After some consideration, Pei Qian felt that he couldn’t take this risk.
It would be best to both coax Fei Huang Studio into spending big money while letting them come up with their own ideas and scripts. This way, the probability of losing money would be maximized!
So, regarding Huang Sibo’s expectations, Pei Qian avoided the topic and redirected the conversation elsewhere.
“Ideas are things you shouldn’t rush.”
“Don’t many famous directors write their scripts on set as they film?”
“I believe Director Zhu Xiaocai can do it too!”
“The key issue is, as a film studio established for nine months with the backing of Tenda Group, you’re still fixated on making short videos and earning money through sponsorships and an online store. Isn’t that lacking ambition?”
Huang Sibo opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to refute.
What’s wrong with being established for nine months? Is nine months a long time??
Many film studios shut down after just six months, let alone nine. Fei Huang Studio had been open for nine months now, and while their videos had mixed financial results, most had received good responses. These achievements were already quite decent!
But looking at Mr. Pei across from him, Huang Sibo felt embarrassed to voice these thoughts.
Indeed, thinking about Tenda, how many good games had they made in nine months!
Compared to Tenda, Fei Huang Studio’s current achievements were indeed somewhat insignificant.
No wonder Mr. Pei was disappointed with Fei Huang Studio.
Feeling somewhat ashamed, Huang Sibo said: “Then… do you think Fei Huang Studio should try making official films now?”
Pei Qian nodded: “Exactly. You’ve made short videos, documentaries, and both the director and staff have proven their abilities. What are you still hesitating about?”
Huang Sibo frowned slightly: “Um… insufficient budget?”
Pei Qian smiled: “If the budget is small, just make a low-budget film. If you need money, you can ask me directly. What’s the big deal?”
Huang Sibo looked troubled: “Well… budget is only one aspect of the issue…”
“Mr. Pei, it’s not that I’m being too conservative. The key is, making short videos and making feature films are completely different things!”
Huang Sibo began explaining the intricacies to Pei Qian.
“A Day in the Life of Mr. Pei” was only a few minutes long. “A Day in the Life of a Great Inventor” had increased in length, but it was still only about ten minutes, with the longest episode being just half an hour.
But for a proper film intended for theatrical release, it would need to be at least 90 minutes.
On the surface, it might seem like just multiplying the length a few times, but in reality, the differences were enormous.
A few-minute short video could be cobbled together with various funny segments. The entire story could be messy and fragmented; as long as it made viewers laugh, it was considered successful.
But for a 90-minute film, merely making viewers laugh was not enough.
To make an excellent film, the story must be complete, the control of audience emotions must be precise, and the difficulty is much higher than for short videos.
Just a few laugh points couldn’t sustain a feature film’s reputation.
Many films made on the back of web drama popularity that flopped critically did so because the creative team simply lacked the solid capability to make good feature films. They simply understood feature films as “extended versions of web short dramas,” which was why they failed miserably.
“So, Mr. Pei, making a proper film carries too much risk!”
“Without absolute confidence, it’s best not to take this risk.”
“At the very least, we need a good script, right?”
Huang Sibo spoke very earnestly.
Pei Qian also fell silent.
It seemed that this Huang Sibo knew his stuff!
But if that’s the case, then Pei Qian was even more determined to make a film!
What Mr. Pei valued was precisely the high probability of failure!
Of course, that being said, Mr. Pei was a very merciful person. Since this was a high-risk venture that could easily fail, he couldn’t let Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai take the blame.
As the saying goes, if I don’t enter hell, who will?
This responsibility, of course, would have to be shouldered by Mr. Pei himself!
After considering for a moment, Pei Qian said, “In that case, Tenda will fund this film. I’ll figure out the script, and you and Director Zhu Xiaocai only need to be responsible for filming.”
This way, if the film flopped, the blame would be on Mr. Pei, and it would be Tenda’s money that was lost, without affecting the morale of Fei Huang Studio’s employees.
Huang Sibo was taken aback and hurriedly said, “Mr. Pei, you misunderstand. I’m not afraid of taking the blame, it’s simply because…”
Pei Qian smiled and waved his hand: “I understand.”
“You’re now the CEO of Fei Huang Studio. You need to be responsible for the projects under your management, assess risks as much as possible, and ensure the studio’s profitability. That’s correct.”
“You can simply treat this filming task as a training opportunity, and it will also pave the way for Fei Huang Studio’s entry into the film industry.”
Huang Sibo’s eyes moistened.
He was moved!
He could see that Mr. Pei was worried that if Fei Huang Studio failed, it would damage his and Director Zhu Xiaocai’s confidence, so he took the initiative to fund it and bear the risk of failure alone!
Whether the film ultimately succeeded or failed, Fei Huang Studio would certainly accumulate a lot of experience during the filming process, accelerating the studio’s growth.
Huang Sibo had many things he wanted to say, but he felt that saying too many words of gratitude to Mr. Pei seemed too formal.
In the end, a thousand words condensed into a simple thank you.
“We’ll follow Mr. Pei’s arrangements. Fei Huang Studio will cooperate well and complete the filming task!”
“Also, Mr. Pei, Fei Huang Studio can’t let you work for nothing. We’ll pay 100,000 for your script. It’s not much money, but it’s our token of appreciation. Please don’t refuse.”
Hmm? Pay 100,000 for the script?
Pei Qian had mentioned it casually, but upon hearing the figure of 100,000, he immediately perked up.
“Okay!”
“I’ll have the initial draft of the script for you in a couple of days!”
