This director needs to apologize

Chapter 408 Virtue is not worthy of its place
I don’t know if it was the “excellent performance” of “Searching for the Heart” that made Wang Yibai certain of something, but in the negotiations for “Moving Mountains”, Yu Fu’s tone became softer and softer, and his bargaining offer became higher and higher. Now it has reached 1000+10%. Even his own Toastmasters franchise did not receive such good treatment.

Judging from Yu Fu's attitude, this is not the limit. He might really agree to the outrageous conditions offered by Chen Yiming.

Chen Yiming always felt that this was not like President Da Wang's style. After discussing it with Da Zhuang several times, he still couldn't figure it out. In the end, he could only stick to the original conditions and refuse to give in.

Da Zhuang originally thought it was just a part-time job during a business trip, but it turned out to be a marathon of talking nonsense. He was fed up with it, but there was no suitable candidate in Platinum to replace him, so it became his daily routine to find Chen Yiming on the phone to complain.

Chen Yiming once again returned to his slacking rhythm of working three days and resting four days. A few days after the National Day, "Negotiation Expert" successfully obtained the Dragon Mark. After a meeting and discussion among several senior executives of Platinum Film Studio, they decided to continue the strategy of next year's Spring Festival.

One is that the publicity and promotion plan had already been decided long ago, and it would be too costly to communicate if it was rushed to the Lunar New Year holiday, and it would also seem a bit hasty.

Another reason is that there are no suitable schedules in December. Three Hollywood blockbusters and two domestic comedies have already occupied their spots, so there is really no need to squeeze in.

It is better to continue Platinum's Spring Festival tradition to maintain the company's brand.

Interestingly, after Platinum Films successfully launched a series of mid-budget feature films, peers in the industry have finally taken action. This year's domestic films are no longer the same old three types of comedy, thriller, and youth, but have shown signs of more diverse themes.

Sun Wangquan's daughter, who returned from studying abroad in Jianguo, released her debut film in June. She directed it, and Han Sanye's daughter wrote it. They made a satirical film about helping others but being blackmailed. The prototype of the incident actually happened ten years ago, and the subsequent impact is still lingering, but in the circle, only these two sisters have the courage to bring it directly to the big screen.

Facts have proved that the collaboration between the two second-generation directors was very successful. The movie passed the review and was released smoothly, and the box office and word of mouth were very explosive. Director Sun raked in 3 million at the box office and became a legend, directly raising his reputation to a level second only to Fu Ruixiang.

In the upcoming National Day, Liu Xiwang, the veteran director of Moying, took advantage of the Olympic fever to make a sports inspirational movie, telling the story of a country girl who grows up to be a national women's volleyball player. Although it is unknown why it was released two months after the Olympics, the results are surprisingly good. The first week box office at the end of September easily exceeded 9 million, and it is basically certain to exceed million in the end.

No one in the industry expected that such an "old" subject matter would not only not lose money but even make money. According to Ma Erye, the total cost of this project including production and promotion was only more than 800 million.

In fact, there are far more than these two new domestic films that imitate Platinum's strategy. According to information learned by Dazhuang, Chen Huaikai has just completed a feature film on the theme of depression, which is expected to be released in March or May next year. Sun Wangquan also has a new film adapted from a legal case that has been approved.

The wave of feature films advocated by Chen Yiming has already seen some small waves.

Near the end of the year, "Her Memories" was successfully completed at Qindao Film and Television City and entered the post-production stage, allowing Platinum Jue to have a perfect end in 2016.

Xiao Qi's performance as the leading actress for the first time was not satisfactory. The reason why she could compete with the leading actor Yu Hewei was not because of her good acting skills, but more because of her outstanding character. However, considering the original intention of this project, such an effect is acceptable enough.

The science fiction theme means that the post-production work will be long and tedious. The film will be released in the second half of next year at the latest. It would not be surprising if it is delayed until the Spring Festival next year.

The lengthened process meant time and budget overruns. Chen Yiming made an appointment with Shen Pengfei in advance and arranged for "Her Memories" to go to several special film festivals abroad after it was completed. With the film's solid creativity and quality, it should not be a problem to win a few awards, which can be regarded as compensation for Li Jun and Qi Laoer.

On the day before the New Year, all the staff members and a few non-staff members of Platinum held a simple company annual meeting. The two company bosses, Ma Dashao and Chen Dadao, symbolically distributed a wave of red envelopes.

Over the past year, Platinum seemed to have entered a period of burnout. Xiangrui and Wang Wei both closed down, Tian Li took his time to do the job and couldn't keep up, Li Jun was helpless as a small horse pulling a big cart, and only Chen Yiming quickly entered and exited the film "Searching for the Heart".

Just at the end of last month, "The Heart" was finally taken off the screen after being postponed twice, and it actually stayed in the cinema for three full months.

After experiencing the impact of numerous new films during the two golden periods of National Day and Lunar New Year, the average screening of "Looking for the Heart" has long fallen below 5 points, but even so, the attendance rate that exceeds the average level still makes theaters willing to continue to shelve the film.

