In Dongfeng Art District, Beijing, Bad Monkey Pictures, which Ning Hao founded last year, is located in a small white building.
Ning Hao's contract with Xiao Ma has expired and he officially left Xiao Ma, where he had stayed for four years.
Xiaoma has previously signed a gambling agreement with investors. If it fails to go public as scheduled by the end of this year, it will lose a large amount of money.
Leaving at this time, Ning Hao felt somewhat sorry when he thought of Li Ming's bold words when he met him four years ago.
"Don't think so much. Even if you don't leave, it won't help if the new movie involves Xiao Ma and will be released soon. The key for Xiao Ma now is whether he can find a suitable shell." The partner is also a bad monkey.
General Manager Wang Yibing advised.
Xiaoma had long planned to list its A-shares. However, at the end of last year, except for a few stocks such as film and television stocks, the stock market slumped, and the IPO of A-shares was stopped. This opened a long window period, and Xiaoma's road to listing was naturally interrupted.
.
Unable to go public normally, Xiaoma now has no choice but to go public through a backdoor, but there is no movement at all.
"Director Li treats me well." Ning Hao shook his head.
Apart from money, Li Ming really had nothing to say to him.
"Don't worry, Director Li can get through it. I heard that Huayang Media plans to offer a purchase price of 4.5 billion. There is really no other way. He can just sell the company." Wang Yibing said.
"4.5 billion?"
Ning Hao's eyes widened, "Huayang Media did that cultural tourism real estate gimmick. Tiantian, Hengda, and various city governments held press conferences, and finally raised the market value to 13 billion. Where did the money come from to acquire it?"
pony?"
"In the capital market, you don't necessarily have to spend your own money."
Wang Yibing smiled, "Huayang Media lost miserably to Li Qian last year, and its market value was almost surpassed by Guangxian. However, the popularity of film and television stocks, coupled with the 100 billion cultural tourism real estate gimmick, the market value is faster than when it was at its lowest point last year.
Doubled.
In the current market situation of film and television stocks, as long as Huayang Media officially announces the acquisition, it will rise to the daily limit for several consecutive days, and the market value will skyrocket, mostly because someone gives money."
The stock market is so magical. Although the business is not good, it has become a high-quality stock.
Ning Hao remained silent. After the relationship between movies and capital, money seemed to be no longer money. Hundreds of millions or even billions were just like a bunch of numbers.
This is also one of the reasons why he left Xiao Ma. He didn't even have to look at Li Qian. He just looked at Ma Xiaogang and sold a shell company for 300 million. Any capable director would be lying if he said he was not envious.
That’s why I chose to go it alone, expand the studio into a film and television company, and control the new movies that are being prepared by myself.
Even if you don't love money that much, when you have the ability and should get a hundred yuan, you are definitely not willing to only take twenty or thirty yuan.
"Forget it, let's not talk about it." Ning Hao shook his head, "Director Li has been in business for twenty years, so I don't need to worry about it."
Then Ning Hao talked about the new film "Heart Blossoms" that was being prepared with some headache, "Xu Zheng and Bozi are both still in the country, and they will not be able to return to the country for at least three months, and Xu Zheng still has to do post-production work."
, once it’s over, we’ll continue with the promotion, and we’ll have no time at all for a while.”
Wang Yibing frowned, "Apart from Xu Zheng, are there really no other actors who can play the role?"
"No one can replace his lusty, smiling, full of joy, and shrewd-as-hell temperament," Ning Hao shook his head.
Suddenly, the cell phone on Ning Hao's desk rang, interrupting their conversation.
"I'll take a call later."
Ning Hao looked at the unknown number on his phone, picked up the phone and connected it.
"Hello."
"It's Director Li..."
"well..."
"Well, I will definitely arrive on time..."
As soon as he hung up the phone, Wang Yibing asked, "Li Qian?"
Director surnamed Li, apart from Li Qian, can't think of anyone who could make Ning Hao lower his profile.
