Divine Lucky Star-Chapter 160 - : Mr. Li goes to great lengths to save money!

Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Mr. Li goes to great lengths to save money!

At that moment, everyone from the crew rushed into the room, a huddle of people turning the small meeting room crowded as can be.

“Brother Hao is awesome, this time it looks like our crew won’t have to disband!”

“That’s right, why else would he be called a mascot, even Director Gao calls him Brother Hao, so there’s definitely no questioning it!”

“If Brother Hao oversees things, I bet the stuff we need later on won’t cost much to get done!”

A crowd of people chattered away, stretching their necks as they all waited to see what Brother Hao would do next.

“Look at this, the second shot that’s coming up,” Wang Hao pointed to a portion of the second scene’s props and said, “Look at this part, the protagonist goes into a leader’s office, right? The office should have a big solid-wood desk, right? There’s a great computer, solid-wood chairs and tea table, the tea is premium, and there’s a bookcase in the back stuffed with all sorts of political and economic books. The budget for setting this scene is twenty-five thousand…”

...

The people around him all nodded in agreement when one of the set designers spoke up, “That’s right, this scene is exactly like that. I called in favors to get these items at the lowest price possible, but still, it’s all going to cost at least twenty thousand or so. Brother Hao, this has to be an actual set, we can’t skimp on it, if props look too fake it will be easy to spot flaws and ruin the effect!”

The group nodded emphatically.

Mr. Li found himself in a dilemma, after all, saving money is one thing, but if it leads to ridicule for being obviously cheap, that would be worse than not saving at all!

And then, with a single sentence, Wang Hao floored everyone…

“Who said I’m looking to save money on this scene?” Wang Hao looked at everyone present with a curious expression, “Such a great scene to make money from, and you’re still thinking about spending? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?!”

Everyone was completely baffled!

Making a movie is about saving money, not making it, right? How does that work?!

Then they watched as Wang Hao took out his phone…

“Hello, Manager Zhao, it’s me,” Wang Hao said, smiling into his phone, “Ah, it’s about this thing, I’m on a film set right now, that’s right, ah, it’s not a big role, just a bit of a jack-of-all-trades job—sweeping, running errands… Haha, Manager Zhao, you jest… Yes, there’s a matter I need to discuss. You see, I need a location for a scene. Yes, it’s just a simple office but needs to be of a higher standard, requiring a large writing desk, a solid-wood one, you got it? And a set of solid-wood desk, chairs, tea table, etc. The most important part is a bookcase in the back, stock it with economics books and the like… You don’t have it?”

Everyone looked at each other—as expected, finding such a setting isn’t easy!

Wang Hao continued, “Oh, right, right, a bookcase with some books, like ‘The One Hundred Secrets of Success’, political economics, etc…. Oh, great, no problem! Yes, your company’s CEO can make a cameo, that’s right, sounds good! And maybe we can give him a line or two, or even run an ad for you, sure, no problem. Thirty thousand, huh? That’s a bit low… Fifty thousand, that’s more like it, should work just fine! Ok, that’s settled then, bye.”

After hanging up, Wang Hao casually said, “Fifty thousand in the bag, next up.”

Gao Mingxing: “…”

Mr. Li: “…”

The rest of the crew: “…”

“Wait a minute, Brother Hao,” Gao Mingxing was completely confused, “What you just said about thirty thousand being too little, fifty thousand, is that what we have to spend?”

“Right,” Wang Hao continued nodding, “Their CEO provides the location and gets to show his face on TV, some casual publicity, and then they give us fifty thousand yuan.”

Everyone was astonished!

Can filming a TV show really work like this?!

Isn’t it supposed to be about finding investors, securing sponsorships, then hiring directors and actors to start shooting, and afterwards selling the broadcasting rights to video websites?!

For just this short scene, others would have to spend twenty to thirty thousand, and here you are, not only not spending but also netting fifty thousand?!

And they should feel grateful to boot?!

Oh heavens, oh earth, tell us we’re not dreaming today?!

“So…” Wang Hao looked at the expressions of the people around him, stupefied by the situation himself, “how have you all been filming up to now? Isn’t this sort of situation supposed to be handled like this all the time?”

