I am Really a Superstar

Everyone looked at one another.

Mark Foran asked, “What genre is it?”

Zhang Ye said, “It’s a fairy tale.”

Ha Qiqi said, “Isn’t that still targeted at children and teenagers?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “It’s not the same.”

Zhang Zuo asked, “What other elements will there be?”

Zhang Ye thought about it and said, “It will have musical elements.”

Mark Foran rolled his eyes. “Will there also be a princess? And a prince too?”

Zhang Ye said, “Eh, that’s right.”

A MoonStar Studios staff said, “And magic as well?”

Zhang Ye was taken aback. “Did you all sneak a peek at my script?”

Everyone was floored!

What script did we sneak a peek at!

You would have to have a script first!

Mark Foran said despondently, “Isn’t that the standard template for most Hollywood animated films? It has been so overused in recent years! Everyone bases their films on this template!”

But Zhang Ye laughed and said, “Mine is different.”

How is that different?

Aren’t they the same?

Everyone felt pessimistic and let out sighs.

Only Zhang Ye knew that this animated film he was going to make was going to be absolutely different from the animated films that they had imagined it to be.

Frozen, also known as The Snow Queen or Anna and the Snow Queen, had many other translated names. However, all of them referred to that one movie. It was a movie from Zhang Ye’s previous world that was the highest-grossing animated film of all time, as well as the only animated film to have made it into the top ten worldwide highest-grossing movies of all time! But in this world, animated films were generally weaker performers, and Zhang Ye did not know if Frozen could create the same miracle that it did in his previous world. But at the very least, he believed that it would easily come out on top against those several dozen Hollywood directors’ movies.

The project was confirmed.

The animated film was set to be produced.

The next stage would be the animation production.

On the very same day, Zhang Ye’s figure was seen everywhere around the various departments of Star Moon Animation Studios.

…

At the character design department.

“Teacher Zhang, we have some ready-made character designs. Why don’t you have a look and see if they’re OK?”

“No, that won’t work.”

“Eh? We have a lot of them, so why don’t you take a look first?”

“There’s no need to take a look. Just do it according to my specifications.”

“Your specifications? Where are they?”

“Do you have a pen and paper?”

“Yes, here you go.”

“Alright, just base it off of this drawing. I’ll let you all know about the character color palettes at a later time.”

“Y-You know how to sketch character designs?”

“Of course, I used to draw comics, after all.”

…

At the screenwriting department.

“Teacher Zhang, what about the screenplay?”

“What’s our main storyline?”

“Oh, wait for me for a little while.”

“Huh? Where are you off to?”

“Teacher Zhang?”

“You’re back already?”

“Here, this is the screenplay.”

“What? You’ve already completed it?”

“Did you just write this? But it’s only been 10 minutes!”

“Thi-This is too fast!”

“Shouldn’t it take at least several months of revisions and development to complete the screenplay?”

“There’s no need for that. You can just use this.”

…

At the music department.

“Teacher Zhang, what style should the background music and main theme be?”

“Are we going to compose and write the music ourselves or will we be licensing other people’s music?”

“There’s no need for that. We’ll produce it in-house.”

“But we’re not professionals at this after all. If we do it in-house—”

“I am a professional.”

“Ah?”

“I’ll write the songs and compose the orchestration and submit it to you to work on.”

“Alright, we’ll wait for your score then.”

“Here, it’s done. Go ahead and produce these three songs first.”

“What? You’ve finished composing them?”

“This—”

…

At the animation department.

“Teacher Zhang, which techniques should we use for the animation?”

“Use the best CGI ¹ available.”

“But that would be too expensive. For most of our Hollywood animated films, we usually employ traditional hand-drawn techniques ² . When we reach the critical scenes, we will then work on them frame by frame.”

“For us, we’ll create the entire film frame by frame.”

“Do you know how much that would cost?”

“Is 160 million dollars enough?”

“Uh…”

“If it isn’t, I’ll ask for more money. However, there must be a guaranteed quality.”

“That’s like burning cash. No one has ever done it like this before!”

“Making an animated film is basically burning money in the first place. The only reason why all of those past Hollywood animated films received such lukewarm receptions was because they were reluctant to spend money. But I’m willing to!”

…

At the voiceover department.

“Teacher Zhang, who should we cast for the voice actors?”

“That will be tricky to handle. Normally, we would look to cast some Hollywood celebrities. But now that you’ve declared war on so many big name directors in Hollywood, I’m afraid that none of those celebrities would dare to do voice acting for us.”

“It will be fine.”

“Fine?”

“I’ll look for the voice actors.”

Having said that, Zhang Ye started making some calls.

He contacted Dong Shanshan first.

“Shanshan, how’s your English?”

“Do you have to ask?”

“Haha, that’s great then. Come and do some voice acting for me soon?”

“For your animated film?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re really going to do it?”

“Yeah, I’m really doing it. I’ve already accepted the bet, so how can it not be real?”

“Alright, I’ll be looking forward to basking in your glory as a Hollywood director.”

Then he called Ning Lan.

“Sister Ning, busy?”

“I’m reading the news about your bet with other people. You’re really capable, huh?”

“Great timing. How about doing some voice acting for me?”

“Voice acting for what?”

“A role in my new movie.”

“You’re looking for me to do that? My English is only so-so.”

“Go practice then. The post-production will only happen in several months anyway.”

“Whoa, so will this be considered my Hollywood debut?”

“Of course!”

He made another call to Yao Jiancai.

“Zhang’er, what’s up?”

“Old Yao, go and brush up on your English.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Just practice a few lines. I’ll need you to do some voice acting soon. I’ve reserved a role for you.”

“For your animated film? Fine! Haha!”

After a string of calls.

Zhang Ye turned around and said to the people of the voiceover department, “It’s finished. The majority of the roles have been assigned.”

The voiceover department’s staff had blank looks on their faces.

…

On this day.

Many of Star Moon’s employees were genuflecting.

Even Mark Foran was stunned.

It wasn’t for anything else. They were just too shocked at Zhang Ye’s efficiency. They had assumed that Zhang Ye was just a layman who did not know anything about animation productions. They thought that he was just messing around when he said that he would be making a Hollywood animated film. But the moment Zhang Ye started working on the project, it felt like he had turned into an entirely different person. His work efficiency could shock people to death, and he wouldn’t have to pay for it. Whenever he told the staff under him that he would get them the information they required, most people would subconsciously accept this to mean a few days later or within a month’s time. But in Zhang Ye’s context, this only meant a few minutes!

He went away and came back.

The screenplay was ready.

He picked it up and placed it back down.

The character designs were sketched.

He turned to leave and returned.

Three songs were already composed.

He made some calls and hung up.

The voice casting was finalized.

Mark Foran and the others looked like they had seen a ghost!

This was only the first day of production, but the majority of the work was already done?

Only Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the rest of Zhang Ye’s personal team were not surprised because they understood full well what Zhang Ye’s work style was. His nickname of China’s fastest draw was not for nothing. This fellow was someone who could complete the filming of a 40-episode television drama in just 10 days. But more importantly, he did not sacrifice any quality for speed.