What an unexpected bonus!
There had been a similar operation when filming “A Day in the Life of Mr. Pei.” Pei Qian had played a cameo role, “playing himself” and earning some money.
This time, Pei Qian discovered a new way to make money.
Being a screenwriter!
The price range for screenwriters in the market varied greatly. Top screenwriters could command six-figure fees per episode, while new screenwriters might only get a few thousand or ten thousand yuan per episode, and still had to repeatedly revise day and night.
This 100,000 yuan fee should fall within a reasonable range in the system’s judgment, not counting as maliciously extracting system funds.
And for Pei Qian, he didn’t need to write a very detailed script; he just needed to provide an idea.
In short, perfect!
After chatting for a few more sentences, Huang Sibo rose to leave.
Since they had decided to officially make a film, Huang Sibo’s work enthusiasm was fully mobilized.
After returning to Fei Huang Studio, he still had a lot of work to do, the most urgent being to supplement the staff.
…
After Huang Sibo left, Pei Qian opened a document and began writing the script.
Pei Qian knew absolutely nothing about film scripts.
But since this script was worth 100,000 yuan, he had to arrange it properly.
No need to draft it mentally—open the document and start right away!
“First, decide the genre!”
Without hesitation, Pei Qian typed “sci-fi” in the document.
Science fiction was expensive, easily criticized, and truly a breeding ground for bad movies, perfectly aligning with the direction of box office failure.
Choosing science fiction was already half the battle won!
Next came the rough story outline.
Half an hour later.
The document still only had the two characters “sci-fi.”
Pei Qian silently sighed. Oh no, it seemed he wasn’t cut out for this…
He had originally planned to write a garbage story that insulted the audience’s intelligence, but upon actually starting to write, he discovered that even writing a garbage story wasn’t so easy…
At this moment, Pei Qian wished he could recall the plot outlines of those terrible films.
Unfortunately, Pei Qian was not a passionate film enthusiast, and his viewing experience was very shallow.
Moreover, he strongly rejected bad films, never watched premieres, and absolutely wouldn’t buy tickets if a film had poor reviews.
So, Pei Qian couldn’t remember the specific plots of those bad films, and now had no material to draw from.
The text in the document was written and deleted line by line, until finally, only the two characters “sci-fi” remained.
Pei Qian scratched his head.
“This definitely won’t work. I need to slightly change my approach.”
“Hmm… I can write it in reverse!”
Pei Qian suddenly thought of a good method.
Whether making films, writing novels, or creating games, their cores were interconnected.
To make a good film, the key was to determine what audiences loved watching.
So conversely, to make a film that would flop, wouldn’t it work to film content that audiences didn’t like?
Many bad films had very hollow plots that made viewers drowsy—this was certainly a good approach, but it wasn’t very actionable.
What was troubling Pei Qian now was mainly some specific plot details.
First, determine some specific plot points, then fill the script with fluff to achieve a hollow, boring plot that makes people drowsy.
So, what kind of plot did people hate?
Pei Qian couldn’t help but think of a concept from web novels.
Toxic points!
So-called toxic points were plot elements that made readers uncomfortable. For instance, a “simp” was a major toxic point.
Thinking of this, Pei Qian was very satisfied and started a new line under “sci-fi,” writing: “The male protagonist is a simp.”
As the saying goes, Sims never get a good ending.
If the male protagonist successfully won over the female lead through his simping, the toxicity of the story would certainly be greatly reduced.
So Pei Qian started another line and wrote: “The simp ends up with nothing.”
Thinking about it, this plot didn’t seem harsh enough.
“The male lead gets cheated on.”
“The child isn’t his.”
“The male lead wants to raise this child, but the child hates him.”
“After a series of blows, the male lead breaks down and decides to take revenge on society.”
Pei Qian thought for a moment and felt it wasn’t right: “…No, the male lead can’t take revenge on society, after all, he’s a coward.”
Pei Qian didn’t want to turn this film into a superhero movie, making it into something like “Green Lantern” or similar, and then accidentally winning an award overseas. That would be a disaster.
“After a series of blows, the male lead breaks down and chooses suicide.”
Pei Qian still didn’t feel good about it: “Hmm… suicide would ultimately be a small climax in the plot, following the old path of traditional tragedy, which isn’t appropriate either.”
“The male lead just lives out the rest of his life in frustration.”
Pei Qian thought again: “That doesn’t seem good either, it’s a bit too flat. It would be best if, at the end, the male lead gets a small glimpse of hope, which is then mercilessly extinguished.”
But what exactly would this small hope be, and how would it be extinguished?
Pei Qian didn’t have any good ideas yet.
But he wasn’t in a hurry; after all, this script just needed to be roughly completed in two or three days.
Just as he was about to close the document, Pei Qian thought of something else and specifically bolded the two characters “sci-fi.”
He couldn’t forget that this was a science fiction theme.
To spend more money on props and special effects, the story needed to incorporate some science fiction elements.
Of course, what specific science fiction elements to incorporate…
That would be decided tomorrow.
Pei Qian satisfactorily reviewed the current plot framework from beginning to end, almost dying from its toxicity.
Toxic, absolutely toxic!
This set of plot points could be described as the convergence of all toxins, not missing a single major toxic point.
Later, he would just need to enrich the story, wrap it in a layer of science fiction coating, and add some padding to the plot…
And it would be done!
“Ah, I am a villain.”
Pei Qian felt that he seemed to have a talent for making terrible films!
He really should have entered the film industry earlier!