Before Huaying Group’s official screening session, Director Han from the Planning Center organized a small internal preview. Nearly everyone invited was a heavyweight in the industry, including the two veterans who had previously praised Chi Ying, Elder Wu and Elder Xie.
Officially, the screening was organized under the Planning Center’s name, but behind the scenes Lei Dongmin had also called in favors through his own network to bring people in.
After all, this was the very first film independently produced by the Planning Center since its establishment, and Director Han had high hopes for it.
Among those who attended, there were some Chi Ying knew personally, some she only knew by reputation, and others she didn’t recognize at all.
When the ninety-minute film ended and the lights came back on in the screening room, there was almost complete silence. The industry veterans stood up one after another and quietly walked straight out.
Chi Ying found the atmosphere bizarre. She had no idea why things had turned out this way.
In the end, it was Elder Wu, whom she knew, who finally spoke.
Grabbing Director Han by the arm with an expression of deep sorrow, he exclaimed, “You’re exploiting child labor!”
Both Director Han and Chi Ying were completely bewildered.
What was that supposed to mean?
Standing beside him, Elder Xie elaborated.
“Xiao Chi is an exceptionally talented young filmmaker. She’s still in the middle of growing as an artist, yet you’ve rushed her into making this kind of commercial film that caters to the audience.”
“Her inspiration and talent shouldn’t be wasted here. She should continue studying and making films with greater depth and substance. What you’re doing is exhausting her talent far too early…”
After saying that, he simply shook his head and slowly walked away.
Elder Wu let out another sigh.
“Xiao Chi, you have to hold on to your ideals. Don’t let the fame and profit right in front of you blind you, and don’t just follow the crowd. You need to know what you truly want. Is this really the kind of film you want to make?”
It felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over Chi Ying’s head.
All the confidence and exhilaration she’d been enjoying recently vanished without a trace, and her expression darkened.
She understood.
The inevitable had finally arrived.
Director Han lacked experience in dealing with situations like this, so she immediately reported everything to General Manager Lei.
Lei Dongmin already understood what was happening. He had weathered enough storms over the years.
It was nothing more than the same old argument from the seminar.
At its core, it was simply that a young person who had originally followed the industry’s traditional path had changed her thinking and chosen a different road, only to be rejected for it.
Calmly, Lei Dongmin picked up his teacup and blew away the tea leaves floating on the surface.
“It’s nothing. This just proves you’ve completed your mission. We made our objective clear from the very beginning. We wanted to produce a commercial film that ordinary audiences would genuinely enjoy.”
“This reaction was entirely within our expectations. There’s no need to panic.”
“I’m not panicking,” Director Han replied. “I’m worried about Xiao Chi. She’s a young woman making her first feature film. Everything had gone smoothly until now, and then all these industry giants hit her with this. I’m afraid she won’t be able to handle it.”
“It’s no big deal. You’re the producer, and so am I. At most, she was simply carrying out her superiors’ instructions. None of this mess will fall on her shoulders. Go back and comfort her properly. This is only the beginning. If you want to accomplish anything, you can’t keep worrying about every possible consequence.”
Next came the screening organized by Huaying itself.
This was the most critical stage of the film’s distribution.
Lei Dongmin personally led representatives from film companies across the country to Huaying Group’s screening theater. The turnout was substantial. The heads of all twelve provincial film companies were present, a clear testament to Lei Dongming’s influence.
It was now 1998. Mainland China still didn’t have modern theater chains.
Commercial cinema circuits wouldn’t appear until after industry reforms in 2002.
At the time, theaters in each province were controlled by that province’s film company. Economically developed regions naturally had more cinemas, while less developed areas had fewer, but all of them were state-owned.
Following the promotional strategy that Chi Ying, Director Han, and General Manager Lei had previously agreed upon, the film would primarily be released in economically developed regions and areas with large university populations.
Since the target audience consisted of young moviegoers, especially young women, the first wave of releases was particularly important.
Typically, films would first open in the capital, the municipalities directly under the central government, and provincial capitals before expanding outward into surrounding regions.
The second wave would then reach the various prefecture-level cities, which were also major contributors to the box office.
That made the decisions of these general managers extremely important.
Fortunately, seeing that General Manager Lei himself was the producer, everyone treated the screening with great importance. Every company had sent its top decision-maker.
After the ninety-minute screening concluded, Lei Dongmin already knew the answer.
This film would sell.
Chi Ying had exceeded every expectation. Everything that remained was work outside the film itself.
When the lights came back on, Lei Dongmin smiled warmly and looked around at the assembled executives.
“So, what does everyone think? Let’s hear your opinions.”
The first to speak was one of Huaying Group’s own film companies.
Since the film came from their own parent group, they naturally intended to support it, especially with their top leader personally promoting it.
“We’ll start with three prints.”
Chi Ying finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Three prints was already a respectable number.
At the time, producing a single film print cost close to ten thousand yuan, and each print could be circulated among five theaters simultaneously.
That meant the film would immediately be shown in fifteen theaters.
A good start.
