Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 70: Beginning of the Grand Plan
"300 Spartans" must be filmed, but Shi Lei also needs to negotiate the terms.

As for whether the film would be snatched away by Zack Snyder during the negotiation process, he was not worried at all.

First of all, he is a qualified action film director, and secondly, he is a qualified art film director. With these two advantages, he is far superior to Zack Snyder. Unless it is certain that the negotiations have failed, Warner will not look for Zack Snyder during the negotiations.

Now he just had to wait patiently.

The most important thing right now is to win the prize.

Shi Lei called Hans and asked, "Hans, can I make the purchase now?"

"We can start now. Columbia has a dedicated public relations team." Hans gave an affirmative answer.

As one of the six major film companies that can participate in film ratings, Columbia naturally has a professional public relations team.

In fact, MGM is the best at winning awards in Hollywood, but MGM was already heavily in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy. In February 05, Sony officially began negotiations with MGM to prepare for the acquisition.

MGM doesn't have the energy to win any awards.

Shi Lei raised his lips and said, "I will personally spend 500 million US dollars on public relations. Can you Colombians also spend some?"

"Colombia will also contribute 500 million US dollars." Hans gave a number without much hesitation.

"Very good, 1000 million US dollars is enough for the initial use. If it is still not enough, remember to call me and I will add more." Shi Lei paused and repeated: "Hans, if the money is not enough, please call me. This is very important to me."

"Shi, I understand. I will definitely let the company do its best."

After hanging up the phone with Hans, Shi Lei breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he expected, Columbia was willing to help with the award-winning film. Million Dollar Baby was sure to win the award. It might not be as grand as in the past, but it should be no problem for the film to win the award.

Sitting back at his desk, Shi Lei began to write the script for "300 Spartans".

The office door opened and Liu Yan walked in.

"Boss, we've calculated Shuimitao Films' revenue for last year." Liu Yan flipped open a folder and continued, "The box office revenue for The Purge and Insidious hasn't arrived yet. Last year's revenue was mainly from the box office and disc sales of Saw..."

"Just tell me how much money is in the account." Shi Lei interrupted Liu Yan.

Liu Yan glanced at the account and said, "After paying taxes, the balance on Shuimi Tao's account is 5685 million US dollars."

Wow, the Saw disc sales are pretty good!

"Has the accounting been done? Are there any problems with Manager Shelda Mayo?" Shi Lei asked.

Shelda Mayo is the manager who helps him manage Peach Films. North Americans have a habit of bullying foreigners, and he is worried that he is being cheated.

"The accounting team hired a professional team from North America, as well as our own accounting supervision. Manager Shelda Mayo embezzled $200 million."

"Oh? Only two million dollars? Are you sure you have found out all of them?" Shi Lei asked.

“The team we hired is one of the most professional teams in North America.”

Shi Lei knocked on the table and said, "Okay, let's just say 200 million dollars! Go warn Sheldon Mayo. Don't tell him the exact amount, but tell him that if it happens again, he will be fired. Also, give bonuses to the entire company. You decide how much, just a little higher than other Hollywood companies."

North America now looks down on foreigners and always wants to bully them. Changing to another country may not necessarily be better than this one.

As long as the amount of corruption is not large, he can accept it.

In fact, let alone the peaches in North America, there are also many employees who make mistakes in Taolin Films in China. Whether it is domestic or foreign, he has to discipline them. He only gives one chance. If they don't listen to the advice, they will be fired directly.

Some people may say that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish, but that doesn’t work for him. The core competitiveness of both Shuimitao Film and Television and Taolin Film and Television lies in his scripts.

No matter which of the two companies is missing, the impact will not be significant.

He only needs to ensure that the TV series and movies are shot according to the script, and the company will prosper and will not stagnate because of a certain executive.

Therefore, the director who works with the company is more important than the company’s executives.

Liu Yan nodded and said, "Boss, I know what to do. Do you have any other instructions?"

When Shi Lei heard this, a plan came to his mind. Now Shuimitao had more than 5000 million US dollars in its account. With the subsequent income from "The Purge" and "Insidious", the "Kung Fu Panda" project could be launched.

He not only wants to make the animation "Kung Fu Panda", but also use it to train domestic technical personnel to develop both animation production and special effects production.

So as to usher in the era of domestic 3D animation and special effects blockbusters in the future.

To be honest, we can’t beat Dongying in 2D animation, so we might as well go straight into the 3D animation era.

The animation cycle in Hollywood is 2 years. He decided to spend 3 years purchasing equipment and software, recruiting Hollywood special effects and animation technicians, setting up an animation company, and producing Kung Fu Panda at the same time. He hoped that Kung Fu Panda could be released in 09, which would be a success.

No, the pattern is still too small. The special effects company should be established at the same time. Some equipment and software, special effects and animation are common.

Shi Lei called several universities including Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, and Shanghai Theatre Academy, talked about his plans with them, and asked them for teachers and students in this area.

There are many universities in China that offer animation and special effects majors.

After talking with domestic universities, Shi Lei instructed Liu Yan: "Liu Yan, spread the news about the production of the animated film "Kung Fu Panda" and send people to poach animation and special effects production personnel in North America."

"Produce animation? Boss, the investment is too big and the risk is too great!" Liu Yan was shocked.

The reason why Hollywood dares to invest over 100 million US dollars in animation production is that the way animation makes money is not just from the box office, but also from TV station and network copyright fees, the DVD market, and most importantly, the animation derivative market.

North America has strict intellectual property protection for animation peripherals and derivative products, so the profits of a movie will be maximized. Even if the animation fails at the box office, there will still be good profits in the licensing of derivative products. The income from various peripherals, copyright fees, theme parks, theme activities, etc. sometimes even exceeds the movie box office by a lot.

In China, there is no guarantee that there will be no pirated copies of movies during their release period, not to mention the animation peripheral and derivative product market.

So the risk of making Kung Fu Panda was really huge.

Suddenly, Liu Yan had an idea and asked, "Boss, should we sign a cooperation contract with Disney to develop the animation derivative market?"

Shi Lei shook his head without even thinking about it: "Other animations can be considered, but Kung Fu Panda is really not good enough!"

"The derivatives market cannot be rushed. We can always develop it slowly."

The key to developing the derivatives market is to crack down on piracy, and the key to cracking down on piracy is to provide high quality products at low prices.

As long as the price is right, many people are willing to buy genuine products.

As the country pays more and more attention to copyright, cracks down on piracy more and more forcefully, and the laws become more sound, the derivative market will get better and better.

(End of this chapter)