"It's him." Ning Hao smiled and nodded. He had wanted to meet Li Qian for a long time, but he had never had the chance.
Li Qian basically doesn't attend any events...Ning Hao himself is actually the same.
The industry is big or small, and many people may become good friends in a movie, but then they won't see each other twice in two or three years.
...
In the afternoon, Ning Hao came to the club that he had made an appointment on the phone.
Under the guidance of the waiter, he pushed the door open and walked in. Li Qian was already waiting, and Ning Hao quickly stepped forward to say hello.
"Sorry, Director Li, I'm late."
"I'm here early. Director Ning, please take a seat."
Li Qian smiled and motioned to the waiter to serve tea.
He asked Ning Hao to sit down, picked up the literary script "Detective Chinatown" that had been written on the table, and handed it over.
"Director Ning, this is the script I talked about this morning. You can read it first."
When talking about things, it’s better to be direct.
The main reason is that Li Qian doesn't know that Ning Hao is not talkative. If he is a boring gourd, it will be awkward to chat again. He should simply be more direct and talk about business first, and then chat later.
Ning Hao was stunned for a moment. During the phone call in the morning, Li Qian did say that he had a script and asked him to read it.
However, being so direct is a bit unaccustomed.
However, no matter how direct he is, Ning Hao is not a person who likes to be muddled.
"Director Li, please wait a moment."
After taking the script and smiling at Li Qian, Ning Hao sat up straight and started to read the script.
The script, which is close to 30,000 words, is actually not that long, only the length of a short story.
However, the script Li Qian presented was definitely extraordinary, and Ning Hao read it very carefully.
After an hour, Ning Hao put down the script and sighed inwardly, somewhat disappointed.
But on the surface he still smiled and said, "Director Li, this should be a comedy suspense film with a very obvious style and characteristics. It has a multi-line narrative. The plot design is relatively tight, complex but not messy. Basically, nothing needs to be done.
Thinking about it is very confusing.
It is essentially a suspense movie, but it has the surface of a comedy. If it is made and the supporting actors are found, it will be a very commercial and lovable movie."
After a pause, Ning Hao added, "The final twist is a big surprise, especially at the end, which adds a lot of color."
With that said, Ning Hao put down the script. To him, the script was very good, but that was all.
In fact, such scripts are not uncommon.
What Ning Hao originally hoped to see was creative and exquisite scripts like "The Truman Show" and "Moon".
Or "I'm Not the God of Medicine" or "Perfect World", which can tell a story that can move him.
These two are Li Qian’s characteristics.
As for this "Detective Chinatown", no matter how exquisite the plot arrangement is, it is just that. He has written such scripts himself, so there is nothing new.
The meaning of putting down the script is very obvious. If I ask him to direct, then forget it.
Li Qian's reaction to Ning Hao is not surprising. Suspense comedy is what Ning Hao is good at.
Showing the script of "Detective Chinatown" to Ning Hao felt a bit like trying to do what he does best.
Excluding other factors, from the perspective of the movie itself, there should be a one-point gap between "Detective Chinatown" and "Crazy Stone" on a ten-point scale.
Li Qian laughed and said, "This script is indeed not as good as Director Ning's Crazy Series. Not talking about commercial factors, even if the twist at the end of the film adds a lot of points, overall it is not as good as "Crazy Stone"."
Such a director, who set a record at the box office and won the only Oscar in mainland China, actually admitted that his script was not as good as his own, which made Ning Hao feel a little embarrassed and followed Li Qian's words.
"Actually, the twist at the end and the character of Sinuo reminded me of something I said to a writer before when I was talking about the new book he was writing.
He said that in the eyes of adults, children are always simple. Even if a child can lie, the lie can be exposed immediately. We can't imagine the cunning tricks of children, even if we ourselves have been children.
His book is about a child named Zhu Chaoyang, who planned to kill his biological father, his half-sister, and his two best friends.
