China Entertainment: I became a capital tycoon

Chapter 650 648. Boss Cao is really good at having fun and making so much money
During the Spring Festival of 2012, three things were the most talked about.

The first is that Uncle Benshan was not missing from this year's Spring Festival Gala, which was really ugly. Several sketches were overly sensational and made people feel uncomfortable.

In addition, Wang Fei's song "Because of Love" was actually out of tune.

The second thing is that "Gravity" has set off a wave of movie-watching craze in China, which is no less popular than "Avatar" back then.

This is mainly because the film itself is well-made, and it is also known as China's first science fiction film. In addition, the screenwriter is Cao Yu, who won the Oscar for Best Screenwriter, so the audience is willing to pay for it.

The third thing is that the number of views and popularity of "Joy of Life" exceeded that of the hit Korean drama "Descendants of the Sun", which made Chinese TV dramas proud.

Two of these three things are related to Feiyu, which makes this film and television entertainment company the hope for the Chinese entertainment industry to surpass South Korea.

Even the once-established film and television company Huayi has approached Feiyu for cooperation. It is rumored that the two companies will collaborate to shoot a comedy film called "Private Customization".

In addition to these things, there is another film released during the Spring Festival that has also attracted the attention of movie fans. It is the art film "HELLO, Mr. Tree" with a small investment.

Although this film was produced by Feiyu, it is also one of the investors.

After the movie was released, although the subject matter was very niche, it was not a commercial film, and the box office was average, the audience who watched it gave it rave reviews.

Especially the way Wang Baoqiang smokes, which makes people talk about it with relish, and they also sigh that he can portray a small character so brilliantly.

After the Spring Festival, the film unexpectedly achieved a good result of over 80 million at the box office despite being not optimistic about it.

After the Chinese New Year, Cao Yu returned to the company from his hometown and began preparations for this year.

"The new year is over, let's continue to work hard this year."

At the high-level meeting of Feiyu Entertainment, Boss Cao made a simple opening statement and then arranged: "Start promoting Under the Hawthorn Tree immediately. At the same time, send invitations to major TV stations and say that we want to publicly sell the first broadcast rights of The Legend of Zhen Huan and Zhu Xian."

The company's general manager Chen Chengjie asked, "Boss, are we going to do this in the form of an auction? This method has never been used before."

Cao Yu smiled and said, "Isn't the title sponsorship of CCTV's Spring Festival Gala an auction? Why can't we do it? Not only should we do it this time, but we should also make it more grand."

Generally, when entertainment companies sell the broadcasting rights for TV series, the producers usually take the films to the TV stations to discuss cooperation. After all, TV stations are very powerful nowadays.

Even a strong company like Feiyu Entertainment usually follows this model. At most, they send the highlights to TV stations, and then each TV station makes a private offer. The company then selects the one with the highest price and decides on it.

This kind of auctioning of first broadcast rights has never happened before.

But recently, "Joy of Life" has been really popular, and "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is another phenomenal TV series. Cao Yu just wants to make the momentum bigger and let everyone in the entertainment industry know how to make a good drama.

Also, the auction method may result in a higher price.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away."

Although Chen Chengjie agreed verbally, he was still a little worried in his heart. It would be embarrassing if those powerful TV stations didn't come.

"Let's move on to the second thing. The three films, "Lost in Thailand", "Tiny Times" and "Mr. Donkey" all started shooting in early February. "Lost in Thailand" and "Mulan" started shooting in June. The animated film "The Monkey King: Hero is Back" will be released in the summer."

"As for TV series, after the filming of Startling by Each Step is completed, the casting for Xuan-Yuan Sword will begin and filming will begin in the summer."

The people present wrote down the boss's words.

The company made a lot of money from the movie business last year, and it seems the boss is focusing on the movies.

"The third thing is that scouts continue to discover young actors with potential in art colleges and universities, mainly those born in the 90s and 95s, as a talent reserve."

As Cao Yu finished speaking these three points, his secretary walked up to him and whispered, "Boss Cao, the daughter of Chairman Han from China Film Group is here."

"That's all for today's meeting."

Cao Yu stood up, gave some instructions, and went to the reception room.

"Hello Mr. Cao, I'm Han Jianu."

"Hello."

Cao Yu took a look at the daughter of Han Sanping and felt that she was not very pretty, but not bad either.

Han Jianu said, "Boss Cao, I graduated from university last year and am studying for a master's degree in directing. My father asked me to come to your company to train myself."

"Welcome, welcome. Sister Han is also a talented girl."

