A great director who grew up happily

Chapter 327 The Value of Young Directors

There were disagreements on the understanding of the roles, so Chen Jinnian and Guo Xing naturally could not continue the conversation on the issue of participating in the performance and instead started talking about the movie.

Guo Xun's current obsession is to restore the film industry and launch a real hard science fiction film from China. He is a director with a strong idealism.

However, his ideas and ideals did not come out of thin air, but originated from his experiences a few years ago.

In 2014, the film authorities had actually felt that the new generation of directors was broken. The sixth generation of directors in the strict sense could not carry the box office and could not make commercial films. Faced with the thorny problem, the Film Bureau selected five young directors born around to go to Hollywood to study.

There are Xiao Yang, Ning Hao, Chen Sicheng, Lu Yang, and of course Guo Xing.

Guo Meng was able to take on the project of The Wandering Earth thanks to his own efforts and those of his team. He impressed China Film Group with his own efforts and detailed design drafts, but the prerequisite was that Guo Meng had been placed with high hopes a long time ago.

"What I saw in Hollywood was completely different from the filmmaking in our country. They have a systematic team division of labor. In a sense, movies are not the work of a single director, but the product of collective creation. There are many professional and high-quality talents. Our handcrafted workshop-style production model is completely different from the same era." Guo Yun said with emotion.

"There's also a huge problem in China right now: a bunch of students who aren't doing well academically are taking art exams to become directors, performers, or even photographers. Do you think this is scientific? These students already have weak foundations and poor learning abilities, making it difficult for them to succeed. And then, a few years later, these clueless people become teachers, teaching even weaker students. It's a vicious cycle."

Wu Jingshen feels the same way. He graduated from a martial arts school. Now action actors and directors are almost the same, or even more dangerous. They are facing a complete gap. Those kung fu child stars are all thirty years old now, and there are no younger ones coming out.

After thinking about it, he set his sights on Chen Jinnian. Among the young people he knew, he was the one with the best skills.

At the same time, Guo Xun also shifted his gaze over. When he met Chen Jinnian, he naturally knew him well. At least he knew about his experience of getting into the acting department with a score of 700.

Chen Jinnian was just listening to the other person's story. Famous directors are all good at speaking, so when Guo Xing mentioned his experience in Hollywood, he was quickly fascinated. But why did he stop talking in the middle of the story?

"What are you looking at me doing?"

"Jinnian, are you twenty years old this year?" Guo Xun asked.

"It's almost time. I'll be twenty after the Chinese New Year. Is there anything wrong with that?" he asked blankly.

"You're too young. As an actor, you're considered an older one. There are tons of child stars who debuted at the age of four or five. But as a director who's proven himself in the cinema market, you're truly too young. I was born in 1980, and I'm considered a young director now. There's almost a two-generation gap between you and me, so what do you count as?"

Guo Xun looked at Chen Jinnian and said that the director who suddenly appeared and had no experience in leveling up was the most exaggerated, so fast that it caught people off guard.

The most common directors are those who, after graduating from college, slowly raise funds and polish the script, shoot short films and low-cost art films and participate in awards. If they win the award, they will get the start-up funds for the next film.

To get to this point, complete the film debut and win awards, most of them are already thirty years old. He, Lu Yang and Ning Hao all went through this.

Therefore, directors only reach the peak of their careers when they are around 40 years old, and this period lasts until they are around 50 years old, which is the golden creative period.

"I'm... I'm a young director?" Chen Jinnian himself was a little hesitant. He had no connections with the director circle. The only director he was familiar with was Wu Jing, and the other party was also a latecomer.

"It's hard to say. The people in the current youth director support program are mainly those born in the 1980s. Xu Zheng said some time ago that he is working with a young director to make a realistic film, and that young director was born after 1985." Guo Meng looked at him and said.

He felt that as long as the other party could prove once more in the theater market that they didn't need box office profits, and as long as they could maintain the quality level of the previous film, there would definitely be a huge amount of resources poured into Chen Jinnian.

China Film Group will definitely not miss out on such a young commercial film director. As long as they support him, he will have a very long-term future of at least 30 years.

Wu Jing, who was standing next to him, figured it out and rubbed his beard before saying, "No one is investing in my movies. Is it because I'm too old?"

Guo Xing smiled awkwardly, hesitating, not daring to speak. Investments are either for immediate profits or to invest in the director's future. From Wu Jing's perspective, that wasn't the case. He quickly changed the subject, "I just heard you and Maizi talking about whether you have any movies coming out."

"Yes, it was just finished filming at the end of last month and is currently in post-production. We haven't decided on a release date yet, but it will most likely be on the night after the college entrance examination," said Chen Jinnian.

The only thing he is sure of now is that it must be released before Wu Jing's movie.

2月春节档上不了，3月份4月5月大片扎堆，《生化危机终章》、《金刚狼3》、《金刚》、《速度与激情8》、《银河护卫队2》、《摔跤吧爸爸》、《加勒比海盗5》……

Chen Jinnian was overwhelmed by the series of release dates. In fact, the June schedule was not good either, with "Wonder Woman", "The Mummy", and "Transformers 5", but all of these were not as powerful as July's "Wolf Warrior". "The Founding of an Army", which had a luxurious cast and was backed by a fixed schedule of China Film, had its box office drained out. It would be better for him not to join in the fun.

"Why did you choose this time, the night after the college entrance examination? It's not a good time." Wu Jing asked in confusion. The school's summer vacation had not started at that time, so it was not considered the summer vacation period.

"There's nothing I can do. The timing is related to the content of my movie." Chen Jinnian spread his hands.

"What did you film? Is it related to the college entrance examination?"

"Not really, but almost. It's mostly about cheating on exams."

Guo Xun and Wu Jing were both stunned. Cheating in the exam room, and it was released on the day the college entrance examination ended. Even mocking him face to face was not as suicidal as this. This kid is going to go to the sky.

"Impossible. The subject of cheating in exams needs joint review by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Security. How could a movie pass the review? No, how did your script pass the review?" Guo Xing stood up excitedly.

"So the crew didn't shoot in China. I was shooting a story about the Chinese community in Thailand, so there's no need for co-examination." Chen Jinnian replied calmly. Like Detective Chinatown, he had already planned ahead to avoid review.

After Guo Xing sat down, he still couldn't think of anything worth filming about cheating on an exam, so he asked, "Has the movie title been decided? What's the story?"

"Bad Genius: A transnational cheating case spanning two continents."

Cross-border, cheating, it sounds outrageous.

The people in the reception room looked at each other, feeling that they could not understand the young man's train of thought.

Chen Jinnian smiled slightly, understanding everyone's thoughts, and continued, "It's based on real events. You can search it. I hope it doesn't surprise you. The real world is much crazier than a script."