"The Stewardess", like "Harbin at Night" and "The Yang Family", won the third prize of the Feitian Award TV Series. Since then, the entire award ceremony has come to an end, and reporters who had been eager to try out swarmed to see the winners. Rush for interviews.
Gong Qie, Wang Shuo, Zheng Xiaolong, Su Ya and others were surrounded and faced with all kinds of indiscriminate questions from the media.
Fang Yan quietly hid in the corner, scanning the crowd that was disappearing like a tide, and suddenly noticed that Zhu Ru was leading Yang Jue and the others towards him.
"Teacher Fang, I'm glad to see you here again!"
"Me too, Director Yang, long time no see, how are you?"
"TOEFL, TOEFL, I'm fine."
Yang Ju smiled, with a hint of unnoticeable worry between his brows.
Fang Yan did not catch it, because the attention at this time fell on Li Chengru. According to him, this trip back to Beijing was to select actors for the follow-up series of "Journey to the West" and also to fulfill the original intention. promised to invite Qiu Peining, Zhu Lu and others to star in Chang'e and the King of the Daughter Kingdom.
"Before, I was a little worried and hesitant about whether you could play the role of the king of the daughter country well."
Yang Ju said: "But after watching your performance in "Midnight Ring" and "The Ring", After performing in works such as "Da Qin" and "Stewardess", my comrades and I were relieved and felt that you could portray this tender, dignified and elegant image."
"I will do my best to live up to your trust!"
Zhu Lu was emotional and her voice trembled slightly.
"Organizational cultivation, personal performance."
Yang Ju waved his hand, "And if you want to thank me, you should also thank Teacher Fang and Cheng Ru for their strong recommendation."
Seeing Zhu Fu happily thanking himself and Fang Yan, Li Chengru grinned and said:
"The person you should be most grateful to is Director Yang. Originally, the role of the King of the Daughter Kingdom was assigned to Teacher Yang Chunxia, and it was Director Yang who decided to cast you." White Bone Demon? "
Fang Yan clearly remembers this behind-the-scenes story in "Journey to the West".
Yang Chunxia is a famous Peking Opera performing artist. She was known as the "No. 1 Huadan in Shanghai" at that time. She originally refused to play the role of the White Bone Demon because the White Bone Demon who wronged Sun Wukong and instigated the relationship between the team is a very typical villain. It is easy to Create a negative impression on the audience.
So, she put forward a condition: as long as she was also given the subsequent role of King of the Daughter Kingdom, she would agree to play the role of White Bone Demon first.
However, Yang Jue did not fulfill the pie that the crew of "Journey to the West" drew for her. The reason was that "an actor playing two roles at the same time may cause confusion to the audience." But in fact, it is simply untenable. In "Journey to the West" There are simply too many actors playing multiple important roles.
As the actor of Sha Seng alone, Yan Huaili played "Tai Shang Lao Jun", "Ox Demon King", "Dragon King of the West Sea", "Clair Eye"...
The result was a lot of trouble The biggest displeasure and criticism is that Zhu Lu is more suitable to play the role of "King of the Daughter Kingdom" than Yang Chunxia.
"I only care about filming "Journey to the West" well and giving an explanation to myself, the organization, and the people!"
Yang Ju said firmly: "As for the infamy, I am the only one Come and memorize it!”
"Director Yang, please don't get excited. There may not be a solution, so let's do it like this."
Fang Yan thought of "Song Ci, the Criminal Officer of the Song Dynasty" and suggested using an important positive character to compensate.
For example, the "Yu Niang" is the person who was wrongly accused of being an incompetent person in the Cao Mo case. Just like Pan Jinlian, she was doing sleazy things with Cao Mo and conspired to murder her husband. , but in fact she is a good wife who abides by women's ethics and is virtuous and virtuous.
It can not only give full play to Yang Chunxia's superb acting skills, but also change the possible negative impact of "White Bone Demon".
“Hey, that’s great, Director Yang, Teacher Fang’s idea is great!”
Li Chengru clapped his hands excitedly, while Zhu Lu secretly cast a grateful look at Fang Yan with twinkling eyes.
Yang Jue was overjoyed at first, and then sighed faintly:
“This is just a small problem. Now there is a bigger problem. If it can’t be solved, I’m afraid I won’t be able to photograph my daughter. "
"What's going on?"
Gong Cie, Su Ya and others also joined in the conversation and speculated that the crew of "Journey to the West" was It's not that I encountered any difficulties.
After asking, I found out that the 3 million filming budget allocated by CCTV to the crew had almost been spent.
“3 million?!”
Lu Xiaowei, Zheng Xiaolong and others were shocked. This money was enough for the Television Art Center to produce eight or nine, or even a dozen TV series.