Cao Yu is in need of a director recently. With the joining of Mr. Han’s daughter, it will be more convenient to cooperate with Mr. Han in the future.

The main thing is that this girl is one of the screenwriters of "Dying to Survive". If it weren't for this person, it would be difficult for this film to pass review.

"I dare not call myself a talented woman in front of Senior Cao."

Han Jianv said modestly, "Boss Cao, just arrange some work for me. I can do anything in the crew."

Although people said so, Cao Yu naturally couldn't arrange it this way.

"Well, we just happen to have a movie called "Mr. Donkey" and the director is a newcomer. You should have good professional knowledge. You can be the assistant director of this movie."

Cao Yu likes the movie "Duds" very much and has watched it several times. Although the movie has a good reputation, its box office is not very good.

If Han Jianuo could be an assistant director in this film, China Film Group would definitely strongly promote it.

That's the relationship.

As for the movie "Dying to Survive", let's wait and see in two years. Anyway, this year's movies have exceeded the plan.

"Then thank you, senior."

Han Jianuo didn't expect that she could become an assistant director just after her training. She thought that she must shoot well and not embarrass her father.

In the next two days, Cao Yu asked someone to find Yan Fei, the post-80s director of "Charlotte's Troubles", and planned to let him direct "Private Customization".

But after meeting Yan Fei, he felt that this young director still lacked experience and had no representative works. After some consideration, he let him be a nominal director and he would direct the film himself when the time came.

Otherwise, Yan Fei, a newcomer with no qualifications, would not be able to suppress veteran actors such as Ge You and Li Chengru.

Although "Personal Tailor" did well at the box office, its early reputation was not good, and he didn't want to put his name on it.

Wang Zhongjun was of course happy about Boss Cao's decision.

With Boss Cao taking action, the film will definitely be better. Besides, Feng Xiaogang has been cashing out his stocks these days and seems to be leaving Huayi.

Although this made Wang Zhongjun very unhappy, fortunately he cooperated with Feiyu. Let Feng Xiaogang leave. Anyway, his films in recent years have hardly made any profit.

The only profitable "If You Are the One 2" made some money because Cao Yu's first film was so well made, but its reputation was surprisingly bad.

Do whatever you want, it’s useless anyway.

On February 3rd, Xiangshan Huanyu Resort Hotel was crowded with VIP guests.

Leaders of major TV stations across the country gathered here to participate in the bidding for the first broadcast rights of the TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Zhu Xian". Even the Central Bank sent representatives to participate.

Now that more than half of "Joy of Life" has been aired, Fan Xian's hundreds of drunken poems have made the audience very enjoyable, and some even can't stop watching.

As for "Descendants of the Sun", although the number of views is good, it has completely lost its popularity.

Therefore, major domestic TV stations have great confidence in Feiyu’s other two films last year.

In addition to various TV stations, there are also a large number of reporters and many entertainment company owners.

Some entertainment company bosses wanted to see what price Feiyu Entertainment could get in this bidding, while others went to Xiangshan just to see the excitement of Feiyu.

At 9:30 in the morning, Liu Yan, who had been hired by Feiyu and became the company's contracted host, walked onto the stage accompanied by actor Huang Bo.

"Good morning, distinguished guests and friends from the literary and artistic circles."

The two bowed to the crowd and said, "As everyone knows, Feiyu Entertainment produced three TV series last year. Among them, Joy of Life has been aired, and the highest ratings reached 7.4%. Therefore, everyone has high hopes for the other two dramas."

"Now please watch some wonderful clips from the drama "The Legend of Zhen Huan"."

The wonderful scenes of the drama immediately appeared on the big screen at the scene.

"The Legend of Zhen Huan" is a palace fighting drama, which has been a popular subject in the past two years, but the pictures in the promotional video seem to be of the standard of a serious drama.

Especially as a drama featuring an ensemble of women, each actor has his or her own characteristics. They are not only beautiful, but also seem to have good acting skills.

The clip was quickly finished. Huang Bo stood in front of the microphone, glanced at his classmate Boss Cao in the audience, and then said to everyone: "The first broadcast rights of this film start at one million per episode. TV stations that are interested can make an offer."

"coax!"

When this price was revealed, the entire venue exploded.

The starting price is one million. This price is a bit exaggerated. The price of most domestic TV dramas now ranges from 500,000 to 800,000 per episode. Your starting price is actually one million?

Although the first broadcast rights can be broadcast repeatedly in the future after obtaining them, the price is still too high.

