Chapter 230 – Warm Up

“Qiande Brothers Pictures?”

That night, when Lu Chen returned home, he called Chen Fei’er and told her what had happened.

“Autumn in My Heart” was first politely declined by Zhu Minghe of Baolong Pictures, and a person from Qiande Brothers Pictures took the initiative to come to him. This turn of events was similar to a story in a novel, so he naturally had to talk to the leading actress.

Chen Fei’er knew the other party’s name as soon a she heard it: “It’s the company that Zhang Qian and Zhang De opened. I have met them at a cocktail party before. I heard that the two brothers are very loyal and have a good reputation in the circle. If the conditions can be negotiated, it would be okay to give it to Qiande.”

Lu Chen was immediately relieved: “That’s good. When the time comes, I’ll notify your agent to come and talk with us.”

The TV series “Autumn in My Heart” didn’t involve many special effects shots, so the production cost wasn’t high, but Chen Fei’er’s salary was a problem.

The salary of TV actors has always been a big topic. If it was an essay, it would be at least a thick stack.

Back in the 80’s and 90’s, actor’s salary was very low, several tens of hundreds per episode, and those who received over thousands were those with big names.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of the entertainment industry, the cake in the film and TV series market was getting bigger and bigger, of course, the salary of actors and actresses was rising. Star idols with charisma were often paid for hundreds of thousands per episode, and it was not easy to invite them.

For example, top-level film and television stars Gao Ge and Su Yumeng, their external quotations were more than one million yuan, and the actual contract price was also a very staggering figure. When there was a long drama to be filmed, having a total salary of several million or even tens of millions was normal.

Accounting for the total cost of a TV series, it wasn’t strange that the actor’s salary exceeds the cost of post-shooting promotion. Everyone was used to it.

Especially for weekend shows, actors’ salaries were even more important and often accounts for majority of the budget.

Of course, newcomers could also be hired, and the pay could be reduced to a very low level. But, how could the ratings be guaranteed? Who would believe in its success?

Therefore, for shooting “Autumn in My Heart”, Lu Chen could only ask for a newcomer’s price and convert into the investment shares. The proportion was basically irrelevant1. However, Chen Fei’er was different.

Her position was too high, but she has never acted in a TV series, so the calculation of her salary was very complicated.

If it was low, it wouldn’t work. Although Chen Fei’er was not short of money, if the discount was too severe, it would only be laughed at by others. They couldn’t afford to have that person be embarrassed.

If it was too high, the partners would definitely have some opinions, so it was necessary to conduct consultations and negotiations and come up with a reasonable distribution plan.

Of course, the joint investment of Lu Chen and Chen Fei’er was also completely enough but shooting a TV series didn’t mean that it could be done simply by finding a film and television production company. There were many things involved in all aspects.

For example, the examination and approval of the content of the screenplay and the shooting license, as well as the production and post-processing. if the film and television company was the only one to “provide materials for processing”, those who have the ability would basically not do it, and those who didn’t have the ability would mess with it.

Therefore, it was necessary to allocate the shares so that everyone could share the benefits, to ensure that it could be successfully completed in the end.

Otherwise, even if a film and television company accepted Lu Chen’s business, and even if they signed a contract, they could play some tricks casually during the shooting process, which could increase the cost budget. In the end, the loss outweighed the gain.

Now most of the movies and TV series have introduced multi-party investment and shared risks and profits. A very mature process system has already been established.

As a newcomer to the film and television industry, Lu Chen has no intention of challenging this set of rules.

Not to mention him, even Chen Fei’er couldn’t have things go her own way, unless she runs a film and television company.

In this way, partners were very important.

Chen Feier said: “I originally had a good impression of Baolong Pictures, since they do not know how to cherish… Hmph!”

Elder sister was obviously a little displeased.

She asked a friend to connect Lu Chen with Baolong Pictures, but she didn’t expect that the latter would refuse to cooperate.

Lu Chen said with a smile: “They also have concerns. After all, the theme is different from the mainstream. If I did not pull you out, it is estimated that the Qiande side may not be willing to do so. Still, your name is quite loud.”2

“What name is quite loud…”

Chen Fei’er spat and said angrily, “I’m not a woman of the rivers and lakes3. Please hurry up and write the rest of the screenplay!”

So far, Lu Chen has only written the screenplay for the first four episodes. There were 16 episodes to follow according to the plan.

Chen Fei’er has the screenplay manuscripts, and she couldn’t get enough of it.

In fact, Lu Chen’s speed was already very fast. Every morning, he has to go to the Borui Club to practice martial arts and keep fit and then go to Beijing Conservatory of Music to attend classes. He also has to find time to write the screenplay. He has a full schedule every day.

For this reason, Lu Xi have helped Lu Chen push out a lot of notices and made a lot less money.

That was to say, he opened his own studio to maintain independence and keep initiative. Otherwise, if he had signed with an entertainment agency, how could he be able to do that, he would have been crushed to death by all kinds of money-making jobs.

Lu Chen scratched his head: “I’ll try to speed up.”

