Divine Lucky Star
Chapter 284 - Chapter 284 Chapter 284 Spending Money Like This

Chapter 284: Chapter 284: Spending Money Like This? Chapter 284: Chapter 284: Spending Money Like This? Wang Hao’s memory, strengthened by the Dust Bead, was no joke. He could not only reproduce the text of “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer” in its entirety but creating an eighty percent similar version was no trouble at all.

Yet, his most brilliant move was using the version of “The Smiling, Proud Wanderer” script from his previous life, the one by Lv Songxian. This naturally made the plot and scenes simpler–just this alone would save at least two months or more of wasted effort.

“Tomorrow, let’s start with the opening scene where disciples of the Qingcheng Sect ride horses to the Fuwei Escort Agency,” chose Wang Hao because this part wasn’t overly complicated–just four people riding horses was enough.

“Okay, let’s do that!” Boss Ren agreed immediately, “Director Yang, what do you think?”

“No problem here,” Yang Shoulin was, after all, a well-known director in the industry. A small scene like this was a piece of cake, “We can start work at any time. Teacher Tong, please calculate the rough costs, and I’ll have Li send people to set up the scene right away.”

And why would they say she’s a Master of Economics from Zhonghai? Tong Tong’s sensitivity towards financial matters even made Wang Hao feel ashamed: “Equipment costs include: three Sony HD cameras, $1200 per day. Three ARRI lenses, $2400 per day. Two stabilizers, $150 per day. Straight and curved rails, four meters each, $260 per day. Large and small jibs, one of each, $180 per day. Three camera monitors, $1600 per day. One director’s monitor, $700 per day. One telephoto lens, one wide-angle, three standard lenses, and three lens hoods, totaling $670 per day. Lighting equipment tailored for the story’s scenes, $210 per day.”

As she listed these costs, Teacher Chen Li began tallying them up with a calculator. He quickly finished, but before he could announce the result, Tong Tong was already frowning, “Just these alone add up to $7307 for one day.”

Wang Hao: “…”

Impressive, Teacher Tong. Your mental math speed is quite something!

After Chen Li had finished his calculations, he confirmed, “That’s right, it’s $7307.”

“Yes, and these are only part of the expenses. The next items are not insignificant either.” Tong Tong continued, “Recording equipment, eight units at $850 per day, four actors one being a lead at $1200 per day, and three supporting roles totaling $900 per day. Advanced makeup artist $1500 per day, costumes $1600. The rural mountain road costs nothing, but renting four horses is $1200 per day. Three vehicles for shooting at $1800 per day.”

“Staff: The script supervisor, costume stylist, props team, production team, food supplier, three cinematographers, three camera assistants, several lighting technicians, one sound engineer, scenery special effects artist, special effects editor, and several more workers, totaling $35,000 per day. Then add another $20,000 for unforeseen expenses, and in total, it’s about $70,000.”

When she finished, everybody present took in a cold breath.

All of that adds up to over $70,000!

And that’s just for one day’s expenses! That’s not even including the pay for the second-tier fresh meat actors!

That’s why when Boss Ren previously mentioned a daily cost of over $100,000, that was already budgeting. Otherwise, this budget can only increase, not decrease!

“Seventy thousand dollars a day,” Yang Shoulin slapped his forehead and took in a deep breath. He thought back over the costs Tong Tong had mentioned and shook his head, “Seventy thousand a day means Teacher Tong’s sponsorship of two million will only last about a month at most, and that’s not even counting the heavyweight actors and post-production costs.”

Everyone looked at each other, no one daring to speak.

Shooting a film or TV series, in the end, can be summed up in two words: burning money!

If you can afford the burn, you can play the game, but if not, then it’s regrettable–the crew disbands, and everyone goes their separate ways!

“Seventy thousand a day, that’s burning through money pretty fast, haha!” Being a coal boss, Boss Ren was naturally generous, “No worries, let’s go for it! I can put in more money if needed. I like this script, let’s film it!” As he said this, he downed a drink and then his true intentions emerged, “However, Teacher Tong, try to save money where we can, hehe…”

“I know,” Tong Tong nodded, “I’ll try my best to save, but I estimate we can only cut about $10,000 at most. Any more than that… I’m afraid it simply won’t work.”

