novelraw Chapter 47 Achievements and the Rise of Coffee
Chapter 47 Achievements and the Rise of Coffee
Beijing.
Yan Danchen got into Shen Qing's car.
The two had dinner alone today. After the meal, Shen Qing said that he had bought a new house in Beijing and wanted to show it to her.
Yan Danchen understood Shen Qing's meaning perfectly, but still blushed and said "okay".
The two played husband and wife in "Ip Man," and as filming progressed, they both felt closer to each other than to anyone else. Moreover, Shen Qing is so outstanding; in the entertainment industry, it's practically impossible to find someone with similar qualities in every aspect!
The people involved are exceptionally talented, and since they usually play husband and wife, it's inevitable that they'll get caught up in the role.
During the period after the movie was released, Shen Qing would always wait for her to arrive before watching it together, based on the box office figures for the previous day! It was from that time on that she began to be particularly willing to get closer to Shen Qing and to talk to him more.
Yan Danchen knew that Shen Qing was fickle and seemed to have more than one lover, but she had already turned her back on everyone else. What could she do? She could only hope that he would change his ways after he got her.
I think so, right?
Yan Danchen felt a mix of excitement, trepidation, and worry.
"I'll tie it for you."
Shen Qing leaned in to fasten her seatbelt. Their faces were very close, and they could feel each other's breath. Shen Qing couldn't help but kiss her, and Yan Danchen, who initially passively accepted it, gradually began to actively reciprocate.
Finally, the two separated, Yan Danchen's face was flushed.
"Can you promise me something?" she asked hesitantly, a little nervously.
"Don't even mention one, I'd agree to ten." Shen Qing was already fully wound up; at this point, a man would promise anything for the sake of breaking through.
Yan Danchen stammered, "After you get me, don't look for other women. If you had any before, break them off for my sake, okay?"
Shen Qing was about to say "okay," but she didn't say it out loud.
The air inside the car seemed to freeze. Yan Danchen stared into Shen Qing's eyes, and as time passed, she began to feel disappointed, then hesitant, and then a faint trace of regret—regret for not choosing to play dumb.
"Where do you live? It's getting late, let me take you home." The sound of the car engine broke the silence between the two, and Shen Qing had already made up her mind.
Yan Danchen gave an address, and the car slowly drove away.
On the road.
Yan Danchen secretly glanced at Shen Qing's profile.
There's no doubt that "Ip Man" will break 1.5 million at the box office. It's his movie, a movie that he single-handedly produced and almost single-handedly carried.
He was the screenwriter, director, and lead actor all by himself.
He actually knows kung fu, and his physical condition is unbelievably good.
Except... he hasn't settled down yet!
"Maybe I can wait for him to settle down? Men eventually settle down, don't they?"
"What if he tries to comfort me again... even if it's just lying to me?"
The car drove into an old residential area and stopped at a certain apartment building.
"Senior Sister Yan, we've arrived," Shen Qing said with a smile.
"Thank you."
Yan Danchen got out of the car, thinking all the way about "why not come up and sit for a while", but in the end she couldn't bring herself to say it. She waited all the way to coax her again, but in the end she didn't get a word in, and she felt empty inside.
There will be other opportunities in the future, right?
……
"What do you think?"
Shen Qing gave the script of "Lost in Thailand" to Chen Zhixi and asked her after she finished reading it.
After watching it, Chen Zhixi had only one thought: it's going to be another hit!
The jokes are much better and more frequent than those in "Nightclub," and many of the jokes are truly hilarious.
If Mr. Shen's "Nightclub" could rake in nearly 3000 million yuan at the box office, what's a little more for this upgraded version of the new movie? Besides, the film market is much larger than before, isn't it?
"Mr. Shen, would you like to personally play Li Chenggong?"
"Yes, and also, for this script, only our Magical Films invested. Otherwise, how much would it be appropriate to calculate my salary and director's fee? It's impossible to calculate. Calculating too much is not appropriate, and calculating too little is not appropriate either. So let's just have only our company invest. For future projects, we will bring in investors to share the risk for big productions, and for small productions where I don't act myself, we can do whatever we want. For low-budget projects where I direct and act myself, only our company will invest."
"Is this the first thing you filmed, so it can be released before the Spring Festival travel rush at the end of the year?"
"Sharp-witted, I knew you were cut out to be a producer."
"Please don't flatter me. I'm still not very good at calculating the estimated cost of a film."
