Chapter 1399: Marriage, Career, and Life's Affairs

There are three forms of unfilial conduct, of which having no posterity is the greatest.

For traditional Chinese, getting married, having children, and establishing a career are matters of course. So when Zhao Fusheng said this to Ye Jing, he was quite calm.

Ye Jing was not surprised by Zhao Fusheng's words. After all, with a career as vast as Zhao Fusheng's, both his family and his wife would naturally place great importance on having children.

“How about this: I'll make arrangements to film the baby's scenes first, so she can wrap up as early as possible,” Ye Jing said after a moment's thought.

The filming of a TV series, especially a big production like 'Lurk,' typically takes a relatively long time—three to five months at the least, and possibly up to half a year if complications arise.

And clearly, Zhao Fusheng was unwilling to wait that long.

Zhao Fusheng nodded, not objecting to Ye Jing's suggestion. As the boss, if he didn't even have this privilege, what was the point of all his struggles?

“By the way, is the screenwriter Teacher Long Yi?”

Zhao Fusheng suddenly asked Ye Jing.

Long Yi was the original author of this drama and also participated in writing the script.

Ye Jing nodded: “Yes, what's the matter?”

Zhao Fusheng smiled: “It's like this: if circumstances allow, I hope the screenwriter will be the one to explain the plot of this drama.”

Screenwriter?

Explain the plot?

Ye Jing was taken aback. In China, that was the director's job.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: “I'm just making a suggestion. After all, as the author of the script, the screenwriter has a deeper understanding of why the plot develops as it does, what emotions the actors should convey, and what effects the shots should achieve. Don't you think?”

This was a practice Zhao Fusheng had come across in an article from his previous life; Koreans liked to shoot TV dramas this way. Although it could create two highest authorities on set, leading to unnecessary internal friction, the screenwriter, as the creator of the script, naturally knew better than the director what each scene was meant to express. At the very least, it ensured that the plot wouldn't deviate completely from the script.

The reason most web novel adaptations in later years turned out to be utter failures was largely because the screenwriters and directors hadn't even read the original works. They just got an outline and started fabricating plots, turning perfectly good time-travel and rebirth stories into clichéd cuckold dramas—utterly frustrating.

As for the meme of the Dou Emperor riding a horse, that was even more laughable.

Of course, this approach had its drawbacks. Screenwriters generally weren't trained in film production and often overrode the director's authority to perfectly match their mental image. Thus, it required a wise balance between screenwriter and director.

For this reason, many top screenwriters often collaborated with only one director for long periods.

At the very least, whether in South Korea or the United States, many directors preferred not to use others' scripts and focused on writing and directing their own work. The reason was simple: if a script by someone else turned out well, the other party would share the fame and profit; if it didn't, the director took the blame.

Who would be willing to take on a situation where they could only lose and never gain?

Ye Jing was silent for a long time after hearing Zhao Fusheng's words. Finally, he said, “If we do this, the status of screenwriters might greatly increase.”

He was also a smart man and could see that Zhao Fusheng's suggestion, though seemingly ordinary, would significantly elevate the screenwriter's status. Currently, in China's film and television industry, screenwriters held a low position.

Except for the top-tier screenwriters, most were merely responsible for writing scripts. And if anything went wrong with the script, it was the screenwriter's fault.

If the lead actor was dissatisfied, changes had to be made!

The female lead was dissatisfied and demanded changes!

The director was dissatisfied and demanded changes!

The investors were dissatisfied and demanded changes!

In short, the revision of the script could happen at any time until the production of the work was completed.

But if Zhao Fusheng did it this way, it would effectively elevate the status of the screenwriter, which might cause some problems down the line.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fusheng smiled and shook his head: "It doesn't matter; that's someone else's concern. At Future Film and Television, both screenwriters and directors deserve respect."

No one knew better than him that the future was an era where content reigned supreme, and a good screenwriter was even harder to find than a good director.

If Future Film and Television wanted to remain invincible in the fierce competition ahead, the first thing they had to address was the issue of content.

After all, having a good script would naturally attract good directors and actors. But if they relied solely on big-name directors and so-called traffic stars, and the resulting works turned out like Liu Fugui and Guan Gege's "Sweet Punch," no matter how much money the company had, it would all be lost.

Since he was the boss and had said so, Ye Jing naturally had nothing more to say.

Ye Jing himself had been a director and screenwriter, so he understood that although Zhao Fusheng's approach seemed to have some drawbacks, it was actually a good thing for the investors.

After all, investors cared about economic returns. In other words, as long as the film or TV series made money, the investors wouldn't care whether the director or the screenwriter had the final say.

The winner takes all—this principle held true in any industry.

Many people always thought that the refined egoism of the future was very selfish, but that was because it didn't affect their own interests. It was like seeing a brat making a racket on the street and feeling annoyed, wanting to discipline someone else's child, but if it were their own child, how many would actually lay a hand?

"Don't worry, I know what to do." Ye Jing nodded to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng grunted in acknowledgment and said nothing more, instead chatting with Ye Jing about the preparations for the crew.

Ye Jing didn't know much either. Since Zhao Fusheng wanted to know, he simply called over the department manager in charge of the "Lurking" project.

"Chairman, this is Chen Liang. He's the executive producer for the 'Lurking' crew this time." Ye Jing introduced a middle-aged man to Zhao Fusheng.

This man was unremarkable in appearance, seeming like an extremely ordinary existence. But Zhao Fusheng knew his background: the guy studied directing in college, shot a few films after graduation but failed, and then somehow got into the field of film and television production, achieving considerable success by supervising several hit TV series.

The reason he ended up as a department manager at Future Film and Television was his hot temper. Back then, a crew director tried to take advantage of a new actress in the crew, and Chen Liang caught him and kicked him out on the spot.

Unexpectedly, that director had connections. He went to the higher-ups at Chen Liang's company and got Chen Liang fired, even threatening to blacklist him in the industry.

As an unemployed man, Chen Liang suddenly lost his source of income, which was why Ye Jing recruited him—after all, he still had a family to support.

As for his former company, well, Ye Jing stepped in, and the other side was worried that Chen Liang would seek revenge, so they dared not have any objections.

The so-called blacklisting was even more of a joke.

These days, those capable of blacklisting someone were all industry giants. What others called a blacklist was just spreading rumors that the person wasn't good enough to hire.

But the problem was that Future Film and Television's reputation was now more valuable than gold—who would believe those rumors?

Thus, Chen Liang had a strong sense of belonging to Future Film and Television and worked very diligently. For the filming of "Lurking," Ye Jing considered it repeatedly and finally decided to let him personally serve as executive producer, ensuring that no messy incidents would occur in the crew.

After all, this crew was different from ordinary ones. Fan Baobao, the boss's wife of Future Group, was in it. If anything happened, Ye Jing couldn't imagine what crazy actions Zhao Fusheng might take.

After all, their boss was notoriously impulsive and emotional.