Everyone: “…”

“I hate that attitude of yours, just quietly being all pretentious!”

“What do you mean ‘that’s how we’ve always played’?!”

Actually, this was a rookie mistake from Wang Hao.

The movie industry in this world was very underdeveloped. Not only was it behind the times, but it was also a money pit!

In short, it all boiled down to one thing—whether it was useful or not, they just blindly threw money at it!

“Little Wang,” Mr. Li said excitedly as he grabbed Wang Hao’s hand, “meeting you was really a blessing! If only I had met you earlier, I wouldn’t have blundered and spent so much money!”

This line was too good; it had so many flavors of emotions that even Wang Hao felt a little embarrassed…

“Brother Hao, Brother Hao,” Gao Mingxing was also getting excited and called out, “Take a look at this! Our budget for this needs to be at least two hundred thousand, and no matter what we try, we just can’t cut it any further! It’s enough to drive a person crazy!”

“Two hundred thousand!” Mr. Li almost flew out of his chair when he heard the number. He was so close to running over the conference table to grab that notebook: “Let me see, let me see! What in the world needs two hundred thousand?”

Whoosh! The notebook was snatched from Wang Hao’s hands, and then they heard Mr. Li reading—

“The main scene; the male lead attends a party and plays a heart-wrenching song on the spot, then gets shot by the female lead. In the end, the male lead tries to catch a white rose for her but gets hit. This is the most crucial scene to bring the lead characters closer, so the music rights fee or the songwriting fee starts at a minimum of two hundred thousand…”

At this point, Mr. Li’s face turned almost green!

A single song, starting at two hundred thousand! The worst part is, it’s clear, isn’t it? It’s just a heart-wrenching song, something that can’t be removed at all! Otherwise, if such an important pivotal scene were messed up, half of the movie would flop!

But this two hundred thousand…

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“Li…Little Wang,” Mr. Li’s voice was trembling, “Please take a look at this, can we save some money here? We must figure something out, we must! It’s two hundred thousand! Even if we can save fifty or sixty thousand, that would be good!”

Could he not be in a hurry? Adding more investment now was already pushing the limits, and now another two hundred thousand just for one scene…

Dammit, what’s even the point of continuing?

At this moment, everyone’s eyes were all fixed on Wang Hao.

This miraculous Brother Hao, the mascot of the crew—if he could solve this problem, he’d truly be a god!

A god, do you understand what a deity is?!

“Right, right, right, Brother Hao, please think of something! The budget is way too high!”

“Yeah, the scenes that follow don’t need much, this is the most expensive one! You absolutely must save us some money!”

“Brother Hao, Big Brother Hao…” Yang Yunfei almost wanted to hug Wang Hao’s arm and act coquettishly, “You really need to nail this. Make the song emotionally charged to bring out that little bit of my charm…”

Well, he was going to be the one playing the song, so…

“Ah, well, you see,” Wang Hao definitely wouldn’t miss such a good opportunity. He stroked his chin, sighed deeply, and said, “This budget really is a bit steep! This scene by itself is very important, it can’t be taken lightly, so the song must be apt, heartfelt, something that can showcase an actor’s skill…”

As he spoke, everyone around him nodded in agreement: “Exactly, exactly, it has to be heartfelt, something that showcases skill!”

Mr. Li’s neck was stretching so long, he nearly resembled a giraffe, “Little Wang, do you have any ideas? If you can save money, I’ll give you ten thousand for saving fifty thousand, twenty thousand for a hundred thousand!”

This was a major sacrifice!

Hahahaha, that’s exactly the line I was waiting for!

“Well, actually, when you think about it,” Wang Hao waited for this moment, promptly nodded his head, “I indeed have a solution! Not only to save money, but it won’t cost a penny! Hehe, Mr. Li, saving two hundred thousand means you’ll give me forty thousand, right? You have to be clear about this, no going back on your word!”

Mr. Li slammed the table hard, “I promise! A deal’s a deal!”

To save money, Mr. Li was indeed willing to go all out!