"Practice makes perfect, and I believe you'll adapt quickly. Take this film, 'Lost in Thailand,' for example. There are two key points: one is that the airplane cabin requires a set built in a studio, as it's impossible to find a real airplane for us to film; the other is that the scenes inside the train carriage don't need a set, because there aren't many scenes, mainly just the passengers crowding onto the train and the main characters having brief interactions. We can find a train station and use an unused carriage to film for a day or two, which should be enough."
Chen Zhixi asked curiously, "What if there are many scenes inside the train carriages, and the filming period is very long?"
Shen Qing said, "Then we'll have to build a set in a studio. You can't just find a real train and film for months."
"The train set for 'A World Without Thieves' cost 200 million yuan. And that's not all. The scenery outside the train windows had to keep changing, which involved perspective and required special effects, costing another large sum of money."
Actually, there is an advantage to setting up a set in a studio: you can plan the guide rails, wires, camera layout, and movement routes in advance, which would be very limiting if you were to shoot in a real train carriage.
Both "A World Without Thieves" and "Lost in Russia" were filmed on set in a studio, and if Shen Qing plans to make "The Original Code" in the future, he will have to do the same.
Even without building train carriages in a studio, the cost of "Lost in Thailand" would be difficult to reduce to less than 500 million yuan, given the sheer number of scenes involved. And that 500 million yuan doesn't even take into account the value of Shen Qing, the lead actor and director.
This is why he didn't choose "Lost in Thailand" as his first work after time travel.
As for the casting...
Shen Qing is certain that she will play Li Chenggong, and Niu Geng will definitely play Wang Baoqiang. The rest are just a few supporting actresses who won't have much screen time. Any film school student could easily play them.
If you're not a virtuous wife, then go find Zuo Xiaoqing; if you're a mistress, go find Yang Mi.
……
Lunchtime at the Beijing Film Academy cafeteria.
Yang Mi and her classmates were having lunch when her phone rang. She casually took it out to check the new message.
"There's a role, a supporting actress, a decorative role, with very few scenes. Are you interested? If you are, I'll save it for you."
Yang Mi suddenly stood up.
"Mimi, what's wrong?"
"Are you choking?"
"Ah, it's nothing." Yang Mi quickly sat down and responded to her classmates' concern.
She's a supporting actress, a pretty face, and has very little screen time. If this were any other director's film, I'd definitely have to think about it. But I have to go for Brother Qing's film!
All of Brother Qing's films are hits; the only difference is between minor and major hits. There are absolutely no flops.
Moreover, the role itself is secondary; the main thing is to have the opportunity to build a good relationship with Brother Qing. Now, who can't see that Shen Qing's status as both an actor and a director has skyrocketed?
Finally, Yang Mi realized that she just wanted to appear in front of him and was willing to get close to him.
……
The preparation for "Lost in Thailand" is mainly handled by Chen Zhixi. Shenqi Films has officially signed a contract with Wang Baoqiang. At the same time, the preparation work for "Taken 2" has been launched simultaneously. After filming this movie, "Taken 2" will start filming at any time.
On July 22, six days before the release of "Dragon Tiger Gate," directed by Yip Wai-sun and starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Dong Jie, and Li Xiaoran, the film's box office in mainland China officially surpassed 150 million yuan. Media outlets predicted that its final box office would exceed 160 million or even 170 million yuan.
The entire Chinese entertainment industry, except for those who are too slow to react, was stunned by Shen Qing's exaggerated rise to power.
Because the release date of "Dragon Tiger Gate" was very close to that of their own film, the creators of "Dragon Tiger Gate" basically paid attention to the box office trend of "Ip Man" every day, so they felt the impact the most.
"It's hard to say how he compares to Jackie Chan and Lee Lian-jie right now, but it's almost a certainty that he'll surpass Chow Yun-fat in terms of star power," Wong Pak-ming remarked.
Ye Weixin said, "The media says Shen Qing owns 50% of the shares, so how much will he get this time? The mainland box office is guaranteed at 160 million, and the overseas rights sold for a total of 11 million US dollars. With the current exchange rate of 7.8, the Hong Kong box office has already reached 37 million, and there's also Taiwan—wow, making movies can be this profitable!"
Donnie Yen retorted, "It's because he makes money from movies! If it weren't for Boss Huang, I'd be struggling to make ends meet even if I made movies!"