Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 12: Pulling Investment

The final result of the negotiation was that Chou Zhaolong's salary and the action director's salary remained unchanged, both at $100,000, for a total of $200,000; the crew also paid an additional $100,000 to hire martial arts actors, all of whom were from the Hong Clan, who were responsible for acting as stand-ins and playing supporting roles for villains.

Shi Lei could still accept such conditions. Martial artists were to be hired anyway, so no matter who they were, they could be hired even if they were paid $100,000.

The male protagonist has solved the problem and the rest are the other characters.

During this period, he has established a company called Taolin Film and Television Media Co., Ltd. (the studio was renamed Shi Lei Studio for accounting purposes). The reason for this name is simple. He likes to eat peaches. Peaches are sweet, tender and juicy. Who doesn't like them?
Taolin Film and Television Media has rented a floor in an office building near Beijing Film Academy (one of the rooms is the studio office). It is temporarily managed by Deng Hongxu and is currently slowly recruiting people.

The company has four contracted artists, two of whom are female artists. One is Ying Bao, who is currently attending an acting training class and will be admitted to the Beijing Film Academy's higher vocational class next year; the other is Dong Xuan, who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy's undergraduate acting department in 00 and is currently filming "Snow Goddess Dragon" in Hengdian.

There are two male artists, one is Zhang Songwen and the other is Wang Jinsong.

The main characters of "No One in View" are: the male protagonist Cheng Xiazi, the female protagonist Ni Yan, the second male protagonist Yuwen Ying, the third male protagonist He Qiufeng, and the second female protagonist Qin Niang.

Shi Lei planned to give the role of Female Lead to Dong Xuan, the role of Male Lead to Zhang Songwen, and the role of Male Lead to Wang Jinsong. The remaining role of Female Lead had to be cast externally, so he immediately asked Deng Hongxu to issue an announcement for casting for his daughter.

He took the script to China Film Studio.

China Film Group had previously expressed its willingness to invest in "No One in My Eyes", but was rejected by Shi Lei on the grounds that the project had not officially started. Now that the casting has begun, it is natural for me to go to China Film Group.

I drove the studio's Wuling Hongguang to China Film Group. This Wuling Hongguang was bought when filming "Empty Room". The reason for buying the Wuling Hongguang is that it can carry seven people and can also pull some filming props.

The car's ability to climb hills and go off-road is very suitable for him who might have to drive in the wild.

The main reason was that I didn’t have much money at the time, so I bought a Wuling Hongguang in the spirit of saving as much as possible.

In the China Film Office Building, the person who met with Shi Lei was Han Sanpin.

"Mr. Han, how can we trouble you to come here?" Shi Lei said with an expression of fear and trepidation.

Han Sanpin is the vice chairman and deputy general manager of China Film Corporation. Although he is only the deputy, the general manager is about to retire, and Han Sanpin does all the real work.

If it were before, he would be ecstatic, but after successfully winning the three major awards, he only respected Han Sanpin for his position in China Film.

He has never received any favor from Han Sanpin, so don't expect him to do anything.

He was still influenced by the short videos of later generations. He had a bit of the attitude of "I am the most powerful in the world", "If I need your help, we'll be good friends. If I don't need you, don't bother me", and "I'll do whatever you are paid for".

Of course, he is the boss of a company now, so he cannot be so willful. He still needs to restrain himself and attend valuable social events.

A friendly discussion with the vice president of China Film Group Corporation is a valuable social interaction.

In the China Film Office Building, I walked into an office under the guidance of a receptionist.

Han Sanpin sat behind his desk and gestured for Shi Lei to sit down. After Shi Lei sat down, he got straight to the point and asked, "With an investment of 10 million US dollars, where and how are you going to shoot it?"

When talking about 10 million US dollars, Shi Lei's face turned red. If it was someone else, he would readily admit it, but it was better to tell the truth to Han Sanpin.

"Boss Han, this is what happened. Of the $800 million for No Man's Land, I took $200 million as the producer, director, and screenwriter. The actual production cost was only $ million."

