On March 30, the comedy movie "Galaxy Writer" was officially released. The film won the Jury Prize and Best Screenplay Award at the 17th FIRST Youth Film Festival. "One script, two screenwriters, three revisions of the draft, changing seasons, mixed emotions." The film tells the story of two young screenwriters who have dreams in Beipiao and pursue their dreams. With its unique comedy attempts and warm core, it has triggered many The resonance of "beating workers".

　　Recently, reporters from West China Metropolis Daily and Cover News talked with the film’s director and screenwriter Li Kuo, Shan Dandan, and screenwriter Gao Qun in Chengdu. They hope to make some innovations through this somewhat unruly and imaginative work, and hope that everyone can find their own shadow in "Galaxy Writer": the person who may have always failed and been mediocre, but has always worked hard. of myself. They are not too worried about the challenges that AI technology brings to creators, because "AI cannot replace the joy of creation."

　　According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, as of 17:00 on April 7, the movie "Galaxy Writer" has been in theaters for 9 days, with a box office of only 4.11 million yuan. Judging from the current film schedule and buzz, the possibility of "Galaxy Writer" becoming a hit is slim. But the emergence of such a special film is worthy of joy.

　　Illustrated guide to life in the film and television industry

　　The script of the movie "Galaxy Writer" took about one and a half months to complete. Before this script, Li Kuo, Shan Dandan, and Gao Qun had been investing their energy in another script, but in the end the project became "yellow". Shan Dandan revealed that the protagonist in the script was too far away from their lives at the time. Later, they decided to write about a group they were familiar with, their friends around them, a group of northern drifters.

　　The protagonists of "Galaxy Writers" are "workers" who are common in real life: newcomer screenwriters Zhang Yi (played by Song Muzi) and Sun Tan (played by He Wenjun) have passionate dreams and long for their names to appear one day. On the big screen, but reality gave them one round of "punch to the flesh" blows: confrontation with Party A, struggle with life, confrontation with oneself... In the end, no one can become a hero, but Fortunately, they have completed their reconciliation with themselves.

　　Zhang Yi and Sun Tan, who adhered to the principle of screenwriting and refused to change the script, were eventually fired. Boss Cai, who drank with producers and investors everywhere and got gout, didn't get a chance. He couldn't get a role and could only be the host of Werewolf. A "pest" who is betrayed by his girlfriend and brother, and Zhou Keke, who persists in his dream of being a screenwriter even when taking minutes of meetings. Every character in "Galaxy Writer" is the shadow of countless ordinary workers in the film and television industry. Li Kuo revealed that the stories in the movie are "half of our work experience and half of what happened to the friends we met in the city of Beijing. We moved them in, and some of them were artistically processed."

　　In the film, the screenwriter Zhang Yi suffered from anxiety disorder, which was Gao Qun’s real experience during the creation. Li Kuo and Shan Dandan got married while filming "Galaxy Writers". The "Nolan Watch", an important prop in the movie, was actually the couple's token of love. In the film, screenwriter Zhang Yi grabbed two movie tickets for "The Dark Knight" at the Beijing Film Festival, and finally transferred the tickets to movie fans. This is also Li Kuo's real experience. He revealed that when he was transferring tickets among movie fans, he asked "What is the first line of "Joker"?" and used this method to filter out scalpers. And this scene was also moved to the movie.

　　Not long ago, the movie "Galaxy Writers" premiered in Beijing. At that time, friends from the fan group came to attend. Shan Dandan said with a smile: "I found out that the group leader has now made a movie to pay tribute to Nolan, and they also feel that it is quite time-travel. "

　　As a screenwriter, what I want most is to accumulate “right to speak”

　　In the movie, the screenwriters Zhang Yi and Sun Tan, who are Party B, can only make modifications again and again in the face of new demands constantly put forward by the management. For example, "Is it more reasonable to change the second male lead to a dog?" In the end, the script was unrecognizable. His girlfriend Zhou Keke, who is also a screenwriter, advised Zhang Yi that screenwriting is a service industry, and Party A pays the screenwriter fees just to allow the screenwriter to revise the script.