Is there a big difference between spending $70,000 and $60,000 a day? Probably not much…

“Umm…” scratching his head, Wang Hao looked around the table and said, “The scene I just described doesn’t need to be that expensive, right? I feel like $10,000 to $20,000 should be about right…”

Ten to twenty thousand?!

As soon as they heard Wang Hao’s words, everyone at the table instantly turned their gazes towards him.

Are you kidding me, a production that has a budget of at least sixty to seventy thousand a day, and you’re telling us it can be done for just ten to twenty thousand?

At that moment, everyone present really thought he had drunk too much, which he indeed did…

“Look, Little Wang,” Yang Shoulin picked up his glass and said with a smile, “You come from a screenwriting background, and film making is a very meticulous business. We all want to save money, but it isn’t easy. You see, Teacher Tong, with her master’s degree in economics, specialized in film and television finance. I think she’s quite professional. Let’s not talk about this today, let’s drink instead!”

As Director Yang said this, everyone at the table responded–

“Right, right, right, let’s drink!”

“Oh, Little Wang, your heart is in the right place, but some things just can’t be helped.”

Wang Hao: “…”

Why do people always think I’m boasting when I’m being serious?

Does this shot really not cost that much?

“Well, I was just speaking off the cuff,” Wang Hao, seeing that no one believed him, simply gave up as well: “Forget it, let’s drink!”

Wang Hao had intended to let the topic pass with a drink, but Tong Tong took it seriously.

“I’ve been a producer for several years now, and I’ve never heard of a scene that usually takes sixty to seventy thousand to shoot could reduce its budget to just ten to twenty thousand,” Tong Tong said, looking into Wang Hao’s eyes with a slight smirk, “Do you, Teacher Wang Hao, have any other clever cost-saving methods? Would you enlighten me?”

Her words immediately silenced the entire dinner table.

Everyone looked at each other, unsure what to do next.

“Oh, my brother was just talking off the cuff, you can’t take things too seriously at the dinner table, let’s just consider it a joke,” Boss Ren quickly tried to change the subject: “It’s fine, we’ll shoot the film as planned, no need to worry about this.”

“Boss Ren,” just as the topic was about to shift, Tong Tong frowned and said, “Why not use a ready method to save money? Do you think money grows on trees? Or do you think it’s easy for me to secure sponsorships?”

“This…” Boss Ren hesitated after hearing this: “Perhaps we should listen…”

“Little Wang, why don’t you share your thoughts,” Yang Shoulin chimed in, realizing that although Tong Tong was a strong woman with a high success rate in pulling sponsorships, the hardships must be known only to her.

Not to mention the suggestive intentions of those businessmen, the least she had to endure was probably an abundance of sweet talk.

Considering this, if Wang Hao really had a good method, it wouldn’t hurt to listen. If it was just a joke, they could all have a good laugh about it.

“Actually, I just think that for shooting a film…” Wang Hao took a sip of his alcohol and then said, “It doesn’t seem necessary to have so many people, right? A crew of nearly two hundred, just their salaries a day is thirty to forty thousand, but the thing is, the shot I was talking about is a small one, at most, at most, thirty people should be more than enough, right?”

After hearing what Wang Hao had to say, everyone looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Even Tong Tong couldn’t help but chuckle, looking at Wang Hao as if he were a complete outsider.

“Hahahaha! Little Wang really is a newbie, I mean, how could a scene that costs over seventy thousand be cut down to ten to twenty thousand!”

“Exactly, he was talking about cutting down the crew, sigh, in film production, anything can be trimmed, but not this!”

Listening to the roaring laughter around him, Wang Hao was also a little dumbfounded.

In his previous life, he had come into contact with some knowledge in this area. He remembered that during normal film production, it was rare to see such a large group deployment…