2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 40 Zhang Junmei Returns

Lu Mingze and Chu An tacitly chose to ignore all the disputes in the outside world.

The ups and downs experienced by the film crew have been reported by several TV entertainment programs. The truth and falsehood of some of these reports are absurd, but after weighing the pros and cons, I've chosen to ignore them.

Because everyone knows that the problems they face are not in the realm of public opinion, and this fierce battle with Tiandu cannot be resolved by simply exchanging a few words in front of the media.

Only by focusing on making a good film can we talk about what comes next.

In this atmosphere, the production team moved forward in an orderly manner.

That afternoon, Chu An had no filming assignments but did not leave the film crew.

Because the afternoon's scenes were the last set of shots for the second episode, once that set was filmed, the first two episodes could be sent back to Shengjing overnight for editing and post-production.

Lu Mingze was fully immersed in the filming and took it very seriously. Xu Shu, without Chu An causing trouble, also had noticeably better acting skills, even Tong Meng, who played Geng Geng's mother, was not bad.
Okay, Chu An had previously promised Tong Meng that he would change the role of the head teacher to a woman for her to play, but Tong Meng ultimately gave up on it herself.

That role had a lot of screen time and was very memorable, but because of that, Tong Meng was afraid that she wouldn't do a good job and would drag the crew down, so she took the initiative to ask to continue playing the mother.

Chu An was deeply moved by Meng Jie's noble character and vowed to create a perfect role for her in the future.

With Lu Mingze's shout, "Passed!"

The entire cast and crew applauded enthusiastically, celebrating the most important step taken by "The Best of Us".

Because the first two episodes are very important, Lu Mingze will personally fly back to Shengjing tonight with the master copy to have a real-life showdown with the editor, and then fly back tomorrow night.

Yes, a fight is inevitable. No director can be friends with an editor; they are natural enemies.

For a director, every frame is a treasure, but for an editor, "Heh!" All it takes to anger a director is a single cut.

"Why don't you just find someone to take it back? Do you really have to make the trip yourself?" Ma Lan was still trying to persuade her before she left, "It will delay a day of filming."

Director Lu insisted, "I want to explain my requirements to the editing team in person; it's easy to make mistakes over the phone."

The editing was done by the film and television production center under Shengjing TV.

In this era, each satellite TV station has its own film and television center, which serves two purposes: producing original dramas and taking on odd jobs to earn extra money.

Sister Lan deeply sympathized with Director Lu's persistence.

Director Lu was unaware that Shengjing TV charged 30,000 yuan per episode for editing, and Chu An secretly asked Sister Lan to give them 50,000 yuan.

There was only one requirement: "You must not listen to a single word Lu Mingze says!"

The director's work is an artistic creation, while the editor's work is purely commercial; these two things are completely unrelated.

Listen to the director; how the film is edited depends on whether God is pleased.

"Let him go!" Chu An stopped Ma Lan. "He won't feel at ease if he doesn't go."

Chu An was also looking forward to seeing how the first two episodes would turn out.

Although he copied the existing work from his previous life, the two dramas are actually completely different due to various subtle influences.

First of all, the directors are different, and the styles presented are completely different.

The previous version of "The Best of Us" was filmed with digital cameras, which had limited camera capabilities.

This film, directed by Lu, who excels at creating atmosphere, was shot entirely on film, and the picture quality is at least two levels better than the previous one!

Then comes the plot.

Chu An not only changed the opening scene of their first encounter, but he also changed the military training scenes in the first and second episodes.

There was no other way; firstly, to save costs, and secondly, because time didn't allow the crew to hold another military training session.

It starts with the start of school, the opening ceremony, and then directly moves on to daily campus life—simple and straightforward.

Finally, due to the weekly broadcast format, Chu An and Wang Zheng worked together to make significant adjustments to the series structure.

Daily dramas are watched one episode today and the next one the next day, while weekly dramas have a full week's interval, which means that the issue of audience retention must be considered during the creative process.

There should be a climax at least every two episodes, and each episode must end with a "hook" to keep the audience in suspense.

For example, the scene in Game of Thrones where Jon Snow is resurrected.

Last week, Jon Snow was stabbed repeatedly by one person, leaving him riddled with holes.
But whether he is dead or not will not be known for another week.

The following week, Jon Snow was confirmed dead, giving the audience a glimmer of hope for his resurrection.

Jon Snow wasn't shown opening his eyes until the very last shot.

So how did he survive, and how did he take revenge? Stay tuned for the week after next.

This is the hook, the key structure of weekly dramas.

Therefore, when it comes to "With You," what Wang Zheng and Chu An need to do is to arrange the plot structure reasonably, so that each episode has at least one climax, and that the end of every two episodes leaves a hook to keep the audience in suspense.

As a result, the version of "The Best of Us" in this timeline has almost nothing in common with the version in another timeline, except for the main storyline.

No one knows what the final result will be.

……

"Damn bastards! Shengjing TV is just a bunch of idiots!" A few days later, Director Lu received the edited first two episodes and, as expected, started cursing.

"They didn't listen to my requests at all, they just let them go in one ear and out the other. They cut them all out."

After watching the master copy, Chu An breathed a sigh of relief and quietly said to Ma Lan, "Who edited it? We can work together long-term in the future."

