The drama "Journey to the West" can be called a divine drama.
Its own reputation has also changed from a "divine drama" to a divine drama. The reputation of this drama can be roughly divided into three stages.
In the first stage, the TV series just started airing, with great ratings and mediocre reputation.
Note that this reputation mainly belongs to the media, and the audience has no say.
The media is roughly divided into two groups, one group thinks it is a thunderous drama, and the other group thinks it is novel and interesting.
It is similar to dramas such as "Magic Phone" and "Splendid Spring", and it is a more controversial one.
The second stage is when the Internet began to rise and grassroots self-media began to rise, so they began to export and compete with the media for the right to speak in film and television reviews.
At that time, the more classic one was "The Murderous Case of a Steamed Bun" which was derived from "The Promise".
In one fell swoop, Director Chen's aura of being a famous director was removed, allowing Director Chen to successfully break through the defense and make famous remarks.
"People can't be so shameless!"
"Journey to the West" has also been involved in this wave. The most famous one is Lao Shi, one of the originators of video self-media, who released a "Lao Shi Review of Journey to the West", which ridiculed the show.
At that time, this video went viral on the Internet, and "Journey to the West" was also hit the bottom. When it was listed on Douban, its rating was as low as 3.9.
But many years later, netizens began to look at past film and television works relatively rationally and objectively.
Or to put it bluntly, the children who watched the show when they were young have grown up and taken over the mainstream discourse on the Internet.
"Journey to the West" successfully overturned the verdict, and its Douban score soared from 3.9 to 7.9, completing a magnificent transformation in word-of-mouth counterattack.
………
After learning that it was this magical drama, Cao Xuan's mood changed again and his interest greatly increased.
Not because he wanted to act, but he was suitable for three more important roles in the entire "Journey to the West": Tang Seng, Wu Tian, and Qiao Ling'er.
However, these three are all supporting roles. No matter what you say, Cao Xuan is now a popular figure in the mainland, and his popularity is at its peak.
Leaving aside movies, if he is asked to be a supporting actor in TV dramas, that would be a curse.
It's just a top-notch big-budget drama, like "Journey to the West", unless the crew uses cash abilities.
Cao Xuan might be able to avoid being shabby once with a sky-high salary of 10 to 20 million, but "Journey to the West" cannot afford it.
Cao Xuan can't play Sun Wukong, let's not say whether he is suitable or not.
Next year "The Continuation of Journey to the West" will be aired. Although Teacher Six's character needs to be verified, his performance as Sun Wukong will definitely stand out among all the people.
When Cao Xuan is full and full, he fights in the ring with Teacher Six. Aren't you looking for abuse?
But just because you don't act doesn't mean you can't invest.
The drama "Journey to the West" is controversial, but it is indeed a hit. More importantly, the cost is not high. It is an excellent project with low investment and high returns.
Cao Xuan did not hesitate and directly contacted the person in charge of the production team and found that the situation of this drama was much more complicated than he thought.
In fact, when the drama "Journey to the West" was first created, it was just to ride on the popularity of "Journey to the West: The Continued".
The producer is the Television Exchange Center of Qin Province TV, which is roughly equivalent to the Beijing TV Production Center of Beijing TV Station and Shanying of Shandong Province.
Although Qin Province and Taiwan are not as wealthy as Beijing, Taiwan and Shandong Province, a few million is not a problem. The key is that Qin Province and Taiwan are not very optimistic about this project.
Let’s not talk about the script. The most critical thing is that the number of episodes is too small. These days, TV stations can subsidize their own dramas based on the number of episodes. The same goes for advertising. Second-round rebroadcast rights are mostly sold based on the number of episodes.
Anyway, in a word, the fewer the episodes, the less profitable it is. But if there are too many episodes, the cost cannot be controlled, and it will be abandoned if it cannot be sold.
Therefore, the best solution for investors is to have as many sets as possible within a controllable cost range.
In the beginning, "Journey to the West" only had 15 episodes, but later it was too few, so it was added to 20 episodes. It would not be impossible to have more episodes, but the cost would increase.
