2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 39: Scriptwriter Chu's script is full of jokes.
If you can't act well, change the character's persona. If your performance lacks tension, compensate with character tension and dramatic tension.

This was an idea Chu An had given to Tong Meng before, and now he's using it on himself.

If President Chu can't portray Yu Huai well, then can't he at least make Yu Huai's character the talk of the town?
Who can blame Chu An for being the screenwriter?

From the day Lu Mingze begged him to play Yu Huai, Chu An had already decided that the Yu Huai in this timeline must be different from the original Yu Huai.

The big star Xu is about to face Yu Huai, a "master of witty remarks" and a "meme generator".

Even on the third take, Xu Shu was still laughing. It wasn't until Director Lu helplessly yelled "Cut!" that Xu Shu finally gave in and apologized to Lu Mingze, saying, "Give me two minutes to adjust."

Director Lu, "..."

He thought it would be Chu An who kept making mistakes, but it turned out that it was the big star Xu who broke down.

Left with no other choice, he waved to Chu An, "Why don't you change the song?"

It's not just because Xu Shu couldn't continue acting, but because if Chu An were to act like this, Yu Huai's character would be too bizarre.

Think about it, a top student, that's the original setting.

He's a troublemaker; he even roasted figs with Geng Geng in the middle of the night.

Now there's another one: "wanting to marry seven or eight wives"?
This guy is such a weirdo!

And... "Don't be happy now, or you won't be able to control yourself later."

How many more of these offbeat songs do you have?

Chu An raised an eyebrow. "I have as many as you want."

Director Lu seems to have absolutely no idea how much potential the "entertainers" will have in the next twenty years.

"If you can give me one joke with this kind of effect per episode, then you can keep acting!"

Lu Mingze really didn't believe it. Could you guarantee that there would be laughs throughout all 24 episodes?
Chu An: "..."

Is he insulting me?
He glared at her and said, "I'll give you two in one episode!"

After saying that, he went back to continue filming.

Xu Shu adjusted her mindset and quickly passed this part.

The next scenes of bickering and arguing were not difficult and lasted only half an hour before the crew moved to Ningyuan No.1 Middle School.

The next scene is Geng Geng and Yu Huai looking at the class assignment list together, which is the first time the pun "Geng Geng and Yu Huai" appears.

Chu An and Xu Shu stood side by side in front of the list, with all the extras and props already in place, ready to start filming.

Xu Shu was still agonizing over not being able to keep up with the previous scene, and whispered to Chu An, "Your performance doesn't count, you cheated!"

Chu An scoffed, "Didn't you say you could handle anything?"

Xu Shu, "Hmph!"

Denying it means she's not wrong. She stubbornly retorted, "Let me show you what acting really is!"

Chu An: "Oh."

"Scene 2, Shot 1, First take, Action!"

The board fell, and the first line was Xu Shu's. Just as she was about to speak, Chu An interrupted her.

As he looked at the charts, he hummed a tune, and it was yet another offbeat song.

"What I'm looking for isn't money, but an endless supply of money."

"What I'm hoping for isn't fate, but several million yuan."

"I look forward to working one day and earning... the same as you working for a year."

"I hope that when I wake up, that will come true..."

A heavily modified version of "What I'm Expecting Isn't Snow"!
"I!!"

Xu Shu completely broke down; she couldn't keep up the act anymore. This guy was doing it on purpose! What was he up to?!

For the first time, she revealed her frantic, girlish side in front of everyone, her whole body tense, her features contorted as she screamed, "This...life...is...unbearable!"

Turn around! Hands on hips!
"you!!"

The criticism was directed at Chu An, "Where did all this nonsense come from?! Can't you be normal for once?!"

Seeing Chu An looking stunned after being yelled at, she became even angrier. "Student, please answer me!"

Chu An shrugged, grinned, and blurted out:
"Don't be obsessed with me, he's just a legend."

Xu Shu: "???"

It's collapsed, let it be destroyed! It's pointless.

I wondered to myself, should I boycott the performance?
She's completely out of sorts, okay?
Director Lu's response was: "Cut! That's perfect!"

Xu Shu, “??????”

what's the situation?
Xu Shu went berserk, but the others remained calm.

Lu Mingze keenly noticed that although neither of their lines matched the script, the camera work was absolutely amazing!

