IPCFS: Chapter 92 Part 1

The original author was A Drop in the Ocean (canghaiyisu) and he was considered a leader in the category of ‘suspense investigation’. Readers affectionately called him Uncle Cang.

The serialization of ‘Night Detective’ lasted for four years, and a total of five physical novels were released in this period. Therefore, the benchmark of the readership was huge.

However, the suspense genre was more restricted. Even if the movie or television rights of the novel were sold, it was difficult to adapt them properly into film. The rights to the first novel of ‘Night Detective’ was sold two years ago, and this was the start of its subsequent movie and television adaptations.

Therefore, Uncle Cang attached great importance to this movie.

The book fans who followed Uncle Cang’s Weibo knew that every now and then, he would report to them about the movie situation, and he always had a complimentary attitude.

Even two days before the movie’s release, he posted on Weibo and called for book fans to go to the theater in support.

In fact, part of the reason why the pre-sales box office of ‘Night Detective’ was so high was half due to Uncle Cang’s hard work.

After all, if even the original author thought it was a ‘very good’ movie, then the adaptation must have been successful!

In order to ensure that the filming of the new few movies went smoothly, book fans responded to the call and bought movie tickets.

They rushed to the theater to watch it, only to become furious at the ‘messy’ movie.

What happened?

Did Uncle Cang take the producer’s rotten money to close his eyes and brag blindly, not even caring about his hard work?

Just as the book fans were feeling puzzled and resentful, the original author accused the director of the film’s shortcomings and he angrily revealed all the dirty truths to the public.

It turned out that when the crew started filming, they hired the screenwriter Shen Ming.

Shen Ming wasn’t very well-known in the screenwriting circle. In the past, his scripts were all small-budget movies.

Shen Ming knew that the original novel was very famous, so he visited the original author and actively and modestly discussed the details of the script adaptation.

It was said that the author of the original work treated his own works like they were his sons.

Naturally, Uncle Cang didn’t want his work to suffer from magical changes. In the face of screenwriter Shen Ming’s humble request for advice, he was willing to free up time to discuss the adaptation together.

In the consulting process, he didn’t charge any fees.

The two of them worked hard for three months before completing the first version of the script and handing it over to the producer and director.

Around a week later, the other party made a request for revision. They said that the suspense case in the movie was too detailed and bloody to easily pass the trial and asked for a slight revision.

Shen Ming heard the news and carried out a new round of revision and creation with Uncle Cang.

A total of five versions of the script were completed. Some places were different from the original, but under Uncle Cang’s personal control, the overall story logic and character images were still present.

The two sides ‘happily’ reached a consensus on the script. Next, the casting of the actors had twists and turns, but the overall process went smoothly.

In this way, Night Detective entered filming.

During this period, Uncle Cang and Shen Ming jointly said that they wanted to visit the crew. The producer put them off several times before inviting them.

On the day of the visit, the filmed plots were all according to the content of the script.

Song Qingfeng, one of the two male protagonists in the script and the one who played the role of the captain, was a very powerful actor. The scenes when they visited the set were very exciting.

Uncle Cang was naturally satisfied as the original author and screenwriter and took the initiative to share a photo with the actor on Weibo.

The investment was strong, the script was satisfactory, and the casting was excellent.

Uncle Cang took it for granted that his work could be presented to the public in the best possible form. He never expected that he would be completely dumbfounded when watching it in the theaters after it was released!

The plot of the original script had been changed by 70-80%, the new plot was boring, the double male protagonists scenes were greatly reduced, and the emotional lines between the male and female protagonist were too embarrassing…

The book fans found the plot ‘disgusting’, but in the eyes of the original author, it was a piece of sh*t!

He immediately went to the producer. The answer he got back was:

“We just filmed and edited it according to the script? Some places wouldn’t pass the review, so it was inevitable that they would be deleted.”

“The plot is enough for the box office to be strong. Didn’t you receive the copyright fee for the original work? Don’t worry about it so much.”

Uncle Cang was angry with this answer. The screenwriter Shen Ming was also shocked by the plot of the movie and was investigating to find out the truth.

Finally, they got the answer from a former staff member of the crew.

“The producer felt that some scenes and scene arrangements were too expensive and unnecessary, so he planned to find someone to revise the script from the beginning. How good is it to film many sweet scenes about being in love and save money?”

Then after the male protagonist Cai Yishu entered the crew and learned the news, he recommended the screenwriter Wang Yongwei. The plots released in the movie were all created and adapted by him.

“The reason they didn’t tell you is because they were afraid that it would create additional problems. Now that the movie is released, it is impossible for you as the author and screenwriter to overturn it and reshoot, no matter how dissatisfied you are.”

My god!

It was fine if the producer admitted to modifying the script from the very beginning. After all, the copyright had already been sold. No matter how powerful the original author was, there was nothing he could do about it. By telling him, it could make him waste less time on seriously modifying the script.

Yet while letting the original author and screenwriter revise it again and again, they fooled people with a yin and yang script, trampling on their hard work. Did the producer have any shame?

-Get lost. I am going to refund my ticket. I won’t give this garbage producer any money!

