I'm A Baller - Chapter 326
Chapter 326: 326
The busy days flew by.
For a week, Wang Yan did nothing but read and change the script.
Two hours of in-depth reading each day were devoted to reading related works.
Story: Materials, Structure, Style, and Principles of Screenwriting by Mai Ji.
The Plot! Animating the Story through Characters, Suspense, and Conflict by Noah Luckman.
The Basics of Film Technology by Harper.
The Art of Screenwriting by Rajesh Egli.
…
Four highly valuable screenwriting books were carefully selected. Three of them were written by American authors. It was evident that the US was more developed in their movie making ideas.
By the weekend, his new version of The Witch was mostly formed. The rest was to repeatedly revise the details and strengthen the main plot.
There were two areas he needed to strengthen.
First, he had to work on the suspense aspect. If there wasn’t enough fighting ahead, he needed suspense to prop it up.
Secondly, he had to cut out unnecessary scenes to ensure that the main plot was clear and compact.
Outside of the script, there were another two more things he needed to improve.
One was to improve the special effects, especially in terms of the superpower special effects. He had to add appropriate sounds and lights in order to make it look more intense.
The other area was to improve the fighting scenes.
The original had very good fighting scenes already, so he had to improve the aesthetics of the scenes.
Without special effects, the main cast lacked power and rhythm in their movements.
But that wasn’t the actors or the director’s fault. The cast did not have any background in this area, and the female lead was a delicate young lady, so this was hard for her to execute.
These weren’t things that Wang Yan could settle either. He had to get a professional.
But Wang Yan benefitted from having a complete product in hand, so he knew which parts he could improve and what sort of special effects would work better.
The reason was simple.
When he watched a movie, anything that made him suddenly curse out loud meant that the scene was unexpected, beyond his imagination and downright cool.
Anything that made him feel dissatisfied and annoyed that there wasn’t more meant that the scene needed improving.
It was easy for audiences to criticize after all.
Making it happen was the director’s job.
He had no lack of money, so these professionals had better do a good job.
31 October was the weekend again. Wang Yan quickly got onto a plane to Shanghai.
Just as he got off the plane, He Miaomiao sent him a message.
“Ergou, I suddenly feel like eating stewed beef tail. Come with me!”
Perhaps she had been too lofty in her dream. She was speaking more and more impolitely to Wang Yan now.
Wang Yan always wondered, in the dream, who was on top of who?!
But he didn’t know, so he couldn’t figure it out.
What he knew was that He Miaomiao only spoke nastily, but she didn’t dare to be truly nasty to him.
She could try if she dared!
But that never happened. They barely said anything to each other the whole week.
Wang Yan was busy, while He Miaomiao probably needed to recuperate from her emotions.
Wang Yan took a photo of where he was and sent it to her.
“I’m working overtime.”
“Oh. You go ahead with your work, I’ll go out by myself then.”
She was pretty nice, letting off Wang Yan so easily.
Meanwhile, Wang Yan went to take a seat in the VIP lounge while waiting for Big Bear and Princess Shishi to arrive.
30 minutes later, the flight from Beijing landed. A pair of pretty young ladies walked out of the terminal arm in arm.
The special characteristic of girls from the Capital Dance Academy was that they seldom wore high heels.
Those young models and bar hostesses were always in high heels all year round, but the girls from the academy never bothered.
Anybody who made it into the school had amazing body proportions, so wearing flats made their legs look even longer.
Besides, it was so tiring dancing every day and they rarely got to go out, so they would rather wear comfortably.
The two girls were in flats and jeans. Nawu was in a more loose fitting t-shirt, while Fu Yushi’s shirt was more fitting. They had slim waists, super long legs and light makeup. Their youthful beauty was so natural, many men stole glances at them.
They saw Wang Yan from afar and waved at him.
“Wangwang! Over here!”
Wang Yan smiled brilliantly and spread his arms wide to welcome them. “It’s been a long time, I miss you girls!”
They pushed his arms aside heartlessly. “The first thing you do is to flirt with us? You’re asking for a beating!”
Well, then again, even if they didn’t mind him hugging them, he wouldn’t have dared.
But he was actually trying to test and see if their attitudes had changed.
After waking up from that dream, Wang Yan figured out that the Er Ya who wanted a baby so badly was Nawu, while the more reticent Da Ya was Fu Yushi.
Their personalities in the dream were more extreme.
Er Ya was passionate, dared to show her feelings and somewhat silly, while Da Ya was quiet, aloof, and beautiful. Both of them were difficult characters.