In the end, he forged a diary. In the diary, Zhu Chaoyang was a simple child who kindly helped his friends. He did not do any bad things and everything was done by others.
In his book, the behavior of the child Zhu Chaoyang shows that children are darker than adults think. They understand that there is more than beauty in the world, and they will do wrong things to protect their own things.
Just like Sinuo, in order to protect herself and get rid of her stepfather who was plotting against her, she planned a good show that almost deceived everyone so that no one would suspect her."
Li Qian's eyes lit up and he said with great interest, "This is actually a very interesting film. The murderer of the series of murders was a child. Judging from your description, this Zhu Chaoyang cannot even be described as a genius."
If my guess is correct, this Zhu Chaoyang is the one from the movie "The Hidden Corner" in my memory.
Both have half-sisters and two good friends, both named Zhu Chaoyang, but the plots are different and should have been adapted.
Ning Hao shook his head, "More than just a genius, there is no such person in reality. He is almost catching up with Conan. There is a similar plot in "White Night Journey" by Keigo Higashino. Yukisu uses Ryoji's sympathy to get rid of Ryoji's
With his father and all the obstacles around him, Ryoji took on all the sins for Yukiho, but Yukiho never got involved. Many of the protagonists were children and planned a series of crimes."
It seems that Ning Hao has watched a lot of suspense, which is not surprising, as he himself makes suspense comedies.
However, Li Qian has not read the "White Night Journey" he is talking about, but Keigo Higashino knows about it and is a well-known suspense writer.
"Director Ning, I have actually studied your movies."
Li Qian did not continue this topic and instead talked about Ning Hao's movies. Ning Hao was also curiously waiting for what Li Qian would say.
"As one of the best comedy directors in mainland China, Director Ning's films are not as inspirational as Zhou's comedies. In the past, Zhou's comedies were more like adult fairy tales, in which a little person relies on his persistence in his dream to achieve happiness.
A beautiful desire, with the help of chance, the right time, the right place and the right people, realizes the legendary story of counterattack.
Director Ning, the core of your comedy is not based on the counterattack of the little guy or the ironic metaphor of the middle class, but on the "little guy's sense of honor." I remember Mr. Lu Xun said that if people don't have a sense of honor,
All societies and civilizations would immediately be reduced to nothing.
So in Director Ning’s movie, Bao Shihong, the security section chief of the handicraft factory, fought against the black and white, three religions and nine schools in order to defend his career dream and glorious tradition after graduating from the police academy. In the end, due to a combination of circumstances, Bao Shihong died for bravely capturing an international thief.
Received commendation.
Geng Hao, a former cyclist who became a seafood deliveryman, accidentally got involved in a goods trade between Baodao gangsters and tycoons from the country in order to buy a cemetery where his master was buried. In the end, an urn containing 200,000 US dollars was hidden.
Bizarre stories buried underground.
The international thief from Hong Kong suffered a huge defeat in the face of petty thieves, gangsters, and honest security guards.
Du Xiao, a tyrannical and arrogant gangster from the Baodao Kingdom, capsized in the gutter in front of an unknown seafood delivery man..."
What I haven’t mentioned yet is that “Crazy Alien”, you don’t have to watch it, it’s also a film by Ning Hao. No one except him would make a movie of this style.
In order to achieve his dream and honor of the "Monkey King", the monkey charmer Geng Hao worked hard to stick to his true nature as a monkey charmer, and even came up with the crazy idea of training "aliens" into monkey substitutes, and relied on his monkey charm skills to win over rice grains.
Agents toying with applause.
The aliens from space can play tricks on Milijian's agents, doctors, diplomats, etc., but in front of the monkey charmers and liquor dealers in the mainland, they lose their magic power and are surrendered.
This is also a typical little person's sense of honor. The low wins over the high, the vulgar wins over the elegant. This dramatic reversal is the true and only core of Ning Hao's comedy movies.
Everything else, whether it is black humor or humanistic care, is just appearance and packaging.