-@Cai Yishu, get out of the entertainment industry! @Wang Yongwei, get out of the screenwriting circle! @Fanwen Movie and Television, get out of the movie and television circle!

-So what happened? 150 million yuan was invested to make this type of rubbish work. Where did the money go? It was swallowed up by the producer!

-Let me say it. There was so much publicity before the movie’s release, but they didn’t dare to show screenings in advance. They were probably afraid that some audience members would be disappointed when watching the movie early, and this would affect the box office, right?

According to the movie’s box office momentum, it would’ve been able to make back the cost within three days of its release.

The producer saw this and dared to be so shameless. Unexpectedly, the original author’s temper was so tough?

In the beginning, he confirmed the ‘yin yang script’ and then he dared to publicly denounce the producer.

The most frustrating thing for the producer was that out of rage, the book fans responded to the condemnation and directly pushed the topic of #Night Detective Yin Yang Script# onto the hot search.

Ji Li had always been paying attention to the news on the Internet. Now he shook his head. “What did I say? Bad habits are hard to change.”

Obviously, this person had already learned a lesson from the crew of ‘Time Lobbyist’ due to his unauthorized modification of the script.

Now after only two or three months, they dared to do something in the crew of ‘Night Detective.’

This time, the producer was the same as them. Cai Yishu also gained a share of the investment funds that were saved.

Qin Yue saw the trend on Weibo and his lips curved up. “In that case, I will send them to a high position on the hot search for free.”

Ji Li glanced at him and joked, “Teacher Qin Yue is indeed rich.”

“With one less competitor, our movie will have a higher screening rate and potential audience.” Qin Yue pinched Ji Li’s soft earlobe. “Baby, I’m making money.”

Thanks to Cai Yishu, the other movie that was most related to ‘Night Detective’ was their ‘Time Lobbyist.’

It was a bit too much to use peers as a stepping stone, but it was like this in the movie and television industry.

The ones who could have the last laugh were the real winners.

At Qin Yue’s request, Yuexing secretly spent money and this topic soon reached a high position on the hot search.

Seeing that the situation was wrong, the producer immediately contacted Weibo officials to withdraw the hot search. Unfortunately, the price of ‘removing the hot search’ hadn’t finished negotiating when a new incident occurred.

The company of Song Qingfeng, one of the movie’s leading actors, issued a statement that directly tore at any pretense of cordiality with the producer of ‘Night Detective.’

It turned out that the producer managed to invite Song Qingfeng to cooperate using the original script.

Song Qingfeng went to read the original novel after seeing the script and liked the role of ‘captain of the Criminal Investigation Bureau’ Bian Feng. Thus, he agreed to act in the movie.

The two parties were very straightforward when signing the contract, and the salary was based on the usual market price.

Then within a few days of starting up, Song Qingfeng’s team kept receiving new script pages.

The excellent plot took a sharp turn and became dull and boring.

Once Song Qingfeng discovered the problem, he immediately communicated with the producer and director. There was a stalemate between the two sides before the latter made a concession.

The production team said that Song Qingfeng would film according to the original script, but several scenes might be deleted. It was because it would be useless if they couldn’t pass the review.

Song Qingfeng had already agreed to act, and it was impossible to break the contract temporarily.

Fortunately, he filmed according to the original script. This made him feel that it was acceptable, so he filmed for a month and a half.

Now that the movie was released, it wasn’t only the author and screenwriter who found that they were deceived. Song Qingfeng also discovered that he was deceived.

The crew had given him the same yin yang script.

What important scene couldn’t be filmed due to not passing the trial? It was clearly because it would use money and they were reluctant to film a big scene!

They let him film hard with the original script while hiding from him that they added many scenes between the male and female protagonist.

During the filming, he initially had over 80 scenes, but it was cut down to only 40 or 50 scenes.

Then the post-editing kept cutting things out until only 20 minutes of appearance time was returned.

What was this?

Even the ‘deceased person’ had 10 minutes of appearance time before dying!

Song Qingfeng might not be extremely popular, but acting was his pursuit.

He thought that the producer didn’t respect his efforts at all. Thus, he couldn’t bear it and chose to let his company publicly explain the situation.

In the end, he forcefully said, “In that case, please directly remove me from this movie! Don’t use this false starring name!”

He was a powerful actor. He didn’t want to get involved in a trash movie like this!

The moment the company’s statement came out, Song Qingfeng forwarded it silently.

Since his debut, Song Qingfeng always held the image of a serious and conservative person who filmed steadily. There were many actors who acted with him, and he participated in many movie and television works. His popularity was high.

One stone caused a thousand waves.

-F*k, I feel sorry for Teacher Song! The producer is actually bullying people like this!

-I’m not a fan of the original novel. I just went to see it for Teacher Song! His acting is as great as ever!

-This garbage producer isn’t human. If there were any surprises in that trash movie, it basically revolved around Teacher Song’s appearance.

-I finally understand why the final trailer felt so good? Teacher Song’s few famous scenes were concentrated in that trailer. The emotional line between the male and female protagonist was hidden and didn’t appear.

-Very good, I originally gave it a three star rating, but now I will change it to one star!

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Proofreader: Azure