What did Ideal City do right to become the best workplace drama of the year？
Special feature of 1905 film network "I have my own creative ideas, but I hope to give more understanding to the audience."
At the end of the drama "Ideal City", we had a conversation with the screenwriter Zhou Wei, who is also the author of the original novel and has an absolute "God perspective" on the setting of each character and the development of each plot. Only when the works face the market and the audience, she wants everyone to have their own understanding.
Since the series was launched, she has sent three Weibo’s, and she will take time to answer questions for every drama fan under each Weibo. Similarly, as she replied to a fan, "I can’t write if I come up for business every day."
I don’t participate in too much publicity in front of the stage, but I am more obsessed with behind-the-scenes creation, which is simple and direct, and has a persistent Su Xiao (decoration). Perhaps this pure creation is also her idealism and the "ideal" of the title "Ideal City".
At present, the drama series has finished, and the Douban score has remained at 7.8, which has been one of the highest-rated works in domestic industry dramas in the past five years. In this dialogue, we try to reinterpret the content of the series and how to achieve the high score of the remake of Ideal City.
Theme novelty
The novel "Ideal City" was originally named "Su Xiao’s War", inspired by a friend of Zhou Wei’s in the construction industry. She jumped from state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, which was almost an open career growth, especially after the chairman of the group saw her tender, she was promoted to the group by three levels.
When the chairman meets her, there is only one question. What do you think is appropriate for us to agree with Baosteel on the steel price next year?
This problem of changing my friend career life was also written into the novel by Zhou Wei intact, and then put into the drama "Ideal City".
Facing the rapid promotion of young employees, the old employees in the group have a sense of crisis, and then there has been intergenerational conflict — — The confrontation between the "hidden rules" of the older generation’s "black-box operation" and the characteristics of Su Xiao’s younger generation’s adherence to rules has become the place where Ideal City hits the audience’s emotions the most.
Many fans are curious whether Zhou Wei has experienced ups and downs in the workplace for many years, but in fact, Zhou Wei’s experience in the workplace can be ignored. Even in the past four years, he has devoted himself to the scriptwriting of the drama "Ideal City" in a semi-closed state.
Zhou Wei said frankly: "I wrote about human nature and human heart, and I wrote about social rules."
Her accurate description of the workplace comes from her understanding of human nature and social rules. Studying economics, she thinks that all problems can be explained from the economic aspect. After all, the economic foundation is the foundation of all superstructure, including all kinds of relationships in the workplace.
The boss of Tiancheng reused Su Xiao, and the chairman of Yinghai promoted her to the third level because she could make money. There is a saying in the construction unit that "the profit of the project is not made, but settled." Settlement is one of the work contents of the cost engineer.
Cost engineer is a very small occupation. Zhou Wei studied the course for a period of time, but he still didn’t dare to understand it. In order to avoid the audience’s difficulty in getting into the play during the watching process, in the process of adapting the TV series, the story should focus on the relationship between the characters and the workplace as much as possible.
Even so, the first and second episodes still dissuaded many viewers. Zhou Wei said with regret: "No way, we have revised it many times, and finally decided to take migrant workers as the opening event, because it is the most common thing in the construction industry, which can bring out the characteristics of the industry at once, subcontract the general contractor business site and so on."
After the series was launched, keywords such as "Biography in the Workplace" and "Gong Dou in the Workplace" became frequently mentioned by the drama and fans, but for the creator Zhou Wei, there was no such feeling.
"Drama creation will require the preservation of more dramatic content, and those ordinary work parts will naturally be rarely presented." In particular, as a workplace drama, Ideal City is more difficult to create. "It is mainly an atmosphere that everyone is familiar with. If the workplace life is truly displayed, the audience can feel very boring, so in the creation, the mode of American drama is adopted to increase the sense of rhythm and attract the audience more."
The role is distinct
Su Xiao is one of the characters that Zhou Wei thinks is the most difficult to write. "Because she is the protagonist, she has to bear the role of positive guidance, but if she writes too much, the whole will be very facetious. This role is not only difficult to write, but also difficult to play. Sun Li played very well. "
Sun Li is the best person to play Su Xiao in Zhou Xin’s mind. After writing the script of the first ten episodes, the producer asked her who she wanted to play the role, and she said, "Sun Li."
The producer said with a smile, "Just dream on. I want her to play in every project, but there is only one Sun Li in the country."
Sun Li just appeared in the workplace drama "Settle Down" last year. In that work, she also has an impulse, but there are some cleverness and caution in her impulse, and she prefers to find loopholes in the rules. However, the role of Su Xiao is just the opposite. She carries the "axis" of an engineering girl, and everything is uncompromising, with a Forrest Gump-style persistence.
In "Ideal City", Su Xiao’s growth will be more obvious than that of other characters, from sitting in the station next to Tiancheng toilet with a little impatience, to gradually calming down and dealing with various difficulties appropriately. On the one hand, it lies in the tempering of Tiancheng and the Group under different working frameworks, on the other hand, it is the embodiment that a person should grow up.
In Zhou Wei’s view, Su Xiao represents the contemporary young people, who are more decisive in the workplace. "Sticking to the rules and hoping that the society will have less social intercourse, less intersection and less black-box operation represent the progress of an era."
Accurately speaking, "The Ideal City" is not a drama with a heroine, but a group work, and every role in the drama is very distinct. Zhou Wei also lamented that in the creative process, writing group plays is the coolest. "A star hangs there alone, no matter how beautiful it looks, you can only take a look, but the brilliant stars will make you feel excited."
Looking through Zhou Wei’s comments on Weibo, everyone in the audience discussed their favorite roles and asked her for adjustments in the adaptation of the series.