Chen Fei’er said with a smile, “I’m just talking, don’t take it seriously. Don’t tire yourself too much, especially don’t work too late at night, it doesn’t matter if you’re late.”

Lu Chen felt warm in his heart.

It was just that although Chen Fei’er could afford to wait, some people couldn’t.

The next morning, Qiande Brothers Pictures sent staff to Lu Chen’s studio to discuss cooperation.

In addition to Lu Yi, whom Lu Chen already knew, Qiande Brothers Pictures also sent a deputy manager and a director, fully demonstrating the importance it attached to the TV series.

However, Lu Chen basically didn’t take care of this kind of business negotiations and left it all to her sister to handle.

Now the studio was running well, and the experience that Lu Xi has accumulated was getting richer and richer. It was unknown how much trouble she saved him.

Chen Fei’er also sent her agent, and the representatives of the three parties sat down and began formal negotiations.

In the entertainment industry, where the slightest change spread extremely quick, there were some rumors.

The rumors were confirmed by a blog post posted by Lu Chen on Inspur blog on November 10, the eve of the so-called “Singles’ Day”.

In this blog post, Lu Chen revealed to everyone the big news that a TV series he created and starred in would start filming in the near future.

One stone stirred up a thousand waves!

Since the crowdfunding to help patients with leukemia, Lu Chen has been very quiet. Apart from updating his daily blog posts, he has basically made no news, which made his fans a little depressed.

Even if it was a scandal! There was always a topic to talk about.

Now Lu Chen has finally provided a topic.

The response from the fans was overwhelming, with the number of clicks and comments on the blog rising steadily.

As a result of “Hero Saving Beauty” and “Helping His Fans”, these two things, Lu Chen’s number of fans in Inspur blog has long exceeded the 10 million mark. As a newcomer singer who has just started his career, his move to develop into the film and television industry was really impressive and naturally aroused heated discussion.

“Wow, Lu Chen is going to make a TV series. That’s great!”

“I have already said our family Lu Chen can completely make a living by relying on his face, and now the opportunity has finally come!”

“Support, support, shoot it quickly!”

“Weakly asking, who is the leading actress? Is there a candidate?”

“Compared to the leading actress, I am more concerned about the screenplay written by Lu Chen himself. Can you tell me something about the plot?”

“I have a bad feeling that it’s going to be something that abuses the single dogs!”4

“Haha, tomorrow is Singles’ Day. I wish you all a happy holiday in advance!”

“Asking who the leading actress is…”

On the evening of November 11, Lu Chen updated his blog again, answering the questions that the fans were most concerned about.

First of all, the TV series he created has an urban emotion theme and a youth idol category.

Secondly, the TV series was called “Autumn in My Heart”. Then starting tomorrow, some of the story content would be continuously updated in the form of a novel in the blog, and in the future, after the end of the shooting, a genuine book would be released.

Finally, the leading actress of “Autumn in My Heart” was confirmed to be Chen Fei’er.

If Lu Chen’s previous disclosure of the news of shooting a TV series caused a heated discussion, then now this spoiler blog post has undoubtedly caused a great sensation both inside and outside the circle!

The reason was very simple, Heavenly Queen Chen Fei’er will make her first appearance in a TV series, as the leading actress.

There was no doubt about the authenticity of the news, because Lu Chen @ Chen Fei’er at the end of the blog, and the latter replied with six words a few minutes later: I’m looking forward to it!

Plus a smiley face symbol.

Of course, Lu Chen didn’t post these two blog posts on a whim, but as a planned warm-up publicity.5

After the diligent negotiation of the three parties, the agreement to shoot “Autumn in My Heart” has basically been reached, and the outline of the screenplay has been sent to the relevant departments in advance for review. Once approved, shooting could begin immediately.

Due to Chen Fei’er’s joining, Qiande Brothers Pictures attached great importance to the project, not only did they make a lot of concessions on the agreement, but they also gathered a group of elite personnel to form a shooting crew. Many staff went to Jinling in advance.

90% of the shooting locations and scenes of “Autumn in My Heart” were done in Jinling and Jinling Film and Television City.

Of course, Qiande Brothers Pictures was not without requirements, one of which was that they hoped that Lu Chen and Chen Fei’er would make use of their respective channels to promote in advance to attract powerful TV stations and video websites to compete for premiere rights.

This was not a dishonest practice, but a common practice of film and television marketing.

Many movies and TV dramas have sold their premiere rights before they started shooting, to get back all the costs.

It was just that a lot of single dogs were badly abused.

“Oh, come on, isn’t this just an open show of love? My goddess, my heart is broken!”

“Hahaha, I originally guessed that the leading actress was Chen Fei’er, and I guessed it right!”

“Chen Fei’er? I really didn’t expect it.”

“It seems that the previous rumor between the two may be true. What do you think?”

“I’m really speechless to you. Lu Chen and Chen Fei’er have a very good relationship. They are like brother and sister, don’t you know?”

“If Chen Fei’er is the leading actress, does it mean that it’s a brother and sister love?”

“brother and sister love + 1!”

With the tide of public opinion, “Autumn in My Heart” soon became a hot search term on Inspur blog!