Chapter 15: Good Thing I'm Not from the Beijing Film Academy

November 7th, the beginning of winter.

In a private screening room, the final cut of "The Shallows," with only the dubbing completed but no background music yet, had just finished playing. Pang Bing was ecstatic beyond measure. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Bingbing, Li Xiaolu, as well as Ren Quan, Hu Jun, and others who came to watch, were all applauding vigorously.

Brother Arong, Er Dongsheng, Brother Hua, along with Wang Zuxian and two film distributors from the island of Korea, were all clapping as well.

This version of "The Shallows" was undeniably several levels superior to the original. If the original scored a 7.2, this version was easily between 7.9 and 8.1, a testament to Pang Bing’s improved acting that enriched the viewing experience.

This was not merely a good standard—it was a stunning, visually pleasing blockbuster that thrilled like fine popcorn cinema.

Amidst the thunderous applause, Li Wenyu approached Brother Arong with a smile. “Brother Rong, the music and Cantonese dubbing are in your hands. You’re also monitoring the viral marketing. Now, just by browsing the internet, on popular forums and websites, the mysterious number 12-22-08 has already attracted a huge amount of attention.”

“You’re negotiating with the distributors from Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand yourself. I believe that in a few days, the buzz around this mysterious number will multiply several times. If they don’t offer a buyout fee of 30 million, we’ll be at a loss.”

The viral marketing had only been running for a week, but the paid internet commentators—known as “water armies”—repeated the same posts daily, continuously sharing the numbers in threads, comments, and even beneath news articles.

As they spread, the buzz grew. The 2012 apocalypse hype had also gone viral countless times.

Human curiosity is strong. Once a trend takes hold, it gains unstoppable momentum. Otherwise, an ordinary film like "The Cloverfield Paradox" wouldn’t have grossed 170 million dollars, or over a billion Hong Kong dollars.

Without the mysterious viral marketing, it would have earned at least half less.

Zhang Guorong wasn’t very familiar with the internet, but he had someone reporting to him. He could only sigh, “Arrange for mainland water armies when you return to the capital. Here’s an advance of one million RMB. If it’s not enough, just call me.”

Hiring 100 water army members in Hong Kong Island at a daily wage of 300 for a month starts at 900,000 RMB. Even if more are hired later, the expenses? That wouldn’t push the total cost of “The Shallows” beyond 8 million. The largest chunk was still special effects.

Even if the campaign continued into December, it wouldn’t be considered a large expense.

Meanwhile, mainland water armies were much cheaper. You could find people in internet cafes willing to post dozens of number-based comments daily for just ten yuan.

From Tianya, NetEase, to Sohu, Banyan Tree, Peking University BBS, and others—any platform that allowed posting and interaction could be flooded with coordinated posts.

Li Wenyu nodded. “I’ll head back now. School starts at the end of August, and it’s already November. I need to report to the teachers and alert the school leadership in advance, so if you take me to Berlin or Cannes next year, they won’t be caught off guard.”

Zhang Guorong smiled steadily. “By the way, is Bingbing going back with you? I’ve already got a script outline, compiled by Ruan Sheng. It’s just the outline, but it tells a story of healing and moving forward—the male lead in the film must overcome shadows and pain, though not as deeply as the heroine.”

“The script is called ‘Unforgettable.’ Take it back for Bingbing to look at. I might not act in it, but these kinds of award-chasing films, with Bingbing’s current acting skills, could be a significant boost for her.”

---

Li Wenyu was speechless.

This wasn’t the first time, nor the only time, that a former Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards had been involved... Well, originally it was a 2003 plan, with Zhang Guorong personally inviting top screenwriters.

Old Li was still piecing together “Let Me Embrace Happiness,” and Ruan’s early inspiration was only considered early by Brother Rong.

More precisely, Ruan might have had the idea years ago, but transforming a spark into a 90% complete script took time and sometimes other projects took precedence.

