The Best Director

In 1998, at the age of just 18, Wang Yang produced ‘Paranormal Activity’ for $10,000 US Dollars. Using innovative viral marketing on the internet and distributed by Lionsgate, it grossed $323 million globally, astonishing the world; the following Halloween, without the wunderkind Yang, ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ was made with a budget of $10 million and ultimately earned $35.26 million at the North American box office and $57.73 million worldwide. In fact, Lionsgate made a little profit, but the terrible reviews and rapidly declining box office trend made them hesitate to make further moves. That same year, Wang Yang released ‘High School Musical,’ igniting yet another craze at the end of the world.

In recent years, there has been continuous rumor in the market that Lionsgate was going to produce ‘Paranormal Activity 3.’ With delays over time and as Wang Yang’s fame and achievements grew higher, the once sinking ship’s signboard became increasingly valuable. Finally, according to Yahoo Entertainment’s report, ‘Paranormal Activity’ is back! The king of horror, Wang Yang, is back!

This piece of news was unanimously confirmed by Lionsgate Films, Flame Films, and Wang Yang’s management team. Lionsgate’s president Jon Feltheimer expressed his excitement: “It’s hard to describe my current feelings with words, he’s given us a chance to make amends, and we’re just too happy! Yang will write the script for ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ and serve as its producer. Lionsgate already has a reason to celebrate.”

Michael Parsonneck, the head manager of Lionsgate’s production department, reportedly received an invitation from the wunderkind Wang to serve as the executive producer for ‘Paranormal Activity 3.’ He was also very pleased and told the Los Angeles Times: “It’s like really getting a pie from the sky! Very, very delicious! Wang Yang’s return will definitely revitalise ‘Paranormal Activity.’ I know he has had a great, complete idea for a long time. This story should have met with everyone years ago. Our decision back then was too hasty, causing nearly a destruction of the series, thank goodness it can now be salvaged.”

“Yes, Yang will be involved in the production of ‘Paranormal Activity 3,\'” Wang Yang’s longtime spokesperson, Ms. Bedes Bill, disclosed to the media: “He is still very thankful for Lionsgate’s recognition back in the day, and over the years he has always been able to hear the voices of fans saying ‘come back to horror movies.’ He doesn’t want to see ‘Paranormal Activity’ messed up again, because it has an extraordinary significance for him, so he decided to clean up this house personally.”

When asked by the media if the release in April next year would be too hasty, both Lionsgate Flame and Bedes Bill said: “Time is not tight, ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ has been brewing for many years, and we are very confident about it.”

Even though he is not directing, but writing and producing, the fact that Wang Yang took charge of ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ shocked many horror movie fans, those who participated in or suffered from the “Paranormal Craze” years ago, stirring up ripples in their sea of memories.

“Welcome Wang Yang back to the ranks of horror films! Looking forward to another grand horror feast!” netizen Guillermo was very anticipatory, and CharlyS7 said, “This news is shocking! I was only 13 in ’98, scared half to death, and now I’m 19! Welcome back, Wang Yang!” Evelyn said in shock, “Yang is making Supernatural Phenomenon again? Oh oh oh oh oh, this is the worst news I’ve heard! I don’t want to be scared into the hospital again!” Some netizens, like Jaymundo, were quite skeptical, “Not great, is there really a need to shoot ‘Paranormal Activity’ anymore?” …

While some fans are exceptionally excited, there are also doubts and pessimism, and the media generally agree with the latter. After so many years, picking up ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ again is not wise. The question is “why”? It’s not surprising Lionsgate wants to produce–for business, for money; but why does Wang Yang want to immerse himself in this industrialized film factory again? Just out of nostalgia and extraordinary significance? Yet, the media tend to think he wants to cash in, start reheating cold leftovers, which seems to prove once more his spiritual energy is gone.

The New York Observer questioned this: “‘Paranormal Activity’ series has nothing profound or touching, even from a commercial horror film standpoint it has significant flaws, one can’t help but wonder, what is Wang Yang thinking?”