But why were they the two who appeared next to Wang Ergou inside the small mountain village?
Wang Yan didn’t know the answer either. But there was no way to fake how close they were to him.
This was the first time he was seeing them face to face after that dream. He observed them for a long time and didn’t notice anything different.
Had they forgotten the dream or had they buried it deep in their hearts?
Wang Yan couldn’t tell at all.
Women were all great actors!
…
They hopped into the car that Kerry Hotel had arranged for them. Wang Yan brought them to see the room first.
Once they went upstairs, Fu Yushi looked a little exasperated.
“My gosh, the presidential suite again? Wangwang, can’t you be a little more low profile? Do we look like we’re worthy to stay in a presidential suite?”
Nawu ignored her and happily peered around the room.
“Oh my! I really love this bathroom!”
Wang Yan laughed. “It’s only $20,000 a night, so why not?”
Good heavens!
Fu Yushi rolled her eyes and grumbled, “You seriously don’t talk like a normal person anymore…”
Wang Yan raised an eyebrow cheekily at her. “You’re going to be the pillar of the company in the future! Come on, my little princess, put on some airs for me!”
“Whatever…give me the contract!”
“I don’t have the contract with me. Wait for Yunxi to come.”
Wang Yan looked at his watch and walked towards the bar counter.
“You girls want a drink? Or eat first?”
Fu Yushi shook her head, “I’m not hungry.”
The two of them looked at Nawu, who was still prancing around in the room.
“Rere, are you hungry?”
“Come over here, let me take a look at your head.”
Nawu pouted as she sat down next to Wang Yan and reluctantly pulled her fringe away to let Wang Yan see her forehead.
“It’s still there. I think it’ll never go away… Sigh!”
Wang Yan looked at it carefully. The wound had healed well and wasn’t swollen, but it had left three thin white lines, and these lines were at least two shades fairer than the rest of her skin.
It wasn’t really ugly to look at, and nobody could see these lines if she didn’t pull her hair away or tie it up.
But for as long as it was there, it upset Nawu. No wonder she looked like she wanted to cry when he mentioned it.
Fine. He would try to coax her into eating the pancake…
When he looked at the Pancake Man card he had in his inventory, Wang Yan felt like laughing.
It was so hilarious. He didn’t dare to look at it, but he had to take a photo.
Nawu shrank back when she saw Wang Yan smiling and she stared warily at him.
“Wangwang, what naughty thoughts are you having?! I’ll tell Liu Li!”
“Liu Li?” He made a face in disdain. “She can’t even save herself…you can ask her if she dares to do anything to me!”
His manner was too imposing.
Nawu was so amused while Fu Yushi just shook her head and went to get some drinks from the bar.
While she was still looking through the drinks, Youcai knocked on the door and came in. A waiter pushed a small cart in behind him, which was filled with all sorts of fresh fruit, desserts and a few bottles of alcohol.
“Mr. Wang, these are the French desserts that our hotel chef has specially prepared for you and your VIP guests, as well as some of your favorite drinks. Everything here is complimentary, please enjoy!”
It was Fu Yushi and Nawu’s first time in Shanghai, and their first time seeing how much clout Wang Yan had in Shanghai’s Kerry hotel. They were really astonished.
“My goodness, Wang Yan, you’re doing better here than at Beijing’s Shangri-la.”
“You can’t compare the two like that,” Wang Yan burst out laughing. “The cost here is one zero less…”
Booking more than a hundred rooms for the event last week already cost him more than $200,000, and that was after a discount.
And of course, the event had increased Kerry’s exposure.
President Ai now viewed him like a god.
Fu Yushi couldn’t be bothered with Wang Yan’s boasting. She picked a bottle of Perrier-Jouet and opened it herself. She liked the same flavor as He Miaomiao.
The three of them sat in the balcony to enjoy the sun and their drinks as they chatted.
Wang Yan normally didn’t like to display any luxury items, but he couldn’t help but want to show that script off.
He grinned as he pulled it out of his bag and held it out to Fu Yushi with a raised eyebrow. “Take a look at this. It’s the project I’ve prepared just for you!”
“The Witch, superpower…wait, you wrote this?!” Fu Yushi looked at the familiar handwriting on the cover and was lost for words.
“That’s right.” Wang Yan nodded nonchalantly and didn’t emphasize on how this was prepared just for her. He just focused on looking as cool as possible.
Fu Yushi got so excited she immediately flipped it open and started reading.