But I never expected that the crew of "Journey to the West" not only spent all their budget, but also came to Yanjing to apply for continued funding from Taili.
“It looks like the application was not approved.”
Look left and right in dialect.
“We came one step late.”
Li Chengru lowered his head in frustration and said that Wang Fulin had prepared for a rainy day and realized the serious lack of funds earlier than they did.
So they applied to the CCTV for another 3 million early. When they left their intense filming work and came to Yanjing to apply for reports, they found that CCTV’s pockets were already empty. I don't have any extra money to give to "Journey to the West".
After all, when the two famous TV series "A Dream of Red Mansions" and "Journey to the West" were first established, no one could have expected that the filming costs would be so huge. CCTV has already invested all its energy, financial resources and manpower. , only to realize that it was difficult to maintain two crews running at the same time.
"This...I remember that "Journey to the West" has been broadcast for 5 episodes in total, right?"
Gong Zhen hesitated before speaking.
"Exterminate demons in the Black Chicken Kingdom, steal ginseng fruits, plan to harvest Zhu Bajie, beat up three white-bone spirits, and bring trouble to Guanyin Yuan."
As soon as Fang Yan said this, Lu Xiaowei, Zheng Xiaolong, Su Ya and others looked at each other and immediately fell into silence.
Since the establishment of the project in 1982, with a budget of 3 million, a total of 5 episodes have been filmed. The average cost of an episode is 600,000. If the entire "Journey to the West" was filmed, wouldn't it be It would cost tens of millions, and even CCTV, with its deep pockets, couldn't afford to spend so much money.
"Every penny we spend is spent wisely."
Li Chengru vowed: "Even in order to save money, the crew only has a budget of 50 cents per meal per person!"
"But Why does money go so fast?”
Lu Xiaowei and Zheng Xiaolong were puzzled.
Dialang Yan said abruptly: "It's for outdoor photography and filming, right?"
Yang Jue nodded: "Yes, we almost invested most of the money on location."
"Sure enough, it's the same as in "A Dream of Red Mansions."" Fang Yanyan explained concisely and comprehensively. TV dramas in the early years were shot in relatively fixed scenes, mostly indoor scenes.
The "Dream of Red Mansions" is different, it is all based on real scenes. In addition to most of the indoor scenes in Yanjing Xiangshan, the outdoor scenes also went to Suzhou in Jiangnan, Jiaxing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Qingcheng Mountain in Sichuan and Sichuan, There are more than 40 places such as Hebei Rongguo Mansion, Shanghai Grand View Garden, Yangzhou Fuzhuang, Yanjing Baiyun Temple, Dujiangyan, Zhenjiang Jiaoshan Temple, Hangzhou West Lake, etc. This is why the 3 million budget cannot withstand the "torsions" of the "Dream of Red Mansions" crew. reason.
"Journey to the West" requires much more location shooting than "A Dream of Red Mansions".
As a mythological novel depicting the world of gods, demons, immortals and heroes, many strange worlds and scenes are shown between the lines, including the prosperous Tang Empire, the terrifying and gloomy underworld, and the mysterious and ethereal heaven...
Can However, these scenes are so illusory that it becomes quite difficult to reproduce them simply through stage scenery and prop production.
The technical level at that time had not yet developed advanced technologies such as green screen synthesis. Even Hollywood, which is top-notch in physical and computer special effects, could not produce it. The crew of "Journey to the West" could only resort to difficult and expensive methods. We had to rely on real-life shooting to present these fantasy elements.
The mountains and rivers captured are naturally not comparable to those crude fairy tale dramas of later generations that relied on green screen cutouts!
After all, it is comfortable to shoot on a green screen, without being exposed to wind, sun or rain, and the shooting speed is extremely fast. There is no need to spend time on the road. The actors can run several scenes at the same time, just like eating prunes and vegetables. Not to mention the low-quality pork meat used in the prepared meat dish, it was not tasty at all!
These are all fast-moving consumer goods, but "Journey to the West" is a veritable work of art.
The outdoor scenes of deserts, forests, waterfalls, mountains, seas, and stone forests are really pleasing to the eye. You can even treat them as a low-end version of National Geographic, but the price and effort you pay for this is huge. In order to fully present the vast world of "Journey to the West", the crew had to painstakingly travel to more than half of China, covering 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and the journey spanned all over the world.
Moreover, there are many crew members, complicated equipment, and the need to travel around, which undoubtedly adds a lot of financial burden.
So it is not just location scouting, but also careful planning before shooting to determine the shooting locations and routes required for the script.
All of this will greatly prolong the filming cycle of "Journey to the West" and also greatly increase the crew's manpower and living expenses.
Because of this, the production speed of Xiangjiang Film Crew is faster than expected. Just one more day of work means one more day of expenses.
Such problems have put the crew of "Journey to the West" into financial difficulties.
