The King of Huayu Science Fiction

Chapter 20 Difficult Negotiations with Netflix
In the reception room, Chen Jingxing saw the guests representing Netflix.

A middle-aged man in a neat suit, with the air of a senior businessman.

After introducing themselves, the two sides sat down respectively.

"Netflix has currently covered 46 countries around the world, and the total number of users has exceeded 2200 million. If we can obtain the overseas copyright of the movie "Comet", Mr. Chen, your movie will be more than 2200 million overseas. Users see, please note that this number is still growing at a high speed."

To be honest, it was beyond Chen Jingxing's expectation that Netflix came to the door. At this time, the scale of this global streaming media giant can be said to have surpassed the four major video websites in China. If this deal is reached, "Comet" will become the first movie purchased by Netflix. A Huaguo film copyright.

Although the number of Netflix users does not seem to be large, the operating models of Netflix and the four major domestic platforms are different. Netflix’s current 2200 million users are all paying users, and most of them are paying users in the United States. The total number of paying users of the four major video platforms is less than a fraction of others. Of course, domestic video paying users are also growing rapidly.

Not to mention that based on the monthly membership fee of US$10, each Netflix user pays as much as US$120 a year, which is beyond the reach of domestic video websites.

Of course, DreamWorks is happy to see this deal come to fruition, and Chen Jingxing and Xu Wenshen have no objection to selling Netflix's overseas broadcasting rights.

The purpose of the negotiations is actually to hit the streaming media giant as hard as possible.

"Ellen, you know the current popularity of "Comet" on the Internet. I can say that, since the birth of the Internet, "Comet" can be said to be the most successful online movie in Huaguo, and the price of 65 US dollars is enough to buy it. For the copyright of "Comet", let me say bluntly that your company is not talking about cooperation, but picking up leaks."

Xu Wenshen was doing Tai Chi with the Netflix representative in front of him with a smile.

Chen Jingxing didn't speak at the side, he already has a company, and the boss has to do everything by himself, but I'm sorry for the salary he pays, capitalists can't have the consciousness of capitalists?
Although Chen Jingxing was still sitting upright, his attention had already begun to wander, Ellen?It's still a bit awkward for a Chinese face to be called Ellen in China.

However, the rules of this foreign company are not without merit. Every day, the general manager and the general manager are a bit annoying. In China, every salesman is a manager, and every manager is a general manager. A small company like a sparrow has several general managers. Chen Jingxing thinks it is Isn't it too conducive to the breeding of bureaucracy?
Of course, taking an English name is not suitable, why don't you learn a nickname from an Internet giant?Dugu seeking defeat?Wang Chongyang?Ling Donglai?Huang Laoxie?Elder Constellation? ...well, stop.

"Mr. Xu, you just said that "Comet" is the most successful online movie in Huaguo, but no matter how successful it is, it is still an online movie. It has no theater results, which shows that "Comet" has not really passed the market test. Netflix has always purchased movies based on the results of theaters, and as far as I know, the broadcast platform of "Comet" adopts a free broadcast method. Mr. Chen, Mr. Xu, Mr. Fu, you are all film and television People in the industry should be aware that audiences have different requirements and evaluation criteria for free works and paid works.”

Chen Jingxing and Xu Wenshen, who came back to their senses, looked at each other. Although the Netflix Huaguo branch is also a sparrow company, it has just been established, there are not many employees, and the current main business is advertising business, but it is the company that came to DreamWorks to negotiate. This Ellen doesn't look like an outsider, so it's not easy to fool her.

"Mr. Chen, please forgive me." Ellen turned his attention to Chen Jingxing. Compared with Xu Wenshen, who was stable, mature and seemed experienced, he still felt that Chen Jingxing, who was too young and too young, was easier to deal with. Moreover, Chen Jingxing himself was the director of "Comet". He is also the person in charge of the DreamWorks studio, as long as the young man in front of him makes a decision, the business can be done.

"First of all, I have watched all of "The Comet". I admit that it is a wonderful movie. There is a big market for such suspenseful sci-fi movies in Europe and the United States. In my memory, there has never been one in China before. A movie with such a style and theme is why Netflix Huaguo wants to purchase the right to broadcast this movie overseas."

Chen Jingxing accepted all the compliments and remained indifferent. After all, there were too many compliments on the movie from the nice-speaking netizens on the Internet, and he was almost tired of watching it. Moreover, Chen Jingxing knew that the key to the other party's words was but.

"However, the cost of this movie is really too low, and the whole has no movie quality. Rather than a movie, I prefer to think of it as a mini TV series that can be split into two episodes. Netflix users are all paying customers. , and most of them are young people from middle-class backgrounds, and their reading volume and overall movie-watching taste are not low. Members pay hundreds of dollars a year, and what they want is a high-quality content experience. Productions like "Comet" It is questionable whether low-cost TV dramas with no film quality can satisfy the appetite of members. This is also a risk we have to take. In my opinion, 65 US dollars is already an excess return compared to the production cost of this film. .”