Nawu was like Lin Weiwei in that they felt a headache the moment they saw a book. She didn’t bother to look at what Fu Yushi was reading and asked Wang Yan directly.
“Wangwang, are you getting Shishi to film a movie? Is it an online broadcast or will it be shown in cinemas?”
“Of course it’s going to be shown in cinemas. I’m probably going to invest a lot into it.”
Nawu was shocked. “Wow! But you’ve never done this before. Aren’t you afraid of making a loss?”
That was impossible…
The original film made profits in just the first week of its screening. The final sales wasn’t really that amazing, but it became famous worldwide and they earned a lot from selling the movie to overseas markets. Everyone was looking forward to a sequel.
The lead actress got a newcomer’s award too. With these box office records and an award, the actress could command a lot more.
If a script that had been modified and improved from such a movie could make a loss in the local market, Wang Yan would definitely slaughter the director.
Even if he got the worst actress possible, he wouldn’t lose money on this script!
Even though he thought that way in his heart, Wang Yan didn’t show his confidence and just smiled calmly.
“If I lose money on this, I’ll just take it as a lesson learnt. Wangting Entertainment will eventually step into the movie making business, so I’ll take this as practice.”
Fu Yushi’s gaze faltered and bit her lip gently. She now looked at the script with mixed feelings.
Nawu remained completely unaffected and just grinned, “That’s not a problem. If you lose money on this, then get the princess to be your maid, and she can serve you for…$3,000 a day? Hey, how much money are you going to put into this? How long will our little princess have to work for?”
“If I follow your calculations…she can only earn 1.08 million a year. So if I lose 10 million, then she’ll have to work for 10 years…” Wang Yan burst out laughing.
Nawu continued to play along excitedly, “Which maid gets to earn $90,000 a month? That’s really not bad at all…if that’s not enough, you could also get her some special allowances and collect some project fees…”
“Just shut up already!” Fu Yushi cut her off because she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Hehe…” Wang Yan and Nawu exchanged glances and laughed maniacally.
Fu Yushi was so annoyed by the two of them, she took her glass and walked to the living room, hiding herself in the couch.
Nawu then ran over to lie on Fu Yushi’s legs so that she couldn’t run again.
Then she continued asking Wang Yan more questions.
“Wangwang, you haven’t said how much you’re going to invest.”
“I don’t know how to calculate this sort of thing…” Wang Yan just shrugged helplessly.
“But there aren’t any big scenes, explosions, or complicated special effects, plus the female lead is so cheap…”
Fu Yushi glared at him fiercely.
“There’s no point in glaring at me! I’m telling you now, I’ll give you a maximum of $500,000 to act in this! Don’t you know how much you’re worth?”
When Wang Yan was being cheeky, he could be really annoying. It was even more annoying to have Nawu rolling about in laughter on Fu Yushi’s legs.
Thankfully it was Fu Yushi on the couch. Lin Weiwei would have exploded in anger by now.
She went back to reading the script and ignored the other two.
Wang Yan sat across from her and crossed his legs as he continued speaking flippantly, “Even if I put in all the money I have to get veteran actors for the supporting roles and pick a really handsome young man as the second lead, I don’t think my cost would go over 50 million, right?”
“Then I’ll dump in another 50 million for publicity. $100 million would be more than enough to get this going.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Fu Yushi finally couldn’t help but cut in. “You wouldn’t need that much! The filming will be 20 million and the publicity will be another 20 million, so that’s only 40 million in total! That’s already more than enough! Did you think you could randomly find money on the ground or something?!”
“Tsk!” Wang Yan sneered. “If money was on the ground, I’d still have to bend down to pick it up…”
Gosh! This guy was so annoying!
Nawu was relatively less agitated. She hugged Fu Yushi’s waist and tried to calm her down, “It’s alright, Wangwang has plenty of money, so you don’t have to help him to scrimp and save. No matter how much you save now, it’ll all belong to Liu Li…how could 20 million be enough?”
Fu Yushi started explaining to her the reality very seriously, “You watched That Guy Was Super Annoying in September, right? The box office sales for that movie went over a billion, but the production of the movie only cost 21 million.”
“The cast and the director cost 9 million, so what do you think the actual production cost was?”
“The publicity cost only 10 million and was later increased to 30 million only because the movie made more than enough money to spare.”
“As for that Gangster in the Capital that you’re looking forward to watching, the salaries of the cast is even worse off, so the production costs didn’t even hit 10 million.”
