Chapter 751
A Big Blunder
Chapter 751 A Big Blunder
Sui Lingfang sensed the uncertainty in He Wuyou's heart and planned to call Yiyi Media later to see what their attitude was.
"Jinli specifically asked me to remind you that even if you can finish the script this month, it won't be possible to assemble a crew and start filming so quickly."
She'll likely join the cast of "Dawn 2" this summer. If "The Invisible Secret" also plans to start filming this summer, she won't have time to act in it, nor will she take on multiple projects simultaneously.
He Wuyou was stunned for a moment, "Then what should I do if I can finish writing this month?"
Sui Lingfang said in a deep voice, "Drag it!"
"After you finish writing, spend another two months polishing the details repeatedly. If you really feel that you can't make any progress, all the details will have been polished."
Then you should delay it for now, and when you report to Yiyi Media, don't say you've finished writing it. Just say you're still creating. Sometimes writing too fast isn't a good thing.
He Wuyou readily agreed: "Okay."
Delay tactics are not difficult for him.
Anyway, the company pays my salary every month, whether I have work or not.
He was more than happy to let the company delay.
This way, he will have more time to pursue further studies and come up with new script ideas.
At this point, He Wuyou only understood the first layer of meaning of "delay it".
He assumed that Jinli was too busy with her schedule. If "The Invisible Secret" was finalized too quickly and the production team was assembled too soon, Jinli wouldn't be able to join the crew so quickly, which was why it had to be delayed.
But it wasn't until later, when he was writing the second script, that he realized that Fang Jie's "delay it" actually had a second meaning.
In the industry, it typically takes 2-3 years to polish a high-quality script; 1 year is considered very fast.
He often finishes polishing a script in just a few months.
Such a fast finalization speed... they might think you're just trying to fool them? Was the script generated by AI? Or was it a collaborative work by multiple people, not just his exclusive original work?
Being too fast can make production companies feel you're unprofessional, as if you don't care about their needs and are just giving them a script to fool them.
Therefore, sometimes finalizing a draft too quickly is disrespectful to the client.
Although it's outrageous, that's how it is.
Some processes have to be delayed, whether you want to or not.
After explaining the pros and cons to He Wuyou, Sui Lingfang then dialed the number of the person in charge of Yiyi Media.
As soon as the call was connected, Mr. Yang asked very warmly:
"President Fang, is Jinli ready to join the film crew at any time?"
Sui Lingfang: ?
What role did Jinli take on? How come she doesn't know anything about it?
Sui Lingfang: "Wait, what? She can join the film crew anytime? She doesn't have any acting projects lined up recently."
Mr. Yang was taken aback. "Didn't you say that 'The Invisible Secret' would be finalized this month? That's why we've been selecting the production team, the director team, and the cast recently."
Everything is almost settled, and we're aiming to have the team assembled by next month. If things go smoothly, Jinli will be on summer vacation, and filming for "The Invisible Secret" can begin.
Sui Lingfang's face was grave.
Now she understood: there was definitely a problem with the communication between Yiyi Media and Chenxi Entertainment.
Yiyi Media has already reached the point of assembling its team, but Chenxi Entertainment hasn't received any news about it.
She even heard from Jinli that screenwriter He Wuyou would finalize the script this month.
Jinli's information came from Gu Cheng.
If Gu Cheng hadn't mentioned this to Jinli, even Jinli wouldn't have known that He Wuyou finalized the draft so quickly.
If Morning Light Entertainment had known earlier, it would have stopped Yiyi Media immediately.
She calmly said, "I think there was a problem with our communication. Jinli was already scheduled to work on another film crew during the summer season and didn't have time to go to the new one."
Why didn't you tell me when you were assembling your team? Also, how did you know the screenwriter had finalized the script when he hadn't contacted you?
We at Chenxi Entertainment only learned today that the scriptwriter is about to finalize the script. Where did you get this information from? Is the source reliable?
"Mr. Yang, please don't let yourself be fooled!"
General Manager Yang was also stunned. Hearing the seriousness in Sui Lingfang's words, his expression stiffened.
"I...I...I also heard it from the employees below."
"Wait, let me find out where these messages came from, then I'll call you back."
After hanging up the phone, Mr. Yang quickly sent a message to check.
The case was solved not long afterward.
Yiyi Media has never contacted the screenwriter himself, but has instead contacted the screenwriter's assistant.
