System final version upgrade?
Hearing the system's announcent, Shao Yichen felt utterly confused and bewildered. Was the system previously on version 1.0 and finally upgrading to 2.0?
But reflecting on the system's past notifications, she realized they had always ntioned system upgrades, yet after upgrading, nothing had changed—especially the system's rchant-like nature, which only seed to get worse.
Perhaps these so-called system upgrades existed only in the system's notifications.
Shao Yichen gave up pondering the supposed upgrade and turned to examine the new round of tasks.
The new task's requirents were fewer than previous ones, only restricting the ti fra and providing system funding. This perfectly aligned with Shao Yichen's plan to film "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons" before Fu Lianghui's crew.
Since that was the case, Shao Yichen's goal for the next year was crystal clear—focus on filming "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons," ensuring completion before Fu Lianghui's crew to achieve a simultaneous release!
Regarding the original novel of "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons," Shao Yichen had repeatedly read it more than once during this period.
This book differed from any script Shao Yichen had previously fild—because its plot was simple, straightforward, and intense.
The main characters in the novel were three: the male lead, the second male lead, and the female lead.
Though there were three characters, there were only two actors, because the male lead and second male lead looked exactly alike.
Therefore, the actor playing the male lead beca the absolute protagonist in this drama, making it essentially a male-centric xianxia drama—perfect for Fu Lianghui to gain maximum screen exposure before audiences.
The plot could be simply summarized as—innocent female lead gets captured, male lead rescues female lead, second male lead causes trouble.
Of course, just from this description, the female lead and second male lead seed like drag-along characters, with only the male lead doing the actual work in the protagonist team. But that wasn't actually the case—because the male lead, female lead, and second male lead weren't even on the sa side.
The female lead was human, the male lead was an immortal, and the second male lead was a demon.
In detail, the male lead initially wasn't an immortal. As the top disciple of the cultivation world's premier sect, he witnessed his sect's annihilation by demonic cultists, causing him to develop a heart demon. For revenge, he risked going to the chaos realm to absorb demonic energy to strengthen himself. Unexpectedly, the demonic energy combined with his heart demon, giving birth to another self—the second male lead, the heart demon.
The heart demon represented the male lead's most primitive desires—unrestrained and childlike. But since he couldn't stray too far from his original body, he could still be suppressed by the protagonist. The male lead made him wear a mask, disguising him as a traveling companion.
As for the female lead, she was an ordinary human with a pure heart. She encountered the male lead on his path to revenge but, having seen him, drew trouble upon herself and was kidnapped by the demonic cult pursuing the male lead. When the male lead went to rescue her to avoid owing her a karmic debt, he accidentally discovered the mystery of her origins...
Of course, being an idol xianxia drama, the ending was naturally fairly satisfying. In the conclusion, the heart demon disappeared to save his dying original body. After receiving the heart demon's power, the male lead successfully broke through, uncovered the demonic cult's conspiracy, and together with the female lead—who had awakened her previous life's powers—they turned the tide and saved the immortal realm from disaster. The two beca a divine couple, their story becoming a beautiful legend.
Shao Yichen yawned repeatedly while reading.
She couldn't help it—single since birth for over twenty years and having long ago invested her limited life into unlimited gaming, she truly had no interest in these life-and-death romantic plots. She felt both the male and female leads were needlessly dramatic, insisting on dancing around issues that could be clarified in a few sentences, unlike the heart demon's simplicity and directness.
If you had just honestly introduced yourselves when you first t, this film could have been at least two-thirds shorter!
Of course, complaints aside, she understood that most viewers were just looking for entertainnt—without conflict, the story would be boring.
Closing the book, she thought for a mont and called Li Xingyu.
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Three minutes later, she and Li Xingyu had settled the male lead issue for "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons."
It was quite understandable—among the actors Shao Yichen knew, only Li Xingyu could portray two images with such extre contrast, while also being the right age.
This film differed from others—it existed to teach Fu Lianghui a lesson.
In other words, the film's first priority wasn't losing money, but showcasing skill!
Even if the skill showcase ant not losing money, Shao Yichen was determined to ensure this film's performances would crush Fu Lianghui's!
Even if she didn't lose money, she would honorably defeat Fu Lianghui!
Whether Li Xingyu understood Shao Yichen's intentions or not, he imdiately agreed to her invitation.
Shao Yichen had been sowhat concerned that Li Xingyu might hesitate due to the inevitable performance comparisons after the film's release. Unexpectedly, even knowing the TV series would be released simultaneously, his emotions remained very calm, as if he had known about this all along.
He calmly said: "Regardless of the other's performance, I focus only on my own acting."
This confidently domineering statent montarily gave Shao Yichen the illusion that "Li Xingyu could naturally play an overbearing CEO."
Having resolved the male lead, Shao Yichen found herself troubled—she had absolutely no ideas for the female lead casting.
