Chapter 642: Chapter 633: Refusing to Cooperate

A single sentence hit Teng Hua right in the gut.

Yeah, how much are you planning to pay these actors?

Currently, actor salaries in the country are all over the place, with each surpassing the last, especially the popular idols and young stars. Despite having no acting skills, their paychecks can be in the tens of millions. How much investment is enough for such extravagance?

In contrast, most of the money for Wang Fan’s movie was spent on special effects, while the actors’ salaries were greatly reduced.

Some were paid as little as tens of thousands, like Da Shu who got only 200,000, and quite a few were persuaded to join, especially Jingzi, who wasn’t paid a cent, relying on Wang Fan’s reputation, otherwise, he wouldn’t be called a director who relies on favors.

Of course, now that they’re making money, Wang Fan is preparing to compensate some old friends, but that’s another story.

If actors’ salaries take up a significant portion of the investment, the director’s influence in the crew will decrease, and it will also affect the film’s quality.

Especially in sci-fi films, if there’s no money for special effects, can it still be called sci-fi? Can a martial arts film without fight scenes still be called martial arts? Can a police thriller without gunfights still be called a thriller?

When shooting a movie, you can’t put the cart before the horse, and say it’s to boost the box office, isn’t that a joke?

If the movie’s quality is poor, how much box office can just the actors bring in?

He didn’t care about this kind of thing before, but now he has to speak up because you’re asking me to invest. I’m handing over money, not newspapers, for you to burn at will.

"As for the pay, it’s not settled yet, but we’ve negotiated the cast, which is hard to change. Besides, let’s be honest, as long as we make money, why care about those things, am I right?"

It’s clear that Director Teng hasn’t given up and wants to persuade him. Although many people want to invest in sci-fi films due to the ’Wandering Earth’s’ success, he’s not lacking investments, but he still wants Su Qing’s investment.

Firstly, he knows Su Qing can provide large funds, and secondly, Su Qing’s investment in ’Wandering Earth’ is a great selling point.

With Su Qing’s relationship with Wang Fan, he might even come to give some guidance, which would be very beneficial.

[The actors’ salaries for ’Demon Capital Fortress’ add up to nearly one-third of the total investment, plus waste across various departments, small leaders’ corruption, filming expenses, leaving very little for special effects.

The lines were messed up, widely criticized.]

Wow, hearing the narration’s prompts, Su Qing exclaimed inwardly, realizing that this wasn’t just a bad film, it was bad in every way. Honestly, it wasn’t really the actors’ fault; it was the director who made the decisions. Sometimes actors had no choice.

When actor salaries take such a huge chunk, how can this movie be any good? It’s not a city romance that doesn’t need special effects; strong acting and script could deliver the effect.

This is a sci-fi film; it’s all about special effects. What are special effects? Simply put, it’s about money. With money, there are special effects.

So Su Qing nodded, "Indeed, that’s true. Although I don’t care about making a profit, I don’t want to lose money. From what Director Teng told me, I really can’t see how this movie can make money, so I’ll refrain. Of course, I still wish Director Teng can make a good film, to prove me wrong, and I preemptively wish you a big box office success!"

Su Qing spoke very quickly, hardly giving him time to persuade again, he closed the matter definitively.

The straightforward rejection left Teng’s team a bit stunned, they froze for a while before awkwardly smiling.

"Understandable, understandable, it’s a pity we can’t work together this time, no problem, if Brother doesn’t like this script, I’ll come to you when I have a better one."

"Of course, I also welcome Director Teng to take care of my business!" Su Qing nodded and smiled, speaking quite politely.

Next to him, Tang Nan felt a bit awkward but relaxed when he saw Su Qing’s polite demeanor at the end. At least it gave Director Teng an out.

"Come on, come on, drink up, today it’s my treat, eat well, drink well!" Tang Nan stood up to pour drinks for everyone.

Soon the atmosphere in the private room improved a bit, though a trace of awkwardness lingered.

Half an hour later, Teng Hua and Wang Tao said they had something to do and stood up to leave. Naturally, Tang Nan got up to see them off.

"Brother, is something up with you today?" While Tang Nan was seeing Teng Hua off, only the two of them were left in the room, so Wang Fan couldn’t help but smile and ask.

"What’s wrong with that? It’s just that I didn’t like that script. Though I don’t care about profit, I definitely don’t want to lose money! Brother, do you think their movie can make it?"

Su Qing smiled and raised a glass.

The two of them exchanged a glance and then smiled at each other, drinking in one go.

He wasn’t refusing to drink, just didn’t like drinking with those two, and, of course, the narration’s prompt biased him initially.

"Honestly, Brother, you’re not in the industry, but your comments hit the nail on the head. The core of sci-fi films is sci-fi, romance can embellish, but never dominate.

Secondly, it’s about funding. Sci-fi films are money-burning, can’t skimp on special effects. Actor salaries can be high if you attract enough investment, but don’t skimp on special effects.

But the domestic market is only so big, and a box office over 5 billion is already high. Simply put, investments have a cap because if the investment is too large, even with a good box office, it still decreases the returns."

Wang Fan completely agreed with Su Qing’s views. Regarding actors without acting skills? His crew included some newbies too, didn’t it work?

But mainly, you can’t let actors without acting skills take the lead, bear most of the acting. They can’t hold it down.

In ’Wandering Earth’, there were quite a few seasoned actors to anchor the film, which naturally worked. But when Teng Hua mentioned his cast, Wang Fan listened and found them lacking, without anyone to hold down the fort.

Clearly, the two directors had different styles. Wang Fan focused on plot refinements, character development, and special effects, while Teng Hua wanted to bank on lead stars, leveraging their popularity to boost box office, and with the current sci-fi craze, there was quite a bit of opportunity.

Because in recent years in the domestic market, such operations were common and lucrative, so it’s not to say Director Teng’s understanding was flawed.

"Ha, you two are already drinking, and especially you, Su Qing, you’re giving your sister no face today!"

At this moment, Tang Nan opened the door and immediately saw the two drinking, instantly getting upset, and she hurried over, tugging Su Qing’s ear and shouting.

"Ow~~~ it hurts, it hurts, my ear’s going to fall off, gonna die, gonna die, gonna die!"

Seeing his pathetic look, Tang Nan chuckled, then flicked her hand and spat:

"Tell me, what were you thinking earlier? Didn’t you want to start a film investment company? How could you offend people right off the bat?"

Su Qing: "It’s not that I offended them, it’s that they’re too lousy."

Both: ...

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