“I’ve looked through the script and checked the backgrounds needed and difficulty of filming the scenes. I don’t think we’re far off from either of these two films, so 20 million is definitely more than enough.”
“Some of those popular films claim that they cost 500 million to produce, but those in the industry know where that kind of money must have really gone to.”
“This is the company’s first production, so we’ve got to watch the budget closely and spend only what’s necessary.”
Fu Yushi was an intelligent girl who clearly did not merely rely on her good looks to get by. She was very astute, observant and considerate as well.
But Wang Yan didn’t care about all these and suddenly asked, “And what would you do if I really get a super popular actor to act with you?”
Fu Yushi was speechless for a moment.
“Don’t be ridiculous now…why can’t you put the money to better use? Besides…besides, are you trying to put me in a scandal with a super popular actor right from my debut?”
Nawu was also a little stunned by this.
“Wangwang, it’s no fun to provoke the fans of those super popular actors, you know? It might cause a lot of trouble. Are you serious about this?”
So what if they were super popular?
Wang Yan wanted to make use of their fame and popularity to shoot his sister-in-law to stardom! Would they even dare to touch Fu Yushi?!
They had difficult fans?
These were just a bunch of people with no real power! Besides leaving nasty comments that would actually help to increase exposure for Fu Yushi, what else could they do?
Once he was done using them, he was going to give them a few good slaps to make sure they knew their place.
Since he needed to propel her to fame, he needed her to become a trending topic. But at the same time, he didn’t want to do anything over the top that might ruin her future instead.
So he’d find a popular young actor and make use of him. Wasn’t that perfect?
Wang Yan was a truly both a mean and cheeky fellow at the same time. He had planned the publicity and all in just an instant.
“Shishi, it’s true that you’d have to face some pressure from the comments, but if you’re able to hold up, I’ll really get you a popular actor to work with. It’ll be beneficial for both the movie and yourself.”
Wang Yan wanted a super popular actor to be a supporting actor in her debut movie? Just thinking about it made Fu Yushi’s heart pound wildly in excitement.
But she still had her concerns.
“But…it might also have adverse effects on the reputation of the movie as well as the cost and his acting ability…don’t you think you should take time to think it through? I’m not in a hurry, don’t worry.”
As a friend and fellow worker, Fu Yushi was definitely qualified.
In fact, she was excellent.
But none of this was Wang Yan thinking spontaneously. When he first started thinking about hiring one of the nation’s best directors to direct the film, he had already thought about how to increase the popularity of the movie from various angles.
His final conclusion was that he shouldn’t hire the director he was initially thinking of. His movie would bomb.
But he could consider getting a popular young male actor on board.
“Actually, the pros and cons are very obvious.” Wang Yan cleared his throat and started to explain all his considerations to Fu Yushi.
“Firstly, it’s the problem of acting.”
“The second male lead is supposed to be a little neurotic, often has mood swings, somewhat evil, cool and needs to pull off a few stunts.”
“If we can find a suitable actor who can fulfil these things, we won’t have a problem.”
“If he reads his lines too poorly, we can always just dub him over. That’s easy.”
“Instead of finding a really good actor, I’m more interested in finding someone who has a background in martial arts or dance. Making sure the fighting scenes are well done is more important.”
“Secondly, it’s the reputation of the movie in general.”
“The only female lead is yourself, and there’s no real spotlight on the second male lead. If you do a good job of the acting and execute the fighting scenes well, the movie will be well received.”
“The acting chops of the second male lead is really not enough to affect anything.”
“As for how the production costs will go up…”
“We’ll save on the publicity part, and we might even earn.”
“Why do so many major films like getting popular young celebrities to star in them?”
“It’s because they’d automatically guarantee the number of views and attention. They save so much on publicity.”
“The last few movies did very well precisely because they did this.”
“And now, you’re our company’s pillar. If the other party is popular enough, I guarantee that you’d be able to trend online for an entire year at least. That’s as good as us spending money once to get two things done. We’re definitely going to earn on this.”
“But…” Nawu frowned and her deep set features looked worried.
“Why would a super popular guy want to take on a supporting role? We’re not some huge production house making a blockbuster, and it’s not some world renowned director…”
Wang Yan was very confident.
“Firstly, I’ve got money. As long as I offer enough, I doubt anyone would turn me down. I highly doubt there are many who would reject money.”
“Secondly, we’re not in a hurry to film this movie, so we can be more flexible in our scheduling.”