After thanking him, Li Wenyu quickly took Bingbing away to the airport for their flight back to the capital. Along the way, Wang Jinghua also brought along Li Bingbing, and another Bingbing was shocked beyond belief. “Director Li, do you really think viral marketing could push ‘The Shallows’ to 30 or 40 million box office in the mainland?”

“This... this...”

Since the 31st, using water armies in Hong Kong Island, Li Wenyu hadn’t hidden anything from Pang Bing. She was fully informed and occasionally boasted about it to Li Bingbing and Li Xiaolu.

At this stage, serious star actors still didn’t understand these flashy tactics.

Li Wenyu smiled. “You should spend more time learning about ‘The Blair Witch Project.’ It’s not hard to trick people once with marketing, but doing it repeatedly is tough.”

“‘The Shallows’ was beautifully shot, and Bingbing’s acting held up, so it won’t cause much resentment. The next stage of the reveal will use Brother Rong’s new film’s gimmick to attract fan attention.”

Pang Bing was grinning from ear to ear. “If it really hits 30 or 40 million, could I alone compete with big stars like Uncle Ge, Rosamund Kwan, and that whole group of big names? Next time if someone offers me the lead, how much should my fee be?”

Before the big stars’ film even premiered, Pang Bing already believed it could reach 30 or 40 million, backed by Old Feng’s past record.

Li Wenyu slapped the script onto her thigh.

Pang Bing was stunned. “‘Unforgettable’?”

Li Wenyu nodded. “It’s just an outline. Brother Rong said if your acting keeps improving, we don’t expect it to be a box office hit, but there’s a chance for a Best Actress nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards. ‘The Shallows’ is a popcorn blockbuster; this is the real awards contender.”

Pang Bing exhaled deeply, then quickly looked at Li Bingbing, eyes gleaming with pride.

She smiled sweetly. “My acting isn’t that exaggerated. It’s thanks to Director Yu’s coaching. I’m not bragging—I feel like I had an epiphany after two or three months of polishing under your guidance.”

This wasn’t just Pang Bing boasting.

Wang Jinghua was wide-eyed. “Indeed, we only started discussing this project in August, and your acting now compared to Jin Suo or An’er from ‘Little Li Flying Dagger’ is like heaven and earth.”

---

Pang Bing had been in numerous TV dramas, but movies...

This wasn’t her first film. The first was “Brotherhood” by Wong Pak-ming. She stayed on set for over a week, just to understand the differences between TV and film production.

Then came “The Shallows,” where Li Wenyu personally guided her to new heights.

For over two months, most of the daytime shoots featured only Pang Bing; at night, she and Li Wenyu would watch takes that were discarded or underperformed, discuss and analyze scenes, and study the craft together.

It was like attending a specialized training course for over two months.

Now Wang Jinghua and Li Bingbing followed closely, wanting firsthand insight into the water army’s crafty online tactics.

Under these circumstances, Li Bingbing was almost overwhelmed. “Good thing I’m not from the Beijing Film Academy.”

Everyone looked at her. Li Bingbing shrugged. “With such a good script and project, two big stars and Sister Xian supporting, plus such innovative online marketing, if you were from the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and had to choose between a star from Beijing Film Academy or Central Academy of Drama, you’d definitely get roasted by teachers and juniors alike. Of course, everyone would insult you while praising and trying to befriend you, but some people would have a lot of fun.”

It was well known that among the Four Dan Actresses, the two Bingbings were both from the Beijing Film Academy.

Li Wenyu didn’t care about this topic. Old Xu had a solid track record, and Yan Zi was something of a rarity. Whenever possible, he would never choose those two.

He smiled and said, “Study the script well. Your co-star in ‘Unforgettable’ won’t be Brother Rong but a seasoned veteran actor. Don’t let them down.”

If necessary, he was even considering whether to boost Pang Bing’s recently improved rating from 8 to a few points higher.

The experienced old hand, reborn with a more casual attitude towards love, met a twenty-year-old Pang Bing who hadn’t yet matured. When relatives came over, she would dance and cheer to celebrate with him.

Investing effort into her was definitely worthwhile.