The moment those words left his mouth, even Director Han felt a little embarrassed.
The young woman had only started work in July. Less than a month later, she had assembled a crew, started filming, and made a movie. That movie hadn’t even finished its theatrical run yet, and here she was already asking about her plans for the next one. Even workhorses weren’t driven this hard.
But she really was pressed for time.
General Manager Lei had just given her a heads-up over the phone. December was almost here, and every unit under the Film Bureau would soon have to submit its work plans for the following year.
The work plans themselves weren’t the main issue. What really mattered was that departments like theirs, with actual production targets, also had to submit their budgets.
Simply put, they had to declare how much money they expected to spend the following year so the Bureau could plan its overall allocations.
This year’s budget submission was especially important.
In previous years, everyone had more or less filled out rough estimates. When a project actually came along, they would simply submit a request for additional funding.
But starting this year, the government had become much stricter about controlling public spending. Every single expenditure had to be tied to a specific purpose. Rumor had it that audits would follow, so nobody could simply inflate their numbers anymore.
General Manager Lei had also pointed out that Huaying Group had been operating at a loss for years. Although the government was committed to supporting the cultural industry, it couldn’t keep subsidizing it forever. Everyone would eventually have to transition.
Government administration and enterprise operations would soon be separated. From then on, they would have to earn real profits. That was why he wanted Director Han to prepare a serious work plan and strive to complete it successfully the following year.
After hearing Director Han’s explanation, Chi Ying immediately understood.
Anything involving money was bound to be complicated.
Director Han was in such a hurry because the Planning Center was currently riding a wave of success. They had just produced a blockbuster that had earned the group a substantial profit. This was the perfect time to submit a larger budget request. Even if headquarters cut the budget, they wouldn’t slash it too severely. Once the excitement faded, asking for a large sum later would become much more difficult. At that point, every yuan would be scrutinized.
“Director, you’re our leader. We’ll follow your direction,” Chi Ying replied instinctively, first seeking her superior’s opinion.
Director Han pondered for a moment.
“Well, our center only has so many people. My thinking is that we should secure one project while striving for a second. Next year, we should aim to complete and release one film. At the same time, we should get another project onto the schedule. Ideally we’d begin shooting, but if that isn’t possible, we should at least complete the project proposal and assemble the team.”
“And whatever we make, the quality and reputation have to be guaranteed. That’s the only way we can keep moving forward and establish our brand.”
“You’re one of the few people here who truly understands what she’s doing. Watching you complete this film, I can tell you really know your craft. That’s why I want to hear your thoughts.”
By the standards of the era, even taking a full year to complete a film was considered relatively fast.
It also depended on the type of film. Modern slice-of-life stories were easier to produce, but if they wanted to grow, they couldn’t keep making nothing but those forever. Chi Ying had already mapped out her own plans in that regard.
So she said, “During these past few days off, I’ve been thinking about it. For my next film, I’d like to make a movie based on an ancient Chinese myth.”
Director Han was taken aback.
Chi Ying had just made an extremely successful chick flick. She had assumed she would continue in that direction. Instead, she wanted to jump straight into mythological cinema.
“Which myth are you thinking of?” Director Han asked.
“The Legend of the White Snake.”
“It’ll still be a commercial film. But with a mythological setting, the costumes, makeup, sets, and props can’t be as simple as those in Wedding Wedding. We’ll also need visual effects later on, especially for scenes like the final flood of Jinshan Temple. To be honest, I’ve never done anything like that before, so I don’t know how much it’ll cost. But I’m certain one and a half million yuan won’t be enough.”
Director Han laughed.
“One and a half million definitely won’t cut it. To be honest, I was nervous even with the last film’s budget. Fortunately, we managed to accomplish our mission successfully. Your idea is a good one. Why don’t we look into how other blockbuster productions handle their special effects and find out what they actually spend?”
“But Chinese myths like The Legend of the White Snake have already been adapted countless times for both film and television. As far as I know, Hong Kong and Taiwan alone have already produced several film versions. Why do you want to make this one?”
“I actually want to turn The Legend of the White Snake into an ensemble film. Traditionally, the story centers on White Snake and Xu Xian, but in reality White Snake is the true protagonist. I want to give Xu Xian, White Snake, Fahai, and Green Snake all greater weight in the story, telling it more from the perspective of human nature.”
The moment she heard the phrase human nature, Director Han flinched.
Too often, once people started talking about “human nature,” they drifted toward arthouse filmmaking. But the Planning Center had already made its direction clear. They intended to focus heavily on commercial cinema.
She hesitated.
“Looking at human nature… won’t that steer a commercial film off course?”
“Director, hear me out. As far as commercial filmmaking goes, my overall direction won’t change for at least the next ten years. You can rest assured of that.”
“But when we make films, we shouldn’t just tell audiences a story. We should also leave some room for interpretation, give them something to think about. Otherwise people will watch it once and forget it. There won’t be much discussion afterward, and that’s not good for publicity.”
