Chapter 104: Chapter 104 Brother Hao’s Cornucopia (Extra for the 4th Alliance’s Invincible Mustang)
“Shit, such a high and mighty position turns into a mere errand runner in your hands?”
Wang Hao silently shed tears…
But thinking about it, it actually did feel somewhat close.
Anyway, never mind about that, he continued, “This executive producer, right, has to have authority in the film crew, be able to communicate and cooperate with different departments, and know when to be lenient or strict—build good relationships with all departments when things are relaxed, and be decisive and efficient when things are tense. From dealing with popular stars throwing tantrums to drivers conspiring to steal fuel, he can handle it all. That’s why this kind of housekeeper-like executive producer is the top choice to ensure the crew’s operation.”
“Take, for example, many film crews,” Wang Hao casually used Meng Qingming’s crew as a negative example, “the filming process is especially rough, with constant hiccups—if the art department isn’t cutting it, they change personnel, if the photography doesn’t work, they switch photographers, until they even end up changing the director!”
The people around listened with stunned expressions, nodding in agreement—they had indeed encountered such situations!
How did Gao Mingxing get into this crew? With his status, he was at least supposed to be shooting TV dramas on that level, but this time he appeared in an online drama crew because the original director couldn’t cut it, and he had to take over temporarily.
“It really is,” Gao Mingxing nodded like a pecking chicken, “Many crews just can’t continue halfway through the shoot, actors run off, or the plot encounters issues, a complete mess of problems, and finally, they have no choice but to disband.”
“Exactly!” Wang Hao slapped his thigh hard, “As long as the executive producer is still watching over things, morale doesn’t fall apart—the producer can handle all kinds of messy situations. On the other hand, if you hear that some crew can’t continue shooting halfway through, that show is basically doomed and beyond salvage.”
“So that’s how it is,” Bai Yaning nodded lightly, saying, “I was wondering why our company’s crews always encounter various issues during filming and often find the budget wasted while the film quality never improves.”
Saying this, she suddenly tilted her head to look at Wang Hao and said lightly, “But I am quite curious, how did you come up with this position? From what you’ve said, you seem very knowledgeable about it?”
At Bai Yaning’s words, Wang Hao immediately broke into a sweat.
He couldn’t dare reveal that his ability to change the world backdrop by his lucky dice was equivalent to “Crossing”; thus, Wang Hao forced a dry laugh and grabbed at any reason, “Ah, haha, actually it was just something I discovered inadvertently while researching how film crews are structured. Er, don’t look at me like that, my role in the crew is just like doing various odd jobs, so I was just figuring if my job could be done even better.”
It turns out, the role of Wang Hao was indeed that of an errand runner, and his excuse was absolutely watertight!
“Oh? You’re doing odd jobs here?” Bai Yaning was truly hearing for the first time what Wang Hao did, so she curiously looked at Gao Mingxing’s crew and then asked Director Gao, “Is your production going smoothly?”
“Absolutely smoothly!” once Gao Mingxing heard this, his eyes lit up! He enthusiastically slapped his thigh, “Ever since Brother Hao joined us, although there have been occasional mishaps, the filming progress has been incredibly fast! Just now, after hearing what Brother Hao said, our crew definitely needs an executive producer! I think Brother Hao is perfect for the position!”
“Alright, I understand,” Bai Yaning nodded slightly, then looking at Wang Hao, suddenly revealed a slight smile, saying, “I’ll discuss this back home, this executive producer position you proposed is very creative, I note it down.”
As she spoke, she stood up. Meng Qingming’s crew didn’t even deserve a second glance from her as she got into her white Aventador and with a roar of the engine, quickly vanished from everyone’s sight.
“What… what do we do now?!” Meng Qingming never expected that today’s events, because they failed to give face to this young man, even resulted in their young star Yu Zhinan getting kicked out!
Now he truly wanted to cry but had no tears; Yu Zhinan was fired, and Miss Bai Yaning of the Bai family clearly had an extremely poor impression of the crew—what was the point of playing games now? He could only pack up and leave!
