Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 303: Poke your lungs!
I can’t remember how many times Lu Chuan has cried in front of the media.

Although I am a creative person with a delicate mind and a sensitive heart, I can't stand you crying like this.

Lu Chuan, feeling that "The Banquet" was withdrawn from the summer schedule due to "non-commercial reasons", choked up and apologized at the Shanghai Film Festival Industry Forum.

The Banquet was originally scheduled to be released on July 7, the day before The Ordinary Man, Searching, and The Secret Code of Wudang.

The publicity team of "The Ordinary Man" was taking it very seriously. After all, "The Banquet" did have the potential to be a blockbuster, but they didn't expect it to be withdrawn from the schedule unexpectedly.

The theme of today's forum is "The Way to Redemption of Chinese-language Films". The organizer would like to invite Li Qiutang, a representative of young directors, to talk about the future of Chinese-language films and filmmakers in the face of the impact of Hollywood.

But Li Qiutang felt that this topic was not good. Such a forum would turn into a rant and complain conference, which he did not like, so he declined the invitation: "I don't like your topic. Chinese films only need to develop in line with the domestic and foreign trends. There is no need for redemption."

He was very busy at the Shanghai Film Festival. In order to gain exposure for "The Ordinary Man", he had to attend three or four events and seven or eight interviews a day. The premiere press conference of "The Ordinary Man" was also held at the Shanghai Film Festival.

I don’t have time to attend forums.

"Ni Jingyang was difficult to shoot," Li Qiutang mentioned Ni Jingyang when talking about the difficulties in shooting "Pifu". "She is too tall. We had a scene where she wore a cheongsam and high heels. She looked stunning on the set, but it was difficult to shoot. She is tall to begin with, and when she put on the high heels, she was almost 1.9 meters tall. It was hard to find her in the camera."

But the real heroine Zhang Xinyi also has to stand out: "She is very dedicated and hardworking. She is the happy fruit of our crew, and we call her the second sister. I often say to her, what will you do if you can't get married if you are so crazy."

Zhang Xinyi was still in love with Wang Zhifei when she was filming "Pifu", and they broke up in March this year.

As for the male lead Huang Xiaoming, there is no need to emphasize that he has been exposed enough, but he no longer plays the victim and says that he was "forced" to invest, but talks about his investment method: "I often chat with some investors, and in the process of contacting them, I found that I have a talent for doing business."

He wasn't exaggerating when he said this, Xiao Ming does have a good business mind.

The focus is of course still "Pifu". Huang Xiaoming showed the magnanimity of an investor: "I never thought about making money from "Pifu", but I still did it. The film market needs people who die on the beach, and I am willing to be a sacrifice."

This is a bit too pretentious. You have invited Li Qiutang here, and you still say you don’t want to make money?

But he has to show off. You have invited Li Qiutang here, so how can you not show off?

Meanwhile, Li Qiutang was finally caught by Qin Lan at the Shanghai Film Festival. Qin Lan knew that Li Qiutang didn't like beating around the bush, so she explained her intention directly: "Lu Chuan asked me about you last time, saying that he was your senior after all, so he cared about you. I'll host you tonight so you two can meet."

Li Qiutang knew that this meeting was just an ordinary one, and Qin Lan and Lu Chuan couldn't ask anything from her, but she still said, "There's no need to meet, it's so embarrassing."

It’s not that Li Qiutang was embarrassed. Li Qiutang is not that petty. He was just afraid that Lu Chuan would be embarrassed.

"What's so awkward about having a meal? Just think of it as me thanking you for giving me "Temptation to Go Home". He's here to keep you company, and you can just eat my meal, okay?"

Since things had come to this, Li Qiutang had no choice but to agree to attend the banquet.

"Take Yifei with you." Others might not know, but how could Qin Lan not know?
"She left Shanghai yesterday." He lied. Liu Yifei left for Chedun Film and Television City an hour ago, where Shu Chang was filming "Beauty of War", and would be back in the evening.

He just felt that there was no need to bring Liu Yifei with him tonight.

Qin Lan didn't think about it. If she didn't want to come, then she didn't have to come. The guest of honor was Li Qiutang anyway.

The location is the famous Lan Club, which has been sold by South Beauty. Li Qiutang doesn’t know who the current owner is.

At 7:40 in the evening, Li Qiutang drove to the Lan Club alone. Qin Lan and Lu Chuan were already in the box.

He started off in a frivolous way: "Sorry, I just came here after watching the live show."