Opposite Ning Hao heard Li Qian analyze his naked body, as if he had overheard his inner thoughts, and felt inexplicable horror in his heart.
Isn’t it Li Qian, awesome!
But that sentence, if people don’t have a sense of honor, all society and civilization will immediately come to nothing. Isn’t that what Lu Xun said?
Ning Hao didn't think about it, he just sighed. When he first filmed "The Golden Heist", he asked Lei Jiayin about Li Qian, and later asked Huang Bo and Xu Zheng about Li Qian.
But now it seems that what the three of them said was too one-sided, and they didn't really understand Li Qian at all.
After listening to Li Qian talking a lot, Ning Hao was slightly confused. He didn't know what he meant or what he should say.
Is it wrong to refute what Li Qian said?
Or should I say, Director Li, you are so awesome?
However, before Ning Hao could think of what to say, Li Qian didn't stop.
"But Director Ning, haven't you ever thought about changing?"
"Change?" Director Ning was a little confused.
"right."
Li Qian nodded lightly, picked up the tea cup and took a sip, but he was thirsty to death.
"Businessmen, refugees, and urban proletarians are the characteristics of Director Ning's films. They are also a kind of atmosphere of this city. However, with the development of the times, they are no longer the mainstream, at least they are no longer the mainstream of moviegoers.
"
Ning Hao frowned, "Why did Director Li say this?"
"If you look at the box office changes of typical police and gangster films in Hong Kong movies, it will be clear."
Li Qian did not say it directly, but gave an example, "In the past police and gangster movies in Hong Kong, the main characters were mostly from the street, grassroots police officers and undercover agents. The gangsters were also at the bottom of society. Even the gangster boss did not have a high-profile image.
.
However, many of these police and gangster films have good reputations, but mainland audiences don't like to watch them. Only "Cold War" was a hit, and "Cold War" broke away from the market atmosphere. The entire cast and story structure were much more "high-class", and
The overall painting style is also close to the metropolitan style."
"What does Director Li mean?" Ning Hao frowned into the Chinese character Sichuan.
Li Qian smiled, "The times are developing. As far as commercialism is concerned, with the increasingly younger movie-watching crowd, the audience for market-style movies is a bit lower. Think about it, if "The Thirty-Three Lovers"
"Heaven" does not depict the love of white-collar workers in contemporary metropolitan cities, but the love between business people. Can it still sell more than 600 million yuan?
Can "Chill", a story about grassroots police and gangsters, become what the media in Hong Kong calls a salvation?
Xiangjiang movies, as long as they have high box office in the mainland, are beginning to lose their usual market atmosphere.
The same is true for mainland movies. The characters have slowly begun to change from the bottom of the market to the upper class, just like the changes in the current mainstream movie-goers.
The 100 million box office of "Crazy Racing" is relatively low in my opinion. Based on Director Ning's reputation among the audience at that time, plus the comedy type, and the Lunar New Year schedule, the box office should be at least 200 million or more!"
...
"call!"
Ning Hao let out a long breath as he walked out of the club. He almost felt his ears ringing from what Li Qian said inside.
Being blown by the cold wind, my mind became clearer.
Looking down at the script in his hand, Ning Hao smiled bitterly.
I don't know why, but I was offended by Li Qian. First he analyzed him, and then he said a lot of "buts", so he agreed to film "Detective Chinatown" by accident.
However, thinking of Li Qian's words and his films, it would be nice to change the style.
The new film "Heart Blossom Road" that he is preparing intends to change the style of the Crazy series. From the beginning, he has clearly followed the route of commercial films and has never pursued the so-called literary style.
The commercial creative concept is consistent in his works, and the commercial genre film route is also the direction he has always adhered to and explored.
Now, at best, we need to change the direction.
Anyway, Xu Zheng won't have time to participate in "The Flower of the Heart" for a while. Maybe he won't have time until the end of the year, so he will just shoot Li Qian's "Detective Chinatown" first.
