Chapter 40 Hopes Not High

Liu Shishi was slightly stunned before she came to her senses and asked, "Why didn't you let me take it to old K?"

Shen Yan looked puzzled. "Who is old K?"

"Cai Yinuo, my boss!"

"...Oh, I know her!"

Ah, the famous "Bit by a Dog Today" incident.

She was a ruthless woman who, in order to promote her own drama, directly stepped on Yu Zheng, Yang Mi, and Palaces...

However, this woman lacked true vision...

She had held the rights to Scarlet Heart in her hands for three years before finally deciding to film it, and she had also held the adaptation rights to Eternal Love for five years without making a single move!

Moreover, she was complacent and stuck in her old ways...

Anyway, Shen Yan had no desire to deal with her...

"My relationship with old K is very good," Liu Shishi said with a hint of pride. "How about it? Should I recommend the novel to old K?"

"...Let's forget it," Shen Yan shook his head. "Your boss definitely wouldn't appreciate the novel I wrote!"

"...How do you know?"

"...A hunch..."

Hu Ge's fans kept recommending Nirvana in Fire everywhere, and in the end, Shandong Film and Television snapped up that project!

Could it be... that Hu Ge's fans didn't know to recommend this project to Chinese Entertainment?

They definitely did!

Cai Yinuo was an extremely confident woman; she simply never had any intention of buying Nirvana in Fire and putting it into production...

Not to mention Lotus Gully!

Liu Shishi asked curiously, "How can you have such a hunch? You don't even know old K!"

"...But the scripts of your company's dramas are basically written by writers from Hong Kong and Taiwan. She definitely wouldn't look favorably on what I write..." Pausing for a moment, Shen Yan added, "If you don't believe me, you can go and ask."

"...Then if Director Li is also not interested, what do you plan to do?"

Shen Yan glanced at her. "I'm not in a hurry... Maybe one day when I have money, I'll just produce and direct it myself!"

"Produce and direct it yourself?"

"For a TV series, do you know what the most important thing is?"

"What is it? The script?"

"No... It's stars!"

Liu Shishi was surprised. "Stars?"

"A dynamic medium like a TV series has to be sold to TV stations, and the acquisition departments of TV stations only recognize stars... Even if the script is a piece of crap, as long as you can get a big star to headline it, the TV station will still pay for it!" Pausing briefly, Shen Yan said, "Alright, I'm done chatting with you. I'm going to go rehearse a scene with teacher Zheng Peipei..."

Liu Shishi looked thoughtful...

Well, actually, what Shen Yan said was true, but stars who reached the level where TV stations would blindly pay up actually did pick their scripts!

At the very least, they had to be top-tier television celebrities.

You had to ensure that the project you chose was worthy of your standing...

They simply wouldn't take on overly terrible projects.

Unless you threw massive amounts of money at them...

Chu Yunfei—no, Zhang Guangbei—had acted in a bunch of anti-Japanese legendary war dramas, such as God of Guns, Legends of Eight Directions, Student Soldiers, Coming Fiercely, and Fighting Demons Together. There were simply too many. According to Jianghu rumors, wherever Zhang Guangbei went, anti-Japanese absurdities followed!

There was also a show called Sirius Operation, where his name was "Chu Tianfei." It was said that he laughed when he first saw the character's name, but he still gritted his teeth and filmed it anyway (because the pay was too high).

This was a man who had starred in Drawing Sword; didn't he know that such shows were complete nonsense?

Later on, he even stated himself: "The foundation of Drawing Sword's success was realism, while 'anti-Japanese fantasy dramas' are randomly concocted and carelessly written!"

Ahem...

However, his mention of the adaptation of Lotus Gully... was just a casual remark.

Li Guoli was probably not interested.

Even if he were interested, he would have to wait in line, considering that Strange Hero Yi Zhimei and Scarlet Heart were already waiting in line!

Better look to Ji Xiang's side instead!

Oh, Ji Xiang felt that Lotus Gully had adaptation potential—after all, the character dynamics inherited those of The Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword, and the narrative framework relied on episodic mystery-solving and detective work...

