Chapter 17 November 17th

Pei Qian received a call from Huang Sibo, asking him to come to Fei Huang Workshop to finalize the script and determine other matters related to the movie shooting.

More than two weeks had passed since Pei Qian wrote the script.

During these two weeks, Zhu Xiaoce and the screenwriters at Fei Huang Workshop had been continuously improving Pei Qian's script while also carrying out pre-production work.

Now that the script was finalized, Pei Qian, as the movie's investor, definitely needed to give his approval; it was a matter of showing respect.

Of course, if Pei Qian found that Zhu Xiaoce had made too many changes to the script, severely weakening its toxicity, he would definitely have a word or two to say.

Pei Qian had become increasingly laissez-faire when it came to coming up with ideas and making final decisions.

Because he had realized that no matter what he chose, betrayal would arrive as scheduled!

When making *Sea Fortress*, Pei Qian only provided the general direction, allowing his employees to freely develop the details, and then the game became a hit.

When making *Game Producer*, Pei Qian scrutinized every single detail, turning Lü Mingliang into a complete tool, but the game still became a hit.

When investing in Ma Yang, Pei Qian didn't have many requirements for the investment direction and didn't limit Lao Ma's performance at all, and yet…

In short, it was all tears.

Pei Qian had discovered that it seemed the final result was pretty much the same, regardless of whether he managed the projects or to what extent he managed them.

Since that was the case, why bother putting in so much effort…

It would be too exhausting for President Pei to scrutinize every single word like he did back when he was making *Game Producer*.

So, Pei Qian planned to just take a casual look around Fei Huang Workshop, go through the motions, and try to offer some of his "opinions," putting up a symbolic resistance before calling it quits.

Man proposes, God disposes; such things cannot be forced.

Pei Qian arrived at Fei Huang Workshop's office, and Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce greeted him and led him to the reception room.

After such a long period of development, Fei Huang Workshop had a fairly complete staff, including directors, screenwriters, production assistants, post-production staff, editors, special effects artists, and so on. The entire office area looked quite lively, with everyone preparing for the new film with great enthusiasm.

Once in the reception room, Pei Qian took a sip of tea and the first thing he did was to instruct Huang Sibo.

"Although Fei Huang Workshop is currently thriving, you must never forget the Tendai spirit. It's certainly a good thing that everyone is enthusiastic about their work, but you must never turn a blind eye to the issue of overtime. Understand?"

Huang Sibo quickly nodded. "President Pei, don't worry. All of Fei Huang Workshop's rules and regulations and benefits are modeled after Tendai. How could we do something so outrageous?"

Pei Qian nodded, very satisfied with Huang Sibo's statement.

Zhu Xiaoce handed over a thick stack of scripts. "President Pei, this is the completed script. Please take a look. If there's anything in it that doesn't align with your intentions, please point it out, and we'll revise it repeatedly."

Pei Qian took the thick script and immediately saw the movie's name.

Previously, Pei Qian had only written a simple story outline and hadn't given the movie a name.

However, Zhu Xiaoce and the Fei Huang Workshop's team of screenwriters had not only filled in the detailed content of the script, but also given the movie a name.

*A Beautiful Tomorrow.*

There was also an English name: *tomorrowisbeautiful*.

Seeing this name, Pei Qian couldn't help but give a thumbs-up in his mind.

Good!

Well done!

This was a script that would bring all the poison back to its source, guaranteed to leave people feeling depressed after watching it.

But the movie's name didn't reflect the movie's toxicity at all, and instead was very misleading.

*A Beautiful Tomorrow* sounded like a very heartwarming arthouse film, and would definitely trick a lot of unsuspecting onlookers, maybe even couples in the honeymoon phase.

Wouldn't that get them ripped to shreds? The reputation would definitely collapse!

Pei Qian nodded slightly and continued reading.

Seeing President Pei nod, Zhu Xiaoce across from him couldn't help but perk up.

My script has been recognized by President Pei!

My interpretation of this script is completely correct!

Clearly, President Pei also understood the deeper meaning of the movie's name. Sure enough, geniuses always understood each other like this!

Pei Qian wasn't aware of Zhu Xiaoce's excitement at this moment. He casually flipped through the thick script, selecting a few key scenes to focus on.

The original simple story outline had been expanded in great detail, including the sets, dialogue, actions, and so on, allowing one to roughly imagine the movie's scenes.

Pei Qian had only one feeling: poison upon poison!

The previous script outline was toxic, but after all, it was just an outline, and the plot was very brief. But now, the female lead's and male lead's dialogues, expressions, and so on were written out in detail. If he were to imagine the BGM at the time, the toxicity…

It was off the charts.

Pei Qian almost couldn't bear to finish reading it; it was too miserable!

After skimming through it, Pei Qian confirmed that Zhu Xiaoce and the screenwriting team hadn't made any modifications to the story outline, and had simply and honestly fleshed out the story, expanding it into a script.

The toxicity hadn't weakened at all; on the contrary, because of the increased details, the toxicity had greatly increased!

Seeing this, Pei Qian was basically relieved.

If it was filmed honestly, it would definitely be a script that would bring all the poison back to its source!

"This script is perfect!"

"I'm very satisfied."

Pei Qian expressed high praise for the work of Zhu Xiaoce and the screenwriting team.

