novellhall Chapter 70: Eight Directions Tremble, Heroes Gather
Chapter 70: Eight Directions Tremble, Heroes Gather
When Han Sanping left Hehuan Film and Television, he was actually in a pretty good mood.
He's been making films his whole life, and he's met at least eighty or a hundred new directors.
Talented people are few, talented people who also know the rules are even fewer, and talented people who know the rules and how to divide the spoils are extremely rare.
Wei Yi is one of them.
So that afternoon, during a break in the Film Bureau's quarterly meeting, Han Sanping sat with a teacup in hand, chatting with Lao Zhou, the vice president of Shanghai Film Group.
Old Zhou asked him what good projects China Film Group had recently.
Han Sanping took a sip of tea, speaking casually as if he were discussing the weather:
"Wei Yi has put together a new film, something like 'Detective Chinatown.' I think it has a very promising future."
Of course, Lao Zhou knew who Wei Yi was.
Right now, the only people in the entire industry who don't know this person are probably the interns who have just started working.
"Oh? He's going to collaborate with China Film Group again?" Old Zhou asked.
"I'd love to. But this guy," Han Sanping chuckled, "it's just a project worth a little over a hundred million, which China Film Group could easily invest in on its own, yet he insists on bringing in a few more companies to participate. It's rare to see a young person with such a broad vision these days."
After finishing his sentence, Han Sanping continued drinking his tea.
Old Zhou didn't press further, nodded, and said, "It's a good thing that young people have a broad perspective."
The meeting adjourned.
When Lao Zhou returned to the Shanghai Film Studio's office, he remembered Han Sanping's words and made a phone call to the head of his distribution department.
"Wei Yi's new film may be getting joint investment; you should keep an eye on it."
The head of the distribution department hung up the phone and immediately told his friend, Bona's vice president, who was on a business trip in Shanghai, the news.
Bona's vice president was having dinner with people from Orange Field when he hung up the phone and returned to the table, casually mentioning it.
That very night, the people from Orange Field called Wu Kebo.
Meanwhile, the director of the Film Bureau who had attended the meeting as an observer...
After get off work, he went to a dinner party. A vice president from Huayi Brothers was also present.
After several rounds of drinks...
The section chief relayed Han Sanping's words as gossip.
Hua Yi's vice president got up and went to the restroom before finishing his meal, and dialed Wang Zhonglei's cell phone.
Wang Zhonglei is having dinner with Wang Zhongjun.
After hanging up the phone, he put his chopsticks on the table: "Brother, Wei Yi is preparing to start a new movie. And he wants to find co-investors for this movie."
Wang Zhongjun picked up a piece of braised pork, chewed it, swallowed it, and then asked, "Where did you get this information?"
"It came from Lao Li's side. Lao Li said that Director Wang from the Film Bureau overheard Han Sanping mentioning something during a meeting."
Contact Li Hua tomorrow.
Almost at the same time.
On the Beijing Film Academy campus.
A professor at the Beijing Film Academy, who shared an office with Tian Erzhuang.
That night, he came across a post on the school forum discussing when Wei Yi's next film would be shot.
He replied below: "Stop guessing, the new project has been finalized, and I heard the investment is over 100 million."
He went to sleep after sending it.
The next morning, I found that the reply had already been screenshotted and forwarded to more than a dozen alumni groups.
96级、97级……03级、04级、05级……
Directing, acting, and management departments—every group was discussing the same thing.
The alumni who had already graduated, and those who had risen to middle or higher positions in film and television companies, all immediately passed the news on to their bosses.
Overnight.
The news that Wei Yi's new drama was looking for partners was like a bucket of water poured into a pile of lime.
Li Hua was woken up by a phone call.
Just as dawn was breaking, he was sound asleep, cuddling his wife, when his phone rang.
He squinted and looked at the caller ID; it was an unfamiliar number.
hang up.
I turned over, just about to fall back asleep, when the phone rang again.
Hang it up again. It rings again.
His wife kicked him in the leg: "Go answer it! It's so noisy!"
Li Hua reluctantly sat up, yawning as he pressed the answer button: "Feed?"
"Is that Director Li from Hehuan Film & Television?"
"Yes, it is. Who are you? What time is it? You're disturbing my sleep!"
"I'm so sorry, Director Li, I'm sorry to bother you. This is Yu Dong from Bona," the voice on the other end of the phone was calm and measured, yet carried a weight that instantly sobered the listener. "I just wanted to ask, is Director Wei in the company today?"
Li Hua instantly perked up.
Damn it, Bona Film Group's boss, Yu Dong, a top figure in the industry, personally made the call. 7:30 in the morning.
"Mr. Yu," Li Hua said, a little flustered, "Director Wei... I haven't arrived at the company yet, so I'm not sure about his schedule for today."