The domestic abridged version of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" has 76 episodes, and even if we calculate it at one million, it would cost 76 million, while your investment is only over 90 million.

"Do you think it will fail to sell?"

"It shouldn't be. After all, it's Feiyu's film. Joy of Life sold for one million. But the price won't be too high. I estimate it's about one million and two hundred thousand at most."

"If it really only sold for 1.2 million, it would be embarrassing for Feiyu to set the price so high."

"In fact, I hope that no one will film their drama, and someone will pick it up for a million dollars in the end. That would be fun."

"Hehe, I think so too."

Several entertainment company bosses were discussing, but Yan Jingtai was the first to raise a sign: "One million and one hundred thousand."

"Liaoning Province Taiwan 1,150,000."

"Zhejiang Provincial TV Station 1.2 million"

"Litchi station 1.25 million!" "Tomato station 1.128 million!"

……

Seeing that the price had reached 1.35 million and seemed to be still rising, many entertainment companies were stunned.

“Have the prices really gone up?”

"Boss Cao is really good at playing games. This trick really makes money."

"Yeah, who would have thought that the competition would be so fierce!"

"I'll do the same thing in the future."

"There are no good films. It's just embarrassing to do this."

"That makes sense. When we make dramas in the future, we should also use all the investment in production like Feiyu did."

……

Zhao Yanzi also came to the audience. Seeing that "The Legend of Zhen Huan" sold so high, she was envious and jealous. At the same time, she thought that if "Palace" was finished filming, it might be able to take advantage of this trend and sell at a high price.

On the stage, Huang Bo and Liu Yan had smiles on their faces.

They were really worried that it would be a dull occasion when they came to host the event today, but it turned out to be so popular.

I can only say that the boss is awesome.

Major TV stations at the scene were still holding up signs and prices were still rising.

"Master, shouldn't we call?"

At the Mango Channel, Ouyang Changlin's assistant saw that the price had already reached 1.38 million, and said carefully to the director.

Ouyang Changlin sat very steadily: "Don't worry, we must win this film!"

"It's too high, forget it. There's also Zhu Xian later."

The assistant felt that the price was not worth it, already 100 million yuan, it would be better to shoot it himself.

"It's because everyone wants it that we can't let others snatch it away!" Ouyang Changlin said, "I heard that this drama sold 300,000 US dollars in Japan. Is the Chinese market smaller than Japan?"

As he spoke, he touched the sign in his hand and continued, "After the premiere of this drama, it will be broadcast online, so the premiere rights are very important."

After saying that, he saw that the Zhejiang TV station had already called the price to 1.4 million, and Huang Bo on the stage was already counting down, so he finally raised the sign.

"1500000!"

"Wow"

When this price was called out, everyone in the audience looked at Ouyang Changlin, and when they found out it was Mango TV, they were all relieved.

Mango TV is wealthy and its moves are indeed extraordinary.

"hehe."

Even Cao Yu in the audience did not expect the price to be so high. He originally thought that the first broadcast rights would be at most 1.4 million, which he underestimated the financial resources of the TV station.

And those entertainment companies that wanted to see the excitement of Feiyu Entertainment have long remained silent.

This auction of broadcasting rights is really exciting.

Just by getting the first broadcast rights, we recovered all the investment costs and made a lot of money.

In the future, the second and third round broadcasting rights will be pure profit.

The Zhejiang Provincial TV station is also doing the math. Mango TV has already asked for 1.5 million per episode, and the total price is far more than 100 million. If they ask for more, it would be uneconomical.

"Mango TV's 1.5 million viewers for the first time."

As an artist under Feiyu, Huang Bo was so happy that he started counting down.

In the end, Mango TV won the first round broadcasting rights of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" at a price that broke the record for a single episode of a TV series.

"Next, please watch our Feiyu's second film."

As Liu Yan's voice rang out, a peerless beauty appeared on the big screen. It was Lu Xueqi, played by Jing Tian.

“This girl is so beautiful”

Although the people present had seen many beauties, they were still amazed by Jing Tian's appearance.

Then everyone saw the fighting scenes, special effects, and beautiful fairy-tale scenes in this film that were almost comparable to those in movies, and their attention was also attracted.

Those TV stations that did not film "The Legend of Zhen Huan" immediately decided to grab this film.

"My dear friends, the special effects for this TV series were produced by Miguo Digital Domain, the special effects production company of Avatar. They have reached the world's top level. The investment in this TV series is as high as 190 million. The first broadcast rights are now open for bidding, and the starting price is 1.5 million!"

