A great director who grew up happily

Chapter 350 Commercial Film Director

Domestic film censorship has been changing. In the beginning, it was a licensing system. It was illegal to start filming without a license. Later, it was changed to a filing system. The filing system only governs the process of film release. If you make a movie just for your own entertainment, it doesn’t matter whether you file it or not.

At the same time, filing is not that complicated. You don’t need to submit a complete script, you only need to submit a story outline of one thousand to two thousand words.

However, there are exceptions for certain films. If the main characters and plot of the film involve national security, diplomacy, ethnicity, religion, military affairs, public security and other aspects, a complete script must be submitted for review.

Doing so is not entirely bad. It is done to protect the interests of film producers and to avoid the problem of a film being unable to be released after production is completed, causing significant losses.

Unfortunately, Chen Jinnian's script is one of them, and "Zhou Chu" is a movie of this type, so the complete script needs to be reviewed.

On the contrary, "Ballet's Revenge", which is more bloody and violent in content, tells an extremely clichéd revenge story. The template is "You killed my dog, I killed your whole family". The content is mediocre. After all, it is a pure action crime movie, and the plot itself is not the focus.

At present, the Film Bureau has not yet set up a separate sign, and film review is still under the jurisdiction of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Therefore, the film script (synopsis) filing application submitted by the company will soon reach the relevant staff.

"Ballet Revenge" passed the review very quickly because the plot was too brief and the content was highly formulaic. The speed was so fast that even Chen Jinnian couldn't believe it. He thought he would not receive a reply until next month at the earliest, and he was prepared for failure.

But another script was not so lucky. Everyone who handled and read the script knew it was a good script, but the content was too crazy. The villains were portrayed as heroes, and the gangsters were sent to hunt down the underworld and eliminate the cult that deceived the people. It felt like Liangshan fighting Fang La.

No one dared to approve it, but no one rejected it either. They just kept delaying the script review and reporting it to higher levels. As a result, after reporting it back and forth, it was actually discovered by people from China Film Group.

So, on the last day of Chen Jinnian's vacation in Sanya, he received a call from Guo Xing.

Before he could even open his mouth, Guo Xun asked, "Do you have any new plays coming up recently?"

"Hey, how did you know? It will be launched on Penguin Video on the 26th of this month." Chen Jinnian thought it was about the launch of "The Beginning". In fact, the post-production of this drama had been completed long ago, but because the publicity and promotion of other TV dramas were too intensive, it could not compete and had to be changed to the end of February.

"Online? That's not what I'm asking about. I'm talking about the film script you recently launched," Guo Meng quickly explained, lowering his voice. "A few of us came to China Film Group to report on the project progress. When we mentioned your name, President La suddenly mentioned that you submitted a good script, but it also gave everyone a headache."

"Boss La, Boss La from China Film Group, how come you met him?"

Chen Jinnian knew exactly who this title referred to. It could only be the head of China Film Group, Han Sanping's successor. If Han Sanping had kicked mainland film investment into the era of blockbusters, then President La was the one who truly went in this direction and never looked back.

"Mr. La is the chief producer of The Wandering Earth, and you don't even know this." Guo Fan asked in shock. He thought that Chen Jinnian had taken on the male lead and was calculating the production costs of special effects. He also thought that the other party had already figured out the details of the crew, but he didn't expect that he knew nothing.

"What."

Chen Jinnian stood up in surprise. He really didn't know. He hadn't been back to the company since the New Year, so how could he have known such news? However, what he was most concerned about now was the script. "Boss La, if you have anything to say, don't hide it. Just say it directly."

"Boss La said your script needs to be revised. If you agree, he can help arrange it, but... can you accept the script being changed?"

Guo Xun asked tentatively. In his opinion, all creative directors have a common problem, which is extreme self-confidence. Even if the movie is not made, they will not allow others to touch it, not to mention that Chen Jinnian is in a young and energetic stage.

"Can it pass the review after the changes?"

"Okay." Guo Xun nodded affirmatively. The time when Chen Jinnian submitted the script was when the pro-independence advocate Tsai Ing-wen was jumping around. It might be a good idea to make a movie now and polish it.

Movies have always been an extension of ideology.

"Then change it, change it however you want, as long as it can pass the review." Chen Jinnian didn't expect that there would be such a good thing that could fall from the sky.

Such a straightforward answer made Guo Xing stunned. "You don't mind. What about your artistic pursuit? You have to express yourself creatively."

"I'm just a director who makes commercial films. Why would I want to pursue art?"

Chen Jinnian has a very accurate positioning of himself. By upgrading and learning, his upper limit is to be a technical commercial film director. However, if he is carried away by his own literary and artistic demands, he will immediately degenerate into a third-rate director who complains without reason.

Guo Xing is also an insider who has been in the industry for many years. This is the first time he has seen such a shameless director. He is too lazy to even pretend. The last time he saw such a person was when he met Wang Jing.

After hanging up the phone, he returned to the chairman's office. Gong Geer was reporting the concept drawings of the Navigator Program to President La like a primary school student.

"He refused." Mr. La asked in a gentle tone.

"No." Guo Xing gave a wry smile. "Chen Jinnian agreed. His exact words were, 'Change it, change it as you like. As long as it passes review, you can change it however you want.'"

When he said this himself, he felt a little embarrassed. He should have been more reserved.

President La looked up blankly, glanced at Guo Xun, and then at his vice president, somewhat suspecting that he had heard wrongly. He had worked in the film industry for many years, and even the profit-sharing model after Hollywood entered China was formulated by him. It can be said that he has come into contact with all kinds of domestic directors.

But this was the first time he had met someone like Chen Jinnian. Other directors, as long as they were a little famous, were all very stubborn. They were like stones in a toilet, smelly and hard, especially those headed by Beijing Film Academy. They were all thorns. When he met someone like Chen Jinnian, he suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

"Did he really say that?"

"He said he just makes commercial films and has no artistic pursuits." After he said this, Guo Xun felt ashamed for him.

"Hahahaha, this is great! It means our China Film Group's twenty years of hard work have not been in vain. We've finally cultivated a local director with commercial awareness. In the future, we can let our own young people make mainstream commercial films."

Mr. La was very happy that Chen Jinnian's ideas coincided with his. If he could really take on the responsibility, there would be no need to look for Hong Kong directors with weak historical concepts to direct the large number of films that needed to be launched.

Just like the movie "The Founding of an Army" which is about to be released, the quality is very average, which has made him very worried recently.