Chapter 408: The New Script

Luo Xiao stared silently at the expectant Wang Bin for a long while before he finally couldn’t help but break into a smile.

“Very good, excellent. Whether it’s the special effects, the plot, or the editing, it’s exactly how I imagined it.”

“Brother Xiao, you scared the life out of me. I thought there was something wrong with it.”

Wang Bin let out a long sigh of relief. Seeing Luo Xiao just staring at him without saying a word, he had genuinely worried that there was a problem with the cut.

“Since there are no issues, let’s submit it for approval as soon as possible. Once that’s done, we need to contact the theaters. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us,” Luo Xiao said, lightly tapping the desk.

“Understood. I’ll have someone handle it immediately. I’ve already established the necessary connections. As long as our film doesn’t touch on any sensitive topics, the approval should come through very quickly.”

Wang Bin nodded. He had already begun tasking people with the approval process before the editing was even finished.

Seeing that Wang Bin had everything under control regarding the current film, Luo Xiao felt at ease. He reached into his desk drawer, pulled out a script, and placed it on the table.

“Good, then I’ll leave that in your hands. As for the new script, I’ve made a selection. I’m going to take it to President Chen for a look in a moment.”

Wang Bin looked at the script on the desk, a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

“Brother Xiao, why do you think President Chen is so insistent on filming a sci-fi movie? It’s a very risky choice.”

In the current film market, science fiction occupied a very awkward position.

First, sci-fi movies required an immense amount of special effects, which meant a massive capital investment was required upfront.

Furthermore, the ratings for sci-fi movies released in recent years had been consistently poor. Every single one would be highly anticipated, only to be labeled as “trash” by netizens once it hit the web.

It had reached a point where, in the last two years, no director was willing to take the risk of filming a genuine sci-fi flick.

Even in the script market, sci-fi scripts were scarce. The one in front of them was something they had spent a long time searching for before finding something even remotely decent.

And yet, President Chen had chosen to make their second film a sci-fi movie without a second thought. This was something Wang Bin hadn’t expected.

“Who can truly know what President Chen is thinking?” Luo Xiao shook his head.

The two discussed a few more details in the office before Wang Bin left to handle the film’s business.

Luo Xiao sat in his office for a short while longer before picking up the script. He stood up and left, heading out to report the new project to President Chen.

“President Chen.”

Seeing President Chen sitting at his desk, Luo Xiao walked over.

“Hmm? Is something the matter?”

Chen Mo casually closed the Game Interface on his computer and turned to look at the entering Luo Xiao.

Luo Xiao quickly handed over the script.

“President Chen, the script has been selected. Please have a look.”

“Oh? Let me see.”

Chen Mo’s interest was piqued. He reached out and took the script from Luo Xiao.

A while back, Luo Xiao had submitted a script for review, but Chen Mo had passed on it after just a couple of glances.

That movie had been a romance.

With romance films, aside from the actors’ salaries, there were basically no other major expenses.

However, this upcoming production was specifically requested to prevent any “accidents” during the settlement period. Naturally, he had to choose a high-investment film.

In his mind, high investment meant science fiction.

He had also taken the opportunity to research the sci-fi films of this world from recent years and discovered that there hadn’t been a single successful one.

This was undoubtedly a reassuring sign for him.

High investment, low returns.

Wasn’t that exactly what he needed?

With these thoughts in mind, he flipped open the script Luo Xiao had handed him.

After a long while, he closed the script with a satisfied expression.

Excellent!

Luo Xiao truly hadn’t let him down; the script he picked was just as terrible as always.

After reading the entire thing, the only thing Chen Mo could confirm was that it was indeed a genuine sci-fi movie. However, the plot was underwhelming, to say the least.

The general plot went like this:

The apocalypse arrives. Acid rain, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and a bitter ice age… a series of disasters strike in rapid succession. Humanity begins to work together to build a Noah’s Ark for survival.

The male lead is a framed researcher, while the female lead is a science enthusiast. The two share a common goal: to build a true Noah’s Ark.

The story started off fine. The male lead is framed and forced to leave the research team, and by chance, he meets the female lead, who is scavenging for scrap in the ruins to build an ark. Using his professional knowledge, the male lead helps her solve many technical problems.

If the story had followed that trajectory—creating difficulties for the pair, adding twists and turns, and eventually elevating it to a grander theme where the leads heroically fight against the villains in the scheming research team for the sake of human survival—it might have worked.

In that version, they would eventually defeat the villains, successfully build a super-ark, lead humanity aboard, and survive the apocalypse to preserve the spark of civilization.

But in this script, after the male and female leads meet, the plot goes completely off the rails.

Building the ark becomes mere background noise as the story shifts into a full-blown romance. It was a textbook “Sci-Fi Romance.”

Even more amusingly, the two of them somehow miraculously build a spaceship at the very end and simply leave Earth.

Naturally, the manufacturing process wasn’t described at all. It just appeared suddenly in the finale, feeling incredibly abrupt.

But this was exactly the kind of script Chen Mo wanted. The more abrupt and nonsensical it was, the more it proved the script was garbage.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

He slowly set the script down, looked up at Luo Xiao sitting across from him, and nodded with satisfaction.

“Not bad. This script is very good. However, it would be better to add more special effects in the middle. The more flashy the effects, the more exciting it will be.”

Chen Mo spoke slowly. He wanted to use this script to burn through more System Funds, so he definitely had to make the special effects more numerous and extravagant. Of course, this was based on the premise that the plot was terrible.

Now that he had read the script and confirmed the plot was indeed awful, there was no problem.

Furthermore, to prepare for any potential variables, he naturally had to increase the budget as much as possible, thereby increasing the capital investment.

“I understand, President Chen. I’ll find ways to increase the special effects for the middle act.”

Seeing President Chen nod, Luo Xiao finally felt a weight lift from his heart.

“Then, President Chen, when should we start preparations for filming?”

“Well, you can start preparing now. The criteria for selecting actors remains the same as the last script. No ‘idol’ stars. Didn’t those students from the drama academy join Blue Film Studio? You can prioritize using our own company’s actors.”

“Even if you want to look for other actors, you must follow the previous rules: no one but amateur actors.”

“As for the filming schedule, let’s aim for early September.”

Chen Mo looked at Luo Xiao as he spoke.

Those drama academy students had just finished filming a “trash” movie. Once that film was released, not only would they still be amateurs, but their reputations might even take a hit.

Well!

They were all amateur actors anyway. People who saw such a bad movie probably wouldn’t even bother to notice who the actors were.

Regardless, continuing to use those drama academy students was a very wise choice.