"It's like this," said Shao Yichen, who despite her thick skin, felt somewhat uneasy lying to her kind professor. "I'm currently preparing for my second film."
"So soon?" Professor Zhao Kang sounded surprised on the other end of the phone. "Speaking of which, I haven't congratulated you yet. Your first film's box office was very successful. It seems my earlier concerns were unnecessary—gold will always shine. Congratulations!"
At the mention of her previous film's box office, Shao Yichen felt a lingering pain. How had that film possibly made money?
She quickly expressed her thanks, hoping to move past the topic: "Thank you, Professor Zhao. It was all thanks to your guidance and actor recommendation!"
"No need for formalities. I barely provided any guidance—it was the result of your own efforts," Professor Zhao laughed heartily. "I also watched your film 'The Last Wish.' Although there were some technical flaws, it was quite a good work! I was genuinely surprised by how mature your screenplay was this time!"
Shao Yichen felt deeply wounded by the professor's unintentional words—even a film professional said this; was the failure to lose money truly her fault? Or was he merely flattering her because of the box office results?
She truly couldn't comprehend it.
Professor Zhao naturally had no idea what Shao Yichen was thinking. Fortunately for her, this professor wasn't the type to shower people with constant praise. After his congratulations, he finally stopped discussing the unfortunately profitable film and shifted his attention to what Shao Yichen had just mentioned: "But you said you're already preparing your second film? It's good that young people are willing to work hard, but sometimes you need to pause and look back at the path you've traveled, so you won't trip over the same hole as you continue forward."
Shao Yichen repeatedly agreed, though internally she thought that without the system pushing her, she wouldn't be working so hard at all—if she tripped over a hole, she'd probably just lie there...
Pretending not to understand the deeper meaning in her professor's words, she continued: "My second film is already in preparation. This time it's a story set in a school."
"A school story?" Professor Zhao paused briefly. "School themes are good. You've just graduated, so you'll certainly have more insights into student life than an old fossil like me. Add some romance, and today's young people will love it."
No, it's just set in a school; the core has nothing to do with youth campus romance, Shao Yichen thought. However, Professor Zhao's misunderstanding gave her an idea—perhaps during promotion, she could create this kind of misconception to further narrow the target audience.
With this thought, she continued her conversation with Professor Zhao: "Yes, all the pre-production preparations are basically complete, except for the set design. Originally I was thinking of renting an abandoned factory for sets like other films do, but after consideration, I feel that shooting on real locations would create more immersion, and various settings would be less likely to have continuity errors. Since it's July and schools are on summer break, I was wondering if you could ask the directing department if they might provide some assistance by lending us a relatively remote teaching building with fewer students studying for filming?"
"The filming would take at most one month and absolutely wouldn't affect normal classes after the summer break! We can negotiate the rental fee, and D University would be listed in the end credits as a special thanks. What do you think?" Shao Yichen said. "I've already prepared the proposal and application, but since I'm essentially a graduate now, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to submit this request, which is why I'm troubling you, Professor."
The reason Shao Yichen made this request was precisely because she was familiar with D University. D University had a directing department and held micro-film competitions annually. Students were accustomed to filming on campus and had no aversion to it. Moreover, it was currently summer break with fewer students on campus—even the library seats weren't fully occupied, not to mention the study rooms in dormitories. There likely wouldn't be students specifically going to classroom buildings to study.
Professor Zhao readily agreed: "That's no problem. We've had film crews come to shoot before. I'll get the paperwork approved by the department, and it should be authorized by next week. As for the rental fee, the department will probably just charge a nominal amount."
As expected of a professor known for his approachability; Shao Yichen achieved her goal so easily that she felt somewhat embarrassed. Feeling it would be inconsiderate to simply hang up, and remembering her film still had many uncast supporting roles, she impulsively asked: "Professor Zhao, would you be interested... in making a cameo appearance in this film?"
Professor Zhao, who had been about to exchange a few pleasantries before ending the call, was surprised: "A cameo? Me? I have no acting experience!"
"That doesn't matter!" Shao Yichen had spoken on impulse, but hearing the professor's response, she became genuinely interested and began improvising: "To be honest, this film is actually being made at a friend's request, still a small-budget production with them as the leads—it's just a practice project."
"Even if you don't come for a cameo, I'd just find some extras to fill these roles. Since you live on the D University campus, just a few steps from the classroom building, wouldn't it be nice to visit the set when you have nothing else to do?"
"I heard you made a cameo in a senior's film, so why refuse mine?" Shao Yichen boldly continued in a joking tone, becoming unreasonably demanding. "Am I really your most promising student or not?"
Professor Zhao was both amused and exasperated by Shao Yichen's attitude. He wasn't young anymore and treated his students like his own children. Now he felt as if he was watching his granddaughter wheedling him, and his heart naturally softened. He sighed: "Since you're so eager to see your professor act, I'll come to the set for a cameo! Just don't laugh when you see my performance!"
"How could I?" Seeing her plan succeed, Shao Yichen chuckled mischievously on the other end of the line. "I'm actually looking forward to your performance! By the way, if your wife has time, she could also come for a cameo role. Isn't your granddaughter Tongtong also on summer break? She could come play too—big sister here will buy her ice cream!"
"Your professor's wife... she might actually have time." For some reason, Professor Zhao fell silent at this suggestion, then quickly recovered. "Tongtong better not come—she'd just cause trouble. Better to send her to tutoring classes!"