With their crew’s embarrassed withdrawal, what came next was simple—continue filming!
By now, Wang Hao was practically worshipped in this crew! Despite his modest position, his influence was on par with, if not surpassing, Director Gao Mingxing, and when he said go east, absolutely no one dared go west!
“Brother Hao!” It would be a waste not to use such a talent—Gao Mingxing straightforwardly handed the script scenes over to Wang Hao, “Take a look whether there’s anything here that can be economized?”
“Let me see,” Wang Hao looked over the script scenes for a while, “This part, this scene is where the male lead single-handedly storms into the enemy’s nest, right? Why make such a big scene for it? Shoot in close-ups, having three to five people in the frame is enough, isn’t it? I think the makeup should be simplified. Look at this, these guys have tattoos all over their heads, it’s nearly as bad as having ‘villain’ tattooed on their foreheads! Not only is the makeup a waste of time, but it also looks awful—decisively remove it!”
Gao Mingxing nodded vigorously, “Brother Hao is right! This needs to be changed!”
Wang Hao continued to brag, “Look here, it’s a dark and windy night, and the main character is a special agent. The props definitely need to be advanced, but why are all the ones you made so finely crafted? I’ve read the script, and the only things actually used throughout are just an electric baton and a spring knife. For the rest, just making the shapes would do.”
Everyone around looked at each other, and the person in charge of props smacked himself, “Fuck, why didn’t I think of that? If we just made those two props, we could save at least ten thousand yuan on this scene alone!”
You guys throw money around like that?! My monthly salary is only over two thousand yuan! You spent over ten thousand on some crappy props!
In the following time, Wang Hao identified several scenes that didn’t need to be complicated. In just about fifteen to twenty minutes, he helped the film crew save more than fifty thousand yuan!
At the end, Gao Mingxing looked at him as though he was a treasure trove. “Brother Hao, Brother Hao! Let’s just leave that part as is, and you go rest! Where’s the staff, the staff?! Get Brother Hao a parasol, and drinks, cold drinks! Right, where’s the sense of urgency here? Bring him a cigarette too! What are you waiting for?!”
“Coming right up!” The staff was really enthusiastic this time, “Brother Hao, here are your drinks, and let me light that cigarette for you!”
“Um, okay, ah, look how polite you guys are…” Wang Hao casually lit the cigarette, nodded in satisfaction, and then took out his mobile phone, laughing, “You guys keep going, I’ll rest for a bit.”
“Alright,” Gao Mingxing shouted, “Everyone get ready, let’s start!”
Finally, they resumed filming, while Wang Hao started browsing the internet on his phone. “I might as well check how the book is doing…”
Today was a lucky day, no time to waste.
Wang Hao immediately opened the author’s dashboard and was taken aback, “Holy shit! 1438 favorites! It’s rising so fast!”
He hurriedly checked the rankings, “Already number twelve in the overall rankings? It deserves to be called a phenomenal book! These statistics are amazing!”
This time, Wang Hao just glanced at it briefly before he headed to Dragon Mountain to find suitable writers. After all, it was a lucky day, and with Break the Heavens already secured, he naturally planned to prepare for his second book. After searching for over an hour, he still hadn’t found the right writer. Bored, Wang Hao checked the rankings again, “Eh, number eleven now! That was quick!”
New Authors’ New Book Rankings—
First: Ultimate Detective, index 32461.
Second: Yin and Yang Storm, index 30548.
Third: Supreme Invincible, index 28432.
Ninth: Shocking God, index 20149.
Tenth: Charming Ghost, index 17652.
Eleventh: Break the Heavens, index 17248.
The quality of Break the Heavens was definitely not an issue, but the rapid climb in rankings today seemed a bit off.
“Speaking of which, the indices of these books in front seemed to be just about the same before…” Wang Hao muttered to himself, took a closer look, and then thought for a moment, decisively took a screenshot, “Something seems off here…”
After another half hour, Wang Hao figured out what was wrong!