Chapter 5 Preparing for a Film

"Nanaya, this is unprecedented in the world."

In the conference room, Hanai Ryuichi was introducing a middle-aged man with an unremarkable appearance to Nanaya. "Mr. Kaiuchi is the production manager sent by [Lin Bao]. His main responsibility is to supervise the use of film funds."

"Hello, Director Kiryu."

The other party stood up first and extended his hand. "I've seen the video you edited. It's very impressive. The woman in the video is very beautiful."

"Thank you for the compliment, Manager Kaiuchi. It's nice to meet you."

Nanaya also stood up and shook hands with the other party across the conference table.

It can be seen that this spokesperson from Lin Bao is not just here to fool around. He at least knows about this film project and Nanaya, which makes Nanaya very happy. The budget is already limited, and if a production manager who knows nothing and doesn't want to know comes, then I guess I can forget about making a good movie and just wait to argue with him all day.

From this point of view, Nanaya felt that she was at least much luckier than Takeuchi and Kinoko who were tragically adapted into the animation of "Tsuki-hime".

Manager Kaiuchi also gave Nanaya a gentle smile in return: "Director Kiryu, I believe this will be a pleasant cooperation."

It has to be said that as the largest film company in Japan, Linbao's mature corporate system and perfect film production system are really powerful.

It has only been a week since Chairman Ryutani notified Nanaya of the establishment of the project, but preparations for the film have already officially begun.

This speed and efficiency allowed Nanaya to see what the strongest confidence in the country is.

Today's meeting is the first meeting of the main workers of the film. The main topic of discussion is the power distribution of the film crew and some specific matters after the project starts.

The people who attended the meeting were mainly divided into two factions. One faction was the personnel sent by [Lin Bao] led by Kaiuchi. Their main job responsibilities were to supervise the use of film funds to prevent Nanaya from embezzling funds. They also assisted Nanaya, who was directing for the first time, to solve some minor problems, such as recruiting actors and production staff. The other faction was Nanaya, the film director, and several familiar workers he brought from his teacher's Hanai Film Studio. They could be said to be the core of the film's creation.

Although Nanaya and his gang are the leaders of the movie project of "Kara no Kyoukai", Lin Bao is the investor after all (in Nanaya's eyes), so their opinions must be taken into consideration. In addition, the other party's network of contacts is far beyond the reach of Nanaya, a rookie, so if possible, Nanaya hopes that the two sides can work together instead of undermining each other.

After getting to know each other, everyone returned to their seats.

Kaiuchi, as the representative of [Lin Bao], started to speak first: "Director Kiryu, according to Chairman Ryutani's request, I will do my best to cooperate with you to complete this project. After today, I will start to prepare. Are there any vacancies in your team?"

Nanaya nodded: "We already have suitable people for the main positions in our group behind the scenes. We'll just have to worry about the actors."

"I know." Kaiuchi nodded, and handed the remuneration form he had prepared to Nanaya for review. "Because the budget of this movie is tight, the salary budget for labor will be tight. According to the budget we have prepared, the remuneration for several major positions in the crew is listed. Your director's salary is 150,000 yen, and the screenwriter's salary is 150,000 yen, a total of 300,000 yen."

Nanaya glanced at the budget sheet. If possible, he would not even want the remuneration. He just hoped that the budget for film production would be more sufficient.

However, every industry has its own rules. Since this movie is led by Lin Bao, he must follow his rules. The more meaningful meaning of specifying the director's salary is actually to show that Lin Bao owns the copyright of the movie, and Nanaya is just an employee.

But Nanaya, with his weak arms and legs, is simply unable to fight against this behemoth. All he can do now is to make the movie well enough so that if Lin Bao wants to start the sequel, he, the director of the previous episode, must be used instead of being kicked out of the sequel like a certain moose.

"The actors here..."