"Haha, then I'll reserve roles for you and your wife when you visit the set." Shao Yichen had just mentioned it casually, and hearing the professor's response, she stopped being unreasonable. She chatted a bit more with Professor Zhao about how his granddaughter Tongtong did on her final exams, praising her improved grades (though she had no idea if they had improved—pure guesswork), before finally ending the call.
After hanging up, Shao Yichen felt a familiar sense of guilt.
She had felt similarly guilty when she'd previously scammed Professor Zhao's camera.
As his student, she never contacted this professor except when she needed something from him, treating him like a tool—it was truly shameful. Guiltily, Shao Yichen thought perhaps she should give the professor a token of appreciation next time they met. She'd heard his granddaughter wasn't very good at math; maybe she could send her a set of arithmetic workbooks...
Professor Zhao's innocent granddaughter certainly had no idea that this young flower of the motherland would soon face the torment of math workbooks, nor did Professor Zhao know he would receive such a thoughtful gift. At the other end of the line, Professor Zhao stared at his phone screen after hanging up.
He had expected his most promising student to achieve success, but he hadn't anticipated it would come so quickly.
She hadn't even graduated yet.
But she was certainly full of clever ideas. Thinking of how she had just invited him for a cameo, Professor Zhao shook his head with a smile.
Shao Yichen was truly resourceful. At first, he thought she genuinely wanted to see him embarrass himself on set, but as they talked, he guessed her intention—she definitely wasn't after his cameo but his wife's!
Indeed, what Shao Yichen didn't know was that while Professor Zhao as a director had little acting experience, her professor's wife—Fang Yuanyuan—was quite different! In her youth, this professor's wife had achieved fame as the lead actress in a film. Later, while starring in one of Zhao Kang's films, she met him, and after dating for some time, they married. Afterward, she gradually withdrew from the film industry.
However, she hadn't abandoned acting but transitioned to become a theater actress. With over thirty years of stage performance experience, she was now a veteran in the theater circle.
Professor Zhao hadn't expected Shao Yichen to remember that his wife had acted in films, and even devised the excuse of inviting him to secure a cameo from his wife. Reflecting on this, he felt that Shao Yichen probably valued this film more than she claimed—possibly with even more thorough preparation than her previous one.
If that was the case, he would help his most promising disciple. His own path in film hadn't gone as far as he'd hoped, but Shao Yichen would certainly go farther than him, much farther—possibly even reaching the summit of the film world!
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Shao Yichen naturally had no idea about her professor's wife's background; her invitation had been purely casual. Had she known, she would never have allowed such an experienced actress to appear in her money-losing film, not even for a cameo shot!
But currently ignorant of this, she happily planned her next steps after hanging up.
The system required the second film to be released within three months, and this time, with a somewhat reasonable budget, Shao Yichen planned to reluctantly follow the normal film release process. This meant she needed to reserve nearly a month for distributors to promote the film.
As for how to promote it, Shao Yichen would naturally do her utmost to obstruct efforts, ensuring promotional effects were minimized.
Filming was expected to take one month, or possibly one to two weeks longer if things didn't go smoothly.
This meant that pre-production should ideally be completed in about half a month. By calculation, the classroom building usage application should be approved by next week, and if filming began immediately, they could still meet the scheduled timeline.
—But a week had already passed, and the film's creative team hadn't even met once!
Shao Yichen felt this wouldn't do.
Although the film definitely needed to lose money, it also definitely needed to be completed!
Otherwise, with no film produced, she would lose the living expenses she had worked so hard to secure!
With this in mind, Shao Yichen picked up her phone again and sent a group message to the three lead actors, the art director, and the cinematographer.
[Are you available tomorrow at 2:30 PM? The crew officially begins filming next week, and I'd like to introduce all the creative team members to each other.]
Tomorrow at 2:30 PM, Shao Yichen would convene the first creative team meeting for this film crew!
Author's Note:
First update! Happy Qixi Festival everyone!
So many comments today, and the author has been indulging herself all day, unable to reply to them all~
But I've read them all carefully! Thank you, little angels, for your enthusiastic messages!
This is gratitude time, hoping the system won't have issues this time~ Thanks to the little angels who cast Emperor Votes or poured Nutrition Fluid for me during the period from 2020-08-24 10:42:01 to 2020-08-25 22:43:42~
Thanks to the little angels who threw landmines: Fog and Pear and White 3; Chu Qin 2; I Have a Cat!!!!!!, After Jian, Magic Dance Continent 1;
Thanks to the little angels who poured Nutrition Fluid: Ceramics 80 bottles; Joeyford 52 bottles; Zhou Zhou 50 bottles; Water Loves Eating Fish 42 bottles; User3754914945, Ou Zhou Hu 40 bottles; Little Weiwei, Unknown Beautiful Woman 30 bottles; Seanna, Ye Zihan, Ying Bao's Fur Ball 20 bottles; 3292221, 46199491, Summer Without Rain, A Tune of Clear River, Lemon, Little Dumpling 10 bottles; It's Jiujiu, Cold Juan Juan 9 bottles; Long Month, Has Xia Wen Eaten, Thorns on Roses 5 bottles; Did You Get Into Tsinghua or Peking University Today 4 bottles; gaial, Prince Xiaobai 3 bottles; Want to Sniff Piggy Nan, Orange Isle, lani, Fall North, My Beloved Yue Rong 2 bottles; Yu Yu, Yi Tan, Make a Little Heart, Xiao Fan, Gezai Opera, Dreamy Purple Little Stream, Tiny Fish, Ear Hole mm, Clear Lake 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!