"Stone" Sets Its Release Date

Wei Jin had not been to the company in a long time, and some documents had piled up at work. He picked through them and dealt with a few, though some still required the people in charge to report to him in person. He was deciding which department to call in first when someone knocked. Li Na entered with Huang Bai and Ning Hao.

"Old Wei, you were gone a good long time, weren't you? What, did you have such a good time in the United States that you forgot all about home?"

Huang Bai had barely sat down before he started teasing his boss.

"Nothing good ever comes out of a dog's mouth. Looks like there won't be any use for you in the new movie," Wei Jin shot back with a laugh.

As Wei Jin's status rose, the people around him had become increasingly respectful and less close to him. Only Huang Bai still treated him as a friend, just as he always had. Even Ning Hao fell short of him in that regard.

"Don't say that, Manager Wei. I'm your loyal employee. If you point east, I won't go west..."

Hearing that Wei Jin had a new movie, Huang Bai was itching to get involved. Working with Ning Hao on "Crazy Stone" had been a blast, and he had discovered that, compared with singing, he preferred acting.

"Junior brother, have you settled on a new movie?"

Ning Hao, who had been sitting upright to one side and watching the two bicker, grew curious and chimed in.

"Yeah, the script's finished. If you two hadn't called me, I might already be at China Film Group by now."

Wei Jin offered a brief explanation. In fact, he had not yet decided how large a share to give China Film Group.

"Enough about me. Let's talk about your project first. What are your thoughts?"

"It's about the release date and the publicity and distribution. I don't know much about any of that, so I came to ask you to make the call."

Although Ning Hao had made a few movies, he really had little experience with matters outside the filmmaking itself.

"Hmm... how about this? Come with me to China Film Group this afternoon. We'll ask President Han to help us find a suitable release date, and talk about publicity and distribution while we're at it."

Wei Jin could not immediately recall what movies were coming out that year, so he decided to settle both the new project and the release date in one go that afternoon.

"Oh, right, senior brother, how did the shoot go this time? Was our company's crew easy to work with?"

"Hmm... it was all right. We worked together pretty smoothly. I think we've mostly got used to each other by now."

Ning Hao thought back over his time working with the company's crew before answering.

"How was your trip to North America? Did you really shoot two movies in two months?"

Unable to get a word in, Huang Bai took the initiative to ask about Wei Jin's time in North America.

"It was all right. They really are more professional than us at the moment. Both movies were prepared at the same time, and we shot one right after the other. It was pretty efficient."

Wei Jin then explained Hollywood's production process:

Hollywood was producer-centered. Producers launched projects with the aim of making a commercial profit, researching the market, digging into scripts and studying audience preferences. They found directors suited to a movie's genre and style, then sent invitations through the actors' guild to find suitable actors, ultimately putting together the core production team.

The producer had absolute authority. The director was merely a tool for filming, strictly following the production process and the storyboard script to get the job done. In the end, the director did not even have editing rights over the movie.

Under those circumstances, because the producer had already made a market assessment at the outset of the project, everyone in the crew was more like a worker on an assembly line. The movies they produced naturally had a guaranteed floor, but their ceiling was generally not very high. Most classic Hollywood movies, one would find, were director-driven.

In China, by contrast, the system was director-centered. Producers were more like the crew's chief stewards, and the finished movie depended entirely on the director's subjective execution.

Under that system, a flash of inspiration from a director could produce a legendary classic; a director who let himself run wild could create an epically terrible movie, because the director did not understand the market and was pursuing self-expression.

Thus, movies produced under a director-centered system had a very low floor and a very high ceiling.

Simply put, the difference between the two was like the difference between a handcrafted item and an assembly-line product. Neither could be called better or worse, though in terms of efficiency alone, the producer-centered system was somewhat better.

After listening to Wei Jin's explanation, Ning Hao understood a little better and looked thoughtful.

"Old Huang, what about you? I heard you suffered on this shoot?"

"Ah, don't remind me. During that sewer scene, I held it in until I nearly threw up. You have no idea, let me tell you..."

Recalling the shoot, Huang Bai felt both aggrieved and excited. Then something else occurred to him:

"Hey, right, did you really prepare a role for me in your new project?"

"Don't worry, I won't forget you. But it's a supporting role, and there isn't that much screen time, so be prepared."

Wei Jin explained further, so Huang Bai would not read too much into it. After all, Huang Bai was an artist signed to his own company.

"Ah, supporting role or whatever, that doesn't matter. Getting to work with a Silver Bear director is something to brag about."

Huang Bai did not mind how much screen time he got. He just wanted to scratch his acting itch. Besides, with his looks, nobody else was asking him to act at the moment.

"Oh, right, how's your new album doing?"

Seeing that the ringback tone boom had only a few years left, Wei Jin had written a few more ringback tone songs for Huang Bai before leaving for North America. He had not paid much attention afterward, hence the question.