Xu Shu: "..."

Composing himself and regaining his composure, he remained silent for a long while before letting out a low growl, "Ten game cards! Or this isn't over!"

Chu An, "..."

That night, Director Lu worked through the night to organize the footage shot that day, and he watched Chu An's scenes over and over again.

How to put it? It's really good! He didn't expect Chu An to portray Yu Huai so vividly, but he just couldn't feel happy.

"It's chaos! It's all chaos!"

Just then, Wang Zheng and his team B returned from work. As soon as they saw Director Lu, Wang Zheng eagerly reported, "The first day got off to a good start; everything went smoothly."

Seeing his worried expression, "What's wrong, Director Lu? What's wrong with you over there..."

Lu Mingze: "See for yourself!"

So he showed Wang Zheng the two scenes where Chu An sang the wrong song.

"I'm not sure if it will conflict with the original Yu Huai character. If the conflict is too big, the changes will be significant, and I'm not confident about it!"

However, to Lu Mingze's surprise, Wang Zheng's focus wasn't on Chu An's lyrics at all, but rather on a keen observation:
Which two songs were adapted from?

Director Lu was taken aback. "What's wrong?"

Wang Zheng: "Haven't you noticed? Putting aside whether the melody is good or not, you just want to hum along after hearing it once. It's quite memorable!"

He then asked, "Who sang the original version? I've never heard it before."

After hearing what he said, Lu Mingze realized what was going on.

With a stiff expression, he said, "We don't have a theme song yet!"

Wang Zheng: "There's no end credits song either!"

The two of them sprang up and went to find Chu An.

During this period, Chu An stayed at the guesthouse for work convenience.

However, the two knocked on Chu An's door for a long time but no one came.

"Where is he? Did he go home?"

Little did they know, they would never be able to return home. If the two of them were to knock on Xu Shu's door again at this point, they would find no one there.

The two men, acting like thieves, crouched low as they moved through the shadows below the guesthouse. Ten minutes later, they appeared at the internet cafe.

"Log in! Log in!" Xu Shu, unable to contain her online addiction, immediately sent private messages to [Golden War God], [King Kong No. 1], and Mingyue: "Little thief! I'll be waiting for you at the South Gate of Xiangyang!!"

The blond-haired internet cafe manager looked at it and thought to himself, "Is he cursing so elegantly today?"

Without saying a word, they manipulated the account and attacked.

President Chu and the famous star Xu played until late at night before reluctantly logging off and going back to sleep.

I was still sleepwalking when I was getting my makeup done for the morning shoot the next day.

Just then, Lu Mingze, quite oblivious to the awkwardness, came over and asked, "Who sang those two songs yesterday?"

Chu An asked, puzzled, "I made it up, so what?"

Director Lu, "..."

Staring wide-eyed, he made this up? Why doesn't he just fly to the moon?!

Chu An is now listed as one of three people in the production crew.

Producer, screenwriter, and male lead.

Now you're telling me he can write songs?

He tentatively asked, "Can you compose a complete version? It would be best if the lyrics could be revised to be more serious."

Chu An glanced at him; Director Lu's thoughts were written all over his face. Giving him no chance, she said, "Stop thinking about the theme song; it has another use!"

"what?"

Director Lu said regretfully, "What use are you?"

Chu An smiled slightly, thinking to himself, "I need to save these characters for later!"
Okay, as a shameless time traveler, when you sing a bad song, did you ever think about how to use the original "Little Happiness" and "What I'm Expecting Is Not Snow"?

As for where and how to use it, Chu An knew exactly what to do. Forget about theme songs and ending songs!
----

Meanwhile, at the Tiandu headquarters.

The rise of Tiandu can be seen as a microcosm of the great wave of reform in China.

It gradually shed its status as a state-owned institution and has now become a media giant with multiple investors and shareholders holding absolute control.

Its main business has evolved from simply creating TV dramas to becoming a comprehensive group company that integrates film and television creation, brokerage services, performance planning, and more.

Office of the Vice President.

Liang Guoliang, still hungover, listened to his secretary's report in a daze.

"Li Chunhua has withdrawn from Ningyuan, and the company has adopted his suggestion to allow Xu Shu to complete her contract with Lu Mingze."

