Gu Jiahui was being mysterious and didn’t tell Sheng Tang anything.
Sheng Tang was not a very curious person. If he didn’t say anything, she wouldn’t bother to ask.
After dinner, Sheng Tang rested for an hour at home, then went to the gym.
The next day, she got up at eight in the morning.
Cheng Lichuan wasn’t home, so Gu Jiahui had hired an auntie to do the cleaning.
The two of them went downstairs for breakfast, then Gu Jiahui personally drove Sheng Tang to the company’s film editing studio, located on the third floor of Guanghong Media’s building.
Guanghong Media does artist management and also invests in some movies or TV series.
For example, in investing in movies, the contract details depend on how the negotiations go. Sometimes when the investment is large, Gu Jiahui can get the film’s editing rights.
After watching the final cut, if he’s not satisfied with the editing, he can send it back to the director and hire someone else to edit.
This situation is rare. First, his investments are usually not large, he is seldom the biggest investor in a film, thus not securing editing rights; Second, Guanghong Media excels at artist management but doesn’t have outstanding editors.
"...As for ’The Road to Ascend,’ the director and producer don’t have a share, nor editing rights; that’s the benefit of sole investment," Gu Jiahui said. "I still invited Wang Sheng to temporarily work at our company to re-edit ’The Road to Ascend’."
Sheng Tang: "It’s already out of theaters, and the response was really good. Why re-edit it?"
"To push it for an award," Gu Jiahui said.
Sheng Tang: "..."
Honestly, this film did indeed win two major awards in Sheng Tang’s past life, but its box office was terrible at that time. So when the box office is good now, Sheng Tang didn’t consider it might still have a chance to win awards.
After all, award evaluations favor art films, which means lower commercial value.
A film can’t excel in both aspects; in this society, ordinary people are more numerous, and no one appreciates the dullness of art films while willing to invest time and money in commercial movies.
"...Going for the Golden Elephant or the Blue Orchid?" Sheng Tang asked.
She’s now somewhat familiar with this world’s film awards.
Like the other world, Hollywood leads the film industry with awards like the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
And the international A-list film festivals are similar: Venice Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and Berlin Film Festival, with top awards being the Golden Lion, Palme d’Or, and Golden Bear respectively.
Domestically, there are no significant Golden Horse, Golden Rooster, or Hundred Flowers Awards; instead, there are the unfamiliar Golden Elephant and Blue Orchid Awards.
Sheng Tang once thought the Blue Orchid Award was the highest domestic film award, the most fair and impartial, but later realized the Golden Elephant Award is equally significant.
As in the previous world, award-winning films are definitely not commercial ones.
’The Road to Ascend’s box office suggests that even if it has artistic content, the director edited it into a commercial film, making it a box office dark horse but unlikely to win awards.
Unexpectedly, Gu Jiahui had the unique idea of letting the director re-edit it for award consideration.
"To aim for the year-end Blue Orchid Award," Gu Jiahui said. "There’s still time."
Sheng Tang: "Really, is this feasible? Two versions of a film, isn’t that against the rules?"
"No, actually many Blue Orchid Award films do this. There’s no clear regulation forbidding it," Gu Jiahui said.
Sheng Tang: "..."
Gu Jiahui added: "There’s just no successful precedent."
Sheng Tang: "..."
She kind of felt like killing Gu Jiahui.
Seeing her fooled, Gu Jiahui laughed heartily, in a very good mood.