My Virtual Girlfriend-Chapter 144 Test Potential

...

At the same time, in the meeting room of Chenlu Film Company.

Seeing Chen Yan leave the meeting room, leaving only Yang Rou alone, Lu Man looked around and noticed that no one was paying attention to her. She tiptoed to Yang Rou’s side like a cat stealing a taste.

She quietly sat next to Yang Rou. Lu Man chuckled twice at Yang Rou.

Yang Rou looked up at Lu Man with an expressionless face.

In the past two days, under the explanations provided by Sister Mei Li and the "propaganda" found between the lines from other company employees, Lu Man had already learned that Yang Rou was a top-notch celebrity producer.

Facing such a powerhouse, Lu Man always hid her wilfulness and acted as docile as possible.

So she looked at Yang Rou with her beautiful eyes and tentatively said, "Sister Rou, may I ask you something?"

Yang Rou said, "Go ahead."

Lu Man looked around again and after confirming that no one was paying attention, she asked in a low voice, "What do you think our movie’s box office will be?"

Hearing this question again, Yang Rou looked deeply at Lu Man.

Then she answered as calmly as Chen Yan earlier, "It’s impossible to estimate the box office now."

"A movie is a product of team collaboration. Right now, only the script is confirmed, the rest, whether it’s the production staff, actors, or the distribution company, schedules, etc., nothing has been determined, so it’s impossible to make an estimate."

Lu Man pouted slightly, a bit unwilling.

After a moment, she asked again, "What if... everything goes normally?"

Yang Rou looked at Lu Man again.

Even though she was cold and never gossiped, at that moment, an idea couldn’t help but arise: no wonder the boss likes this girl, they really do have similar personalities, even their questions are almost the same.

She paused, then once again brought out the explanation she gave to Chen Yan, "If everything is standard configuration. Ordinary director, ordinary actors, ordinary distribution company, ordinary scheduling. Maybe just over a billion. Just breaking even."

"If everything is of the best, your acting skills explode, the schedule has high traffic and no competitors, and the promotion is done regardless of cost, it may be around three to four billion."

She added, "However, this is just me deducing based on experience. Without a finished film or knowing the competitors of the same schedule, everything is an unknown."

Lu Man listened to Yang Rou’s estimation, her eyebrows furrowed.

Turns out, under normal circumstances, it’s just one billion...

How can she explain this to Chen Yan...

She had bragged about making five billion in box office the other day.

If in the end, it’s just one billion, just breaking even.

What would Chen Yan think of her...

As for everything reaching its limits to hit three to four billion that Yang Rou talked about, Lu Man only listened in passing.

How could making a movie possibly be perfect? Not to mention other things, even if she worked hard to improve her acting skills, where would she find the best director, the best lighting, the best camera...

Even if all these could be managed.

But the scheduling and promotions, how could she guarantee those?

It’s well-known that the film industry is the easiest to face mishaps.

You might have carefully picked a schedule, only to suddenly face a dark horse blockbuster that squashes your screenings.

It’s even beyond estimation by professionals.

Lu Man felt a bit of a headache.

She wanted to make money for Chen Yan...

Wanted to prove herself to Chen Yan...

But it seemed... like she was going to fail.

...

Meanwhile, Chen Yan, who was in his office, had been waiting for two whole minutes when the content behind the Instant Camera photo finally showed.

["Twenty-three Days of Heartbreak," a women-themed cinema film.]

Development cost: around 30 million.

Expected revenue: 1-4 billion.

Project evaluation: An excellent film with a theme focused on women. It has the potential to become a masterpiece. However, it demands a lot of the actors’ performance and suitability, please choose carefully.

Project suggestion: Increase promotion, pick a good scheduling, and follow the guidance of professionals.

Overall evaluation: Four stars.

After reading the game’s evaluation of this movie, Chen Yan gained new insights about Yang Rou’s capabilities.

This woman really has a sharp judgment for projects.

Whether it’s through extensive experience or innate talent, but her estimated range was indeed accurate.

However... why was the expected revenue range so large?

Could it be because the project proposal only listed a bunch of names and hadn’t confirmed specific personnel?

Thinking of this, Chen Yan pondered.

So... if he tried to confirm the list, could he determine the most suitable person for the position through changes in the range?

Thinking of this, Chen Yan felt this approach was right.

He flipped through the entire proposal and decided... to start testing with the director first.

Yang Rou had identified ten potential directors.

Chen Yan picked up the project proposal in his hand and began testing them one by one.

The method was simple: crossing out the whole list of directors and then writing only the confirmed director’s name.

The first director’s name was [Feng Jun].

Chen Yan crossed out the other directors’ names and then wrote his.