The assistant was in frequent contact with He Wuyou, so he knew about his recent situation.
He Wuyou had mentioned to his assistant that he would finalize the draft this month.
Just last week, someone from Yiyi Media asked the assistant about the script's progress, and the assistant then revealed the news of the final draft.
This caused great excitement among the people at Yiyi Media, who reported the news up the chain of command.
So much so that they hadn't even seen the actual script before confidently assembling their team.
Moreover, they never contacted the screenwriter himself from beginning to end; they learned everything from his assistant.
Upon hearing this, General Manager Yang couldn't help but angrily rebuke, "Nonsense!"
"How could you rush into assembling a team without even seeing the actual script, and then pass the news on to me?"
Doesn't the company have a dedicated team of screenwriters to review scripts? I thought you had already reviewed the script and confirmed that there were no problems before passing the message to me.
That's why I agreed to let you use your connections to build the team, but you're telling me you don't even know what the script looks like? How did it get past the screenwriting team's review?
General Manager Yang's face turned ashen, and he said angrily, "Furthermore, you haven't even seen the script, how are you going to assemble a team?"
Do you know what the script is about? What kind of scenes will be used? Do you need to hire any professional teachers to oversee the project?
A barrage of questions rained down, causing all the senior executives to shudder.
General Manager Yang coldly surveyed them, "Speak!"
One person cautiously spoke up: "President Yang, in the past we only produced our own dramas, which we wrote, directed and acted in ourselves, so we followed the company's review process."
However, this time, in our collaboration with Jinli, we gave away a large portion of the rights. Jinli didn't use our screenwriters; instead, they hired another screenwriter to write the script.
We assumed that the review of the script content would also be handled by Jinli's team.
"Since their screenwriter says it's already finalized, it must have passed Chenxi Entertainment's internal review, which is why it's reached the final draft stage." "Yeah," another person chimed in, "maybe the draft was already written a while ago, just undergoing minor revisions. It might have already gone through one or two rounds within Chenxi Entertainment, and is about to go through its third final review this month!"
"Mr. Yang, this is not our fault. We acted out of trust from our partner. That's Jinli!"
"The scripts Jinli liked were definitely good, so as soon as they said they could finalize the draft, we started thinking about assembling the team."
"Mr. Yang, although we haven't seen the final version of the script, we have seen the first version and know that it is an urban suspense film."
We're confident we can find the right production team. There are only a handful of directors in the industry who can make urban suspense films, and we've simply been in contact with them beforehand.
Mr. Yang stared intently at them and sighed, "It's all in chaos, everything is in chaos."
"Chenxi Entertainment is not a film and television production company. They don't have as many rules and regulations as companies like ours that specialize in film and television."
You're applying your own rules to another company, assuming they'll follow your rules in return—this is a major breach of communication principles!
He changed the subject abruptly and said decisively, "Jinli's agent called me today. I don't know where we got the news about the final draft. They only found out today that the screenwriter will finalize the draft this month."
They didn't know that we had already secretly started assembling a production team. Fortunately, this mistake wasn't irreparable, and it's not too late to stop now.
Jinli's summer slot has already been booked by another drama, so our drama can't start filming during the summer season and we have to adjust our schedule to accommodate Jinli.
Therefore, all ongoing preparations are suspended. We'll proceed according to the company's work schedule for this year. I doubt this drama will be filmed even by the end of this year; we'll postpone it until next year.
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the other senior executives changed.
"Well... the director has already set a filming schedule with us."
"I've almost found the filming location, all that's left is to sign the contract."
"In order to find a good production team, I spread the word, and now many people know that Yiyi Media is going to cooperate with Jinli. Everyone wants to get a share of the pie."
"It would be so embarrassing to cancel the cooperation now. Where would Yiyi Media put its face if word got out?"
President Yang glared at them: "You haven't even read the final draft of the script, and you believe everything your assistant says, even leaking the news in advance. And you still think you're right?"
Some people were still unconvinced and said, "We didn't write the script..."
General Manager Yang interrupted loudly: "But this drama is a joint venture between Yiyi Media and Chenxi Entertainment!"
Although Jinli was given a lot of autonomy, the production team, directing staff, and most of the actors were all provided by Yiyi Media.
Therefore, we must also have the right to know about the script, rather than transferring all rights to the script to Chenxi Entertainment.