Actually, this wasn’t the first time Wang Yang served as a writer, producer, or planner for projects he didn’t direct personally. Before this, he had different roles in “High School Musical 2,” “High School Musical 3,” “Sweetheart,” “Ice Age,” and “Furious Cars.” Next year, there would be “Kung Fu Panda,” “Brokeback Mountain,” and “Assassin’s Creed,” and now he had added “Paranormal Activity 3” to the list. Different responsibilities earned him different treatment among film distributors, media, and fans; for example, whether “Brokeback Mountain” succeeded or failed, it was seen as a matter of investment insight, and he wasn’t greatly associated with its creative aspects; however, he was directly responsible for “Sweetheart” and “Furious Cars.”

When Steven Spielberg was younger, he was equally fervent. In 1985 he took on the role of Executive Producer for “Out of This World,” “Three-step Dance,” “Back to the Future,” and was the writer for “7 Faces of Dr. Lao.” He directed and produced “The Color Purple,” and was the lead creator of NBC TV series “Amazing Stories” Season One, writing and directing two episodes throughout; for works set for 2005, it was confirmed that he would produce DreamWorks’ miniseries “Into the West,” be Executive Producer of the ongoing “Memoirs of a Geisha,” produce “The Legend of Zorro,” direct “War of the Worlds,” and direct and produce “Munich.”

Back when “Three-step Dance” and “Out of This World” were made, no blame would fall on him whether they tanked or not. However, any fruits from “Jurassic Park 3,” which he produced in 2001, would surely go into Spielberg’s pocket.

“Paranormal Activity” struck a nerve with the media and the public, unlike “High School Musical” or “The Hangover”; it was Wang Yang’s first famous work! Now that he was taking over “Paranormal Activity 3,” he had to do something different, right? Why come back otherwise? Nonetheless, Wang Yang’s idea was quite straightforward—exactly what Bedes Bill had said—his goal was to make “Paranormal Activity 3” a horror film beloved by the audience.

If he had to attend award seasons this year, go to press conferences, award ceremonies, and do various promotional work, Wang Yang wouldn’t have that much time. But he wasn’t participating this year. He understood the uniqueness of “Paranormal Activity,” so unlike with “Brokeback Mountain,” where just his name as a planner sufficed, he demanded more executive power as a producer and took over more production matters. Lionsgate, of course, warmly applauded this, as Jon Feil and others probably dreamed of him taking over the director’s microphone.

“Paranormal Activity 3” didn’t require a post-production score, its setting was just one big house, there was no need for any custom-set props or scenery, and one could even do without a costume designer because dressing as average people do in their daily lives provided a more authentic feel. So long as the script was good, a month was more than enough to comfortably prepare everything; a month to shoot casually; two months for post-production editing was more than sufficient, and scheduling for an April release the following year was no problem at all, considering the production cycle for the first six installments of Lionsgate’s “Saw” series averaged nine weeks.

For “Paranormal Activity,” Wang Yang had watched countless horror films from the past and future in one go, and he indeed had many ideas to scare people. Due to influences of running time, character stories, and other factors, not all were used; his recent craze for scaring and tricking people had also bred many new ideas. The script for “Paranormal Activity 3” wasn’t difficult to produce—since mockumentary style doesn’t require an overly complicated story or dialogue, the key lay in the subtle techniques of mystifying, haunting, and creating a psychological atmosphere, inducing empathy, transferring feelings… teasing the audience’s thrill nerves, making them scare themselves, and then delivering a knockout punch at just the right moment.

Since it was to become a series, naturally there had to be a connection between the films. The biggest failure of “Paranormal Activity 2” wasn’t moving the setting to an office, but writing a new story with characters unrelated to the first film, causing most fans to lose interest. “Paranormal Activity” had only two characters, and with the male lead dead and the female lead enthralled by an evil spirit and missing at the end, it seemed difficult to progress—so why not move backward along the timeline instead? That’s the usual business approach—if a sequel couldn’t be made, then make a prequel.

Why did the female lead become haunted by a ghost? Why was she so interested in these supernatural phenomena? Was there a story before this? Had there been deaths before? This time, it was about the childhood experiences of the female lead, with a family consisting of a mom, a dad, and children.

For the role of the young “Rachel McAdams,” Wang Yang was ready to invite Chloe Moretz to play the part, where she could freely showcase her talent for being startled. The rest of the main cast and all the actors would be unknowns, as high-profile individuals could affect the authenticity of the mock-documentary. Horror was both Lionsgate’s and Wang Yang’s forte, so there was no worry about assembling the crew. The Executive Producer, Michael Parsonnecke, would handle these tasks; only the choice of director needed careful consideration.

