Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Chapter 1501: Chapter 677: Studio Visit

Wen Bing said, ”There’s no rush with this, take your time. If I come across anything you might need in the future, I’ll let you know.”

”Okay.” Zhou Yun nodded, ”Also, don’t always worry about not having enough funding. Yao Yuanfeng is a big company, they can support you. But you’re not a rookie anymore. Even if New Shield doesn’t want to work with you, other companies will be willing to take over. I can’t believe this film won’t break even; surely, it will make more than 30 million at the box office.”

Wen Bing: ”Sigh, I don’t want to think about these things either, but I know if there’s ever a time my film loses money, I won’t have the confidence to tell Yao Yuanfeng what I want to make.”

”What don’t you have confidence in? How much money have you made for him?” Zhou Yun said, ”Wen Bing, don’t be confused. Yao Yuanfeng gave you an opportunity, but you didn’t let him down either. You’ve repaid him with the movies you’ve made. Without you, could he have had hits like ’Life’ and ’Two Tigers’ in just a few years? Those two films alone made him a fortune.”

Wen Bing smiled and sighed.

...

”Pleasure working with you.”

Yao Yuanfeng shook hands with the Paimon representative who came to sign the contract.

Someone took photos.

In the conference room, there were nearly twenty people, all there to witness the signing.

Paimon acquired the global theatrical distribution rights for ’Female Assassin’ outside of Mainland China, and it will be released simultaneously worldwide with the Mainland.

Because of this, Yao Yuanfeng had been in a good mood for the past few days, practically walking on air.

This film wasn’t even through post-production yet, but Paimon still took it on, mainly because of the strong global box office for ’Two Tigers’, along with the optimism towards ’Female Assassin’ being directed by Wen Bing and starring Zhou Yun.

Besides the theatrical rights, NH also acquired the streaming rights, breaking the nearly decade-long record for the highest streaming sales price of Chinese-language films.

This also pushed Yao Yuanfeng to put ’Female Assassin 2’ back on the agenda.

Originally, the plan was to wait for the first one to be released before starting on the second, but now Yao Yuanfeng couldn’t wait.

Waiting for the first to release and then preparing for the second, then waiting for Zhou Yun’s schedule, shooting and post-production, would take another two to three years.

That wouldn’t be capitalizing on the momentum.

After completing the agreement, Yao Yuanfeng immediately asked for an update on Wen Bing’s current progress with the film.

Upon hearing they hadn’t started shooting yet, he immediately had his secretary book a ticket to visit the set.

...

”Why is Yao Yuanfeng suddenly visiting the set?” Zhou Yun’s first reaction upon hearing that Yao Yuanfeng was coming wasn’t happiness, but confusion.

Yao Yuanfeng wasn’t the type to make a move without reason. His sudden visit was perplexing.

Wen Bing shook his head, saying, ”I don’t know. Maybe he just wants to see how our preparations are going.”

Zhou Yun and Wen Bing had been staying in Phoenix County, not leaving, doing all the pre-production work there.

The rest of the crew were arriving one after another, some were Wen Bing’s old team members, like the lighting guy, while some were first-time collaborators.

Everyone was staying in the town’s hotels.

Luckily, the town had enough hotels to accommodate them.

Even though this film had a low budget, every necessary position was filled.

The production couldn’t be slapdash.

The budget was mostly spent on these people.

Including sound, cinematography, art, etc.

Zhou Yun only charged a million for this film. Compared to her usual fee, it was negligible, mainly because the film’s production budget wasn’t high, and people weren’t optimistic about its box office performance.

Zhou Lan still negotiated a box office share for her—initially, New Shield wasn’t happy, but Zhou Lan suggested taking the market rate if they weren’t satisfied, which made New Shield back down.

Zhou Lan didn’t understand why, after so many collaborations and contracts, they still tried to gain the upper hand in situations where they knew there would be no concessions.

Yao Yuanfeng came along with Yang Xi.

This made Zhou Yun and Wen Bing even more surprised when they saw them.

Yang Xi was an actor signed with New Shield, debuted around the same time as Wei Ru Xue, and was more senior than Zhou Yun. He had a solid acting reputation and decent fame, not the top tier, but undeniably first-rate.