Chapter 8: The Crew

Next, Li Yang explained to Lin Nan why he suggested making an appointment with the people from Shanghai Film.

At the end of 2001, the giants in the domestic film industry held a meeting, participating in three seminars organized by the Film Producers Association, the Development and Projection Association, and the Urban Cinema Development Association.

Originally, Shanghai Film was full of confidence and wanted to overthrow China Film's monopoly on imported films in one go, and the grasp was very large.

Whether it was official media or media below, they were optimistic that Shanghai Film could overturn the big brother or set up another mountain.

But in the end, don't know what happened, China Film's status stood firm, and the momentum of Shanghai Film was pressed down. A newly established China Film was formed, and this newly established mountain absorbed many giants to join, but it still only had the distribution right for imported films, not the import right.

The import right was still firmly held in the hands of China Film.

The current situation was that Shanghai Film felt it was China Film's hand, and the two sides looked at each other with disgust.

As the traditional sphere of influence of China Film, the Film Academy, if they went directly to Shanghai Film for investment, they thought the success rate should be very large.

This was Li Yang's analysis, but he still suggested Lin Nan try China Film first. It didn't matter if it wasn't successful and was rejected; what he wanted was this result.

Shanghai Film definitely had an interest in fighting China Film, or even slapping them in the face.

Lin Nan understood after listening to Li Yang's words that he was really still young.

Lin Nan found a gap and asked a teacher to make an appointment with a department head of China Film. The other party might have given the school teacher face and met Lin Nan once.

The rejection was a real rejection, and the reason was very legitimate. There were so many old directors and old seniors asking for investment.

And Lin Nan, whether it was qualifications, crew, or achievements, had none. The group couldn't invest in you, and suggested he study hard first and take it slow.

Lin Nan was relieved and could go to see the people from Shanghai Film with peace of mind.

Coming here today was to avoid trouble later.

In a coffee shop, Lin Nan met the people from Shanghai Film, a man in his thirties, wearing glasses, and Li Yang didn't come.

"You are Lin Nan? Really young and promising. Heard from Li Dao that you were sure he could win an award and invested one hundred thousand," the other party's smile was very kind.

"Hello, it's Brother Li's praise."

"Did you bring the script? Let me see it first. I was also from the Shanghai Film Studio before."

"Brought it, here you go."

Lin Nan took a sip of coffee, watching the other party flip through the script.

Half an hour later, the other party straightened his glasses and returned the script to Lin Nan.

"Li Dao is the producer, and I have read the script; it is very good. Heard from Li Dao that you were rejected by China Film?"

"Yes, their meaning is that there are many old seniors waiting for investment, and they can't take care of newcomers for the time being," Lin Nan said very tactfully.

"It's like this here. Qualifications are always the first. Shanghai Film is a bit better. We can invest in this drama, make up the remaining share for you, and the distribution matter can also be solved together."

Lin Nan paused. "What are the conditions?"

The other party couldn't be so easy to talk to.

"We invest 2.2 million and hold 55% of the share."

Lin Nan's heart tightened. Sure enough, it wasn't that simple, but the other party could solve the distribution problem, so it didn't matter if they held 10% more.

"Heard the script was written by you. Do you have any interest in becoming a director in the future? Li Dao Yang seems to have grabbed both director and screenwriter in *Blind Shaft*."

At this time, the other party looked at Lin Nan and said this sentence.

"Becoming a director? Haven't considered it yet, but since you said so, I really need to consider it."

This sentence of Lin Nan was sincere.

The meeting went very smoothly. Lin Nan needed to register a company or studio as soon as possible. At that time, the investment agreement would be signed in the name of the company or studio.

After Lin Nan went back, he started the process and set up the company.

He rented a place near the school, and the studio was considered to have a place.

As for the registration, he found an intermediary, and the name just needed a slight change: Lin Nan Film and Television Studio.

The time taken by the normal process could be solved by spending money.

The studio's legal representative was Lin Nan, and the finance was also Lin Nan.

The signing was very smooth, and the payment was also smooth, but Shanghai Film sent a special person to watch, clearly not trusting Lin Nan, a newcomer, after all, it was several million.

When he brought the contract and capital certificate to school, the teachers were also taken aback.

This freshman really pulled in investment and gathered 4 million.

The photography department teacher originally wanted to recommend a student surnamed Ning to Lin Nan, saying he had won an award at the College Student Film Festival, but the reply received was that the other side was preparing to film a new play, called *Incense*.

Lin Nan knew who it was now: Director Ning Hao, although he wanted to film an art film, the one that made him successful in the end was comedy and commercial film.

No matter, Lin Nan found the director department teacher and asked him to help recommend a few seniors to assist him.

The film plot was right there. Finding a few seniors in the director department was also to let them help check for omissions and fill in the gaps. A few assistant director positions should be able to attract newcomers who hadn't graduated, and they were cheap.

And he could also ask for advice.

The director department teacher was of course willing to help with this favor. Not every director department student could handle an assistant director position in a crew at the beginning.