"Director Yang, when you come to Beijing to apply for funding this time, how much budget do you plan to apply for?"
Gong Xie's tone was filled with concern.
“Of course, the more, the better. If it doesn’t work, if we can have another 3 million like the crew of "Dream of Red Mansions", we will be satisfied.”
Yang Ju took a deep breath.
"Don't be afraid that it's not enough. With the scale of the "Journey to the West" series, even if another 6 million is allocated, it may not be possible to complete the filming of Nine Nine and Eighty-One."
Fang Yan said seriously.
“Don’t talk about 6 million now, even 600,000 is not available.”
Yang Jue smiled bitterly and said that he and his comrades from the crew have been to CCTV again and again these days to beg for alms. But every time it was in vain.
Fang Yan said: "Since you can't find luck at CCTV, why not try to find luck elsewhere, such as state-owned enterprises, collective enterprises, or even private enterprises and self-employed people?"
"Yes, you can let outsiders Fund investment in "Journey to the West". "
Gong Qie has studied in the Hong Kong film and television industry, and his business thinking has been completely opened up compared to others present.
"It's not that we haven't thought of these methods, but they just don't work."
Li Chengru said helplessly: "CCTV does not agree to allow external funds to enter "Journey to the West" and only allows loans."
Then he clapped his hands loudly and said angrily: "But we are just a TV drama crew under CCTV. We can't directly borrow money from the bank. We must get permission from CCTV and borrow money from the bank in the name of CCTV." Okay.”
“That’s tricky. "
Fang Yan frowned. He originally planned to recruit Li Jingwei's Jianlibao and Han Yuemin's clothing company to sponsor. The conditions were very simple, that is, let the "Journey to the West" team shoot an advertisement and give them drinks. The clothing brand speaks for itself, and finally there will be a few acupuncture performances.
"Because it was difficult, we stayed in Yanjing for a long time and tried our best to persuade the leaders in Taiwan."
Yang Jue politely asked him to help because the CCTV Spring Festival Gala Because of this, everyone from the radio and television, culture and publicity departments to the leaders of Central Station must be selling Yan Yan's face, especially the station director Wang Feng.
"Why, Director Wang doesn't agree to the loan?"
Fang Yan was surprised.
Yang Ju confessed frankly that the effects and ratings of the first five episodes of "Journey to the West" did not meet CCTV's expectations.
The leaders in the station believe that the filming of "Journey to the West" consumes a huge amount of money, updates slowly, the ratings are not high, the effort is not proportional to the return, and the filming and return cycle are very long. It is completely impossible to watch this film. The revenue brought by the TV series lies, so some voices suggested that the filming of "Journey to the West" should be temporarily suspended, and manpower, financial and material resources should be allocated to "Dream of Red Mansions", and strive to film one of the four famous novels first.
Dialian thought it was ridiculous at first. The 1986 version of "Journey to the West" is undoubtedly the TV series with the highest number of total broadcasts in China. Its classic level has not been surpassed by any TV series so far. It is simply the most popular among the four famous TV series. A welcome presence.
But then I thought about it, in fact, "Journey to the West" really set off a ratings frenzy until the first climax scene of "Havoc in Heaven"!
“Hiss!”
Everyone looked at each other and felt it was incredible, but when they thought about it carefully, it made sense.
"Actually, "A Dream of Red Mansions" is not safe either. As far as I know, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Culture have not thought of stopping the filming."
Fang Yan comforted, " Anyway, don’t worry, Director Yang, I will help wherever I can!”
Yang Ju frowned and walked out of the Feitian Award presentation venue with Zhu Lu, Gong Cie and the others.
As soon as I arrived at the door of the building, I saw Li Hongchang, the deputy production director of "Journey to the West" and the future actor of "The Hundred-Eyed Demon", running over in a hurry. He had no time to talk to Fang Yan and Lu Xiao. Wei greeted them and brought a shocking piece of bad news with panicked faces -
The station received an anonymous reporting letter!
The content is to question the use of funds by the crew of "Journey to the West", accusing them of abusing the 3 million budget and traveling around in the name of filming, but in fact there is no substantive filming work...< br>
“What?!”
Gong Zhen, Zhu Lu and others were all shocked, and all of them looked at Yang Ju in unison.
Watching their hurried departure, Fang Yan shook his head:
“There are ninety-nine and eighty-one difficulties in “Journey to the West”, and I’m afraid the TV series “Journey to the West” also has its own ninety-nine. Eighty-one is difficult.”
Everyone agreed, Zhu Fu. Squeezing Gong Yue's hand tightly, he said with worry on his face: "Teacher Fang, will something happen?"
"It may not be a bad thing." Fang Yan said meaningfully, "Maybe it is a good thing. , the budget for the TV series may be secured." (End of Chapter)