บท 22: Shooting the Show
บรรณาธิการ: Henyee Translations
"What's this?"
"It's a Fairy Crystal Necklace."
"What's it for?"
"It's a media for magic and one can also use it to transform into a fairy.
"So…"
Meng Lang cut Mr. Tao off before the latter could finish. "Mr. Tao, don't you have work to do?"
This guy showed up on the shooting site early the following morning.
It wouldn't have been a problem if he was only visiting, for there was no secret on the shooting site. Mr. Tao could come as often as he wanted and Meng Lang wouldn't care less.
But this guy simply had too many questions!
Apart from all the questions, he was drooling over the fairy flute and Fairy Crystal Necklace. Had it not been for the adamant objection of the costume group, the old man actually wanted to try a fairy costume on himself.
Meng Lang didn't know what to do.
Meng Lang didn't have to guess to know why Mr. Tao was here, but since there was a better channel, there was no reason for her to give up the chance!
The CCTV-14 was the most viewed children's channel that had the largest coverage, which was much better than most provincial satellite channels.
Would anyone abandon such a great platform and give the show to Jiangchuan Children's Channel instead? Of course not.
"Director Meng, are you really not going to think about it? We don't want an exclusive right, but a first-round right only," said Mr. Tao expectantly.
Meng Lang wanted to say yes to Mr. Tao. After all, the guy was already humble…
However, he hadn't heard from the National TV yet and the deal hadn't been finalized. If he agreed to Mr. Tao without careful consideration, he might have ended up offending both channels.
Sitting on his director's chair, Meng Lang took off his baseball cap. He then rose to his feet and led Mr. Tao to where the props team took their breaks.
After making sure that no one was around, Meng Lang said, "Mr. Tao, you're making it difficult for me. We're still in the process of shooting and you haven't even seen the completed work yet. Why the rush?"
"Of course I'm in a rush. It's free…"
Before Mr. Tao could finish, Meng Lang cried out in surprise. "You greedy old man! You're getting used to the free lunch, aren't you? Who told you that Balala the Fairies is going to be free?"
"You're going to sell it this time?" Mr. Tao was baffled.
Meng Lang nodded.
Pengda Pictures had given Blazing Teens out for free to open up the market. Although the production cost had been covered later by selling the exclusive online and overseas broadcasting rights, making a huge profit at the same time, Meng Lang's initial plan had only been to open up the market.
He had given it out for free because that was the only way that anyone would broadcast the show. With the success of Blazing Teens, even if some TV channels would be scared off by the price, Balala the Fairies wouldn't have a problem finding its buyers.
Of course, Meng Lang wouldn't keep giving out free stuff.
Mr. Tao mumbled, "How much are you going to charge, then? The Jiangchuan Children's Channel may be able to afford it if the price isn't too high…"
Meng Lang stared at Mr. Tao, slightly surprised. He even circled around the latter a few times.
The strange look in Meng Lang's eyes gave Mr. Tao the creeps. He couldn't help but ask, "Is there a problem?"
"Yes! And a very big one!"
Smacking his lips, Meng Lang suddenly wanted to laugh. He blurted out. "Mr. Tao, I haven't bribed you in any way, have I?"
"Of course not! I've never accepted a bribe from anyone, you included," said Mr. Tao, shaking his head.
Then, there came the problem!
The man hadn't seen the completed work and there were no stars in the show, not to mention that the director was a nobody and the show was a medium budget live-action feature show. Why was he so eager to buy it?
Mr. Tao was either an inside man Pengda Pictures put in the TV channel, or a really, really kind man.
He was too kind a man to be real!
Meng Lang wavered a little at Mr. Tao's promise, but only momentarily.
Broadcast rights were mainly about reputations. What mattered was being broadcasted by bigger channels.
Meng Lang would still give the first-round broadcasting rights of Balala the Fairies to the National TV, even if he had to sell them at a lower price than to the Jiangchuan Children's Channel.
How much could the first-round broadcasting rights be worth, anyway?
As long as Balala gained its popularity, they would make a fortune selling the toys alone. Frankly, Meng Lang didn't think much of the petty amount the first-round broadcasting rights would make him.
After nicely sending Mr. Tao on his way, Meng Lang went back to the monitor, instructed the others to move to the outdoor shooting site, and got ready for the next scene.
…
Jiangchuan Yulin Middle School.
Meng Lang graduated from this school himself. Therefore, when he recalled that part of the story happened in a school, he contacted his old school right away.
The old headmaster agreed to the application of shooting the show on school grounds without hesitation.
Because it was a good thing for the school.
Not only did he cooperate with the crew, the old headmaster also made an implicit request.
He wanted the camera to capture the school uniform, the school badge, and the front gate!
The old master had racked his brain trying to attract more students to the school. Now that there was such a rare chance to promote the school, he would make very good use of it.
Meng Lang agreed to the old master's request.
The school scene needed a lot of extras.
Finding all those extras turned out to be a problem here in Jiangchuan. After all, it wasn't Hengdian…
Luckily, a lot of students rushed to the school after hearing about the shooting of the show, despite the fact that it was the weekend.
Meng Lang then found his extras, who could play themselves!
After giving instructions to the students of what to watch out for, the shooting started.
The students knew next to nothing about acting, but they were playing themselves and with Meng Lang's instructions, they looked at what students having classes should have looked like after a few NGs. They looked quite the part.
The classroom scenes went smoothly, but when it was time to shoot the free activity periods, the problem arose.
"Brother Director, I'm sorry…"
Xiaopang, the student playing "Shi Xiaolong", humbly admitted his mistake in front of Meng Lang.
For this scene, all he had to do was to say "Yeah… the class is over…" after the teacher announced that the class had ended, then pull the back door of the classroom open.
It was a very simple scene.
However, the boy just couldn't do it properly. He kept darting glances at Lin Xue, the actress playing Yan Lili, across the classroom.
Everyone on site knew what Xiaopang was looking at!
Meng Lang gave Xiaopang's head a little knock with his knuckle and said with a solemn face. "Do you know what you did wrong?"
"I shouldn't have looked into the camera…"
That was certainly not what he had been looking at!
Xiaopang had made a mistake all boys would have done. Recalling that he had stolen glances at girls before, Meng Lang didn't want to scold the boy any more.
But soon, when another extra was supposed to strike up a conversation with Meiqi and Meixue in the last row, there was a problem again.
One could explain Xiaopang's glances toward Lin Xue with male instinct, but why would that female student blush whenever she looked at Tao Mi?
"Are kids nowadays so precocious?" Scratching his head, Meng Lang asked Xiaopang's dad, who was next to him.
Xiaopang's dad nodded.
"They are. I would have a wet dream if I talked to girls back in my day. My son is much more impressive. He's in Year 2, but he's already had two girlfriends!"
Hello, dad? Was that a bragging tone?
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