But she didn't want to make a big show of holding auditions, as that would leak the news to Fu Lianghui that she was also filming "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons." Moreover, if she publicly announced the title, anyone with eyes could see she was challenging Fu Lianghui. Joining this production would be equivalent to offending Fu Lianghui, and she couldn't predict how many actors would be willing to co.
So she could only seek help from the experienced, talented actor: "Young Li, do you have any suitable candidates for the female lead in mind?"
She was just grasping at straws, since Li Xingyu was possibly even younger than herself and hadn't been in the entertainnt industry very long, so he might not know more actors than she did. But surprisingly, after pondering for a mont, Li Xingyu actually provided a na.
"Duan Wenyue, do you know her?" he said. "Though I don't know her well, I think she might be quite willing."
Shao Yichen vaguely recalled this actress, who had been sowhat famous for a while, though for so reason she hadn't heard news about her recently. She inquired with slight concern: "How is her relationship with Fu Lianghui? You might not know, but this film actually clashes with Fu Lianghui's TV series..."
"That's precisely why I'm recomnding her," Li Xingyu's tone was steady, but sohow Shao Yichen sensed he was in a good mood. "Director, do you rember the film 'Path to Immortality'?"
Shao Yichen took a mont to recall that when "The Last Wish" was released, "Path to Immortality" was the most promising concurrent film, also a xianxia drama, though for so reason it didn't perform well. If she rembered correctly, the male lead was none other than Fu Lianghui.
Seeing that Shao Yichen had recalled, Li Xingyu continued: "Duan Wenyue was the female lead in 'Path to Immortality.'"
Shao Yichen suddenly understood.
Li Xingyu continued: "During the film's promotion, Fu Lianghui completely ignored her as the female lead, and when the film didn't perform well, he issued statents shifting bla to her, saying her acting couldn't carry the film, which was why it wasn't well-received. Because 'Path to Immortality' had such dismal box office results, she hasn't had work for almost a year as a female lead."
"I've watched 'Path to Immortality,' and her acting is generally fine, plus she's quite familiar with xianxia dramas. Add to that Fu Lianghui pushing all the bla onto her, and she presumably won't worry about being resented by Fu Lianghui. If anything, being given this opportunity to strike back at Fu Lianghui would probably make her quite happy."
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Just as Li Xingyu predicted, after Shao Yichen contacted Duan Wenyue, she almost imdiately agreed.
The casting process was proceeding so smoothly that Shao Yichen could hardly believe it.
Given that there would inevitably be scenes where the original body and heart demon appeared simultaneously, a stand-in would be needed.
Perhaps due to seeing too much stand-in gossip during "Journey to the West on Film," the first person Shao Yichen thought of was the actor who played Little Bai—Bai Pufan.
Yes, his surna was actually Bai. Shao Yichen looked at the "Little Bai" nickna she had saved for him in WeChat and comfortably kept using it.
Coincidentally, Li Qianqian had been negotiating his contract recently, and he had basically confird joining Morning Star dia as a signed actor. Having him co over as a stand-in for dialogue practice wasn't an issue at all.
She had initially worried that asking a young actor on the rise to be a stand-in for an actor not much older than himself—even if the other was his self-proclaid idol—might leave so resentnt. But as soon as she hinted that the production had such a role, Little Bai volunteered enthusiastically, his words conveying the joy of potentially eting his idol.
Seeing the screen full of exclamation marks he sent, Shao Yichen began to wonder if his signing with the company and joining the production was specifically to pursue his idol and indulge in CP shipping.
With this, the production's main actors were basically assembled.
Just then, Li Qianqian ca to report on the company's IPO progress, using professional terminology that gave Shao Yichen a headache. She hadn't planned to maintain 100% shareholding anyway. After barely understanding that "the IPO could happen in about a few months to half a year," she decisively handed the matter entirely to the system and Li Qianqian, serving rely as a mouthpiece without independent will.
After Li Qianqian completed her report and Shao Yichen responded according to the system's suggestions, she eagerly inquired about the next topic: "When will the contracts for the next film be signed? When will the actors be in place?"
"This quickly?" Manager Qianqian was startled.
In her impression, this director had always exemplified the proverb "the emperor isn't anxious, but the eunuch is"—how had she beco so proactive this ti?
Shao Yichen nodded seriously: "Of course we need to be fast—I heard Fu Lianghui's production team's official Weibo has been counting down these past few days, about to release the TV drama's costu photos."
"Once we've settled things, we need to shoot too! Not only shoot, but we should release our costu photos simultaneously with Fu Lianghui's, taking the opportunity to announce our intention to film the movie version!"
"We not only want to ride Fu Lianghui's wave of popularity, but also catch them completely off guard!"
Author's Note: Today's update!
Director Shao Yichen is finally going to film a script that isn't her own creation!
Thanks to the little angels who gave Overlord Tickets or Nutrition Solution between 2020-09-20 20:59:06 and 2020-09-21 12:18:39~
Thanks to the little angels who gave Nutrition Solution: Seven Years. 30 bottles; Yue 10 bottles; 32440809, Little Jing 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
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