Ning Hao stood at the door in a daze, and Wang Yibing, who was driving and waiting beside him, got out of the car and came over with a puzzled look on his face.
"What's wrong?"
"It's okay. I received a script. Li Qian is very good at speaking." Ning Hao shook his head and smiled.
"Too eloquent?"
Wang Yibing was confused as to what kind of adjective this was.
But he didn't ask further questions, but became concerned about the script in Ning Hao's hand.
"Get in the car, what kind of movie is this?"
...
In the club, Li Qian almost drank a pot of tea before he felt that his mouth was not so dry anymore.
"call."
He also breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the script of "Detective Chinatown" to Ning Hao. It was not easy. After all, he himself had written better scripts of the same type.
He was talking nonsense just now. Looking back, Li Qian almost forgot what he said, whether it was right or wrong. Anyway, Ning Hao just agreed to take it.
"Detective Chinatown" is not as good as "Crazy Stone" from the perspective of the movie itself, but from a commercial perspective, it is definitely superior.
Whether it's good or not is one thing, selling well is another.
The selling point of "Detective Chinatown" is that the two protagonists with completely different styles create conflicts all the time. They are in conflict when they are together.
Coupled with the funny supporting characters of the police and gangsters, they got mixed up by chance, making it even more hilarious.
Moreover, this smile is more relaxed and does not contain anything that would make people feel heavy or unable to help but think too much.
The reversal at the end also adds a lot of points. If placed at the end, the effect will be better and it can stimulate the audience's discussion. The more discussion, the more heat and interest will be.
Compared with the demonic Zhu Chaoyang in the movie that Ning Hao mentioned, the little girl Sinuo played by Zhang Zifeng is first of all a girl, and secondly, she does all this for the purpose of protecting herself, so it is not easy for people to hate her.
This is the advantage that girls have over boys, especially a cute little girl.
If this film is given to Ning Hao, it is basically done. No matter how Ning Hao changes it, given his level, there is no need to worry about the quality.
Now I can work for Baoqiang, so that every time they meet, he looks at me with some resentment in his eyes.
It seems that he is quite good at deceiving. Li Qian feels that he should be able to keep up with Ma Qingyang's chatting rhythm now. At least he will not take the initiative and just answer the conversation from the side.
However, when Ning Hao just mentioned Zhu Chaoyang, Li Qian thought of the TV series "The Hidden Corner" in his memory.
It should be adapted from the one Ning Hao mentioned, and with the addition of film and television dramas adapted from IPs such as "Love Is Lost", "Searching for the Dragon", and "The Wandering Earth", maybe it's not that bad?
Not all of them are amateur-level films. There may be many such films, but occasionally there is a little gold mixed in the sand.
Then lowering the threshold and difficulty of the film and television industry is not entirely a bad thing?
Actors in literary and artistic films like Qin Hao, the male protagonist of "The Hidden Corner", may be able to stand out through classic TV series such as "The Hidden Corner" in addition to literary and artistic films, become well-known to the audience, and get more commercial film and television dramas.
Chance.
There are really few emerging actors nowadays. When I was chatting with Ning Hao just now, I found out that he has finished writing the script for his new film "Love in the Heart" and is currently writing the storyboards.
"Butterfly Love" is still waiting for Huang Bo and Xu Zheng, especially Xu Zheng. Some people have been waiting. The film was shot for three months, and post-editing will take time. After the film is finished, it will be released and promoted. It will probably have to wait until next year.
"Detective Chinatown" also has to wait for Wang Baoqiang to finish filming "Thailand", but as long as it takes less than three months, it will be fine. It is good time to write the storyboards and prepare them first.
There are very few actors available for large-scale commercial productions, and there are only so many actors who can go around in circles.
There are not enough actors like Xu Zheng and Huang Bo, and countless actors have no chance to play the leading role. The current film industry is indeed a bit strange.
Perhaps, we should cooperate with Penguin on a big entertainment project?