　　Regarding the modification of the script, Shan Dandan revealed that he is like Zhou Keke in the film, and he is quite willing to change: "I am more conscious than Li Kuo and Gao Qun in the world. I feel that I must do things well and achieve perfection." Party A is satisfied." But later, she found that it was difficult to reconcile the opinions of the public. If every modification suggested by Party A was implemented, the final work might lose its original flavor.

　　Li Kuo and Gao Qun are more willing to stick to their own creations. Gao Qun admitted that he is an idealist and works as a screenwriter out of love. Having been a screenwriter for many years, what he wants to accumulate most is the "right to speak": "I want to be able to say what I want to insist on, instead of just listening. In fact, screenwriters sometimes don't have that much right to speak, and everyone can speak up. Opinions, other than the screenwriter’s own.”

　　In Li Kuo's view, "How to satisfy some of your own small expressions or ideas while reaching a consensus with Party A is really a torture process." He believes that this process now seems to be a kind of accumulation of experience. the process of.

　　"No growth is still a kind of growth"

　　Later in the film, the producer snatched the authorship rights and was kicked out of the project by the party. His career and love were in trouble. The frustrated screenwriter Zhang Yi decided to leave Beijing, but he heard his companion talking about the next script. At that time, he was "injected with chicken blood" again and his hope was rekindled. The phrase "No growth is still a kind of growth" in the film soothed the hearts of many viewers.

　　In Shan Dandan’s view, this sentence is a portrayal of everyone’s real life, “If we are still relying on external forces to give us the chance to turn over, this is actually a cruel fairy tale. The audience will be disappointed after reading it, because there is no such thing as life. Such a good thing." She said, "In life, everyone is polished by society. When you are sad, sometimes you just give yourself a shot of chicken blood with a cup of milk tea, a cup of coffee, or a gust of wind. Why can't you live with yourself? What? Then get back on the road."

　　Gao Qun believes that the characters in the movie stick to their original aspirations and find love, which is growth. In his opinion, it doesn't matter whether Zhang Yi, the screenwriter in the movie, is successful or not. What's important is that he found something he likes to do, and it makes him happy. "Growth is not necessarily about reaching a certain position, but about finding your original intention."

　　After the previous project took more than two years to create but was unfortunately shelved, "Galaxy Writer" has become the smoothest project for Li Kuo, Shan Dandan and Gao Qun. They hope to express those undisciplined and undisciplined parts and do some innovation: "We don't know if this attempt is good or bad now, but we think it is worth doing."

　　The joy of creation cannot be replaced by AI

　　As a low-budget comedy film, the main creators of "Galaxy Writer" are almost all newcomers to the film industry, but Shen Teng was invited as the last Easter egg, which is really surprising.

　　Li Kuo revealed that he and Shan Dandan had both worked in the "Happy Twist" drama company. After returning from the FIRST Film Festival last year, they contacted Shen Teng's team through Zhang Xiaofei and described the idea and creativity of the easter eggs to him. "Brother Teng said they were all children born from Mahua, so he quickly agreed to help."

　　The end of the film is presented in an almost absurd science fiction way. One hundred years later, the AI ​​era has arrived. People unearthed the movie script "Seven Seconds Man" buried by Zhang Yi and Sun Tan, built an art center on the original site of the script, and decided to make "Seven Seconds Man" into a movie. The meaning given to it is: the last hope to save human creativity.

　　AI appears in movies. Will you try to use AI in your creations? Li Kuo admitted frankly that in terms of creation, he will definitely not embrace AI, but the emergence of AI will indeed bring him thinking: "As the last scene said, I think the only thing we can challenge against it in the future is that we Imperfection creates something that is perfect and warm.”

　　For Gao Qun, he also said that he will definitely not use AI to write scripts because he does not want the joy of creation to be replaced. Even during the script creation process, Gao Qun once suffered from anxiety. He also mentioned the happiness brought by creation many times in interviews: "To put it bluntly, it is like our life. We have joy, anger, sorrow, and joy in life. That’s interesting. Just because you have pain, your happiness can be greater. The same is true for creation, it is precisely because you have pain in creation, and the moment you make a breakthrough, your happiness is amplified.”

　　West China Metropolis Daily - cover news reporter Zhou Qin