Wang Yang had promised to deliver the script to the crew by mid-December, by which time “Paranormal Activity 3,” once the director was confirmed, would be ready for a month of preparations. The shooting would begin in mid-January of next year, wrapping up all work before early April and set for release as scheduled after review and copy-making.

Taking over “Paranormal Activity 3” brought a major change: Wang Yang temporarily lacked the free time to “stockpile videos.” This secretive task was continued by Jessica, who declined offers for “Paranormal Activity 3” and other films while waiting to give birth. More people became victims. This wasn’t the reason IT industry rumors suggested Wang Yang intended to reorganize the video blogging site Showyourself; it was news released by the new company itself, announcing that the brand-new video blogging sharing site YouTube was about to go live.

It was heard that Wang Yang, together with three former PayPal employees, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, had set up this new site without adopting a strategy to upgrade Showyourself. YouTube continued the concept of a video sharing site, but made it more convenient and quicker for users to upload videos, and also introduced brand-new settings like “zero moderation filtering.” With servers ensured to run smoothly, it was bound to make each user happily build a new online home, a new haven for video sharing.

This move caught giants like Yahoo and Google somewhat off-guard, but the industry news didn’t resonate as much as “Magic Yang Takes Over ‘Paranormal Activity 3.\'” It hardly grabbed anyone’s attention; after all, video blogging sharing sites weren’t new to the scene. Would transforming Showyourself into YouTube actually work? It was too naive. Magic Yang was Hollywood’s Magic Yang, not Silicon Valley’s.

One of the pioneers of online video and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, mercilessly blasted the idea. Cuban has always held a disdainful attitude towards video sharing, ridiculing anyone who thought “video sharing sites” had great potential as fools. This time on his personal blog he said, “Wang Yang must be crazy, without a doubt that’s the case, he should know best this is a losing business. There are only two types of videos on video sharing sites: one is user-generated content, do you really want to spend advertising dollars on an old woman watching a video of her little nephew dancing?”

“Someone produces something really great, and what happens? 60,000 viewers?” After a lengthy mockery, Mark Cuban concluded that sites like Showyourself had limited reach, especially for user-generated content. He also warned advertisers, “Don’t waste too much money on Showyourself, or YouTube, or any other video sharing site for so-called viral marketing. In fact, 99% of the budget for viral marketing is wasted. It’s difficult to plan and gain attention; if it’s so difficult, what’s the point of viral marketing? Don’t be fooled by one or two unique successes.”

Mark Cuban strongly recommended advertising on high-definition television shows, asserting that a TV ad was worth more than any viral marketing. He added, “The second type of video is copyrighted material. YouTube’s zero moderation filter policy indicates they will attract users with it, allowing the circulation of unauthorized video content, but they will soon face great trouble, disappearing amid countless copyright lawsuits. Isn’t that idiotic?”

The about-to-be-launched YouTube official website explained that the zero moderation filter was for user convenience, a process of review after the fact, just as a court won’t assume someone is guilty before they are convicted.

In contrast, Wang Yang’s response on his Blogger account was much simpler and more forceful, “Mark Cuban, I don’t want to say much else, but if someone creates something truly amazing and attracts 600,000 or 6 million viewers? By Thanksgiving 2006, if there is a video on YouTube with over ten million hits within a month, you’ll kiss a donkey’s butt and upload the video to YouTube; if not, I’ll kiss a donkey’s butt and upload the video to YouTube, creating this history. How about that? If you don’t dare accept this challenge then shut up! And if you think ten million is too little, we can negotiate shorter time or more hits.”

“When some guy at the Mavericks decided not to put effort into keeping Steve Nash, I knew things were going to turn sour.” Finally, on the subject of the NBA, Wang Yang gave Mark Cuban another friendly reminder, “Then I heard recently that the same person plans to kick out Don Nelson, and I knew this guy was beyond help. Originally, Steve Nash + Dirk Nowitzki + Michael Finley + Don Nelson could have won a championship in a few years. Are you planning on tanking now? You’ve ruined the Mavericks, and everyone’s years of hard work. Cuban, do you know who I am talking about? You should fire him.”