The relevant leaders of Qin Provincial Station were unwilling, so they discussed it and found someone to share the investment, but the result was not ideal either.
Until later, Cao Rong was brought to Taila, Qin Province. Although he was a small role in Xiangjiang, he was still considered a star in the mainland, not to mention that he had just finished starring in "The Continuation of Journey to the West".
So relying on Tsao Rong's reputation as an action star, the crew attracted some investment, and also hired the popular Huang Haibin to finally put the show together.
But later, because the investors felt that the number of episodes was too few, they started to do tricks, and finally managed to make up 30 episodes, leaving countless flaws.
At this current point, Qin Province’s investment in Taila happened to be unsuccessful, and they were planning to contact Cao Rong and let him be the leading actor, action leader and on-site director.
After Cao Xuan roughly understood the situation, he expressed it directly to the other party.
Fanxing can invest in "Journey to the West", but Cao Rong is exempt from it. He is not well-known, has a high salary, and the price/performance ratio is too low.
If you have the money, why don't you just let Teacher Six play the role? If you really can't find his stand-in, Ding Jian.
Cao Rong's acting skills include a sullen expression and a tilt of the head. Fortunately, he is acting in a battle to defeat the Buddha after learning Buddhist scriptures. This can be interpreted as his calmness after becoming a Buddha. In addition, the script has a strong character design, otherwise it would be really hard to watch.
As for Cao Rong's role as a director, later generations even had a heated argument with screenwriter Qian Yanqiu because he was trying to grab credit and pass the blame.
In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can tell who is the real hero of this drama.
After "Journey to the West", Cao Rong's works became more and more popular, while Qian Yanqiu created two popular IPs: "Detective Di Renjie" and "Yan Shuangying".
Moreover, Qian Yanqiu's works, style, lines, and plots are all in the same vein.
Cao Rong said the lines that forced the king, saying that he wrote, directed and acted himself, but he was really telling lies.
So despite being from the same family, Cao Xuan was not very interested in Cao Rongzhen, but he coveted Qian Yanqiu.
If he can take the two series "Detective Di Renjie" and "Swallow Eagle", then Fanxing can easily gain a foothold in the film and television industry.
………
Cao Xuan called Zeng Li and told her that he would be back late tonight, and then took Jiang Yue to [Flying on the Grass].
Half an hour later, director and producer Li Yuan and screenwriter Qian Yanqiu of "Journey to the West" arrived.
Li Yuan is a production director of Qin Provincial Television. He has not many works, but he is very experienced and has collaborated with many big names.
Qian Yanqiu is a student in the Acting Department of Nortel in 1987. His classmates include future good partner Zhang Zijian, as well as popular and powerful actors Zhang Jiayi and Liu Yijun.
By the way, Qian Ye from "Let the Bullets Fly" is also from this class.
After graduating, Qian Yanqiu first became an actor, and then began to work behind the scenes, working as a director and screenwriter. Currently, she is more famous as a screenwriter.
We had communicated a lot on the phone before, and when we met people, Cao Xuan didn't make any meanderings, he went straight to the point and got to the point.
The total investment in "Journey to the West" is 4 to 6 million yuan, and Qin Shengtai is willing to give up 50% of its share, which means Fanxing needs to invest 2 to 3 million yuan.
However, this does not satisfy Cao Xuan, because he wants to take the lead in this drama, so as to ensure the quality of "Journey to the West" and prevent it from being filmed indiscriminately.
If Fanxing didn't have an independent filming license and had to be affiliated with a unit qualified for film and television production, Cao Xuan would have wanted to continue this drama directly.
Qin Provincial Television doesn’t want to see this drama anyway, so it’s better to let Fanxing figure it out on his own.
Cao Xuan even revealed this idea semi-bluntly. If Qin Shengtai is willing to sell this project, Cao Xuan can spend some money to take over.
As for the filming permission, although it is difficult, it is not impossible to obtain.