Each role represents different groups in the enterprise group, and it is their efforts to get together that have the opportunity to obtain more resources from the society. Some of these people are similar and complementary in character, others are contradictory in temperament and coexist in contradiction. For example, during the Tiancheng period, Lu Zhengming (Ding Wenbo) and Donglin (Cheng Ziming) were typical.
Lu Zhengming is sincere, honest, and gentle in doing things. He has been working hard and wants to strive for better opportunities by working ability. Donglin, on the other hand, is a prick who loves to fish. He is good at have it both ways. He is lazy if he can, but he is eager for a promotion. Their attitudes towards Su Xiao inevitably changed with her status, from closeness to confrontation to cooperation.
Zhou Wei’s true description of the workplace is nothing more than her writing about each character’s self-appeal in this big group of enterprises. There are contradictions when there are different demands, and there are conflicts when there are contradictions. In the conflict, she tries to strike a balance and move on in balance, which is what is really happening in every enterprise.
"They are supporting roles in the play, but they are their own protagonists." Zhou Wei said so.
humanthing·real
Some viewers questioned that Su Xiao’s career path was too smooth. First, she was valued by Wang Yang (ornaments), and then she was promoted by Zhao Xiankun (ornaments).
In this regard, Zhou Wei’s view is: "This is related to her work. She is a professional, and her performance is good. Just look at the data and you will know."
Some viewers think that Zhao Xiankun promoted her to treat her as a knife, and this feeling of being "used" is too sad.
"Eldest brother is willing to use you, it must be because you are valuable, and all you have to do is to make yourself more valuable and make use of it into reuse. I am afraid that there is no value, and I don’t even choose you for use. " Zhou Wei said.
In the TV series, Su Xiao adhered to the "clear rules" and encountered numerous bumps all the way, never changing her mind. Zhao Xiankun promoted Su Xiao, and it was this resilience in her that she took a fancy to. "The group is gradually decaying. Su Xiao has a positive enterprising spirit that is not in the group. Promoting her is like throwing a catfish into a school of fish." However, Su Xiao had just entered the group when she suffered a stroke from Huang Lilin, and was attacked by everyone. In the end, Zhao Xiankun tried his best to save her.
Xu feng (Zhang Tianyang), the assistant to the chairman, was not so lucky. He stepped on Xia Ming’s trap in the traitor incident and was eventually demoted to a real estate company. Why didn’t Zhao Xiankun protect him?
"xu feng’s heart began to waver when the internal audit couldn’t go on. Zhao Xiankun thought that he lacked grass-roots tempering and was not tough enough, so he took advantage of the situation and sent him to the real estate company. In fact, when you compare the state of xu feng’s internal audit and Su Shi’s dismissal, you will understand why Zhao Xiankun chose to protect Su Shi instead of xu feng. "
Halfway through the series, the hero and heroine came together, but some viewers still thought it was too sudden.
"It has been laid for a long time, and they have been restraining their emotions, just like bubbles in beer cans, which have been fermented for a long time. Huang Lilin opened the lid. "
Some viewers also questioned whether a character like Su Xiao really exists in reality.
"Of course there is, not just my friend. And recently I met some successful women in social intercourse, and they all said, I am Su Xiao. It can be seen that the character Su Xiao has the characteristics of a successful woman. "
Of course, Zhou Wei doesn’t want everyone to imitate Su Xiao’s style of doing things without analysis after watching The Ideal City. "You have to figure out your own strength first. This world is very realistic, and how much strength you will always say. Before entering Tiancheng, Su Xiao has upgraded her professional ability to the highest level, which is the emboldened spirit that she dares to say and do. "
Women and strength
Women’s awakening has been a hot topic in TV series in the last two years.
There are not many female characters in Ideal City, but each one is typical. Maria (act the role of) is the only woman in the play who can sit in the leadership meeting. She seems to be the opposite of Su Xiao and seems to be her future.
Her style is often criticized by her subordinates, but as can be seen from her memories, she once wanted to bring a new style to Yinghai Group like Su Xiao, but she failed to do so and sank together.
At the climax of the drama, when the management voted who could be the leader of the reform team, they would not have voted for Maria Su Xiao, but finally voted for her when they hesitated. Perhaps this kind of voting has some topics of reform, but in her expression, there is no swagger in the past, and perhaps she thinks of her original self.
Looking at reality, more women, or the general public, are Wu Hongmei (ornaments).
"This group of characters is also the relationship between side A and side B. Wu Hongmei and Su Xiao are senior sisters of the same major. Why are they completely different fates in the workplace? Comparing their lives, we will find that Wu Hongmei was frightened after going to the construction site for internship and switched to HR. This is a fork in the road for their careers. "
The construction site is a male-dominated world. Zhou Wei’s friend said that when she went to the construction site to take a shower, she had to let her male colleagues guard the door. At the construction site, you have to treat yourself like a man. Su Xiao did it, but Wu Hongmei couldn’t. She was not brave and firm enough. Therefore, although Wu Hongmei is eager to have Su Xiao’s success, her personality determines her fate. Most of the time, she can only be the background of others.
Under Zhou Wei Weibo, someone will always ask her, "When will Wu Hongmei blacken" or "When will Wu Hongmei counterattack". In her view, the role of Wu Hongmei has a long way to grow, and she is still in the stage of seeking outside — — Longing to be saved by a powerful man, only when she wakes up internally — — Rebuild her personality, and she can really stand up.
Unfinished to be continued
The story is not over.
In the drama "Ideal City", Zhou Wei left a lot of foreshadowing. Some original parties would spoil it in the barrage, while others began to fill in various possibilities. She planned to continue writing this story. Of course, many netizens asked her when to shoot "Ideal City 2".
"I work hard."