Chapter 1149: Chapter 1140 Everyone Loves to Complain (2)
During his postgraduate studies, he majored in directing, systematically learning theoretical knowledge, and his graduation project turned out pretty well. After entering the entertainment industry, he seized every opportunity for hands-on filming. But even so, he still lacked practical experience—even if he often went to the small company he set up with Han Yifan to satisfy his itch, the feel of shooting web dramas was completely different from shooting movies. A good director is essentially a good director plus a great team. Like Sun Wujiu filming “Spring Light,” he mainly used Yu Fenfei’s team.
He and Han Yifan’s small film company has floundered for three years. Because they didn’t have money, they couldn’t afford to create a spectacular post-production effects team. Because they didn’t have money, they couldn’t hire big-name artists.
Actually, the world isn’t lacking talented and beautiful artists; what it really lacks is opportunities. Also, people are restless—the slightly attractive ones don’t put in the work to hone their basics day by day; all they think about is how to get famous, how to get famous quickly, make money early, become stars, and enjoy adoration from thousands of fans. Even those who get into film schools often leave before graduating to take jobs, so naturally, what they produce lacks quality.
The company Bo Yan and Han Yifan established was for cultivating talent for future teams. On one hand, they invested quite a bit of money into production teams and screenwriters. They set the rule that actor payroll could only account for one-third of the total budget, with production teams and screenwriters also accounting for one-third, and the rest for distribution, promotion, and other expenses. Plus, they ensure the screenwriters have status, forbidding random script changes or special exceptions. Of course, given such great authority, if a screenwriter produces two consecutive works that don’t perform well, they must also bear the responsibility.
As for artists, they absolutely don’t choose those who are already famous, slightly well-known, or signed by big companies with lofty ambitions. They sign only highly cost-effective, young, fresh-faced newcomers. Once they’re in, they get thrown into the training camp, focusing on acting skills for a duration ranging from one month to half a year. After training, they’re directly cast into performances, as the company has ready web dramas, ensuring plenty of practice opportunities.
Of course, with this training mode, if an actor gets famous from a role and bigger companies want to poach them, they won’t obstruct it; handing over the breach of contract fee is sufficient.
No wonder Bo Yan is called a black-hearted coal—he signs these artists at cabbage prices, throws them into training camps which, of course, also requires investment. The tuition comes from the payment of the first few shows. Although it’s not like squeezing the artists dry, the commission taken is minimal. However, if anyone wants to breach their contract and jump ship, the breach of contract fee is a sky-high price.
But truth be told, the artists he personally selects and trains do attract high offers from other big companies. In these three years, five or six have been poached, and just the breach of contract fees from these five or six were enough to cover quite a lot of their expenses. He then reinvested the money into team building and artist training.
Through this cycle, the team got built, screenwriters got a certain reserve, and some artists remained untouched by other companies. Of course, for now, it’s still a web drama team and he’s using profits from past operations to diligently upgrade the team.
But not only the team needs upgrading; he does too. Now is the time for his own upgrade.
Xia Siyu asked, “Guest appearance—that means no money, right?”
Bo Yan nodded, “Yeah, with no money left, will my wife support me?”