The next to speak was the female general manager from Su Province.
“I’ll take six prints.”
Not only were Chi Ying and Director Han stunned, even General Manager Lei was caught off guard.
Su Province wasn’t nearly as economically developed as Shanghai or Beijing.
In the first release wave, the film would only be shown in the provincial capital and the province’s second-largest prefecture-level city. The provincial capital was one thing, but the other city didn’t even have a particularly concentrated university population.
“General Manager Chen, thank you for your support,” Lei Dongmin said tactfully. “But are you sure your market can handle six prints all at once?”
“I really liked the film,” General Manager Chen replied. “It was such a comfortable viewing experience. Before I knew it, the ninety minutes had flown by.”
“I think this film will sell. It leaves you feeling warm throughout. Even though it ends as a comedy, I don’t know why, but when the ending song started playing, I suddenly felt like crying.”
“It has tremendous emotional aftertaste.”
“As a female audience member, if I were walking into a theater, this is the film I’d choose to spend the next hour and a half watching.”
The other three female managers shared exactly the same opinion.
Two of them ordered four prints each, while the remaining one also ordered six.
All of them believed the film had great potential in the women’s market and expressed considerable confidence.
Privately, however, the four women also had another reason.
They were all women themselves, and all well educated.
Although they often had no choice but to flatter certain male directors in order to keep their companies profitable, deep down they had never cared much for directors like Ma Yuanchao and his streetwise style of comedy.
To them, those films felt somewhat vulgar and weren’t particularly friendly toward female audiences.
Now that there was another option, why not give it a try?
Besides, November was traditionally a slow season.
There weren’t any famous directors releasing films or major Hollywood blockbusters scheduled.
They might as well screen this film instead.
Who knew? It might create an entirely different outcome.
One after another, the remaining company heads also made their decisions.
Most requested only two prints.
Only one company, from a remote northwestern province, ordered just a single print.
When all the orders were totaled, thirty-six prints would be produced for the first release.
That was already an excellent start.
Everything from here on depended on word of mouth after the release.
Chi Ying finally felt her heart settle back into place.
She let out a long, relieved breath.
…
That evening, when Chi Ying returned to the dormitory, she felt completely drained.
She collapsed onto her narrow bed and didn’t want to move.
After a while, the door lock clicked.
Song Lin had returned.
Seeing Chi Ying looking like a ghost, she quickly asked, “Have you eaten dinner? If not, I’ll go downstairs and find you something to fill your stomach.”
“I haven’t, and I don’t feel like eating. I’m exhausted,” Chi Ying answered without opening her eyes.
Song Lin knew that today had been Huaying Group’s screening session, the event that would determine the film’s distribution prospects.
“It’s settled. The first release will have thirty-six prints. Su Province ordered the most with six, while the Northwest only took one…” Knowing how anxious Song Lin was to hear the results, Chi Ying simply told her everything in one breath.
“Really?” Song Lin’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Thirty-six prints means the first release will reach nearly two hundred theaters at the same time. That’s already a very solid start.”
“Yeah. General Manager Lei and Director Han are both pretty satisfied.”
“Has the release date been finalized?”
“November. We’ve got a good release window. There aren’t any films opening against us at the same time, and afterward the theaters will have to make room for the New Year’s releases. We got a little lucky.”
After saying that much, Chi Ying had no desire to talk anymore.
She simply lay there with her eyes half closed.
Truthfully, she hadn’t done anything especially strenuous today.
She was so exhausted because of the emotional strain.
She had been tense the entire day, and only now that the distribution deals for the film prints were finalized could she finally relax.
Song Lin turned the ceiling fan up to its highest setting while pouring Chi Ying a glass of water.
“The other day, when you came back looking so down, I thought the whole thing had fallen apart.”
Chi Ying looked puzzled.
“When was I down?”
“The day of your Planning Center’s internal screening.”
“Oh. I got criticized that day.”
“What did they say?”
“They accused Director Han of using child labor.”
Unable to hold back a laugh, Chi Ying sat up.
“I didn’t really show it when I got back that day, did I?”
She knew she was the backbone of the group.
That was why she always paid close attention to her own behavior.
She didn’t want to dump her stress onto her teammates, nor did she want to spread negative emotions.
“We’ve shared a room for four years,” Song Lin said with a smug smile. “Do you really think you can hide something like that from me?”
“So I don’t have any privacy around you at all?” Chi Ying complained.
Song Lin laughed.
She had gone back to school that day to take care of a few things, but she’d received several pager messages from classmates.
News that she and Tan Yi had starred in a movie had already spread, and their classmates were unbelievably envious.
Over the past few days, quite a few classmates had been contacting Song Lin through their pagers.
She wasn’t naive.
On the surface, they were acting friendly toward her, but what they really wanted was an introduction to Chi Ying.
Chi Ying had never been particularly active on campus, and she had even less contact with students from the Acting Department.
Song Lin wasn’t foolish enough to play matchmaker for everyone for nothing.
She just wondered how Tan Yi was handling things on his end.
…
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