Wei Jin had likewise written five songs for this album:

"Damn Tenderness"

"Autumn Won't Come Back"

"Don't Hurt Me Again"

"Angel's Wings"

"The Wolf Falls in Love with the Sheep"

Wei Jin had already racked his brains to come up with those. He reckoned he probably would not have any more hits like them in the future.

"Recording wrapped up in March, and the company released it for me last month. The market response has been pretty good."

Talking about how popular the new album was made Huang Bai happy, though he also became a little wistful.

"Man, I really don't know how your brain works. You write songs so well, too."

Huang Bai now had eleven hit ringback tone songs to his name. Calling him the king of ringback tones was no exaggeration, and he had considerable standing in the music industry.

Wei Jin was even more remarkable. Every song he had written and composed was a fine piece of work and a hit. Many established singers had already begun asking him for songs, and the company received calls about it every day.

"But why are all the songs you write this kind of heartbroken love song? With a face like yours, there's no way you've been through that much romantic misery, right? Now I really can't shake the title of king of heartbroken love songs."

"What? You can't write about it unless you've lived through it? Haven't you heard of people who are born knowing things?"

"Pah! Tell you you're fat and you start panting..."

Time flew by as they talked and laughed, and before long it was noon. The three then had lunch together.

That afternoon, Wei Jin and Ning Hao went to China Film Group and headed straight for Han Sanping's office.

"President Han, it's been a while. You're looking better and better."

The last time Wei Jin had seen Han Sanping was at the celebration banquet for "Those Years." Seeing him again, he felt a certain warmth.

"Hey, you rascal, you've been nowhere to be seen for months. I heard you went to North America to make movies? So, how was it? What did you think?"

Han Sanping did not stand on ceremony with Wei Jin, knowing that was just how he was.

Wei Jin then broke down the explanation he had given Ning Hao that morning. Han Sanping listened with a look of emotion on his face:

"So, there's still a huge gap between us and Hollywood. At least when it comes to the industrialization of filmmaking, the gap is obvious."

That had always been Han Sanping's guiding idea: make blockbusters, mount major productions. Only that way could they gradually catch up with Hollywood and improve the domestic film industry. By comparison, domestic movies were more like products of family-run workshops, while Hollywood movies came from standardized factories.

"Oh, right, what brings the two of you here together?"

Wei Jin briefly explained the situation with "Stone" and said they wanted to ask China Film Group to handle its distribution.

"Hmm... let's watch the finished movie first."

Han Sanping was a man of swift and decisive action. He took the two of them to the screening room.

Although Wei Jin had been back for a while, this was also his first time seeing the finished movie. As he watched, he compared it with the images in his memory and found it pretty good. It seemed the increased investment had allowed many of Ning Hao's ideas to come bubbling out. Overall, it was more interesting than the movie from his previous life.

"President Han, junior brother, what did you think?"

Ning Hao was a little uncertain. Although he thought he had written a good script and was confident in his directing skills, he did not have a sufficient grasp of the market and did not know whether audiences would buy it.

"Hmm, multiple narrative threads, dark humor. Interesting."

Han Sanping commented on the movie itself but did not say much about its market prospects. After all, this was a project Wei Jin had invested in.

"It's very good. I think it has potential. With the right release date and proper publicity and distribution, it has a shot at 60 million."

Wei Jin really had high hopes for "Stone." It was a solid commercial comedy.

"You're that optimistic? This cast doesn't have much drawing power."

Han Sanping was somewhat surprised. Thinking Wei Jin was praising it because of his relationship with Ning Hao, he pointed out the cast.

"Cast? That's all smoke and mirrors. How was Big Brother Cheng's cast last year? And how was the box office?"

Wei Jin was talking about "New Police Story," released during the National Day season the previous year. Big Brother Cheng had led the cast, joined by Hong Kong stars including Xie Feng, Daniel Wu and Ah Sa, yet it had made 38.35 million at the box office. It had flopped all the way to Grandma's house.

Wei Jin had always disliked the current practices of certain domestic film and television companies. At every turn, they touted major productions, star-studded casts and award-winning actors and actresses. If they could not tell a good story, they could hire God himself to act in it and it would still be garbage.

"Don't put blind faith in the cast. A strong cast only makes it easier to draw audiences into theaters, but the cast isn't the only way to attract them. The key is still to tell a good story."

Han Sanping and Ning Hao were both somewhat moved by his words. Wei Jin's remarks were completely at odds with the prevailing view.

"China Film Group will handle publicity and distribution. As for the release date, take a look yourselves and then decide."

Han Sanping handed Wei Jin the release schedule.

"Hmm... how about July 15? What do you think, senior brother?"

Wei Jin looked through the schedule. The established release seasons in China at present were the National Day and New Year seasons, but there were too many competitors. The summer season would be better.

"Yeah, I have no objection. Let's do as you say."

Ning Hao knew nothing about this either, so he decided to let Wei Jin make the call. After all, Wei Jin was the investor.

And so, "Crazy Stone" was officially set for release on July 15.