novelden Chapter 620: Cutting Screen Time? Director Zhan’s Way of Survival!
Chapter 620: Cutting Screen Time? Director Zhan’s Way of Survival!
Some office at Hanbei Entertainment."Take a look at the garbage you’ve cut together."
The return document in Manager Lin’s hand was thrown in front of Zhan Min.
"Pulling the project out of the Spring Festival slot competition and choosing to delay it to Lantern Festival already pissed off a lot of people. We barely managed to get through a special channel to speed up the review process, and you turn in this pile of trash to the higher-ups?"
Zhan Min picked up the document from the floor and, unsurprisingly, saw the revision comments for this version of the film scrawled across it. He shrugged, but when he looked up again, his face was plastered with grievance.
"Manager Lin, I really can’t do anything about this. The third version was almost fully adjusted, but then you sent a few people from post-production to do some cutting. Whatever happened after that wasn’t my responsibility."
If it wasn’t his job, then yelling at him wouldn’t fix anything either.
"When did I ever send anyone from post-production? Didn’t I say before that I was leaving this whole thing in your hands?" Manager Lin glared at the man in front of him. Thinking about the data from the Operations Department that morning, he immediately snapped, "Was it Ren Yibai’s people who came over privately?"
No, he couldn’t even call it private—they’d directly borrowed Manager Lin’s own name to do it.
Zhan Min pressed his lips together and said nothing, only offering Manager Lin an awkward but polite smile.
Everything was understood without words.
"Fine, fine, fine. He finds himself a backer and thinks he can rest easy, huh? And he even dares to use my name to pull that fox-borrowing-tiger’s-ferocity act?"
Manager Lin was practically breathing fire. "Back then, I brought Xiao He in to save the show, wasn’t it all for the promotional heat afterward? If we don’t use him in the movie, what, we just wait for it to flop and then use him?"
"He’s stingy enough, isn’t he? Cut everything out, turned the plot into a total mess. What? Might as well let him take full charge of this project from now on. Let him sit in my seat as the person in charge. Everyone just waits for the movie to take off and have pies drop from the sky, right?"
Manager Lin obviously didn’t dare say some of these things in front of Ren Yibai himself. So Zhan Min, standing there with his head bowed "listening to the lecture," became the outlet for all that firepower, obediently rooted in place until Manager Lin finished his tirade.
Once Manager Lin had pretty much said his piece, Zhan Min cautiously asked, "So, Manager Lin, what do we do now? Just submit the third version directly? If we re-edit it, we probably won’t make the deadline."
Manager Lin let out a long sigh, his eyes fixed sharply on the man in front of him, a different suspicion rising in his mind.
But just then, the office door was knocked on again.
"Sorry to interrupt."
An assistant poked their head in from outside. "Manager Lin, an S+ variety show just sent an invitation to Zhao Qinyuan. They might need to discuss it with you now."
Manager Lin’s attention immediately shifted.
"Alright."
He turned his gaze back to Zhan Min and said flatly, "You can go now. Stick with your version of the content. Don’t do anything unnecessary."
Manager Lin had seen the third version too, so he naturally knew the quality and content were flawless.
The only thing that might have rubbed some people the wrong way was that actor named Xiao He. Even with just a few rare shots, he still managed to stand out and become a highlight of the entire work.
No wonder the on-site team had unanimously approved it, only for it to be mysteriously sent back for other versions to be cut.
But the funny thing was, the harder they tried, the more pathetic it got. The more they tried to cut out someone’s shining moments, the more hollow and laughable their own roles became.
After going around in circles, each version got worse than the last, only making the original version look even more unique and sophisticated.
Manager Lin even had a fleeting suspicion that this was all part of Zhan Min’s premeditated plot as the director—breaking free from the flaws of the imported Korean version and adding a unique charm to the Chinese one. It made the two soul-swapped characters’ relationship tighter, their fates more intertwined. If one side tried to hog all the screen time, the end result would only be mutual destruction.
It almost felt like the characters from the plot had risen up and manifested in the two actors outside of it.
But seeing Zhan Min’s honest-looking face, Manager Lin wasn’t too sure.
Forget it. Ren Yibai had been drowning in too much trouble lately. It really wasn’t a good idea to let him take the lead alone. Zhao Qinyuan’s momentum was pretty strong too. Better not put all the eggs in one basket.
Besides, with Xiao He’s name drawing traffic, "Let the Mistake Slide" might actually reap bigger benefits instead—
Lost in thought, Manager Lin waved his hand. Zhan Min lowered his head and quietly slipped out of the office.
Once he was far enough away, Zhan Min’s phone rang again.
Seeing the "Manager Liu" displayed on the caller ID, Zhan Min let out a long breath, a genuine smile creeping onto his face. "Hello? Manager Liu? Long time no see! I was just saying that once we got things settled here, I’d invite you all for an early screening."
"The movie? No major issues."
Zhan Min let out a low chuckle. The slight hunch in his back, which he’d been maintaining the whole time, seemed to straighten out a bit now.
"Don’t worry, Manager Liu. You all came to save the show this time out of respect for my teacher. No matter what, I can’t let you take a loss. Otherwise, how could I ever face my teacher again?"
He might not have made much progress in technical skills over the years, but when it came to dealing with troublesome clients and resource-backed power players, he still had his tricks.
Zhan Min wasn’t about to let just anyone mess up his work.
That had been his way of survival at Hanbei Entertainment all these years.
So from the very beginning, even though he knew what Ren Yibai was planning, Zhan Min never brought it up to Xiao He’s side.
That was just the last shred of his pathetic pride.
"Mm, I trust you, Director Zhan. That’s exactly why I was willing to let Xiao He come and help you. After all, trust is the bridge that makes cooperation possible…"
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A hotel in Beijing.
Liu Rulan quickly hung up the phone, then turned to Xiao He and shrugged. "Well, it’s pretty clear you didn’t need to step in this time."
"Director Zhan obviously has his own rhythm."
Xiao He let out a relieved sigh. "I was just worried I’d almost forgotten about this whole thing, so I figured I’d check in quickly, just in case it was too late to do anything."
When he’d heard from Huang Mang that Ren Yibai wanted to cut his screen time, Xiao He hadn’t really taken it to heart at the time. But then, before he knew it, news of the movie’s imminent release came through, and Xiao He couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.
But now it was fine. Director Zhan had the ability to solve his own problems, so they didn’t need to get involved.
Liu Rulan glanced at her phone again and said, "The Operations Department over at Hanbei also reached out to us. Looks like yesterday’s marketing didn’t work out too well, so they want to formally collaborate with us to promote ‘Let the Mistake Slide.’"
Yesterday, "Let the Mistake Slide" had hit the Hot Search for a while. Xiao He had glanced at it, but unfortunately, the discussion was mostly driven by the water army. It had a self-congratulatory vibe that wouldn’t pull many people into theaters. So with their marketing failing, they had no choice but to shift their focus to Xiao He.
If you really thought about it, how could Xiao He not be considered a lead actor?
After all, before the soul swap and the whole "let the mistake slide" mess of living a killer’s life, Xiao He’s "body" had been the original protagonist.
So when Xiao He saw the marketing for "Let the Mistake Slide" again, they’d already very directly pushed his name to the front, listed alongside Ren Yibai in a separate column as a bona fide main actor.
And just like that, Xiao He’s name, like some miraculous cure-all, shot the movie title straight to the top.
Seeing this, Xiao He could only say—
"Basic moves, don’t @ me."
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