After writing the name, Chen Yan closed the proposal and patiently waited.

Time passed by the minute.

Just when Chen Yan was getting a bit tired of waiting, suddenly, the words on the back of the photo started to twist and reorganize...

After a moment, the changes ended, and the updated panel appeared before Chen Yan.

Everything remained the same except for the expected revenue section.

[Expected revenue: around 1-1.1 billion.]

Chen Yan...

Turns out, the first director was almost at the lower limit?

Chen Yan silently took note of this person’s name, deciding never to work with this director again.

As for the reason...

Well, just say he didn’t like his name.

Although it was "unsuccessful on the first attempt," Chen Yan wasn’t discouraged.

After all, the results of this experiment at least let him know that his method was feasible.

So, he began continuously adjusting the details of this proposal.

Soon, fifteen minutes had passed.

Chen Yan had tested ten directors one by one.

The director with the lowest box office range was this Wang Zijun. [1-1.1 billion].

The highest was a director named Teng Yufei. With him as the director, the box office maximum was a full 4 billion.

This indicated that he was the best option among the directors! ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

However, what was magical was that among the ten directors, his credentials and reviews were not the highest. He was only ranked in the middle.

And the Director Yuan, whom everyone had high expectations for at the meeting, only ranked second. The upper limit of the box office was 3.8 billion, 0.2 billion lower than Teng Yufei.

Chen Yan carefully compared the credentials and achievements of the two and really couldn’t see where Teng Yufei was stronger than Director Yuan.

But the game wouldn’t lie, so Chen Yan could only think that perhaps his directing style just happened to fit this movie.

Additionally... there was another strange thing, which was that even though Teng Yufei matched this movie so well, it still didn’t increase the lower limit of the box office. In fact, the lower limits for all ten directors were consistently at 1 billion.

This made Chen Yan a bit worried.

Could it be... there was some other factor causing such a low lower limit for this movie?

But... both Yang Rou and Sister Mei Li had chosen elite professionals, there shouldn’t be such an issue.

Huh? All... elite?

This thought suddenly triggered an image in Chen Yan’s mind.

He thought for a bit...

He crossed out the lead actress [Lu Man]’s name, then pondered for a bit and switched to a first-tier actress known for her acting skills and fitting the script’s character.

After a moment. The expected revenue changed.

[Expected revenue: around 2.6-4.2 billion.]

Chen Yan...

Indeed, he found the culprit!

Turns out... it was you, with your bushy eyebrows, holding me back!

But... what surprised Chen Yan was, although Lu Man’s lower limit was low, the upper limit wasn’t low. It was only twenty million lower in box office than that first-tier actress.

This indicated... this guy could actually match the value of a first-tier actress in this movie if he performed well...

That was actually good news.

After all, she was the Virtual Girlfriend selected by the game, even if she was a bad teammate, Chen Yan couldn’t possibly replace her.

...

After experimenting with the directors, Chen Yan initially wanted to strike while the iron was hot and test the other staff listed.

But by then, the meeting break was over. His secretary, Yu Qiao Qiao, called him to go back to the meeting.

So Chen Yan had to put the Instant Camera photo in his pocket and returned to the meeting room with the documents.

A lot was needed to get a film crew up and running, such as securing locations, designing costumes, coordinating the schedules of actors and directors, etc.

The meeting lasted another hour.

After the meeting ended and everyone dispersed, considering what had transpired during his director experiment—an average director performed better than the well-regarded ones—Chen Yan decided to talk to Yang Rou.

Seeing the boss and the president had something to discuss, everyone sensibly left.

After the meeting room was left with just the two of them, Chen Yan took out a few pieces of candy from his pocket, handed one to Yang Rou, peeled one for himself, and while chewing said to Yang Rou, "President Yang. I want to discuss something with you first."

Yang Rou accepted the candy but didn’t eat it. She placed it in front of her and then asked, "Boss. What is it?"

Chen Yan considered his tone for a moment and said, "I want to personally decide on the staff selection, scheduling, and promotion plan for this project."

Hearing Chen Yan’s words, Yang Rou’s gaze fluctuated a few times, she looked at Chen Yan, clearly waiting for his explanation.

Chen Yan hesitated for a moment, then said, "I want to ensure that this movie’s box office exceeds five billion. So, I need every detail to meet my highest standards."

Yang Rou looked at Chen Yan, her gaze calm.

After a while, she asked, "Then the company...?"

Chen Yan understood her meaning and directly said, "The company’s affairs will still be fully managed by you, I won’t interfere. Even the film crew’s tasks will be executed and supervised by you."

"Only the staff selection will be decided by me."

He paused, then added, "Well... consider it a special case."