan muttered.

Without eating, he returned to the dormitory listlessly, covered himself with a quilt, and went to sleep, not caring whether there were classes in the afternoon.

Within two days, the Shanghai Film Studio found the intermediary Lin Nan needed—a moderately famous cultural broker in America.

Lin Nan even specifically checked him out; he was legitimate, and his name was easy to remember: Tang Mu, a thirty-year-old man.

The rest was easy to handle: sign the contract, one pays, the other works, and a long-term connection was established.

Recently, there was only so much film news; few were being made domestically, and imports were strictly controlled.

On the contrary, there were many TV dramas. *Chinese Paladin* had officially announced it was casting; as the first game adaptation, the hype was significant. *Lotus Lantern* seemed to have cast the actress for the Third Goddess; he heard the actor for Erlang Shen had put in some effort.

Bu Jingyun was also going to film *One Meter of Sunshine* with the future Huanhuan.

Lin Nan also intentionally kept an eye on Zhou Yi's dramas; they were indeed monstrous these years, in a prolific period, producing at least one or two shows every year. Last year they premiered *Xiao Shilang*, and this year they produced *Water Moon Cave Heaven* while also airing *Young Hero*.

Yin Tianxue was a pity; Bai Su was luckier than Tianxue.

Chatting with Liu Yifei, he heard that the role of the male lead, Li Xiaoyao, hadn't been decided yet. The boss of Tang Ren was pushing their own newcomer, and Dayu was somewhat hesitant.

He had previously thought that once Liu Yifei went over, she would be Zhao Linger, but after so long, she was actually the role of Anu. Only recently had there been movement to switch her to the female lead.

"Believe me, you will definitely be Zhao Linger," Lin Nan encouraged her.

"When filming starts, come visit my set, hehe."

Lin Nan pondered for a moment, "Maybe we can even work together."

"What do you mean?"

Lin Nan told her to guess for herself, and as a result, she got angry, hung up the phone, and even told Lin Nan on Penguin to reflect on his attitude.

"*Lotus Lantern* will probably start filming around the same time as your crew, both in Hengdian."

Lin Nan had no choice but to reply honestly.

"Really?" There was also a grinning emoji.

"Fake," Lin Nan replied.

"Hmph, I'll go ask Changchang myself," her avatar went gray.

His freshman year passed by in such a rush. Students from other universities might enjoy their summer vacation, but students from the Film Academy and the Drama Academy couldn't.

Summer vacation was the time to find film crews; relying on the school's reputation, their starting point was much higher than those professional extras, and their competitiveness was stronger.

Poor Lin Nan was left behind because one theory course didn't meet the teacher's required score.

"Seventy-five points. I wouldn't care about other students, but you scored seventy-five. If this gets out, what will others say? You're a director with a box-office record..."

He hadn't expected the director department teacher to be so harsh, catching Lin Nan and criticizing him for half an hour, under the guise of having different requirements for excellent students.

"I've passed you, but you still have to take the make-up exam before the start of the term. I will notify the office; you must get 90 points."

"Okay, Teacher, I will definitely work hard during the vacation."

Just when it was finally about to end and Lin Nan was ready to leave, he was called back by Director Tian, who gave him a few more words of encouragement before letting him go.

"Good seedlings need to be nurtured with care. There are many good directors, but not many who can generate box office. This kid is not bad."

"Director Tian is right. This kid is clever, just too lazy; he just scrapes by in classes and exams."

Director Tian smiled. Their generations of directors were heavily influenced by Europe, but film is both art and a commodity; only the latter can drive the economy and stimulate the industry's vigorous development.

Lin Nan left the teachers' office area and finally relaxed a bit, "Being a good student isn't easy either; they don't even let you slack off."

Before he had walked many steps, he was called out again, "Teacher Zhou, is something the matter?"

"The start of the term is moved up; you're coming along to welcome the new students."

Lin Nan was stunned. I'm already in the director department; is it appropriate for you to order me around like this?

"By the way, there's also Zhu Yawen and a few others; your whole crew has to come," Teacher Zhou said, turning and walking away.

Alright, so that was the reason.

Lin Nan didn't plan to go back to his hometown; if he went back, his old man would ask again if he had a girlfriend.

He couldn't exactly say he had a crush on an underage girl.

He made a phone call, telling his old man he was preparing a script and had to prepare to attend an awards ceremony after school started, so he really didn't have time and had arranged everything until next year.

After pacifying his old man, Lin Nan finally felt at ease.

He didn't plan to go out and roam for these two months; he would strike while the iron was hot, transcribe all the scripts in his mind, and hand them to Tang Mu to register.

Work hard for a while, be happy for the rest of your life.

He first went to check on his small company. Recently, the matter of splitting accounts with the Shanghai Film Studio and the theater chains was entirely handled by two accountants; he was a bit of a hands-off boss.

Since he had decided to run a company, regardless of how many people there were, he still had to drop by from time to time.

After Lin Nan promised to double the bonuses this year, he left; he had to find a place to live.

Although he knew that buying property here would definitely be profitable, Lin Nan still wasn't in a hurry. He would wait until next year to earn some more and buy a big villa in one go.

As a Northwesterner, he wasn't interested in living in a Sihe Academy, though investing in one was fine.

He didn't have the heart to live at school during the summer vacation. Not far from school, he rented a two-bedroom apartment for the short term; he would take root here for these two months and grind out scripts.

Except for sleeping, eating, and going to the bathroom, Lin Nan spent all his time in front of the computer.

Writing during the day, writing at night, sleeping when tired, writing when awake, eating when hungry, and continuing to write after eating...

One day, while Lin Nan was sleeping, his phone rang.

He fumbled with his eyes closed for a long time before finding it, "Hello, who is this?"

"Lin Nan?"

"It's me, Lao Zhu, it's you."

"School is about to start, where did you run off to? The orientation, the orientation, have you forgotten?"

Zhu Yawen's roaring voice made Lin Nan wake up a bit; he looked at the computer, good heavens, it was August 29th, and new student registration started tomorrow.

He had really been living in a daze these past two months, but fortunately, the fruits of his labor were plentiful.

He washed his face, brushed his teeth, and went out to eat and get a haircut.

He took the opportunity to call the agent; there was half a month left on the lease, so he asked him to come over to inspect the place and return the deposit, as he was leaving.

If he missed the orientation, he would probably be chewed out on the spot by Teacher Zhou.

The agent was quite conscientious and handled things cleanly and efficiently, only asking for a photo together.