Chapter 57: Adaptation Hits The Main Artery
The classic film and television assessment is equivalent to the settlement competition for each episode of Chao Yue Ban. The mentors need to give candid commentary on the Chao Yue Ban artists undergoing the assessment.
In addition, there is a professional judging panel composed of fifty film and television practitioners on-site. They can not only evaluate and vote on the learners’ performances but even directly issue film contract invitations during the program.
For artists, honing acting skills on the program is all superficial; what is truly important is actually this “film and television assessment.” As long as they perform well, they can directly find new work.
It is precisely because the program team can provide this channel that Chao Yue Ban is highly praised by young actors. There are not a few newcomers who have risen to fame through this program; they all want to become the next one…
Yu Wei is the exception. He is truly here to hone acting skills and gather material. For the plays shot by these “practitioners,” even if they dare to invite him, he wouldn’t dare to go.
On the day of the assessment, the other learners kept saying they weren’t nervous, but in reality, their eyes never left the professional judging panel. Only Yu Wei was truly not nervous.
In these past few days, he learned a lot of performance techniques from Lin Yi, reaping a bountiful harvest. After settling work today, he could say goodbye to the program.
If there weren’t people sitting right behind in the tiered seats of the learner area, he would have started writing right there on the spot.
“I came across you singing yesterday. It was so good, simply heavenly.”
Before recording began, Qi Xi patted Yu Wei’s shoulder and struck up a conversation with him. Ever since he failed to compete in the last audition, he had begun to recognize the terror of this cross-industry newcomer.
Those defeated head-on by Yu Wei would unwittingly become “Filial Sons” of Yu Wei. It wasn’t that they were awkwardly flattering him; rather, the more awesome Yu Wei was, the higher their gold content would be.
This is still a bit different from entertainment novels. In novels, small fry villains always hope the protagonist will flop quickly, but in real life, if you lose, the more impressive the opponent, the less unjust the loss seems.
If Yu Wei were a small fry kicked to death by the protagonist, he would definitely cheer for the protagonist. Once the protagonist truly succeeds, he would directly write a book and sell courses, titled something like “Back Then, Me and XX Were Neck and Neck.”
“Don’t forget to follow and like.”
For that video of The Secret of the Time Thief, besides the Easter Egg Chapter, Yu Wei also posted a copy on the video platform and Weibo. It didn’t matter where it was posted; what mattered was letting everyone know that following and reading his book came with benefits…
It has to be said that this move really worked. Ever since posting the singing video, the novel’s data had already recovered, and there were even faint signs of an increase.
There were probably quite a few new readers drawn from various video platforms. Netizens who came across the video would think, “Following the new book also comes with a new song to listen to? There’s such a good deal?” And they would follow.
The day after the video was released, Lin Yi stated that she couldn’t outsing him, which was a tactful way of acknowledging the superiority of his two songs.
Although her Scissors similarly expressed anxiety about the passage of time, in terms of the song’s depth, it was completely inferior to Yu Wei’s song.
The Secret of the Time Thief deconstructs time anxiety through metaphors while also providing a poetic resistance for the fast-paced developing urbanized society.
This poetic quality is precisely where it surpasses her song. When all solid things dissipate into smoke, only tightly grasping “this moment” is the existential anchor.
Even the gap in a one-minute demo is so obvious; the finished song goes without saying…
At that time, Lin Yi hadn’t yet recovered from her emotion when Yu Wei immediately brought out his second song and proposed wanting to change the movie score, completely leaving her dumbfounded.
The new score was ultimately changed without any mishaps, but as for the specific effect, it would depend on the upcoming film and television assessment.
After the program recording began, Chi Leying next to Yu Wei was visibly nervous. She attached great importance to this program, as her transformation was imminent.
“Such a strong career drive.”
“No method, I’m not like you.”
Chi Leying calmed her mood a bit. After partnering with him for acting these past few days, she discovered that Yu Wei had a clear difference from other artists: his utilitarianism wasn’t strong; he was even somewhat laid-back.
Personality has no good or bad; perhaps in today’s fast-paced entertainment industry, it really needs someone as unhurried as him to bring change.
