Chapter 95 Development and Planning of the Drama Troupe

Seeing Liu Zhou and Lan Xiaolong having so much fun together, Huang Weiruo, who had been silent just now, couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth slightly.

This is the scene he likes to see most, his students helping each other.

Seeing that the two had reached an agreement, Huang Weiruo immediately suggested that they go out for dinner together, and Liu Zhou and Lan Xiaolong both readily agreed.

At the dinner table, Liu Zhou also gained a deeper understanding of Lan Xiaolong.

He is very methodical in his work and truly has a military demeanor.

Environment can really change a person. If Lao Huang hadn't mentioned it at the dinner table, who would have thought that Lan Xiaolong, who wrote the war trilogy "Soldier Assault", "My Captain, My Regiment" and "Life and Death Line", actually liked the scar literature of the 1980s when he was in college.

A literary youth was transformed into a young man dedicated to passionate military literature in the melting pot of the army.

Lan Xiaolong also discovered that although Liu Zhou has achieved considerable success now, he is still a very easy-going person, and it can be seen that he has a very good relationship with his teacher.

Better than the relationship between me and my teacher!

This immediately made Lan Xiaolong want to make friends with him.

However, Lan Xiaolong felt that the only bad thing was that Liu Zhou's alcohol tolerance was too low, and he couldn't even drink a lot of wine with him.

In the army, although Lan Xiaolong was a literary and artistic worker, he was also tested by alcohol and had a high alcohol tolerance.

But since Liu Zhou didn't know how to drink, Lan Xiaolong didn't want to force him, and instead they started talking about their college days. The meal was quite pleasant.

The next day, Liu Zhou took Lan Xiaolong to find Zhang Chen, the general manager of Zhoushan Repertory Theatre.

The Zhoushan Repertory Theatre’s base is in a large courtyard with two entrances not far from the Central Academy of Drama, which Zhang Chen specifically selected to rent.

Because this place is close to the Central Academy of Drama, and now the Zhoushan Repertory Theatre mainly relies on the Central Academy of Drama.

A few months later, Liu Zhou came to the Zhoushan Repertory Theatre's residence again and found that it had changed completely.

Not only are there offices and reception rooms, but there is also a warehouse with props and costumes that are specially classified. There are also a lot more staff, and it looks very formal.

This made Liu Zhou feel very satisfied. He felt that he had made the right choice to hand over the drama troupe to Zhang Chen.

"Boss Zhang, let me introduce you to someone. This is my senior brother Lan Xiaolong, who works at the Beijing Military Region Comrades Repertory Theatre."

"Hello Mr. Lan, my name is Zhang Chen."

"Hello, Mr. Zhang. My name is Lan Xiaolong."

After the two of them got to know each other briefly, Liu Zhou also told them the purpose of his visit.

After listening to this, Zhang Chen was silent for a while and then said:
"Since Director Liu thinks the script is good, there is no problem for our drama troupe to invest in it. However, this drama is about military affairs, and we don't have the right director or actors."

"Don't worry about this, Mr. Zhang. If there are no suitable people here, I can go to the Comrades Repertory Theatre and ask some people to come and help."

Not everyone has a job in the Comrades Repertory Theatre, and it is also a place where seniority is important.

There are some younger directors and actors who are either playing minor roles or doing odd jobs. If they are asked to play the leading role or be the director now, they will surely come over eagerly.

"If that's the case, then there's no problem."

Later, Zhang Chen spent 10,000 yuan on behalf of Zhoushan Repertory Theatre to buy Lan Xiaolong's script "Erna. Assault".

The reason why the price is so high is that not only the copyright of the drama is included, but all other copyrights are also included.

Then the two parties signed a contract, with Lan Xiaolong as the screenwriter and Zhoushan Repertory Theatre as the investor, to rehearse the play and bring it to market.

As for the crew members, they were mainly invited from the Comrades Repertory Theatre and paid a certain amount of remuneration.

Lan Xiaolong looked at the contract in his hand and couldn't stop smiling.

After thanking Liu Zhou, Lan Xiaolong immediately went back to the drama troupe to call for people.

After Lan Xiaolong left, only Liu Zhou and Zhang Chen were left in the office.

"Mr. Zhang, do you have enough money to invest in this play?"

"I just roughly estimated that it would take about 300,000 yuan to rehearse this play. The funds should be enough, but the play that was previously prepared for rehearsal may need to be temporarily stopped."

Hearing Zhang Chen's words, Liu Zhou couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Bringing Lan Xiaolong to his house without informing him in advance obviously disrupted his plans.

But for Liu Zhou, anything that can be solved with money is not a problem.

"How about this? I will be the one to pay for the drama 'Elna. Assault'. I will inject another 300,000 yuan into the drama troupe. As for the drama you planned to rehearse before, you can continue to rehearse it as planned."

"Director Liu, that's not what I meant. The planned play can wait. It won't be too late to rehearse after we finish rehearsing "Erna. Assault"."

“It doesn’t matter, our drama troupe will always expand in size, so let’s take this opportunity to expand.

Anyway, this play won't require too much of our manpower, it just requires you to work harder, and don't worry, your shares will remain unchanged."

