Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 14 The one you have been waiting for has finally arrived
After exchanging a few words with Shi Lei, Yang Mi said goodbye and left.

As soon as she left Taolin Film and Television, she showed a sly smile.

She didn't plan to come over right away. She wanted to wait and see. She felt that it was too risky for Shi Lei to spend 10 million US dollars on filming a movie.

If things go wrong, Taolin Film and Television will never recover.

Although Shi Lei won the three major Silver Lion Awards, art films are different from commercial films.

Being able to make art films does not necessarily mean being able to make commercial films. There are some domestic directors who have won the three major awards, but few of them have proven themselves in commercial films.

So she wanted to wait and see, but didn't want to lose the initiative, so she came over to build relationships, first testing whether Shi Lei had any feelings for her, and then negotiate her intention to change jobs.

If Shi Lei fails, Taolin Film and Television will naturally not have the money to poach her. If Shi Lei succeeds, she will switch jobs.

Rong Xinda is good at TV dramas, but he is even better at movies, so it’s worth it to change jobs.

It would be better if she hadn’t signed the contract. If she hadn’t signed the contract, her choices would be freer and easier.

After seeing Yang Mi off, a mother and daughter came to visit the next day.

Liu Xiaoli directly asked to meet with Shi Lei, but Shi Lei refused on the grounds that he was busy with work and arranged for Deng Hongxu to talk to Liu Xiaoli.

The condition offered by Taolin Film and Television was that Liu Yifei signed a contract with Taolin Film and Television, and as long as she signed the contract, Liu Yifei would play the second female lead.

Liu Xiaoli’s request was to shoot first and then sign the contract.

Deng Hongxu said that he could make concessions on the artist contract, and at one point he offered a 30:70 split, but Liu Xiaoli still disagreed to sign the contract before filming.

After two hours of negotiations, neither side was willing to give up their bottom line and the negotiations ultimately failed.

Shi Lei had anticipated this. In her previous life, Liu Xiaoli talked to Huayi and said that Liu Yifei would sign a contract with Huayi after filming "The Forbidden Kingdom", but she regretted it afterwards.

The current level of Taolin Film and Television cannot compare with Huayi in 08. They can't even make a punctuation mark in terms of shooting first and then signing the contract.

After seeing Liu Xiaoli off, the person Shi Lei was waiting for finally arrived.

In the reception room, Shi Lei personally met with Liu Tao. In her previous life, Liu Tao retired from the entertainment industry at the peak of her career, but returned two years later and is still a first-line star.

The most admirable thing is that she helped someone pay off a debt of 400 million yuan in four years. No matter what the reason was, helping someone pay off a debt of 400 million yuan demonstrated her superb ability to make money.

Such an actress who can make money is worthy of the company's full training. It is a pity not to bring Liu Tao into the company.

He likes this kind of workers the most.

"The artist contract signed by the company is 20:80 split, 20% for you and 80% for the company. This split ratio can be changed every two years. The more famous you are, the higher your share will be. The company guarantees to arrange one movie and one TV series for you every year, and the movies and TV series must be the company's key projects. As long as you sign the contract for the second female lead in 'No One's Back', the role will be yours." Shi Lei went straight to the point and stated his conditions.

Liu Tao looked at Shi Lei in surprise. She was invited to interview for the second female lead in "No One Wants To Be Desperate". How come she was suddenly signed to a company?
But the conditions are unusually good. This is not a rookie contract, but she has the same concerns as everyone else.

"Director Shi, I'm here to audition for the second female lead in "No One Wants to Be Desperate"."

"In this way, you can still play the second female lead in 'No One'. We can add an additional clause at the end of the contract. As long as the movie 'No One' does not lose money, your artist contract with Taolin Film and Television will take effect immediately. If the movie loses money, the artist contract will be invalid." Shi Lei continued to increase the bargaining chips.

Liu Tao was ecstatic. This condition was exactly what she wanted. However, she did not agree immediately. Instead, she restrained her joy and asked with a complicated expression, "What did Director Shi value about me? Why did you offer me such a condition?"