Slow he may be, but when he strikes, he is ruthless…
The first piece for assessment was a spy drama segment about an undercover agent nearly getting discovered during a rendezvous, with the protagonist’s subtle tension being particularly hard to perform.
The learners’ villain version showed no low-pressure atmosphere at all. Several of them sprawled out there, even giving a humorous sense of playing house.
The buddy playing the gang boss seemed to come from a domineering CEO drama background. He struck a pose spectacularly, but he wasn’t particularly handsome, coming off as both pretentious and greasy.
After the rough-cut segment played, the four mentors’ faces grew darker one by one, especially Yan Teacher, who was in charge of teaching this group. His gloomy face even carried a hint of embarrassment.
Don’t say they were my students when you’re out there…
The mentors held back due to decorum and didn’t say much, but the professional judging panel went full power. Except for the male actor who played a small supporting role, whose performance was decent, the others were roasted worse one by one.
“A bit brutal.”
This spectacle was still somewhat frightening. The variety shows he usually watched didn’t roast this harshly, though maybe those that did were edited out to avoid bad influence.
“Just picking on the weak. They’re all small actors.” Chi Leying pretended to stay calm and said, “With your fame, they wouldn’t dare. At most, they’d say you’re not suited for this industry.”
Actually, Yu Wei’s performance was indeed a bit better than theirs. He just hadn’t learned; these ones had learned wrong, the kind that’s hard to correct.
The second group was the scene from Unfaithful with the script Yu Wei had revised, but Qi Yunming on the mentor seats looked utterly indifferent, as if this segment had nothing to do with him at all.
“Why are you wearing her clothes?”
With this sudden line, the crowd finally noticed the details of the clothes on the female supporting character. Clearly, this segment had been adapted.
They couldn’t help but recall Yu Wei’s script revision incident a few days ago, so all these lines in this part were changed by Yu Wei alone?
Before the crowd could think further, several lines packed with explosive information were slapped right in their faces—one more stimulating than the last, yet surprisingly highly watchable.
The judging panel were all veterans with seniority. They spotted the explosive points in these lines at a glance. Whether they were good or not, they didn’t know, but these lines were sure to go viral.
They weren’t artists; they were businessmen. Compared to those slow-burn lines, Yu Wei’s changes without a doubt hit their sweet spot better.
“I didn’t expect Teacher Yu Wei to have such high attainments in scripts as well. Looking forward to your next performance.”
“Yu Wei’s script contribution is indispensable to this segment’s highlights.”
“Although it somewhat deviates from the original style, the adaptation is bold and more fitting for the current market environment. I personally like it a lot.”
In the learner commentary segment, the judging panel started praising Yu Wei in every way possible. Just as Chi Leying said, these so-called industry insiders really knew how to pick on the weak.
On one hand, they meant to flatter and build hype; on the other, they genuinely recognized Yu Wei’s adaptations, which had great potential to break out.
“The adaptation is indeed quite interesting. Teacher Qi, he helped revise your script; at least say something.”
On the mentor seats, Yan Zong livened up the atmosphere a bit. His words were also the program team’s intention, mainly to get Qi Yunming to interact as much as possible with his son’s former teammate for hype.
“Talent for being a screenwriter. Keep working hard.”
Qi Yunming played it cool and detached. He gave commentary but not much; the words were sincere, but elaborating was out of the question.
His slacking off directly left the chatting Yan Zong stunned and fuming, but with the program still recording, he couldn’t say more and could only turn his spear toward Lin Yi nearby.
“Teacher Lin, Yu Wei is your group’s learner. I wonder if he made any adaptations to The Person Who Plants Stars.”
“Of course, but I won’t say more specifics. Everyone, look forward to it.”
Far more than adaptation—he had revised it right to the core. Lin Yi hadn’t expected Yu Wei to set his sights on the score.
“Looks like Teacher Lin is very confident.”
The crowd no longer asked more, merely growing more expectant of Yu Wei’s group’s segment performance.
There will be leader updates tonight. Dragging it to go on sale feels too utilitarian; might as well update directly.
