Chapter 48: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—Xianxia is a Trap!

Jiaying Entertainment has its own printer.

It was fast.

Three scripts were held in the hands of Yang Mi, Lu Liang, and Ning Fei, respectively.

They opened to the first page.

The title of the script appeared before their eyes.

"《Chinese Paladin 1》?"

Yang Mi was slightly stunned.

She had originally thought the twins' second script would continue the supernatural theme of 《Ring》 and follow a horror route.

She hadn't expected it.

To actually be Xianxia?

At the same time.

On the sofa.

Lu Liang was also stunned.

This was a middle-aged man with a shaved head; there wasn't a single hair on top.

It wasn't that he didn't want to keep it, but that he couldn't.

Because he was a workaholic, he had already gone bald before the age of thirty-five.

Later, he simply shaved it all off.

Come to think of it.

This man was quite interesting.

When he first entered the industry, he was just a handyman on set. Through constant learning, he became a script supervisor, then through more learning, a prop master, then a lighting technician, cinematographer, editing director, action director...

Basically, he had done every job on a film crew.

He could be called an all-rounder.

Later, he grew tired of the days spent constantly running with crews and wanted to settle down and live a stable life.

It just so happened that Yang Mi was founding Jiaying and recruiting talent.

So, he came to Jiaying.

"A Xianxia theme? But, are these two sisters really young people? Why is the naming so old-fashioned?"

It wasn't that the name made Lu Liang dissatisfied.

It was just... youth.

This name stirred up his memories.

A few years back, novels and Wu Xia dramas loved using "XX Legend" for titles.

For example, "Legend of the XX Heroes," "Legend of the XX Twins," "XX Side Stories"...

But now, such naming conventions were basically never seen.

The Xianxia dramas popular now, one and all, were either bizarrely short or long to the point of being a tongue-twister.

They were terrified the audience wouldn't understand how high-end their drama titles were.

On the contrary, a simple name like "Chinese Paladin" really struck a chord with him.

He felt it was quite good for a title to be simple; why bother with all those flashy, pretentious things?

Of course, the title wasn't actually important; the content was what mattered.

"I wonder what kind of story it will be?"

Lu Liang turned to the next page.

And beside him.

Ning Fei's brows were furrowed high.

In the Jiaying Entertainment Film and Television Department, he and Lu Liang had a particularly resounding nickname: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

He was also a fascinating character.

Years ago, he became a well-known television director with the hit "Burning Era."

But after that, he never stood up again.

Every one he filmed was a flop.

People called him "The Impotent Brother."

Eventually, there was no capital left that would hire him to film.

With no other choice, he came to Jiaying.

However, Yang Mi believed in his strength; the man had great personal ability and was overflowing with talent, but he had peaked at his debut and subsequently encountered setbacks, making it difficult for him to overcome his own psychology.

At this very moment.

Ning Fei frowned:

"Xianxia dramas were okay a few years ago, especially when they first appeared; they were absolute blockbusters, and you'd make money just by filming them casually. But now... Xianxia dramas are a huge trap."

"Recent Xianxia dramas, they call themselves Xianxia, but they're actually romance. If they aren't falling in love, they're on the way to falling in love. The immortals start human catastrophes and throw the three realms into chaos just to have a romance; the audience gets annoyed after watching it for so long."

"Moreover, filming Xianxia is especially expensive, and it's easy to flop!"

"Although it's true that it's easy to produce a hit, the difficulty is extremely high."

"This trap is a damn fire pit! These two sisters are truly newborn calves not afraid of tigers, daring to take on such a difficult subject."

Ning Fei thought to himself, deciding that if the script quality wasn't up to par later, he would definitely persuade Yang Mi not to film it.

Although he had read the script for 《Ring》 and that script was written quite well.

But Xianxia dramas weren't something you could play with easily; one slight mistake and you'd lose everything.

He had filmed a Xianxia script himself back in the day, and the result... a total flop!

Forget it, don't mention it; talking about it just brings tears.

At this time.

He glanced at his two "teammates."

He saw Yang Mi's beautiful eyes fixed on the script, occasionally letting out a giggle.

Lu Liang was also completely focused.

Wait...

This atmosphere seemed a bit off.

As for the two young girls, Xu Youyue and Xu Mingyue, they were sitting together, wearing headphones, holding their phones horizontally and tapping away, seemingly playing a game.

They seemed very confident in their script.

"I'd better take a look first."

Ning Fei started reading as well.

Unlike the script for 《Ring》, the Chinese Paladin 1 script listed the character names at the beginning, along with simple character profiles.

"They're quite diligent..." Ning Fei praised inwardly.

He had read many scripts, but rarely one this detailed.

Li Li Xiaoyao.

Zhao Zhao Linger.

Lin Yueru.

Anu.

Moon Worshipper Sect Leader.

Qing'er.

Ning Fei scanned through each character profile.

His expression became increasingly solemn.

"It's not just Xianxia; it's actually an ensemble drama."

"They have real guts!"

You have to know, filming a story centered on a single protagonist is already difficult enough to make brilliant.

Let alone an ensemble.

The difficulty of filming this was much higher than the original baseline.

However, looking at it from another angle.

Ensemble dramas actually have their own advantages.

For instance, veteran actors especially love appearing in ensemble dramas; after all, as long as they are actors, they don't want to become background props for others; they also want to shine in the drama.

Moreover, the character settings in ensemble dramas are generally very well-fleshed out.

"As expected of the person who wrote 《Ring》, these two sisters have some real skill." After finishing all the listed character profiles, Ning Fei sighed with emotion.

Although he still felt that the Xianxia genre was a huge trap and it would be best not to film it, at the very least, he couldn't find any faults with the character settings in this script.