“Lastly, I’m good at just bluff…I mean, I’m good at persuading people.”
“A lot of these popular celebrities are not reputable in the film industry and they want to prove themselves and show that they’ve got what it takes to be in this industry. I think we’ve got a good chance.”
It was true that Wang Yan was good at tricking others into doing many things. Both Fu Yushi and Nawu nodded their heads.
From the point of view of the investor, Wang Yan’s thoughts and ideas were very clear and feasible. He made full use of every favorable factor and was certainly a crafty businessman.
If Wang Yan were just someone who didn’t think about anything else and just spent money on whatever he liked, Fu Yushi would have protested.
Those who just used money to get their way all the time were fun to be with, but not fun to work for.
What sort of boss was considered a good boss?
The type who was calculative and scheming towards everyone outside the company, but generous and encouraging to his staff. That was how he could help everyone in the company to do well.
Fu Yushi hadn’t even finished reading the script yet, but she could feel a rousing in her. She clenched her little fists tightly and one could almost see the starry skies in her eyes…
She was now on fire to film this movie!
Nawu was even more excited. But after thinking about it for a while more, she felt that something was amiss.
“Wait a minute. Wang Yan, aren’t you investing a little too much in Shishi? Spit it out now! What other ulterior motives do you have?!”
“Why do you always think of the bad things?!” Wang Yan replied in a righteous tone of voice with a kindly look on his face.
“We’re friends and she’s going to be someone who will work with me and make money for me. Investing in her is the same as investing as myself. There’s nothing wrong with that, right?”
But Nawu ignored him and just laughed as she pretended to whisper to Fu Yushi, “Shishi, what a great opportunity you’ve got today. Why don’t you look for our wonderful Producer Wang to rehearse some scenes with you and ask about the script? You can take this chance to take him for yourself and you won’t have to give him up to someone else. What do you think?!”
Fu Yushi made a grab and squeezed hard…
There was a loud gulping sound. Someone swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
“ARGH!! FU YUSHI!! Are you tired of living?!” Nawu exploded.
She didn’t think Fu Yushi was any match for her, so she dared to attack.
After she made a pounce, it was just a mess of arms and legs grabbing and kicking away.
Wang Yan nearly fainted in fright at the way they fought each other.
He felt that there was something else he needed to talk to Fu Yushi about. What was it?
He finally remembered what it was when Wang Yunxi knocked on the door.
Right…the contract had to be signed first…
Wang Yunxi was prepared to explain the terms and conditions, but Fu Yushi immediately signed it without even reading it.
Wang Yunxi grumbled to himself, “Where the heck does Wang Yan find all these silly girls?”
First he got that Gao Ya, now he had this Fu Yushi. Neither of them read the contract before signing it. They seemed so eager to sign, they didn’t care if they were signing their lives away.
Nawu just stared at the process from the side and suddenly asked, “Wangwang, do you have one more copy? Can I have one too?”
Did she think she was ordering a meal at a restaurant?!
Wang Yan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Why do you want one too? You want to act in a movie too?”
“I don’t mind acting in anything! Of course, the best is if I don’t have to act in anything and just be around…”
Nawu was a little embarrassed after saying this and started playing with her fingers awkwardly as she looked down.
“In any case, I want one too…otherwise, what am I going to do if we have to be separated?”
This silly girl! Fu Yushi sighed and hugged her without saying anything.
Wang Yan sighed and wanted to hug her too, but he didn’t dare to.
“Alright then. The effort it takes to round up one sheep is the same as rounding up one flock. As long as you don’t mind having fewer jobs and facing the possibility of not earning anything, I’ll take you in too!”
“But if the two of you want the same job in the future, I hope you don’t regret it…”
Nawu never even thought of that. She immediately sprang up excitedly and reached her hands out to Wang Yan happily.
“Give me the contract! Look, I’ll say this first, I can’t do anything well since my singing is poor, I’ve got two left feet and anyone can see through my lies, so don’t count on me to make any money. If you need someone to make money for you, you’d have to wring Shishi dry…”
Wring Fu Yushi dry? Wang Yan dared not even think about that!
He shook his head and got Wang Yunxi to get another copy of the contract as he stroked his chin in deep thought.
After the dream, it seemed like Big Bear and Princess Shishi had become so much closer…
It wasn’t that they weren’t close before, but they weren’t this close. These two were almost a couple now.
How magical…
What did the two of them do in the dream?
Would they be willing to re-enact it for him tonight?
He didn’t have any other intentions! He was…he was just curious!