The final box office was just shy of 5 million, which can only be considered to have exceeded expectations in absolute terms, but the comparative profit margin is definitely unrivaled among its peers.

With an investment of 6000 million, minimal publicity and promotion, and a profit share of 1.6 million, the domestic box office alone earned enough to meet a small target.

In fact, the profits of this project did not stop there. Not to mention the long-term operation of overseas copyrights, the "performance bonus" in Shenzhen alone was valuable, and what Mr. Shen got was no less than his film salary.

Thanks to Chen Yiming, a strong laborer, although the number of films released by Platinum Film Studio this year is dismal, its life is still comfortable. In addition, with the publicity and distribution contract for the Spring Festival champion, the annual benefits are still very considerable.

Therefore, the red envelopes distributed by Young Master Ma were like hail, and the largest ones even exceeded six figures.

Then, Chen Yiming, as the creative director, gave a vision for the development in the coming year. The core of his speech was to encourage everyone to DISS Xiangrui and Wang Wei.

Taking a year off, is that fair to the company? To colleagues? To the boss? To yourself?

Xiangrui, who was not short of money, was not so easy to give in. He flatly declined Chen Yiming's "creative assistance" and decided to devote all his energy to preparing for his "Modu Past". Wang Wei promised to start a new project the following year, but in line with the principle of "a friend dies rather than a poor Taoist", he strongly supported his assistant director to become a regular director and go it alone.

The structure of Platinum Films has very weak constraints on directors. Wang Wei and others can freely form a production team according to their personal wishes. The company will only step in to help complete the task if there are no suitable candidates.

Wang Wei and his colleagues often brought their former classmates and colleagues into the team. Invisibly, the behind-the-scenes strength of Platinum Prince has continued to expand, especially the director team. The number of assistant directors and executive directors alone has reached double digits.

For Chen Yiming, they were all reserve tools, so he naturally wanted more than anything else when Wang Wei stepped forward to recommend them.

With good income and bright prospects, the annual meeting gave Platinum staff a boost and they were extremely motivated.

The day after the annual meeting, Chen Yiming took Ma Dashao to hold a small meeting.

"Put down the baton? Really? You're not even thirty-five!"

Da Zhuang was very surprised by Chen Yiming's decision. He had just made a solemn promise at the annual meeting. So he was just cheering others up, right?

Chen Yiming glanced at Ma Dashao and said, "I don't think you're that serious. You just don't want to be a director, but you're not going to retire directly. I'm not picky about planning, screenwriting, supervision, or production."

Da Zhuang stroked his newly trimmed hair and instantly calmed down. "Yes, it's the right time for you to retreat now. As long as I'm not the director, I will never fail. You are so shrewd, Master Zhu!"

Chen Yiming was confused by Ma Dashao's smooth turn and asked directly, "So you don't blame me?"

Da Zhuang waved his hands and smiled, "As the chairman, I am half-hearted, so how can I blame you? If you hadn't been pushing me all the time, Platinum Jue wouldn't be what it is today.

Don't worry, Yiming, I support your decision unconditionally, without hesitation!"

Chen Yiming was touched and awkward, and after thinking for a while he explained, "There is no special reason, I just feel it is time to step out of the role of director and take the initiative to make some adjustments.

Starting from filming "Holiday in Magic City" in 09, 7 movies have been shot in 5 years. The pace is not fast, but it is definitely not slow.

More importantly, the gains from these projects were beyond my expectations and control, and I always felt unreliable.

There is a voice in my heart that keeps reminding me that it’s time to slow down or stop.”

Chen Yiming's words were a bit vague, but Da Zhuang got the meaning immediately. He nodded and said with emotion, "It turns out that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Yiming, to be honest, ever since we started to transform into making movies, I have had a nonchalant attitude. People outside say that I am the prince of shadow puppets, but in my mind, there is no essential difference between making movies and being a middleman in cultural and creative industries.

You are my good brother, and I am willing to fully support your directorial career. As for the platinum trophy itself, it doesn’t matter to me whether it is bigger or smaller.

If you don't come to talk to me today, I will come to you later. You may not know that the few tricks we discussed in a few words before have now developed to the point where I'm panicking.

As for that online ticket purchasing platform, there have been people who wanted to buy our shares in the past two years. The female version of that idol audition program will be launched again next year. I am so annoyed by the intrigues. And that short video APP, it directly received a 9-digit venture capital investment.

I can relate to the state you describe, where life and events push you along, and you panic every time you take a step. If I had to find a word to describe it, it would probably be "unworthy of your position."

After looking at each other for a moment, they laughed at the same time, and their laughter became louder and louder, and their understanding became more and more tacit.

At that moment, the two seemed to have returned to the day when they had negotiated the first project of Platinum, sitting opposite each other as brothers and laughing happily.

After a long while, the laughter stopped. Chen Yiming picked up the can of beer and clinked it with Da Zhuang, saying, "Platinum is so lucky to bump into two bosses like us who have no ambitions."

Da Zhuang agreed, "That's right, so we should encourage Xiao Mei and Lao Niu to work harder!"

(End of this chapter)