Shi Lei said with a serious expression: "I'm telling you the truth. Don't think I'm frivolous. I'm attracted by your beauty and acting skills. With your beauty, you can play both ancient costumes and modern urban roles. Your acting skills are far superior to most female stars of the same age. You have the conditions to become a top star in the entertainment industry." After a pause, Shi Lei added solemnly: "Don't worry, the company will not force you to do anything outside the scope of being an artist. This can be written into the contract. If anything happens to force you, the contract will automatically become invalid."

Liu Tao stared at Shi Lei's face, her heart in turmoil. She did not think that Shi Lei's evaluation of her was frivolous. When a company signs an artist contract with you, it of course values ​​your appearance or acting skills. This is normal. But was Shi Lei exaggerating? Was she really that good?
But she was still very happy in her heart, because everyone likes to hear nice words.

Moreover, Shi Lei promised that the company would not force her to do anything outside the scope of an artist. This condition is very difficult and can be said to be rare.

When she first entered the entertainment industry, she had received several such hints. Shi Lei promised not to force her. This was a good thing that was out of this world, and she couldn't refuse.

"Okay, I agree." As soon as she agreed, she felt hot all over and her skin turned red.

"Very good, it's a pleasure working with you." Shi Lei extended his hand.

Liu Tao and Shi Lei shook hands lightly and then pulled away.

An hour later, Liu Tao signed the agreement and could no longer conceal her joy. She was so happy that she looked very happy. This was the best thing that had ever happened to her since her debut. She was so excited that she couldn't calm down for a long time. She felt like she was floating in the clouds.

There are only a few people in the entire entertainment industry who have the qualifications to star in a movie worth tens of millions of dollars.

No matter what the final outcome of "No One" is, she will not lose out!

In the next few days, Shi Lei prepared for "No One" while selectively receiving various guests.

First of all, it was the people from Qingying Studio. Shi Lei did not hide it and revealed his operation. This operation scared the person in charge of Qingying Studio. After many days of negotiation.

The filming equipment was rented from Qingying Studio at a fee of US$100 million, which means that Qingying Studio's investment of US$5 million accounted for %.

The equipment rental fee of 100 million US dollars is already very high. This is the limit of Shi Lei's return to Qing Film Studio. If it is higher, Qing Film Studio will have to pay real money.

Qingying Studio was quite satisfied with this. The last time it invested in Shi Lei, it made fifteen times the profit. This time, it only rented the equipment and it accounted for 5%, which was not bad. As for investing real money in "No One", Qingying Studio was also worried about Shi Lei's ability to shoot commercial films and was reluctant to invest. After all, the unit was US dollars, and Qingying Studio did not want to take risks. The role of Qingying Studio was to support students and teachers in making movies, not to take risks with funds.

Except for Qingying Studio, Shi Lei rejected the investment intentions of other companies.

The final result is that Shi Lei Studio's investment accounts for 80% with the remuneration of directors, screenwriters and producers, China Film accounts for 10%, Qingdao Film Studio accounts for 5%, and Taolin Film and Television accounts for 5%.

Although Shi Lei Studio has the largest share, the copyright of the film is owned by Taolin Film and Television.

----

On October 10, the total box office of "Empty Room" was 25 million.

According to the current profit-sharing model, the producer gets 38% of the profit.

The amount of money that went into the studio's account was 275.5 million. Based on the cost of 200 million, it was not a loss, but this was the profit made after winning the award.

If it hadn't won the award, the domestic box office would definitely not be so high. This movie would have lost money relying solely on the domestic box office. There's nothing we can do about the overall poor performance of the film industry.

Shi Lei focused his energy on the preparation of "Arrogant".

On the afternoon of December 12, Shi Lei took Ning Hao to attend the premiere of "Hero".

The premiere was held in the screening hall on the third floor of the Great Hall of the People. More than 600 media outlets from home and abroad attended this grand global premiere. Phoenix TV's leading actress Lu Yu served as the emcee of the premiere, making it an unprecedented event.

(End of this chapter)