Qin Lan smiled and said, "It's okay, we just arrived too."

Lu Chuan stood up and smiled reluctantly: "Are you here? Haha."

Li Qiutang responded very reluctantly and nodded: "I'm here, haha."

"Sit down, sit down." Qin Lan offered her seat. Li Qiutang didn't order, and gave the initiative to Qin Lan: "The guest should follow the host's wishes. I'll eat whatever you order. This is my first time in this restaurant."

Qin Lan didn't bother to be polite with Li Qiutang and quickly ordered the dishes.

As the middleman, Qin Lan was responsible for bringing the two closer together and livening up the atmosphere. Of course, the topic started with the movie, but unfortunately, Huang Xiaoming was her ex-boyfriend. If it were just her and Li Qiutang, she wouldn't care whether to mention Huang Xiaoming or not. But now that Lu Chuan was there, it was not convenient for her to mention Huang Xiaoming and "The Ordinary Man" on her own initiative.

"Can you handle booking two films at once?" Qin Lan asked Li Qiutang.

Li Qiutang smiled and said, "Just push it slowly. I'll shoot whichever one goes well. These two movies will keep me busy for three to five years."

"And the Towering Tree Project."

"Yes, I will follow the whole process of the plan and find them funding, channels, and a team."

"Why do you want to make such a plan?"

"The money has to be spent." Li Qiutang was not being pretentious. In autumn, the performance was good, so he attracted more investment. But how much could a director like Li Qiutang spend? He had to build a cinema, recruit new people, and start projects to spend the money. This is what it means to spend other people's money to start your own business.

"In the first two years, I begged and pleaded for investment. Now that people have invested, I don't know how to spend it."

This sentence was just a show-off, Qin Lan and Lu Chuan both heard it.

The investors' money is not so much that they don't know how to spend it. The special effects company alone is a bottomless pit. If the money is really enough, Li Qiutang will destroy Mojing Tianhe by all means.

Not to mention the other industrial layouts that Li Qiutang and Zhang Zhao want to make, such as animation, offline theaters, real-life entertainment and even amusement parks. These all cost money, and tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars!
Of course, these are not suitable for blowing now.

But Li Qiutang said that Autumn Pictures had prepared 1.5 million yuan in funding for his two films without even a script, which was enough to make Lu Chuan jealous.

There are people who invest in his films, but the funds are very unstable. Simply put, he has no fixed source of financial support.

When he was filming "The Banquet", he left Starlight International and couldn't find any investment for a long time. No company took over his project. Finally, Star Media was willing to take a gamble with him.

If he had a stable source of financial support like Li Qiutang, many of his ideas could be realized.

But he couldn't say that he envied Li Qiutang for having stable investments. Not only could he not say it, he also had to teach this junior a lesson:

"I think it's better for directors not to come into direct contact with money. The producer is in charge of this matter. We still have to keep our creative mind clear."

Did you think so when you cried and said sorry to Mr. Qin at the Shanghai Film Festival?

Qin Lan obviously understood what Lu Chuan meant, and her expression suddenly became nervous.

Li Qiutang said: "It's fine for the producer to manage the money, but the investors came to me for their benefit, so I have to be responsible for the money. I can't just cry about the loss of money by the investors, right? My tears are not worth that much money."

These words hit Lu Chuan right in the lungs! He knew that he would cry easily when the audience was unhappy with him, and he was also unhappy after hearing what Li Qiutang said.

But he controlled himself, as losing his temper on the spot would have been ungraceful.

"I still don't want to be full of money. After all, making movies is an artistic creation. It's not like making a basket and then selling it. It's different." He also pretended, "I never ask about the money of the crew. Sometimes the producer comes to me to talk about money, and I say don't ask me, I don't touch money, I just focus on making movies."

When the filming of "Nanjing! Nanjing!" was suspended due to lack of money, who was the one who dragged the actress to have dinner with the clients?

The dishes came, and Li Qiutang started to eat first. Lu Chuan was still talking, and this time he acted like a senior:
"I've been in the industry for a few more years than you. At the beginning, I also asked for money, but later I realized that I still needed the role. Money is the third or fourth most important thing to me. You'll understand what I mean after you've been in the industry for a few more years."

Li Qiutang just felt that she was not used to Cantonese cuisine. Northeastern people pay attention to the flavor of their food, and Cantonese cuisine focuses on the original flavor of the ingredients, which Li Qiutang could not eat.

(End of this chapter)