In the NBA circles, it’s well known that Magic Yang is an ardent fan of the Warriors Team and greatly admires the 88-94 Warriors’ “mad scientist” coach Don Nelson. Since arriving at the Mavericks in ’97, Nelson began to build his championship team, eyeing potential newcomers including the Chinese player Wang Zhizhi, and later building the team around the core lineup known as “the big three,” Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, and Michael Finley. After Mark Cuban purchased the Mavericks, he quickly ran out of patience, first letting Steve Nash go this summer, who dejectedly returned to the Phoenix Suns, where he first entered the NBA. Cuban then came into conflict with Don Nelson, who was dissatisfied with this decision. Now rumors were that Nelson might resign at any moment. The person Wang Yang insisted the Mavericks needed to fire was none other than Mark Cuban himself.

The exchange of barbs suddenly escalated, and the excited media and public knew things were about to get interesting. Kissing a donkey’s butt and uploading it to YouTube? While the mischief-makers and a huge number of Magic Yang’s fans were mocking and challenging Cuban on his blog and other places with calls of “Coward,” “Accept it!” “Set conditions,” Cuban had yet to respond to the challenge.

Time also moved into late November, and the footsteps of Thanksgiving were gradually approaching. Sales of turkeys and other ingredients soared, while the newly released action blockbuster “National Treasure” took the weekend box office champion of November 19-21 with a gross of 35.14 million. TV series such as “Prison Break” and “The Big Bang Theory” would soon enter their winter hiatus, as Firebrand Films was vigorously promoting the upcoming releases of “Mr. Hughes 2” and “Crash”; “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” had reached the production stage of selecting a host and setting up the filming stage; Wang Yang’s main task every day was editing “Firefly”, and in the evenings, he found time to tinker with the script for “Paranormal Activity 3”.

Every day was happy and busy, but when the calendar flipped to November 25th, all work was set aside for Thanksgiving had arrived, as well as Wang Yang and Jessica’s 6th anniversary of their relationship, 1998-2004.

“I’m a bit nervous,” Wang Yang said, and at his words, the dining room burst into a warm chorus of laughter, followed by Jessica’s crisp voice, “Come on!”

In Los Angeles, a resplendent and bustling night had descended. The spacious and bright dining room was filled with the atmosphere of a Thanksgiving feast, with a long wooden dining table laid with delicious food and red wine. Wang Yang’s parents, Jessica, Joshua, and the Alba couple were seated around the table, and Danny stood by Wang Yang, who, starting from this year, officially took on the role of “head of the household”, not only sitting at the chief’s position but also taking on the task of carving the turkey from now on.

“Wow”, the golden-brown turkey, glistening with oil, was placed on the upper left side of the table, releasing wafts of meaty aroma. Wang Yang held a carving knife in his right hand and a fork in his left, ready to start sawing into the turkey’s belly area. His parents, in-laws, wife, and brother sitting beside him, were all smiling at him, silently offering encouragement. Wang Yang felt an unprecedented sense of happiness, he couldn’t help but smile and forcefully sliced down, beginning the task of distributing turkey to his family, “This turkey is really big; it should be enough for us all.” As he said this, he winked at Jessica, who smiled and gently nudged his foot.

Seeing him complete this honorable moment, everyone laughed and started talking. Wang Yang’s mother said, “If we can’t finish it, you eat more.” Wang Yang’s father called out, “Son, no no no! Don’t give me the turkey’s butt.” Wang Yang replied, “Who said it’s for you? The butt is for Danny.” Joshua said, “Yang, give me that turkey leg, a whole one, I can definitely finish it.” Wang Yang asked, “Do you want the butt? Danny said he’d let you have it.” Kathy said, “I’ll be good with a few slices of the belly meat, tonight’s Chinese food is too delicious.” Wang Yang’s mother expressed her gratitude, and Wang Yang added, “Ok, how about Mark?” Mark Alba said, “I can eat a lot more.”…

There was already a pile of turkey meat on the plates, Jessica picked up a piece and began chewing, smiling as she watched them talk, how nice it would be to have a little baby too.

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PS: Still asking for monthly tickets!! (