“And considering how much money we’d be investing, along with the fact that this is a distinctly Chinese classical myth, we could also export it to neighboring markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.”
“Going even further, if the story explores universal aspects of human nature, we might even be able to sell it in Europe and America.”
“Look at how successful Hollywood blockbusters are here. They’re telling American stories, yet our audiences still love them. At the end of the day, it’s all about storytelling. As long as we tell the story well, audiences everywhere can appreciate it.”
Director Han considered her words for a while.
“Go ahead and get started. I’ll discuss this with the group first. In the meantime, you can begin working on the script and storyboards.”
“I already have a rough draft of the script. I can also handle the storyboards myself. What worries me is the special effects. We’ll probably have to bring in outside specialists for that. There aren’t any mature teams in China yet, so we’ll need the group’s help later.”
Director Han nodded.
This wasn’t simply an upgrade. It was a complete transformation. They had to proceed carefully.
Originally, Chi Ying thought it would take several days before anything came of it.
Instead, that very afternoon Director Han came looking for her again.
“We’re going over to headquarters later. General Manager Lei is treating us to dinner.”
Chi Ying blinked.
“Isn’t he inviting you, Director Han? I’ll just come along to keep you company.”
“Actually, no. General Manager Lei wants to treat you to dinner. I’ll just be accompanying you.”
Chi Ying stared in surprise.
Director Han smiled as she explained.
“I called General Manager Lei earlier and told him about our ideas, along with the difficulties we’re facing. Our top leader found it very interesting, so we’re going over this afternoon to discuss it together and determine our next direction.”
The dinner invitation came about because Director Han had thought the matter through carefully that afternoon and concluded it was worth pursuing.
So she immediately called General Manager Lei.
Her biggest concern was funding.
If they were really going to make this film, the budget would certainly be enormous. It might even exceed ten million yuan.
She had looked into domestic information and quietly consulted colleagues who had experience making big-budget productions. One thing became abundantly clear.
Special effects burned through money.
To her surprise, the moment General Manager Lei heard that, he became excited.
After all, making blockbusters had always been Lei Dongming’s ultimate dream.
The instant he heard that Chi Ying wanted to make a mythological film, and then learned it would be an ensemble mythology film complete with special effects, he could no longer sit still.
He wanted to hear, with his own ears, exactly what this young woman had in mind.
That afternoon, when Director Han brought Chi Ying into Lei Dongming’s office, the chairman immediately put away what he had been working on and personally poured each of them a cup of tea.
This time, Director Han was the one who couldn’t sit still.
“Old Leader, you’re being far too courteous. We can’t accept this.”
“It’s only right,” Lei Dongming said as he returned to his seat. “You know as well as I do that among the thousands of employees in Huaying Group, very few actually make money. We’ve been operating at a loss year after year. Now you’ve suddenly earned the group so much that I think we probably won’t show a loss on our books this year. Otherwise, every time I run into those people from the finance department, they lecture me as if I were their grandson.”
It was the truth.
Although Huaying was officially a state-owned enterprise, it was a massive organization with many social responsibilities. There were films they had to produce even if they lost money.
But that situation wouldn’t last forever.
Eventually, profitability would become the top priority.
“Xiao Chi, tell me. What’s your vision for your next film?”
Chi Ying had no choice but to repeat, in broad strokes, everything she had discussed that morning in Director Han’s office.
Drawing upon memories from her previous life, Chi Ying remembered very clearly just how passionate General Manager Lei was about making blockbusters.
To be honest, Chinese people generally had a certain obsession with things being big. Big development, big breakthroughs… everything seemed better with the word big attached.
For filmmakers, making blockbuster films, winning prestigious awards, and earning huge profits represented the ultimate goals.
For people like General Manager Lei and Director Han, who had already moved beyond the arthouse mindset, making a blockbuster was ideal. If it could achieve both critical acclaim and box office success, even better. And if it could also be exported overseas, that would be better still.
“My idea is that we should first secure our home market. Chinese audiences naturally embrace stories from Chinese mythology.”
“Look at Journey to the West. It’s rebroadcast every summer and winter vacation, and people never get tired of watching it. If we make The Legend of the White Snake, it will definitely have an audience.”
“But we also need to put new wine into an old bottle. We shouldn’t simply retell a love story between a human and a spirit. We should tell a story with greater depth. Themes like love and desire are universal to humanity.”
“Chinese mythology also carries uniquely Chinese cultural characteristics.”
“So I believe that if we tell the story well, create convincing visual effects, and make the film visually beautiful, it can go beyond China’s borders and expand into overseas markets.”
“It should certainly sell well throughout Southeast Asia. After that, we can gradually explore other markets, attend a few international film festivals. We don’t have to go there chasing awards. We can simply go to sell the film. That in itself would represent a completely new breakthrough.”
…
You can grab the full book now on my Ko-fi page, available in both PDF and EPUB formats! 🖤
📎 Here’s the link to the full novel