"Don't worry, I will pay taxes on the $800 million."

In order to pay less taxes, he would use the studio to pay taxes legally.

He is not a saint, he will not pay less tax, and he will not feel ashamed to legally avoid tax. A few people create 90% of the world's evil, why should he, an ordinary person, share the 90% of the evil? Others' tax evasion is not a reason for him to pay more tax. As long as it is legal, he will legally avoid tax.

Han Sanpin was stunned, he really thought that "Arrogant" was a big production. Although it was inappropriate for Shi Lei, a new director, to shoot a big-budget movie, but since Shi Lei won the Silver Lion Award, it was understandable that he was a little inflated.

He really didn't expect that "No One in My Eyes" was so watered down.

"Mr. Han, China Film can invest $10 and hold % of the shares." Shi Lei continued.

Han Sanpin finally came to his senses and pointed at Shi Lei and said angrily: "You! You don't learn the good things, but learn the bad things."

"Mr. Han, I have no choice. If I don't expand the account, foreign countries will not pay too high a price for the copyright." Shi Lei explained.

Han Sanpin frowned, looked at Shi Lei and said, "Can't you really make "No One in My Eyes" bigger? If the investment is not enough, I will find a way."

Shi Lei spread his hands and said helplessly: "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't. First of all, the script itself has limitations, and the scene won't be as big as "Hero"."

"Secondly, if we really want to make it big, we have to invite Jet Li to star in it. His current salary is $1000 million. To match Jet Li's status, we need to invite Michelle Yeoh to be the female lead, and she will cost at least $350 million. I am a winner of the three Silver Lion Awards, and the international standard for my commercial film director's fee is $500 million. Add in the salaries of other actors, and the cost is already $2000 million."

"I'm being honest, please don't mind. With such a high cost, it's easy to lose money. As a result, apart from giving money to Li Lianjie and others, it doesn't have much practical significance."

"No, it makes sense. The domestic film market is sluggish and needs blockbusters to stimulate the market." Han Sanpin knew that Shi Lei was right, but he still wanted to expand.

"Director Han, to tell you the truth, my directing ability is not enough to control a blockbuster, so I dare not shoot a blockbuster. The main purpose of shooting "No One" is to gain experience."

In fact, his real thought was that Han Sanpin was putting the cart before the horse. Only movies with big scenes like Heroes could be considered blockbusters, while movies that relied on actors' pay were not considered blockbusters.

According to his idea, actors' pay cannot exceed 40% of the total production cost, otherwise the quality of the film will be questionable.

Many TV dramas in later generations violated this unspoken rule, and the TV dramas produced had three-cent special effects. I don’t know how many dramas were ruined because of this.

As for movies, except for youth films and romance films, movies that violate this rule will fail directly, and they are just there to give money to the leading actors and the crew.

Of course, all this is what he, an ordinary person, thinks. For some people, it doesn’t matter whether the movie makes money or not, as long as it costs a lot of money.

Han Sanpin looked at Shi Lei with a frown in thought. What Shi Lei said was exactly what he was worried about. With Shi Lei's experience, he could not handle an investment that was too huge.

After a moment of silence, Han Sanpin sighed and said, "I am anxious. Let's forget about it this time. Let's just take the cost as it is! I will let the people below talk to you about the specific investment from China Film Group."

"I understand." Shi Lei nodded in response.

An hour later, Shi Lei walked out of the office contentedly.

After negotiating with a manager for an hour, an investment agreement was reached. China Film invested 200 million US dollars, accounting for 10%. The promotion and marketing of the film was handed over to China Film, with a promotion and marketing fee of 180 million US dollars.

Why would a movie's marketing costs need $180 million these days? Those who understand the meaning will understand.

I drove a Wuling Hongguang back to the company and had just parked the car in the underground parking lot when I saw a Mercedes-Benz parked in the company's parking area.

Which big shot is visiting?

He signed an agreement with the property management that anyone coming to Taolin Film and Television would be arranged to stay in this parking lot, and the cost would be borne by Taolin Film and Television.

(End of this chapter)