Kaiuchi took out a copy of the script that Nanaya had prepared, "According to the script, the main characters I need to prepare are: the male protagonist, Kokutou Mikiya, the second female lead, Aozaki Touko, and the villain, Mujo Kirie. There are also some other characters."

Although in the entire series of "Kara no Kyoukai", Kokutou's sister Azaka and the villain Araya Soren are both main characters, but for "Overlooking the Scenery" filmed by Nanaya this time, these two can only be regarded as supporting roles.

Nanaya made such arrangements for exactly one reason—there was not enough money.

After all, those two characters are well-known in the entire "Kara" series, and Nanaya would not be willing to use extras, so he decided to put these two characters in the list of characters appearing in the movie, and wait for the opportunity to shoot the next one in the future.

"Ah, there is also one most important character, the heroine Ryougi Shiki." Nanaya looked up and said to Kaiuchii after thinking of something.

"Why?"

Kaiuchi opened his mouth wide, looking extremely surprised.

"Isn't this lady the actress of Ryougi Shiki?" Kaiuchi asked curiously, pointing at a beautiful girl in a black kimono sitting next to Nanaya.

[I hope so too...]

Nanaya secretly glanced at the junior sitting next to him and sighed silently in his heart.

"Sorry, Manager Kaiuchi. This is the prop and costume designer for the production."

Kaiuchi shook his head and said with regret, "I see. What a pity. This lady obviously looks a lot like Miss Ryougi Shiki in the script."

[Of course, after all, he is the protagonist of my experimental video. ]

Nanaya frowned. If possible, he also hoped that his junior could become the heroine.

What a pity...

"So what are your requirements for the leading actress, Director Kiryu?"

Nanaya held his chin with one hand and said seriously, "Manager Kaiuchi, you have also read the script, so you should also be very clear that the role of Ryougi Shiki is the absolute heroine of the whole movie. To put it in an exaggerated way, the other characters are just foils for this role. So I hope that the actor of Ryougi Shiki can be a young actress with certain acting skills."

"I understand. I'll have people keep an eye out for information on this. As for the actors' pay..."

"Because this role is very important, I plan to pay 500,000 yen for the film. 300,000 is too low." Nanaya circled the salary for the heroine.

Although this price is not high for a famous actor, and even lower than the guest appearance pay of some stars, the original budget of this movie is not much, and most of the funds must be used for film production, so the labor cost will naturally not be too much.

Kaiuchi hesitated a little: "Even at this price, I'm afraid there won't be much choice."

"Try as much as possible. If we can't come to an agreement, just give her my 300,000 salary and increase it to 800,000. This is the bottom line." Nanaya's words were full of helplessness. If the actor was really suitable, then it wouldn't be a problem for him to work for nothing this time. Anyway, this opportunity was more important to him than the director's salary.

"I understand, but this is just your private behavior, do you understand what I mean?"

What Kaiuchi meant was that if he did this, Nanaya would have worked in vain on this project and would gain nothing except fame.

This is a method where success or failure is the only option, but Nanaya has no choice. For him right now, making this movie as perfectly as possible is more important than anything else.

"Okay, I understand. I will seriously consider your suggestion. Regarding the requirements for your film, Chairman Ryutani's goal is that if the ratings reach 10%, he will consider theatrical release. So Director Kiryu, you should work hard towards this goal!"

"I understand. Thank Chairman Ryutani for me."

After Nanaya nodded to show that he understood, Kaiuchi wrote a few words on his copy of the script, then he stood up and said goodbye: "Then I will go back to the company to prepare."

"Kaiuchi, let me see you off."

Ryuichii stood up and prepared to leave with Kaiuchi, and held down Nanaya who was about to get up.

"Your most important task now is to make a good movie. Stay here and discuss the filming plan with everyone."

After saying that, Ryuichii didn't give Nanaya a chance to speak and led Kaiuchi away together.

When the office door closed, Nanaya glanced at the corner of the room and said to the others, "Okay, untie him."