"Damn, it's taller than before?"

The whole audience was in an uproar. The starting price of "The Legend of Zhen Huan" was one million, but this movie actually cost one and a half million.

I thought you were already very dark just now, but I didn’t expect you to be even darker now.

But then I thought, the investment in this drama is so huge, and there are only 58 episodes in total, so it is normal for the starting price to be high.

"One million six hundred thousand!"

"One million seven hundred thousand!"

"1.75 million!"

……

The competition for "Zhu Xian" is even more intense than that for "The Legend of Zhen Huan", especially with Tomato TV, Zhejiang TV and Mango TV taking turns bidding and continuously raising the price.

Cool and realistic special effects, as well as many pleasing beauties, this type of drama is Mango TV's favorite.

Besides, with the support of Feiyu Production’s golden brand, are you afraid that there won’t be advertisers to pay for it?

In the end, the drama was bought by Mango TV at a high price of 2.15 million, breaking the record for the price of a single episode of a TV series that had just been set.

The signing ceremony was held on the spot after the auction. Cao Yu and Ouyang Changlin signed the contract in the presence of many reporters.

They have spent so much money, it’s important to help hype it up.

At the final press conference, Cao Yu faced numerous media, TV stations, and colleagues from entertainment companies and spoke loudly about his feelings about the auction.

"First of all, I would like to thank everyone for supporting Feiyu Entertainment. Last year, there was a TV series called "Game of Thrones" in the United States. I believe everyone has seen it. The special effects in that TV series are better than those in ordinary TV series. Why? Because they put most of their investment into special effects and post-production. This is the secret to the success of a TV series.

At Feiyu Entertainment, when we choose actors, we don’t look at your fame or how many fans you have. We only look at whether you have the ability, acting skills, and whether you are suitable for the role.

It is because of this that our movies and TV series are loved by the audience and have a market. I also hope that all our entertainment companies and TV stations can grasp this point and make our Chinese film and television industry develop more healthily. "

"clap clap"

Cao Yu's words were immediately met with warm applause.

In recent years, there have been many shoddy film and television dramas in the entertainment industry, commonly known as bad movies.

But since its establishment, Feiyu has never produced a bad movie.

Originally no one could figure it out, but now it seems that there is a reason for Boss Cao's success.

Besides, as long as you succeed, everything you say is right.

After the applause died down, Cao Yu continued: "Today, many friends from TV stations, colleagues, and media are here, so I would like to appeal here that the pay of our Chinese actors is already very high, even higher than that of developed countries such as the United States and Japan, which is a bad phenomenon.

Therefore, I think it is best to maintain the current actor pay. If the actor's income is too high, it will definitely have a bad impact on society, making some young people only want to become famous and only want to be actors, then this country will be in danger."

"Humph"

The audience applauded again, but Zhao Yanzi snorted unhappily and curled her lips in the audience.

You speak nicely because you have money.

Are actors paid well? Nowadays, first-tier stars only make 300,000 per episode for a TV series, and second-tier and third-tier stars make even less. If you don't become an actor now, you are simply talking nonsense.

As a capitalist, you want to lower the actors' pay so that you can earn more?

What a dark heart!
Zhao Yanzi thought so, but the national audience had completely different ideas.

On the same day, Boss Cao’s words were published on Weibo, entertainment news, and Feie Video, and received a lot of praise.

"Boss Cao is really kind-hearted. The cost of film and television dramas should be spent on production."

"No wonder Feiyu's films are so good, it turns out that the money is spent wisely."

"From now on, as long as it's Feiyu's TV series or movies, I will support them unconditionally. Boss Cao, I love you!"

"Boss Cao is absolutely right. Actors' pay is indeed very high. Now an actor can earn hundreds of millions for filming a drama. This will make young people want to become actors. Who would still want to build the country?"

"Yes, a drama can earn millions, which is more than what an average person earns in their entire life. I support Boss Cao."

"Boss Cao has always had a strong sense of social responsibility. We are willing to support such a boss no matter how much money he makes!"

On the Internet, netizens unanimously applauded Boss Cao. Although some actors were very unhappy about this, they only dared to express their dissatisfaction secretly and did not dare to say it out loud.

After all, there was not enough time to please Boss Cao, so who would dare to object?
However, at this time, Cao Yu had already flown from Shanghai to the United States the day after the bidding meeting to prepare for Tesla's new car launch and to attend the Oscars ceremony which would begin in a dozen days.

(End of this chapter)