And it was an assistant director who did practical work.

The general direction of the film was in Lin Nan's mind. He had a bottom line for what results he wanted. He could find someone to hang the director's name in the assistant director's list or hang his own name.

Photography, Lin Nan was hesitating whether to find seniors in school or ask Shanghai Film to find someone.

This idea was sprayed by the photography department teacher as soon as it was said, scolding Lin Nan for looking down on the photography department.

Alright, in the end, the photography work found a few seniors in the fourth year, heard their grades in school were very good.

Lighting, script supervisor, and other messy positions were all found in school in the end.

Lin Nan sighed, leaning against a big tree to enjoy the cool.

As for the equipment and machines, Lin Nan could only rent them. China Film or Shanghai Film, this was a problem.

Finally, Li Yang suggested renting equipment from China Film, and the people from Shanghai Film didn't object. It might be that China Film was close and the cost was low. Anyway, Lin Nan could only think of this.

The general crew was put together like this, and finally, it was the actors.

He thought this was the simplest, he was from the acting department, finding a few people wasn't simple.

But things went contrary to his wishes. The heroine he wanted to find wasn't in school, heard she had other arrangements.

"Lin, I've been hanging around you for so long, don't you have anything to say to me?"

Zhu Yawen had indeed been hanging around Lin Nan since morning.

"Alright, alright, I know."

"Then is there a share for me?"

"Yes, yes, are you satisfied? You play the doctor's assistant, helping the doctor handle my confusion."

Lin Nan gave the role of Stan in the original play to Zhu Yawen, now called Zhu Wen.

And Lin Nan was the male lead, still using his original name in the play.

Time was tight, he found Zhou Yang to play the heroine, and was teased for a while. "Couldn't find your Miss Wang, so you thought of me, humph."

"Just say whether you act or not," Lin Nan couldn't stand her yin-yang tone.

It was all Zhu Yawen's big mouth.

"Act, why not act."

For the other assistant Mary of Dr. Howard in the original play, Lin Nan found Jiang Yiyan. At this time, she wasn't so pretentious.

Some unimportant roles, Lin Nan found extras. Don't say, quite a few extras were familiar faces, just couldn't call their names.

In mid-March, the stumbling crew was considered gathered.

"*Warmth Within* is officially started, everyone come on."

"Come on."

"Come on."

The whole crew was almost all people from the Film Academy, and the atmosphere was incomparably harmonious.

Zhou Yang lost her memory in the experiment of the psychiatrist, forgetting the lover Lin Nan who had been with her all along...

Actually, both sides were tired of feelings, tired of marriage, and both took the initiative to accept brain surgery to forget each other...

"Junior Sister Zhou, don't always laugh."

Zhou Yang was scolded by the senior in the director department.

This wasn't the first time.

"Sorry, but every time I see Lin Nan, thinking he is my husband, I want to laugh, can't help it. Usually, we are fighting and bickering."

"Big sister, every time you laugh, what you waste is everyone's time, it's money."

Lin Nan realized this mood after becoming a producer. He really cut his own meat and took his own money.

Lin Nan said one sentence, and it was much more useful. Next, there were no big problems.

Zhu Yawen's performance was very good, didn't lose face for his best friend Lin Nan, almost all passed in one or two takes. A silly person playing a silly person had no difficulty.

Lin Nan described Zhu Yawen like this; he was like this in life.

Jiang Yiyan also worked very hard. At this time, she was only a freshman, not the Jiang lady who relied on people and loved to pretend later.

This film was good, but it wasn't that good. The advantage was its imaginative plot and setting. In the film and television dramas of this time, love films mostly had a serious visual style.

The sweet pet plots and bloody plots of later generations hadn't appeared yet.

A different style was also one of the selling points of this film.

The filming went smoothly. Lin Nan was washed away of his memory bit by bit, thinking of the good times with his wife. He suddenly regretted it, but the memory was still dissipating bit by bit, so he had to try every means to keep the last remaining memory.

The plot unfolded from here.

The surgery didn't seem very successful, and bits and pieces of life often flashed in his mind.

The two kept wandering in reality and memory, and finally constantly these fragments in memory, gradually waking up.

It turned out that the past life was not just mutual hatred, boredom, and misunderstanding, but also more beautiful memories worth savoring.

Lin Nan referred to the original play and still kept the open ending, neither reunited nor separated. At the end of the film, Lin Nan and Zhou Yang walked on a lawn...

"*Warmth Within* successfully finished!"

"Oh, it's finally over."

Everyone was very excited, these twenty-odd days were very fulfilling.

"Lin, don't get into the play, sister doesn't like your low emotional intelligence," Zhou Yang was carefree and started acting up again.

Lin Nan retorted, "Thanks, I also like ladies."

"Hahaha, let you not ask for trouble, but you don't listen," Zhu Yawen laughed on the side.

"Shut up."

What he got was Zhou Yang's roar. ===== CHAPTER 9 =====

What followed was Zhou Yang's roar.