I know you guys don't have confidence in the company's internal script review process, otherwise we wouldn't have been making so many bad movies these past few years.
But you can't treat scriptwriting as a burden, dumping it on Chenxi Entertainment and thinking you can relax and do nothing!
Let me repeat myself, Chenxi Entertainment is not a professional film and television production team, so they need our oversight even more.
Some people say, "But the screenwriters hired by Chenxi Entertainment are not satisfied with our suggestions, what can we do?"
"Yes, it's not that we don't want to offer suggestions, but the screenwriters over there won't listen, so it's better not to."
Mr. Yang rubbed his temples, looking at them as if they were stupid pigs.
"Don't you guys understand? We have a cooperative relationship with Chenxi Entertainment. In a cooperation, there are wins and losses. If they want to hire other screenwriters, that's their business."
We have fulfilled our responsibilities by carefully reviewing and approving our opinions; whether Chenxi Entertainment is willing to adopt them is another matter.
If the show performs poorly after its premiere, it won't be our fault. Our contract with Jinli allows us to sue the artist for compensation if the show performs poorly!
Even if he's a king, he'll get tired of leading so many silly birds.
Besides, what's the point of excitedly assembling a team?
Jinli can simply refuse to film if she wants to; what can you do about it?
This group of people even dared to use the excuse that the production team was already in place to get Jinli to film the drama first. Is that even possible?
Mr. Yang had inquired about it; Jinli was going to join the film crew for "Dawn 2" during the summer, which was a big-budget, feature film!
Even if Yiyi Media produces high-quality films every year, its influence cannot reach the film industry, let alone the fact that "Dawn 2" is directed by an internationally renowned director like Chu Chenliang.
Moreover, Yiyi Media is also known as the "King of Bad Movies".
When the news spread that "Yiyi Media quickly assembled a team to compete with Director Chu for Jinli's schedule," only Yiyi Media was ridiculed.
Mr. Yang felt that this group of people were hiding something from him.
After giving him a scolding, he went to check the accounts.
Do not check, I don’t know, I’m scared.
No wonder that group of people rushed to find a filming team and assemble a crew as soon as they heard that the screenwriter had finalized the script this month.
It turns out they cut all the projects that were originally scheduled to start this year, intending to concentrate their efforts on making "The Invisible Secret".
The reason these projects were cut is that the screenwriters involved in the projects approved this year were all from the previous batch.
Many screenwriters were dismissed during the internal purge, resulting in a severe shortage of manpower for the project, which made it impossible to keep up with the workload, hence the cancellation.
However, every company has annual KPI targets, and if they slack off and don't explore new projects, their performance will be poor.
That's why they're trying to get "The Invisible Secret" out as soon as possible, hoping it will become a key part of their performance this year.
It's better to make just one great series than to make five, six, seven, or eight projects that are destined to be bad.
Mr. Yang looked at the accounts and scoffed.
"You've come up with a good idea, but don't you even consider whether Jinli will follow your lead as you wish?"
They never understood that this collaboration was always one where Yiyi Media begged Chenxi Entertainment, not the other way around—Jinli begged me to tailor-make a drama for her.
Mr. Yang called Sui Lingfang in the evening to apologize first.
"I checked, and the problem lies in the company's internal review process. That's why they started assembling the team before seeing the final draft of the script. We were too hasty in this matter."
Don't worry, all preparations have been halted. Everything is based on Jinli's schedule; we'll film whenever she's available.
Sui Lingfang thought it best to wait until next year.
But when the words were on the tip of her tongue, she hesitated.
Director Chu seems to be taking "Dawn 2" very seriously; I wonder if filming will be finished by the summer.
If filming goes on from the summer until November, and Jinli has to join the crew again in January, she's worried that Jinli won't be able to handle it.
Now that Jinli doesn't need to keep herself so busy, she hopes to give Jinli more rest time before joining the crew.
So Sui Lingfang said, "Let's wait and see next year. Jinli will be available next year, but I don't know the exact time. I'm filming 'Dawn 2' this year, so I can't join the crew."
"By the way, there's something you probably don't know: we've hired someone to write 'The Invisible Secret,' and it's a new screenwriter."
Mr. Yang raised an eyebrow slightly. "The new screenwriter, do I know him?"
Sui Lingfang thought for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. I'll arrange for him to meet with you sometime."
Mr. Yang felt something was off, but he still agreed, "Okay."