The most tricky lie in the film and television industry: "We don't lack money, we lack a good script"

Author | Zhao Tiancheng

The whole world is short of good scripts, especially in China. Many practitioners of

have heard a particularly wealthy sentence on various occasions, that is-"We are not short on money, we lack a good script."

regrets that this mantra has been shouted for many years, and the Chinese film and television industry is really not short of money, but the dilemma of "script shortage" has not been alleviated.

But an interesting phenomenon is that now not only investors and producers are seeking good scripts, but even actors have begun to take the initiative to lower their prices, and even willing to pay for good scripts.

Why does no one dare to say to the actors, "We don't need money, we lack good actors"?

Think about it carefully. We often hear someone say to screenwriters, "We don't need money, we don't need a good script", but we rarely hear someone say to actors, "We don't have money, we don't need good actors."

why? Investors in

dare to say to the screenwriter, "We are not short of money," because no matter how good the script is, the price cannot be too ridiculous, and there is no standard for the quality of the script, and the screenwriter's status is low. They are not afraid to offend the screenwriter, so they speak with confidence. .

And they dare not say to the actors "We are not short of money" because the actors' pay can really be very high, and the price can be clearly marked. They dare to say, the actors really dare to ask for it.

Shi Jianxiang invited 30 big shots to shoot "The Bombing", threatening to "not cap the top", Fan Bingbing alone took 30 million, but this is with the money of many investors, as a result, Shi Jianxiang ran away.

"We are not short on money, we lack a good script." The implication is that as long as you write a good script, we are willing to pay as much as possible. In order to express the importance of the script.

is more of another meaning, not that I don't want to spend money, but that your script is not good. In order to resolve the embarrassment of reluctance to pay later.

Investors, producers, producers, actors and even props, art, coordinators, almost everyone can think that a script is not good, and they are pointing fingers at the script, but in the process of cooperation, no one dares to treat a certain traffic star Point your finger. This is what happened to

. No one at told the actors "we don't need money", but the actors' pay was pushed to sky-high prices. Everyone has always advertised that "we don't need money, we lack good scripts", but the industry status of screenwriters has not improved much.

In the past few years, the domestic film and television industry has indeed made no money. Buying IP is a big buck, asking stars to pay high prices. Costumes, props, scenes, and special effects are all striving for excellence, and publicity and hype have spared no effort, but the result? The

big IP + big star projects are on the street. More and more people understand that no matter how big a star, no matter how good it is, it can only maintain the traffic of the first three days. However, the script was valued consciously, but the action was still very slow.

shouted "We are not short on money, we lack a good script", but in fact maliciously defrauded the outline, layman instructed the insider, refused to sign the screenwriter, found a bunch of screenwriters to modify the N draft, and finally the producer came to unify the draft. The situation is not uncommon. Some film and television companies even require the script to pass before paying the writer's remuneration, directly treating the screenwriter as a guinea pig.

actors have fallen in value, are willing to pay for good scripts?

Although "we don't need money, we don't need a good script" has become the mantra of investors and producers.

But this year, the film and television winter, in fact, the industry has begun to lack money. The

Hengdian start-up crew halved, investors were afraid to vote, and the stars did not shoot. The stars finally recognized the importance of the script and began to "seeking the script" publicly on various occasions.

Huang Xiaoming said after watching "I'm Not the God of Medicine", he said excitedly-"I want to have such a good movie in the future, no matter how small a character is called, I can post money by myself."

Sun Li in the Feitian Awards The award-receiving scene then recommended himself: "If there is a good script here, I must quickly hit me. I will act better, act more seriously, and strive to be a better actor."

Hu Ge shouted at the FIRST Youth Film Festival Young directors, if you have a good project, please don’t forget, "There is a cheap and easy-to-use actor-Hu Ge."

was also at the FIRST Youth Film Festival, Hai Qing said: "We love movies very much, we It will be cheaper than Hu Ge and as easy to use as him. I hope everyone will give us more opportunities."

can post money for good scripts? Maybe all actors dare to say so, but no one will do it.

Huang Xiaoming has not encountered a good script so far, so Huang Xiaoming has not posted money yet.

actors say "good scripts Money is all right", just like investors saying "good script money is not a problem", the attitude is good, but it's just talking.

In fact, there are too many stars in the entertainment circle who refuse to play because of low pay.

Xu Zheng The producer of "Overtime Cohabitation", as a small-cost film, has a box office of nearly 900 million yuan and has become the dark horse of the year. However, the film was originally scheduled to be rejected by the heroine and threatened to "not accept one billion" because of this film. The genre and subject matter of the movie are not popular topics, and it is a new director with a small cost.

was originally scheduled to be the heroine Xu Jiawen in "Wolf Warriors 2", but was asked to temporarily add money, so Wu Jing had to be replaced by Lu Jingshan. In "Wolf Warriors" After 2" became popular, I would say that Xu Jiawen does not regret it. I guess no one would believe it. If

can be sure that the script will be sold well, then investors can really have no money. If you can predict that the movie will be popular, then the actors will naturally post Money is willing, the key is, who has such ability to judge and predict?

In reality, investors can give the screenwriter enough respect and do not encroach on the screenwriter’s normal rights and interests. It is commendable. Actors can give priority to scripts and roles Good or bad, it’s noble enough if you don’t care so much about the pay.

As for investors who say “we don’t need money, we lack good scripts” and actors say “good scripts can be posted with money”, there is no need to take it seriously.

Talk about it, let’s just listen to it, that’s all.