Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 353: Building Exterior Sets

After Rao Zhi mentioned it, Chen Yiyang had a bit of a recollection.

Last time when Chen Yiyang met with Rao Zhi, Rao Zhi told him that Gong Fan had taken over a project for a main theme movie from above.

But at that time, Gong Fan’s main focus was on Earth Wandering 2, and he couldn’t attend to this project.

So he only acted as the producer, handing the director’s position to Rao Zhi, letting him take main responsibility for the project.

"The name of this film project is ’Long Way Home’, and it tells the story of a Chinese diplomat organizing a evacuation in a Middle Eastern country."

"I remember it a bit now." Chen Yiyang also recalled this project.

Back then, he even invested some money into it.

"Most of the movie’s background takes place in the Middle East, so we contacted a Middle Eastern country to shoot there.

Now I’ve got actors, costumes, props all prepared, but they told me there’s been armed conflict there, and if we go now, we might face life-threatening danger."

Now Chen Yiyang understood what Rao Zhi was worried about.

Shooting a movie, especially shooting a movie abroad, no difficulty compares to having a risk to life.

Because other difficulties can be overcome, but you can’t ask those famous stars, earning hundreds of thousands a month to risk their lives with you for some money.

If this situation had occurred before the project officially started, during the preparation stage, Rao Zhi could still choose a new location and negotiate a shooting ground.

But now the project has already started, and actors have cleared their schedules waiting.

There’s also a large number of behind-the-scenes staff who have already signed contracts and started receiving monthly salaries.

Now Rao Zhi receives the message that there’s no shooting location.

With each passing day, high costs are incurred.

Moreover, shooting over-budget is a minor issue.

The few stars invited for this film have very tight schedules.

As soon as their time is up, they have to go shoot the next film or TV drama. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Otherwise, when the time comes, the crew can’t be expected to pay their breach of contract fees.

"I don’t know anyone in the Middle East." Chen Yiyang really wanted to help Rao Zhi.

But he really doesn’t know anyone there.

"I heard you were quite successful in the game business over there." Rao Zhi mentioned the reason he came in a hurry to find Chen Yiyang.

Back then, Chen Yiyang cooperated with reporters to promote his game company, which made legendary games in the Middle East, earning lots of money from sheikhs.

So Rao Zhi thought Chen Yiyang had strong connections in the Middle East.

But actually, Chen Yiyang only knows one Egyptian girl named Isis.

Besides, Egypt is not really considered the Middle East.

"Can we shoot in Egypt?" Chen Yiyang asked about filming locations helplessly.

"The environment is completely different." Rao Zhi said, "We need a place with sandstorms, desolate scenery. Egypt doesn’t have that kind of landscape."

"Sandstorms, desolate?" Listening to this, Chen Yiyang suddenly had a thought.

"We do have such places domestically, don’t we? The Northwest has many similar landscapes."

"The scenery might be similar, but what about the buildings?"

"Build an external set!" Chen Yiyang said directly to Rao Zhi, "Send me the exterior scenes needed for your movie and I’ll see if I can find a construction crew to build it for you."

The reason Chen Yiyang took over this task.

One reason is his personal friendship with Gong Fan and Rao Zhi.

The other is he happens to be able to lend a hand recently.

Because he has already confirmed the design plans for the future Yiyang Mansion, he is searching for a reliable construction company.

Upon hearing Rao Zhi’s difficulties, Chen Yiyang immediately called the responsible person from a company he’s been negotiating with to talk.

We need to build a Middle Eastern city, which in the movie’s setting, is the capital city of a small country.

The filming set requires more than seventy buildings, covering an area of over twenty thousand square meters. How long would it take to build all these structures?

"Three months, at most no more than four months." The person who came for the negotiation also has a technical background.

After looking over various material drawings given by Director Rao Zhi, he said directly, "But where should the building location be chosen?"

"You guys pick the place, and take care of the related connections for us. If you can get this done, I’ll hand over the construction of my Mansion to you."

Chen Yiyang knew that to build on-location for film shooting, lots of local connections and permits would be needed.

If Rao Zhi runs for these things, though he’d manage to get things through, the financial cost and time required are considerable.

But this group of construction companies has strong connections in this area, far more advantageous than Rao Zhi going himself.

"No problem." Given the current construction environment, it’s already good to have work.

Being able to land two jobs in one go, the negotiating individual would surely be treated like royalty when he returns to the company.

These hassles are nothing.

The person in charge expressed that everything could be easily taken care of.

However, after taking a detailed look at the design drawings, the person in charge raised another issue.

"According to the materials, your film requires a Middle Eastern vibe.

The buildings can be constructed, and appropriate terrain can be found.

But what about the Middle Eastern coconut palms and palm trees?"

"They exist in the south." Chen Yiyang recalled seeing these trees when he went to Peng City before.

He said directly, "By then, we’ll transport them from Peng City to the Northwest Region to plant. We don’t expect them to live long; as long as they don’t die during the film shoot, it’s fine."

"That works." The person in charge nodded.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Chen, Brother Chen, Uncle Chen."

After resolving this issue, Rao Zhi couldn’t help but hug Chen Yiyang while joking and expressing gratitude.

"You don’t know, this matter almost drove me crazy. I was wondering if this film would eventually fail to shoot because of over-budget and schedule conflicts."

"It won’t happen, it won’t." Chen Yiyang saw that Rao Zhi was under a lot of mental stress before and quickly reassured him.

"This is my second movie, and if I screw it up, my directing career might end early."

Rao Zhi felt a chill.

Capital isn’t afraid of directors making bad films, they’re afraid of directors failing to produce anything or failing to pass film checks.

And this film is a main theme task assigned from above. If something goes wrong, he would really be in big trouble.

"But speaking of which, isn’t Gong Fan currently filming Earth Wandering 2? How’s that going?" Chen Yiyang curiously asked.

"I’ve been busy with my own stuff lately and haven’t been keeping track." Rao Zhi said, "If you’re not busy, shall we go find him?"

"Sure." Chen Yiyang was planning to go out anyway.