Zhang Chen stopped talking when he saw Liu Zhou's firm attitude. It was obvious that he had taken advantage of him again. He had a 10% stake in Zhoushan Drama Troupe. When it was established, Liu Zhou had already injected a lot of assets into it, but he didn't have to spend a penny.

Now that another 300,000 yuan has been injected without diluting his own shares, all Zhang Chen can do is work hard and run the drama troupe well.

"Director Liu, you don't need to invest any more money after you inject the 300,000 yuan. The drama troupe can basically generate its own income."

After that, Zhang Chen told Liu Zhou about the recent business situation of the drama troupe.

There are two main plays being performed by the drama troupe now. One is the play "Cuihua, Serve the Sour Cabbage" put on by teacher Tian Youliang and his students from Class 98.

Although this drama is novel, it obviously cannot achieve the same sensational influence as "The Donkey Gets Water".

It was performed only five times at the Capital Theatre before it was discontinued because the attendance rate was less than 5%. It then went on to perform at other small theatres, where tickets were often sold out.

Having said that, Tian Youliang and his students are already very satisfied. Except for the Class of 96, which other classes in the Performance Department of the Central Academy of Drama have been able to perform plays in theaters outside while they were students?
Definitely not!

This also attracted a lot of attention to them and attracted the attention of their younger classmates in the school.

However, the drama did not make much money. After deducting the costs, it only made less than 100,000 yuan.

The drama troupe's main source of income is from another drama, the re-staged "Duds".

Although the actors have changed, the influence of this drama remains. It has been performed ten times at the Capital Theatre, and every show was sold out.

After deducting the cost, the play earned nearly 700,000 yuan.

The revenue from the drama in the past few months is nearly 800,000 yuan, but the expenses are also relatively high.

Now that a drama troupe has been established, it needs to be operated formally, unlike before when Liu Zhou just pulled a few classmates together.

There are not only staff salaries, house rent and some other miscellaneous expenses, plus the purchase of other costumes and props, as well as some management fees for performances outside, only more than 400,000 yuan is left.

After listening to Zhang Chen's report, Liu Zhou felt that the drama market was indeed incomparable to the film market. After so long, he only earned more than 400,000 yuan, while Liu Zhou earned 10 or 20 million yuan from just one movie.

At this time Liu Zhou asked curiously:
"Who plays the role of Zhang Yiman in the newly rehearsed "Mr. Donkey"?"

"He's a student from the directing department of the Central Academy of Drama, his name is Tang Wei, and he acted quite well."

Hearing this name, Liu Zhou didn't say much, and then asked:

"Have you considered bringing this newly rehearsed "Donkey Gets Water" to Shanghai for performance?"

"I have already made an appointment with Manager Zhang of the Oriental Theater in Shanghai. I will go to Shanghai next month."

"As long as there is an arrangement, by the way, what is the name of the play you planned to stage?"

"It's called 'If you want to eat fried dough twists, I'll twist them for you now'. It was created by a friend of mine. I think it's very good. The comedy effect is even better than Lao Tian's 'Cuihua, serve the pickled cabbage'."

It turned out to be this one. This play was the famous work of Happy Twist in the previous life. Their name came from this play.

"Since you think it's good, then hurry up and rehearse it."

Liu Zhou pondered for a while and then said:

"Our drama troupe has already performed several plays. In addition to Qin Hao, are there any other contracted actors, directors, or other behind-the-scenes staff?"

"There are no actors or directors yet, but we have recruited some people behind the scenes for costumes, makeup, and props."

"We should sign more actors, directors and screenwriters in the future. We need to have our own complete team and cannot always rely on the Central Academy of Drama."

"Okay, Mr. Liu, but our current place is too small. We don't even have a place to rehearse. We have been using the classrooms of the Central Academy of Drama before."

"Don't worry about that. You can go and look for a suitable one now. Try to find one that's bigger. Consider the development in the next few years. I've also arranged for someone to look for one. After my new movie is finished, this problem will be solved completely."

This is indeed a problem. After all, the Central Academy of Drama is a place for teaching, and the drama troupe is a commercial operation. It is okay to rely on the Central Academy of Drama occasionally, but if it goes on for a long time, even if you have a good relationship with the Central Academy of Drama, it will cause gossip.

So this time Liu Zhou planned to solve the drama troupe's venue problem at one time. Not only did he want a training ground, but he also wanted his own theater.

For example, Deyun Club has its own theater, which allows it to better build its own brand.

It is impossible for all the plays in the drama troupe to be as popular as "Duds". The Capital Theatre, which Liu Zhou often collaborates with, is still a little too big.

Liu Zhou wanted to build a small or medium-sized theater with three to four hundred seats as a dedicated performance venue for the drama troupe.

If a play is popular in your own small theater, you can then perform it in a larger theater outside.

After leaving the drama troupe, Liu Zhou will focus on the promotion of "Only You". As for the drama "Erna. Assault", it will be handed over to Zhang Chen and Lan Xiaolong.

It is now the end of September. "Only You" will be officially released on November 3rd. After the National Day holiday, the film promotion will be fully launched.

For Liu Zhou, he also needs to start making public appearances in front of the media, the first of which is an interview on Beijing Satellite TV's "Super Interview".

This is also Liu Zhou's first time participating in an interview program.

(End of this chapter)