Liang Guoliang felt annoyed just hearing Li Chunhua's name. "Get him out of here! He can't even handle this little thing, what use is he?!"

The secretary lowered his head, not daring to speak. Liang Guoliang's father was one of the founders of Tiandu, and now that he had taken over the business, he was the most difficult person to get along with on the board.

"President Liang..."

"Say something quickly."

Secretary: "Zhang Yuan reports that Director Lu has cast that screenwriter surnamed Chu as the male lead, and it seems that he is not planning to sell the distribution channels to the major TV stations."

"Hmm?" This made Liang Guoliang open his eyes slightly. "Not selling? Is he hiding it at home to use as a bedpost?"

He doesn't care about screenwriters making him the male lead; he's just a nobody.

His concern is whether to sell it to major TV stations.
The secretary said, "It's like this. A few days ago, Director Lu's people contacted Ningyuan TV Station and sold the first broadcast rights of 'The Best of Us' to Ningyuan TV Station for 2 yuan."

"What?" Liang Guoliang burst out laughing. "Lu Mingze, Lu Mingze, you're getting more and more successful! Premiering on a county-level TV station?"

What was he thinking?

The secretary said, "Our analysis is that he was probably trying to give CCTV a response. Didn't General Manager Chen already make arrangements for CCTV to see a sample episode of 'The Best of Us'?"

"In addition, we've blocked all the channels for satellite TV stations."

"Director Lu has probably completely given up on the release of 'The Best of Us' and pinned all his hopes on 'You Are My Glory'."

"Give up?" This greatly improved Liang Guoliang's mood and made him much more energetic. He asked himself and answered, "Isn't that giving up?"

"They've already premiered it on a county-level TV station. From now on, Lu Mingze will be a joke. Let's see how he survives in this industry!"

The secretary opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and decided to remind her, "I heard that Zhang Junmei is also contacting other county-level TV stations."

Upon hearing this, Liang Guoliang laughed even harder, "Let him be! How much money can a county-level TV station give him? And how many stations can he contact?"

The secretary nodded almost imperceptibly, clearly agreeing with President Liang's view.

After all, premiering on a county-level TV station is a way of lowering one's status in anyone's eyes, and Lu Mingze was clearly driven to desperation by Tian Du.

He continued, "The project team conducted an assessment and found that Director Lu has 4450 million yuan available."

"They originally planned to spend 2000 million on filming and promotion."

"But now, they are shooting in groups A and B, and have rented 6 film cameras and 400 sets of film."

"With the additional personnel expenses from all sides, the budget may increase further, and we will hardly be able to recover the costs."

"In other words, Director Lu won't have much left of the more than 4000 million."

Hearing this made Liang Guoliang even happier.

Many people may think that urban campus dramas don't have high production costs.

That's a huge misconception. The cost of urban dramas, especially campus dramas, is no less than that of period dramas with special effects.

To be precise, each person has their own expenses.

Historical dramas are valued for their costumes and makeup, while urban dramas are valued for their props and sets.

The more money Lu Mingze loses, the better; ideally, he should spend it all. Then, Tian Du will coordinate by exaggerating the glorious story of "The Best of Us" losing everything in the media. Liang Guoliang wants to see who dares to invest in and sponsor "You Are My Glory" then.

If this movie loses money, he has another movie to cover it up. But what if that movie also loses money?

In Liang Guoliang's view, a fool like Lu Mingze would never escape Tiandu's grasp.

He glanced at his watch, got up, and walked out. "Remind me when it airs so I can see how good a show that premieres on a county-level channel must be."

……

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Thank you to [Kzzz] for the generous donation.

Thank you to [Old Stove] for the generous donation.

Thank you to [Just You Are Sun Luo], [Hidden in the Years], [Qi Shitou], [Shen Tu Mingliang], [A Lone Sword in the Cold Evening Snow], [Ling Moyu], and [Bang Jin] for their generous donations.

Thank you so much! Whether you're an old friend or a new one, I, Lao Cang, would like to express my gratitude for your support and encouragement of my new book.

Additionally, there will be extra chapters after the Alliance Leader is released.

Thanks again, boss! May you be generous and prosperous! May all the bosses go wild!
Also, tomorrow morning's chapter might be delayed; I haven't been to the store to show my presence as the owner for several days.

Try to return home as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)