"When you get to the company, please pass on my message that Bona Film Group is very interested in the 'Detective Chinatown' project. I happen to be going to Beijing this afternoon, and I'd like to pay them a visit if it's convenient."
"Okay, okay, I will definitely pass it on."
After hanging up Yu Dong's call, Li Hua hurriedly got out of bed.
I quickly finished brushing my teeth and was about to change my clothes and go out when another newly registered cell phone rang.
Three words appeared on the screen: Wang Zhonglei.
Li Hua took a deep breath and answered the phone: "Hello, Mr. Wang."
"Director Li, good morning." Wang Zhonglei's tone was much warmer than Yu Dong's, with that kind of familiarity typical of Beijing circles. "Will Director Wei be at the company today? My brother asked me to ask when it would be convenient for us to have dinner together."
"Director Wei might be..."
"It's okay if she's not here, just make the appointment for me. Huayi Brothers is very committed to 'Detective Chinatown.' You know that, and we're not strangers, right?"
Li Hua recalled the large number of Huayi Brothers staff present at the premiere of "One Shot" and thought that they were indeed not outsiders.
I had just hung up on Wang Zhonglei and hadn't even put my phone down when the third call came in.
Director of Production Department, Enlight Media.
Then came the representative from Orange Fields.
Then comes the King.
Then there was an investment company whose name he had never even heard of.
Within half an hour, Li Hua received eleven phone calls.
He skipped breakfast, grabbed his coat, and rushed to the company.
The five-story building of Hehuan Film and Television is still very new.
The sign at the entrance hasn't been up for very long.
He rushed through the door and ran all the way up to the fifth floor.
The entire top floor served as Wei Yi's office and residence.
After the company was established, Wei Yi found the teachers' dormitory at Beijing Film Academy too far away, so he simply partitioned off a bedroom on the fifth floor and occasionally spent the night there.
When Li Hua pushed the door open, Wei Yi was leaning back in the boss's chair playing World of Warcraft.
On the screen is a 40-player raid. Wei Yi's character is a mage with the ID "Hehuan Sect Leader", and he is standing at the back of the group frantically casting Frostbolt.
"Junior brother! President Wei!" Li Hua gasped for breath, leaning against the doorframe. "Is your phone off?!"
Wei Yi didn't look up, his gaze fixed on the screen: "I'm busy. Look for yourself."
Li Hua walked around to the boss's chair and picked up Wei Yi's Nokia phone from the table.
On the screen, there are 67 missed calls.
Li Hua's eyelid twitched.
He scrolled down. The text messages were even more outrageous: over a hundred unread messages, densely packed on the screen, all from various film and television companies expressing their interest in collaboration. Some of them were worded beyond "enthusiastic," more like they were afraid of missing the last train.
"I knew it." Li Hua put her phone back on the table and glanced back at Wei Yi.
Wei Yi had just finished a boss battle, and the raid group was distributing equipment.
While typing with the regimental commander to discuss the ownership of the equipment, he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.
The cup is printed with the teacher's portrait, and next to it is the words: Serve the People.
Li Hua waited until he finished typing that line on the keyboard before speaking:
"Yu Dong, Wang Zhonglei, Enlight Media, Orange Field, Emperor Entertainment... there are so many. What are you planning to do?"
Wei Yi finally teleported the character who had received the equipment back to the city, then turned his chair around and looked at Li Hua.
"Senior brother, thank you for your trouble today. No matter who comes, just tell them I'm not here."
Li Hua was stunned: "Block them all?"
"Repel them all," Wei Yi nodded, "except for two people."
"Master Han and my teacher."
Li Hua paused for two seconds.
Then he suddenly realized what was happening.
Yu Dong's call was the first one to come in.
Wang Zhonglei caught up immediately.
The light followed closely behind. It wasn't even nine o'clock in the morning, and more than a dozen companies were already lining up to board the ship.
Wei Yi was not waiting for a higher price to sell.
He wanted to force everyone to reveal their prices, and then slowly choose his cards after everyone had shown them.
That kid.
Is she really only eighteen?
Li Hua watched as Wei Yi turned his chair around again, opened World of Warcraft, and typed in the main city, "Open the gate for one gold, and I'll give away a free set of water and bread."
This man is as cunning as an old man.
No, many old guys probably don't have his composure.
But considering this guy got a perfect score on the college entrance exam.
Li Hua could only console himself: This guy is a genius.
I'm just an ordinary person, I shouldn't compare myself to him.
They'll only bring trouble and suffering upon themselves.
He turned and walked towards the door, but just as he reached the doorway, both of his cell phones rang at the same time.
He glanced down at it.
The number on the left is Bona's, and the number on the right is Huayi's.
The two microphones vibrated together, buzzing like two fighting bees.
Depend on!
I'm not answering anymore!