Ma Lan gave him an OK sign, then comforted Lu Mingze with a worried look, "But it's already cut like this, what can we do? There's no time to recut it!"

"Or maybe we should just forget about it and submit it for review as is!"

Lu Mingze, "..."

Yes, there's no time left, so we'll just have to bear with it.

"Submit it for review!"

Liaoning Provincial Radio and Television went all out, expediting the entire review process. They had no choice but to go all out, because this was no longer just a matter for the radio and television department; the Liaoning Provincial Local Taxation Bureau was also monitoring the situation.

The reason was that Chu An was afraid of any unforeseen changes during the review process, so he used his ultimate weapon.

He asked Ma Lan to contact the Liaoning Provincial Tax Bureau, saying that Lu Mingze had decided to file for tax registration for "The Best of Us" in Liaoning Province.

Upon hearing this, the tax authorities exclaimed, "What? You want to pay taxes here?" They were practically ready to grab a knife and urge the broadcasting bureau to quickly issue the "production license" and "distribution license."

On October 7th, the first day back to work after the National Day holiday, the first and second episodes of "With You" finally received their distribution licenses.

The next step is to copy the master film and distribute it to county and city-level television stations across the country.

It was on the night of October 7th that Chu An, Lu Mingze, and the others spent the entire night without sleep.

The group didn't even go back to the guesthouse. After finishing work, they sat on Chu An's old sofa, staring at each other.

Ma Lan was a little tired. Looking at the even more exhausted group, she advised, "Why don't you all go back to sleep? I'll wake you up when Zhang Junmei comes back!"

Chu An smiled wryly and looked at Ji Yinglai, "Can you sleep?"

Brother Lai glared at him, "You can sleep! Anytime!"

"But I can only sleep for three hours. I have to get up to work at two o'clock. So it doesn't matter where I sleep!" As he spoke, he slumped onto the sofa and started snoring.

Chu An looked at Wang Zheng again, "Why don't you go back?"

Wang Zheng: "I'm not going back! I'll wait. I want to see with my own eyes that the number Zhang Junmei mentioned is true!"

"Nonsense!" Dong Wende frowned. "It's definitely fake, don't even dream about it!"

"That old woman never tells the truth; she's definitely just teasing us!"

Chu An laughed, "Then go back to sleep, you have to film tomorrow!"

Upon hearing this, Old Dong realized there was nowhere for him to sit, so he simply squatted down. "I'm not going back! The beds at the guesthouse are too hard; I can't sleep there!"

And so, the whole room of people stared at each other blankly.

Chu An simply turned on the TV, and CCTV's midnight drama slot was rebroadcasting last year's hit drama, "The Rise and Fall of the Republic of China".

I didn't really look at it; I just heard the sound.

But Ji Yinglai, who had already fallen asleep, woke up again, curled up, and squinted at the TV.

After a long pause, he blurted out, "If only our show could be as popular as that one!"

Ji Yinglai initially stayed for the money.

But having come this far, we've overcome countless difficulties and poured our hearts and souls into the production team, and our feelings for the crew can no longer be measured by money.

"Doesn't it need to be this high?" Dong Wende calmed down instead. "To be honest, if this drama can reach an average level, we'll have something to brag about."

After saying that, he became agitated again, "Damn Zhang Junmei! How could she possibly have negotiated with so many TV stations? Even if she ran herself ragged, she couldn't possibly have negotiated with that many!?"

No one responded; they all agreed that what Old Dong said made sense.

……

Lu Mingze stood on the balcony all night.

He chain-smoked, staring intently at the dark Ma Yan'er River and the gradually thinning lights of the southern city.

Just as dawn was breaking, the high beams of a van jolted him awake, and the dim glow of his cigarette butt hung suspended in mid-air.

He stood there frozen, watching the car drive into the residential compound, before suddenly realizing what was happening. He burst through the balcony door and rushed downstairs.

As if a switch had been flipped, everyone moved with incredible speed, following Director Lu as they shot into the stairwell.

I ran to the building entrance and sure enough, I saw the minivan parked quietly there.

When Zhang Junmei didn't get out of the car, Director Lu went to meet her. Looking through the car window, he saw that Zhang Junmei was asleep, wearing a coat.

As if sensing everyone's gaze, Zhang Junmei slowly opened her eyes, then rolled down the car window, "Director Lu."

Lu Mingze stared blankly for a long time before finally replying, "Sigh!"

She had a lot to say but couldn't say it. Even a fool could see that Zhang Junmei had lost a lot of weight in just 40 days.

The dim interior light illuminated her face, making her look incredibly haggard.

"Thanks for your hard work!"

Zhang Junmei smiled and said, "Let's unload them; they're all in the back."

The group then hurriedly unloaded four suitcases from the car.

The box was extremely heavy; one person could barely lift it.

Ji Yinglai almost dropped it before exclaiming dramatically, "What is all this? It's heavier than a person!"

Zhang Junmei smiled and proudly replied, "The contract."

"First broadcast contracts with 2276 county and city-level television stations!"

Lu Mingze: "..."

Where's my oxygen tube?!
.

sorry sorry
I got back around 5 a.m. I could have done my post earlier, but I fell asleep.

ha! !

It was too late when I opened my eyes.

I will definitely make it up later.

(End of this chapter)