Millennium director

Su Lun, Lu Yang, Tian Yusheng, Bi Gan, Hou Pu.

These are the five directors selected for the second phase of the Light and Film Era Young Director Support Program.

Except for the last one, Wu Yuan, who had no impression at all and suspected that it might be a hidden gem in the ocean, the first four were all directors he had heard of and each had their own talents.

It can only be said that under the control of a reasonable and fair selection process and system, real talents will not be buried.

Even if Wu Yuan didn't make any arrangements in advance, these people could still stand out and be included in the support list.

Wu Yuan continued to look down and soon saw the contents of the movie scripts they had selected.

Lu Yang's is indeed "Embroidered Spring Knife".

He is not a newcomer. In 2010, he won the KNN Award for the New Wave Section of the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea with his directorial debut "Cinema for the Blind".

In 2012, the completed second film "RV" was shortlisted for the Asia Window section of the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.

While he was working on "Cinema for the Blind", he had already finished writing the prototype of the story of "Xiuchungdao". The script was written in 2010.

But when Lu Yang wanted to film "Xiu Chun Dao", a company persuaded him to change the costume drama into a modern drama, and they were not optimistic about the script.

Because "Xiu Chun Knife" is a traditional martial arts film without any special effects or 3D gimmicks, the market is generally not optimistic about films with this theme.

Relying on his own connections, he reluctantly persuaded China Film to give an investment, but China Film was only willing to give 15 million, which was still half of the 30 million budget he had in mind.

China Film also said that after he finds the male lead, he will talk to China Film. If the male lead is strong enough and can improve the success rate of this project, then China Film is willing to continue pursuing the investment.

Lu Yang was originally embarrassed by this incident and was looking for a suitable actor. His first target was Zhang Zhen, and he was still trying to persuade him to take the role.

At this time, the second phase of the Youth Support Plan of the Light and Shadow Era happened to be launched.

With the mentality of giving it a try, Lu Yang then submitted the script to the Light and Shadow Era, hoping to get another support fund from the Light and Shadow Era, which might be enough for him to film "Xiu Chun Dao".

As a result, I passed five levels and killed six generals, and was finally shortlisted for the five-man list.

Wu Yuan is very generous with this director support plan. He has already told Li Xiaoping that there is no online plan, as long as the script is good enough, the film and television industry will make up the investment.

The current era of light and shadow is not the time when we were just starting out. The cash flow in the company's accounts is extremely abundant, and it can completely afford to lose money in order to support new directors.

And will it be a loss or a loss?

As a result, Lu Yang's "Embroidered Spring Knife" received an investment of 15 million from Light and Shadow Times, plus 15 million from China Film, to collect enough filming funds.

Zhang Zhen heard that the funds had been replenished, so he agreed to take over the film. Now Lu Yang has taken the crew to visit the country and selected locations to start shooting.

The same goes for Tian Yusheng.

After graduating from college, he founded Santang Studio with his friends and entered the screenwriting industry as a screenwriter.

The script of "The Man on the Road" was written by Shengtang Studio. Later, the film earned 50 million in box office, and Tian Yusheng also entered the attention of the film industry.

Don't underestimate the box office result of 50 million.

For a low-budget comedy movie, this box office is already high.

Mahua's "One Thought in Heaven" only earned over three million yuan at the box office after its release. This is the common situation for domestic low-cost comedy movies.

In comparison, "People on the Road" is already a success and cannot be more successful.

It is also because of this that Tian Yusheng also participated in the pre-production of the comedy movie "Thailand" from the end of last year to the beginning of this year.

After the script and filming of "囧囧" were almost completed, Tian Yusheng came up with the idea of ​​​​the script of "The Ex-Raiders". His original intention was not to direct or star in it.

In fact, after the script of "Ex Raiders" was completed, many companies in the industry were competing for this project. After all, Tian Yusheng has already had two successful examples.

His new script will definitely be snatched up by the company.

But after working as a screenwriter twice, Tian Yusheng's ambition gradually grew, and he felt that he could not only be a screenwriter, but also a director.

It's just that he has talked with several companies that have approached him. These companies are willing to fund the production of "The Ex-Raiders", but they all hope that Tian Yusheng can find an excellent director and protagonist, rather than letting him do it himself. director.

After all, Tian Yusheng has no directing foundation and no previous successful experience. How can anyone invest money and take risks?

Coincidentally, at this time, the Youth Director Support Program of the Light and Shadow Era appeared, and Tian Yusheng naturally came to cast the Light and Shadow Era.

As a result, I didn't expect that this script also passed five levels and defeated six generals, and entered the final five-person roster.

Light and Shadow Times originally had the idea of ​​​​supporting new directors, so Tian Yusheng was naturally able to successfully obtain a production fund of 10 million to start his first directorial project.

The remaining Bi Gan, Hope and Su Lun had similar experiences to them. They all had the mentality of giving it a try, or failed to attract investment everywhere, so they cast the script in the era of light and shadow.

However, compared with Lu Yang and Tian Yusheng, the scripts written by these three are not very marketable.

Su Lun entered the industry after graduating from the Directing Department of the Central Academy of Drama in 2009. His experience was similar to that of Wu Yuan in his previous life. He started as an assistant director and worked in Hengdian for three years.

During this period, she did not forget her dream of being an independent director and wrote a romantic comedy script. It was not the "Cohabitation in Time and Space" that Wu Yuan remembered, but a "Summer Day" that he had never heard of. happy".

This is a campus romance light comedy. Light and Shadow Era invested 8 million in it, hoping to encourage and support it. After all, there are really too few female directors in the industry, and we should support it.

Not to mention Bi Gan and Hope, both of whom are directors of literary films. Their scripts also follow the purely literary and award-winning route, and are completely insulated from the box office.

Light and Shadow Times did not expect these two directors to create revenue for the company. They were chosen to win awards because their scripts had the highest literary and artistic value and the most cinematic value among the hundreds of scripts submitted this time. Art book.

Bi Gan's script "Roadside Picnic" was even highly praised by the screenwriting department during the company's internal screening. They believed that he is the next Chief Jia and will definitely shine in foreign film festivals and become a new actor after Jia Zhangke. A representative figure of a generation of mainland art film directors.

Hope's evaluation is slightly lower than that of Bi Gan, but the senior executives of the company's screenwriting department and director's department also believe that he has great potential, and after a few years of training, he will become a frequent visitor to domestic and foreign film festivals.

In the age of light and shadow, a large company of this size must be able to capture both box office and awards. It is also appropriate to invest in several award winners at the right time. This is how we finally have three commercial film directors and two artistic film directors. of the selected squad.

In order to support these five directors, Light and Shadow Times has also allocated a support fund of 45 million in one go!

Wealthy, angry! (End of chapter)