Zhu Xiaoce couldn't help but smile. "Not at all, not at all. It's President Pei's script that was well-written. We just did some insignificant work."

As the two were chatting, Pei Qian's phone rang.

Pei Qian looked and saw that it was Chang You calling.

"Hello? President Pei, I wanted to let you know that the preliminary preparations are almost complete. The office space is set, and my brothers have all joined the company."

"Today, we want to finalize the product form of the phone, including some of the initial work tasks. If you have time, could you come over and guide our work?"

Guide their work?

That was a bit unfortunate.

Pei Qian still had to discuss the script with Zhu Xiaoce and the others at Fei Huang Workshop. He probably wouldn't have time today.

Should he "guide" the Fei Huang Workshop, which had abundant experience in successful endeavors, or "guide" the Dream Team, which had abundant experience in failed endeavors?

The choice was obvious.

Of course, Pei Qian could ask Chang You and the others to hold the meeting tomorrow, but after thinking about it carefully, it didn't seem to make much sense to make everyone wait a day just because of that.

Pei Qian felt that he shouldn't interfere too much in Otto Technologies' affairs. On the one hand, it would easily affect the Dream Team's performance; on the other hand, if he actively interfered and the phone flopped, it would be like President Pei helping Lin Wan share some of the blame, which wouldn't be conducive to Lin Wan figuring things out and going back to inherit her family business.

"You guys discuss it first. I still have some things to do here, so I won't go."

"You don't have to ask me for instructions in everything. Just go ahead and do it."

Chang You: "Okay, President Pei! Please rest assured, we will definitely complete the task!"

After hanging up the phone, Pei Qian continued to discuss the script with Zhu Xiaoce.

Zhu Xiaoce hesitated. "President Pei, there's still one issue that hasn't been decided."

"You should have noticed that the character names in the script haven't been decided yet. This is because we can't decide whether the protagonist of this story should be Eastern or Western."

"In your story outline, it seems you only vaguely mentioned that this is a future world, but you didn't emphasize any information about nationality."

Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, that is indeed a problem."

"Since it's a story that takes place in a future world, we must blur the factors of nationality."

"Besides, this kind of story couldn't happen in our country."

"The characters, sets, and so on in the play should all use English, and the lines should also be in English."

"We should also find foreign actors for the main roles. If we can't find suitable ones, we can find Chinese actors who speak good English. The characters' identities don't need to be explicitly stated. The audience will naturally understand that they are Chinese-Americans."

Pei Qian felt that foreign extras would definitely be more expensive than domestic ones!

Since he could spend more money, he definitely couldn't pass it up.

Zhu Xiaoce quickly nodded. "Yes, President Pei, that's what I was thinking too."

"However, we might encounter a problem, which is… it will be difficult for us to hire big-name foreign actors, or even actors with moderate fame."

"After all, Fei Huang Workshop is making a theatrical movie for the first time, and it basically has no reputation abroad. Even if we offer money, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get those famous actors to travel across the ocean to Jingzhou…"

"So, the problem of the extras is easy to solve, but it's the main roles, especially the male lead and the judge… that are difficult to handle."

"Because these two characters have a lot of screen time and require relatively high acting skills."

"So, what do you think? Can we find domestic actors to play these two roles?"

Pei Qian thought for a moment. "Sure."

"But… if we can't hire famous foreign actors, do you think we can hire them domestically?"

Zhu Xiaoce smiled helplessly. "It won't be easy to hire them either."

"But for domestic actors, it's easier to communicate with them, so there's a better chance of getting them."

Pei Qian originally wanted to say that they could just find a few newcomers from schools to play the main roles, but then he thought again that newcomers would be paid too little, and he couldn't give them too much in the way of salaries.

They had to find one or two actors with a higher profile, otherwise, the budget for the actors' salaries probably wouldn't be used up.

But who to find? That was another problem.

Pei Qian suddenly thought of a candidate.

A domestic actor… I know one, and I've even worked with him before!

Fried pork knuckle!

Zhang Zuting had been criticized a lot since he endorsed *A Song of Blood and Passion* last time, but when the criticism went too deep, it naturally turned into fans, which brought him a lot of traffic. Even he himself didn't reject the nickname "Fried Pork Knuckle" anymore.

Of course, Pei Qian still remembered this old friend.

Lao Zhang was a good friend of Tendai, and he couldn't mistreat him. As the saying goes, fat water should not flow into outsiders' fields. With such a good thing with a high salary, he definitely had to let him fill it first.

At that time, even if the play flopped and was criticized, everyone would definitely scold the screenwriters.

As long as Lao Zhang's acting skills were up to par in the movie, the audience would definitely not criticize him.

Moreover, there was a character in the script that was very suitable for Lao Zhang, namely, the rotten judge.

The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more suitable it seemed. He said, "I'll also help with the actors."

"I'll contact Zhang Zuting later and ask about his schedule. If we can hire him, we can let him play the judge."

"As for the main roles… you look for them, and I'll look for them too. We can discuss it again when we have suitable candidates."

Zhu Xiaoce was very surprised. "Zhang Zuting? Of course, it would be great if we could hire him. He's an old pro, and his acting skills are definitely top-notch! And his English is quite good. He can speak entirely in English throughout the filming process."

"President Pei is indeed well-connected!"