I Really Didn’t Want to Be Famous - Chapter 60

Chapter 60: The Start of A Legend?

The screenwriter of [Homeless] was called Qian Zhong. He wore glasses and looked very refined. However, he was also an artistic young man who was down in poverty.

It had been two years since he had graduated from University, Before he graduated, he had kept his eyes on Huaxia’s movie market with a high and vigorous spirit. He felt that given his talent, any script that he wrote would be fought by the big companies like China Gold and Sky Entertainment. Then, he would just put on some airs to negotiate for a higher price. He thought that it wouldn’t be a problem for him to sell each script for 50 to 60 thousand dollars…

Then, after the scripts were made into movies, gaining great box office ratings and winning all sorts of screenwriting awards, he’d become famous in Huaxia within a few years, enjoying endless glory as he soared up to the peak of his life.

It was a pity that reality was very cruel.

He didn’t receive a reply after carefully preparing and sending his scripts to China Gold and Sky Entertainment. There were even a few times in which those people appeared very enthusiastic and sincere when they received his script. However, he had specially hidden by a window after he left to check out the situation inside, and he saw them casually tossing his script into a trash can.

Throwing it away as if they would waste paper.

Reality wasn’t a fairytale. There might be cases in which someone could soar to great heights in just a step, but this would require luck.

Clearly, Qian Zhong didn’t have such luck.

The repeated cases of rejection and failures caused Qian Zhong to feel very bitter. However, he was unwilling to give up on everything and be like other people, going to work or becoming an office worker…

After all, his dream was to become a screenwriter, producing an amazing movie that would cause him to rise to fame.

Two years passed by in a hurry. The spirited young man from back then gradually grew older. Although he continued to be determined and write scripts to send to the various big companies, failing as he always did, he became very dejected and would often mope. He felt that no one in this world understood his talent…

But one day, he met a fatty when he was eating barbeque and drinking alcohol by himself in a roadside stall.

The fatty sat opposite him. Just as Qian Zhong was looking at his script, contemplating on submitting it again, wanting to get a second-rated director to see his script no matter what, the fatty took the initiative to go and chat him up.

“You’re an actor?”

“No…”

“Then you are…”

“I’m looking at a script…”

“You’re looking at a script, but you aren’t an actor?”

“I’m a screenwriter…”

“Oh? What movies have you written before?”

“None.”

After seeing the fatty’s excited expression, Qian Zhong closed his eyes and suddenly let out a long sigh, replying this.

For some reason, he suddenly felt his nose turning sore when he recalled what he had been through during these years. Although he kept on reminding himself that he mustn’t cry, his eyes still turned red.

“I also know an amazing screenwriter, but he isn’t like you, crying over small things.”

“What choice do I have? No one fancies my script. No one is willing to make them into a movie…”

“Can’t you do it yourself? Look at how pathetic you are…”

“I have no money.”

“Sigh, you look a lot older than that buddy of mine, but the difference between the two of you… isn’t just a little bit!” Fatty Wei shook his head.

“That screenwriter buddy of yours is like me as well?”

“Of course not.”

“Huh?”

“He wrote his own script and went to look for investors by himself. He also took on the role of the director and had even wanted to become the actor. Moreover, his movie is about to be released next month. Do you think that the two of you are the same?”

“What the f*ck…”

Hearing this, Qian Zhong’s eyes became wide-open. He was too shocked that these words suddenly popped out his mouth.

That person must be a monster.

“Let me have a look at your script. Kid, I’m a director as well.”

“You are… you…”

“Lucky fellow. Come on, show me your script. This might be your opportunity!”

“Alright…”

……

Fatty Wei refused to admit that he was trying to swindle the other party.

On the other hand, he saw himself as a kindhearted person.

He spent $5,000 to buy a script, and under Lu Yuan’s agreement, he even contracted this poor and unlucky guy as the assistant director. Wasn’t this considered kindhearted?

He was being extremely kindhearted!

He felt that he had saved a decent screenwriter. At the very least, he could see this guy’s talent!

If it was possible, he would even issue himself a ‘nice guy’ label.

With a good script, in addition to him being an extremely talented director and there being an actor that acted true to his character…

Everything would go through a qualitative change!

Fatty Wei was brimming in confidence. On the day he bought the script, he even called Li Qing in a drunken state.

“Old Li, come and work together with A`Yuan and I. Let’s flip the entire movie circle over!”

Li Qing was very touched when he heard this and replied with great fervent, “You’re crazy!”

Although he said that, Li Qing still agreed. He even asked Fatty Wei when the filming would start.

Lu Yuan didn’t say anything about this. He couldn’t really pour cold water over Fatty Wei’s enthusiasm, could he? In the end, he only put in more effort into learning about acting and waited for [Buried]’s premiere.

No matter what, his ‘Distant’ Entertainment had a new screenwriter, Qian Zhong, who wore glasses and appeared a little weak. When Qian Zhong saw Lu Yuan, he kept on calling him “Brother Lu” and looked at him with great admiration as if he was a fan.

Why? Because Fatty Wei had once said something to him while pretending to act cool.

“You’re looking at the rising of a legendary team. And this legend starts from [Buried]… As for our ‘Distant’ Entertainment, even though it is only a small company now, it’ll become so massive beyond your imagination…”

“Are you prepared for it?”

Fatty Wei’s words were very enticing, as if he was doing multi-level marketing.

At that instant…

Qian Zhong was so excited that he peed in his pants…

……

31st August, Sunny.

Strictly speaking, [Buried]’s premiere was after 11.59 p.m..

This was a horrible time slot, even more so than the midnight movie slots. This could be said to be the only movie that was released in the wee hours.

The people in the entertainment business didn’t really have their attention on this movie. Shen Lianjie didn’t even wish to mention this movie and didn’t bother no matter how much clamor Fatty Wei made. He wouldn’t post any taunting remarks about this movie on the internet either.

He mustn’t fall into Fatty Wei’s trap.

He was a director with some reputation in the circle now. If he were to come out and comment on this movie, then wouldn’t he be doing free advertising?

Only a fool would do something like that.

He wasn’t a fool.

Many movies with mid to low capital investment purposely avoided to release on October 1st. Instead, they chose to release on September 1st, where there would be a relatively lower rate of competition.

Despite this, there were still a lot of amazing films released on September 1st, such as Zhang Tong’s [Subway Station], Shen Lianjie’s [Capital City], Xu Xiaoming’s [Battle Night], as well as many other youthful art films.

[Buried] didn’t have a strong chance of survival amidst these films. Even though Lu Yuan had brought about a wave of headline advertisements on the internet, it didn’t allow [Buried] to enter the top ten of the movies released in September.

“Du du du.”

At noon, Lu Yuan put on his suit and combed his hair up to look more mature. He was planning to head to the cinema to check out the other movies when his phone rang.

Lu Yuan looked and saw that it was from Wang Jinxue, someone whom he hadn’t spoken to for a while.

“Where are you?”

“At the office.”

“Oh, we’ll go over.”

“We?”

“Didn’t you see the Weibo post?”

“Ahh… I didn’t. What’s the matter?”

“Can you be more concerned about your own movie?”

“I am.”

“Go check out An Xiao’s Weibo post yourself.”

“Ok.”

After the call was finished, Lu Yuan opened his handphone and checked through Weibo.

After clicking on one of An Xiao’s Weibo posts, he saw a photo and a row of words.

“On September 1st, midnight, I’ll go to Tianhe Cinema to watch [Buried]… Everyone, come along together. I’ll give my signed photographs to the first ten movie fans! As for which Tianhe cinema I’ll be at, it’ll depend on everyone’s luck!”