A great director who grew up happily

Chapter 341 Paying to Work Chen Jinnian

"Don't listen to Brother Jing's nonsense. If there was a movie with such a large investment, your agency would have received the news long ago. How could there be no news at all?"

Chen Jinnian spoke nonsense seriously, and at the same time gave Wu Jing a look, telling him to shut up.

"Legend of the White Snake" is a promotional film with local investment. Commercial goals are not its primary goal, and it has absolutely no connection with the entertainment industry. You can't find out anything about it even if you want to.

"Really?" Nazha looked at the two of them suspiciously. Common sense told her that she should believe what Chen Jinnian said, but as a girl, she still felt that there was something fishy going on.

Jiang Shuying was much more direct. She picked up her phone and sent a message to her agent, asking her to carefully check whether there was such a movie. If there was, she would have to establish a good relationship with Chen Jinnian in advance.

She has no shortage of roles to play, and can steadily take on two dramas every year to maintain her exposure. However, all the roles that come to her are TV dramas, and her resources in the film industry are pitifully few. Not to mention big-budget projects, she can only play supporting roles even in low-investment movies.

"Of course it's true. Everyone, hurry up and eat. Go to bed early. We need to get up early tomorrow."

Chen Jinnian said with a changed expression, and distributed the barbecue handed to him by Zhang Ruoyun to everyone.

The guests of this season of "Flowers and Youth" are really not familiar with each other. They gather together at a table, just like a group of colleagues having dinner together. Once the camera is turned off, they talk even less to each other.

Soon everyone politely left, leaving only him, Wu Jing, Zhang Ruoyun and Chen Bolin, the four of them eating meat around the grill.

Although Africa is a tropical continent, except for a few places where the equator passes through, other areas are not really hot, especially Cape Town where they are now. Although it is summer, the lowest temperature at night is only 17 or 18 degrees.

Compared with the summer in China, it is so comfortable that it is enviable.

"Brother Jing, why don't you eat after just two bites?" Chen Jinnian asked.

"I have to keep in shape now." Wu Jing lifted his clothes and showed them his abdominal muscles. "Do you know how much I suffered for these muscles?"

"Alright, much better than during the summer vacation. I guess you've been doing a lot of intensive training lately."

Chen Jinnian gave a thumbs up in appreciation. Considering the man's current age, it was quite difficult for his muscles to maintain this condition.

"I started in September and have been doing it on and off until now. I really want to finish filming quickly so I can eat and drink as much as I want for a month."

"Stop! If you really dare to do this, Guo Xing will cry. Have you forgotten the guest role you promised him?"

He quickly stopped Wu Jing's unrealistic idea. If things went wrong, Liu Peiqiang would become Liu Tuqiang, which would be very entertaining.

"Damn, I really forgot." Wu Jing slapped his forehead in regret.

After hearing Guo Xing's name, Zhang Ruoyun immediately asked, "Director Guo, are you shooting a new film? Have you decided on the cast?"

"Don't even think about it. Guo Xing only has two requests right now," Chen Jinnian explained, holding up his finger. "Either a friendly appearance or investment. What do you think? Are the two bosses interested?"

Chen Bolin has his own company and fashion brand, and Zhang Ruoyun has her own studio. Especially the latter, the connections and circles behind her are extremely complex, and she can be connected with almost all the bigwigs in the Beijing circle.

"You voted?" Zhang Ruoyun asked in surprise.

"I guess so. After taking into account the resources I invested, it's at least 20 million."

After hearing the answer, Zhang Ruoyun was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that Chen Jinnian didn't take advantage of his fame to take on roles and make money, but actually kept giving gifts and working for paid jobs in other crews.

From his point of view, Guan Xiaotong's approach is right. She should quickly take on acting roles and variety shows to increase her popularity and number of fans, and naturally brands and investors will come to give her money.

Chen Bolin shook his head. "I'm not familiar with the investment environment in mainland China, and my current work focus has shifted to South Korea."

Seeing this, Zhang Ruoyun followed suit and also declined.

Wu Jing, who was watching the show, was not surprised at all. He had been rejected countless times. The unspoken rule in the industry was to get things done for money. There were very few people who would help someone in need, so it was good enough if they didn't add insult to injury. The reactions of the two were very normal and there was nothing wrong with them.

Chen Jinnian actually didn't expect the two to invest or perform, but he said it later. If Zhang Ruoyun hadn't asked that question, he wouldn't have said the rest of the words at all.

After the two left, Wu Jing raised his eyebrows and said, "Well, forget about raising investment. When you had no money, you asked people to act in your play, but no one would take you up on it."

"So you should thank me even more. If it weren't for me, who knows who the actor you're working with would be. He might even make you mad to death."

"You're right. A sissy fresh-faced guy like that would really piss me off."

Wu Jing did not argue but admitted what he said.

"There's one more thing I forgot to ask you this afternoon. I looked at the shooting plan. You deleted all my scenes, leaving only that little bit of supporting role. As for making me stay in South Africa for two weeks?" Chen Jinnian asked in confusion.

"The filming has gone over schedule. The original plan was for a full day of filming, but now we can only shoot for half a day, so it's been delayed again. You have to help me catch up on the schedule. The crew is too big for me to manage."

Wu Jing said with a headache that he was talented in action performance and action design, but his ability as a director was not really that good, and it was normal for filming to be delayed.

In July, director Chen Jinnian snatched up a lot of work time for him, but when it came to filming the final battle scene, it dragged on for another month, which made Frank, who played the opposite role, depressed.

Later, when we went to Huairou to shoot other scenes, things also went wrong.

"Didn't you come early before the Spring Festival? How come you are overdue?" Chen Jinnian was speechless.

"Don't mention it." If there was white wine now, Wu Jing could just drink a bottle.

"Forget it, let's check the shooting progress and finish it quickly."

Wu Jing said awkwardly, "We haven't finished filming yet. Now that we're done here, I have to go film somewhere else."

"Me, you, me." Chen Jinnian was really at the end of his rope. He knew Wu Jing was being nagging, but he hadn't expected him to be this nagging. "Brother, just one director like Wong Kar-wai is enough. Highbrow works are fine, but lowbrow works are also essential. You can learn from anyone else, so learn from him."

“I’m not trying to be perfect.”

"Hurry up and go. You won't be able to catch up in the summer season if you keep begging." He grabbed Wu Jing and walked towards the director's studio, and called the director and photography crew to meet up.

Just as he was about to gather the staff, he received a call from Wang Yidi.

"I'm notifying you at short notice to attend the Lantern Festival Gala. You need to go with Teacher Yang. I understand. Yeah, if I have time, I promise I can be there that evening."

Chen Jinnian didn't expect that "Misplaced Time and Space" would be so popular that CCTV would have to make temporary adjustments to the program.

He has the time, the only problem is that he can't stay for two weeks. He needs to finish the filming in more than a week and leave.

So after the crew arrived, he said directly, "Everyone, pay attention. We have to shoot the scenes here in a week and then move on. Do you understand?"

"Forehead..."

The room was completely silent, and everyone suspected they had misheard.

"Are you serious?" Wu Jing asked. Two weeks was already stressful enough.

"of course."