Actually, with his connections, developing a TV series wasn't particularly difficult.

The only real difficulty was... how to get Shen Yan to play the male lead!

After all, Shen Yan was a newcomer...

No matter how you calculated it, the investment for Lotus Gully couldn't possibly be less than 30 million...

Oh, these days, anything over 20 million was considered a major production—back in 2007, Fan Bingbing's first self-produced TV series, Rose Martial World, had a total investment as high as 28 million yuan, striving for perfection in every detail to showcase an extremely luxurious production level...

That's right, 28 million was already considered a high investment!

Of course, Rose Martial World was a Republican-era drama with no grand battle scenes, focusing mostly on inner courtyard struggles, so the money was spent heavily on costumes and styling.

That was the price from two years ago, and now... prices had risen by at least 50%...

By the time of The Legend of Madame Jin, the cost was close to 35 million!

Wuxia dramas were a bit different; they required elaborate sets, specific locations, and costumes...

One could look at other dramas of the same genre: back in the day, Li Yapeng's version of State of Divinity cost as much as 42 million, while Zhang Jizhong's tinkering with The Return of the Condor Heroes cost close to 30 million...

Oh, the cost of Sword Stained with Royal Blood was 20 million!

Again, that was the price tag from two years ago.

By the time of The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, the cost was close to 35 million...

Hu Ge's version of The Myth had a cost exceeding 40 million...

It was still quite expensive!

Pouring that much money into promoting a newcomer...

It just didn't make sense!

Why not produce it yourself?

Keep dreaming. These days, the highest salary for a television actor maxed out at six figures—Hu Ge's rate per episode was 120,000, Huang Xiaoming's was 150,000, and Zhang Guoli's was also 120,000...

After Huayi Brothers went public, actors ushered in their first wave of salary increases. Later on, following crackdowns on piracy, internet video platforms began aggressively expanding their territories, leading to a second wave of explosive growth in actors' market values, making eight-figure salaries the new normal...

...

"Cut! That's a wrap!"

Director Li Huizhu took off her headphones, wiped the sweat from her brow first, and then said, "Everyone take a break!"

"Sigh..."

The actors didn't look as spirited as usual; instead, they wilted and scattered in all directions, each seeking out a patch of shade.

It was already July, right in the dead of summer...

The temperatures were rising with reckless abandon.

The things most feared when filming were extreme heat or extreme cold; the heat tormented the humans, while the cold tormented the equipment, and if either went wrong, the production schedule would be delayed.

Extreme heat easily led to heavy sweating and ruined makeup.

Extreme freezing... well, actors suffered too, but the equipment suffered even more, frequently crashing completely...

Shen Yan routinely took the towel handed over by his assistant, quickly wiped away the sweat, and then stripped off his outer garment... blowing hard in front of the electric fan for a while...

He finally recovered a bit of vitality...

This damn weather was way too hot!

"I really don't want to drink this..."

Looking at the Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid brought over by Chen Xu, Shen Yan made a bitter face. "Is there any watermelon?"

"...Yes, I'll go get you a few slices!"

"And bring another bottle of iced cola along with some ice cubes..."

"Got it!"

Shen Yan stood in front of the electric fan and sprinkled some water on it... which didn't help much; the air blowing out was still scorching hot!

He still had to rustle up some ice cubes...

In the midsummer heat, taking ice cubes straight from the bucket, wrapping them in gauze, wiping them all over his head and face, and then standing in front of the electric fan to blow dry...

There was nothing quite as refreshing!

"Shen Yan," Shishi sidled over and saw what he was doing: "...What are you doing?"

"...Nothing, just trying to cool down a bit... Is lunch ready?"

Shen Yan turned back... wearing a disappointed expression: "Why didn't you help me grab a boxed meal?"

"All you know is eating!" Shishi was speechless: "Director Li is looking for you... hurry up and come over!"

"...Director Li? Director Li Guoli? Did you show him Lotus Gully?"