Xu Wenshen, as a senior producer and supervisor, is not afraid of verbal confrontation: "Ellen, I must correct what you said just now. The adjectives you just described to describe this movie are unfair and derogatory evaluations, and they are very unprofessional. I prefer to call it a pseudo-documentary style film."

"Even if you're not a professional in the film industry, it should be familiar to you as a Netflix employee."

Xu Wenshen took out a piece of paper, it seemed that he was well prepared for this negotiation.

"The production cost of "Spiritual Shadows" is only 2 US dollars, which is much lower than that of "Comet", and his lens is not even a hand-held camera, but a monitor. The quality of the film you claim is even more impossible to talk about. In my opinion, he doesn't even have the quality of a TV series, and Netflix paid $1170 million for the copyright fee of this movie, and he ranked third among all the movies that Netflix played last year."

Ellen was a little helpless: "Mr. Xu, your comparison is quite nonsensical. If "Comet" can also achieve a box office of 2 million US dollars, I believe Netflix will not mind spending tens of millions of dollars to purchase the copyright of this movie. However, the current "Comet" The box office score is zero, and I want to emphasize that "Spiritual Shadows" is not replicable."

"We didn't expect to copy "Spiritual Shadows", but it is undeniable that pseudo-documentary is a trend in the American film industry, especially the independent film industry. Those who accept pseudo-documentary-style movies, as far as I know, aren’t most Netflix members from the United States? Are they more popular than theater audiences? The price of American movie tickets is also worth a month’s Netflix membership fee.”

"Moreover, "Comet" is absolutely superior among pseudo-documentary-style movies. Its biggest advantage is its repeatability. The movie is full of suspense and reasoning. Many viewers will watch this movie repeatedly. According to Huanshi.com According to statistics, the repeat click rate of "Comet" is as high as 24%, and there are many viewers who watch it twice and three times. This is a very high number. Such a movie is quite suitable for the user group of Netflix. According to a data analysis of Netflix’s new young users, the favorites of new Netflix users are brain-burning suspense film and television works, and the movie “Comet” has no cultural barriers, and is a qualified international movie, which is what Netflix needs. movie of."

Ellen was a little speechless for a while, and directly changed the subject and asked: "So what is the price your company wants?"

"120 million!"

"This is beyond our bottom line, and if your company sticks to this offer, this deal cannot be done."

Netflix Huaguo branch was established not long ago, mainly responsible for the advertising business. After all, many export companies in Huaguo have the need to advertise in Europe and the United States. Although Netflix has not been able to enter Huaguo, Huaguo still wants to share A cup of soup.

However, the person in charge of Netflix Huaguo also wanted to expand more business. "Comet" showed him an opportunity. It happened that this movie was low-cost and hadn't been shown in theaters. The headquarters may grant Huaguo Company greater autonomy, and even change its attitude of indifference to Huaguo Film and Television. Huaguo Company can also use this to get rid of the positioning restrictions of an advertising company, so as to have room for expansion and development, responsible for Only people themselves can have a better future. Otherwise, why should the general manager of an advertising business branch continue to move up in a streaming media company like Netflix, and may even be stuck in this position for a long time?

However, the upper limit of funds that Huaguo Branch can use to purchase film and television copyright is 100 million US dollars. If it exceeds this limit, it will report to the headquarters. Yes, this has something to do with Huaguo officials not allowing them to enter the Huaguo market, and Netflix's main energy has begun to turn to self-made content.

……

After difficult bargaining between the two parties, a deal was finally reached.

88 million dollars!
Very auspicious number.

Although Chen Jingxing seemed dissatisfied with the result, in fact he was already happy in his heart.

Although it took nearly an afternoon of wrangling, but from 65 US dollars to 88 US dollars, I earned 142 million soft sister coins, which is also a good deal.

The US$88 is 545 million yuan based on the current exchange rate, plus the 280 million yuan paid by Huanshi for purchasing the domestic copyright plus advertising, "Comet", a movie with a production cost of only 60 yuan, at least brought him tens of millions in return.

This return on investment has already far exceeded the housing price. Even in another ten years, the housing price in Beijing will at most double or triple from the current level. Such huge profits can only be compared with the blockchain currency.

At the same time, the tens of millions of income brought by "Comet" can also support the operation of DreamWorks for a long time, and even the investment in the next film only needs him to increase a little more funds, even if DreamWorks is still Chen Jingxing's sole proprietorship The company, but it needs a steady stream of capital injections to make people unhappy, no, the company can operate independently with the income of the movie, which represents a good development trend.

(End of this chapter)