Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 390 It’s finally Hollywood’s turn to take the initiative to defend!

The Hong Kong entertainment industry has been very lively these days.

The cross-strait film art exchange meeting among Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan has become the focus of everyone's attention.

Many people thought of the scene of the first cross-strait and three-way film art exchange meeting.

On that occasion, Chen Shiping established the Directors Association, which made the Hong Kong Directors Association exist in name only.

The most important thing is that at that time Chen Shiping reached a consensus with Taiwan to support local films and restrict imported films, thus cutting off most of the main market for Hong Kong films.

This directly led to Hong Kong films having to go north and cooperate with the mainland.

After that incident, it became difficult for the Hong Kong industry to act arrogantly in front of mainland film studios.

Originally they invested the money and mainland film studios co-produced the film, but later it became a joint production, and they even lost a certain degree of control over the script.

Whoever owns the market is the boss, and the mainland market was so large at that time.

The market is now bigger, and box office revenues exceeding 100 million yuan are commonplace. The Hong Kong industry has no way of breaking away from the mainland market and can only rely on the mainland film market.

Many people in the Hong Kong circle seem to be reliving the situation of that year again.

But this time, the target became Taiwan.

Companies that are not in the Hong Kong circle are very happy. Without Taiwanese investors and capital entering the mainland, they have more room for development.

In addition to the investors, Hong Kong's directors and actors are also happy. There are so many dramas produced in the mainland every year, and without the competition from Taiwanese actors, won't all the actors be from Hong Kong?

As one thing grows, the other shrinks.

In addition to the mainland market, Hong Kong film and television dramas also have a Southeast Asian market. If Taiwan does not develop well, a large part of the East Asian market will be left vacant.

The Hong Kong industry is hoping that Taiwan’s local film and television industry will wither away, as that way there will be one less competitor.

Taiwan should just be a ticket warehouse. No need to develop film and television. Just go to the cinema and pay money.

Taiwan is bigger than Hong Kong, but the market that Taiwan can expand into is very small and cannot compare to Hong Kong's overseas market at all.

The mainland is a very important market for Taiwan. Now that it is blocked, their lives will be difficult.

Not only our competitors understand these principles, but also industry insiders in Taiwan.

Whether Hollywood movies come to Taiwan or not is of no concern to them!

The money earned is not given to them!

So what if a Hollywood movie only makes a few hundred million Taiwan dollars at the box office?
It will be even harder for them to develop if this continues. They have finally seen some improvement in the past few years, but now are they going back to the way they were?
The reporter also said that Chen Shiping was playing isolation. Yes, he was playing isolation. He was isolating Taiwan!

Now we either have to give up the mainland market and develop the Southeast Asian market, or cooperate with the mainland.

There are only these two options. It’s impossible to go to Europe or the United States because they don’t want you.

If they want to expand into the East Asian market, they can't beat China Film Group and Hong Kong circle. How the hell are they going to survive?
Let’s cooperate with the mainland!

What if you don’t cooperate?

Actors need to eat, film and television companies need to eat, and record companies need to eat.

In a tea restaurant in Hong Kong, many bigwigs in the Hong Kong circle sat together to discuss this matter.

Famous directors, famous producers and investors are all sitting together.

"The Taiwanese side will definitely not cooperate. It would be fine if we had a good talk at the beginning, but Chen Shiping is too strong, and it is even more impossible for them to give in."

"This is an opportunity. We stand together with the mainland and also want to cooperate with Taiwan. The market there is still quite big."

"If Taiwanese investors have nowhere else to invest, they will come back to invest in us as before. We really have to thank Chen Shiping."

"Haha, Chen Heizi also did a good thing."

"Are you looking at the problem too superficially? Look at the bigger picture. Could this be a signal?"

"Hong Kong's role as a port is gone anyway. Hong Kong will no longer be able to benefit from the mainland's huge market and demographic dividend. Many factories and financial companies have closed down, which has a greater impact than the financial crisis."

"Oh, it's difficult, but it has nothing to do with us. People in finance and industry have a headache. We just need to make movies."

The atmosphere at the table was not as cheerful as at the beginning. In the end, I was the one crying because I was gloating over other's misfortune.

However, the relationship between the two sides that they were worried about was indeed a problem. Chen Shiping's sudden strength, with a mix of truth and falsehood, made people a little scared.

Although it is only a matter of the cultural field, it can be said to be a preemptive preparation and test.

In modern society, isn’t it that first the war of public opinion is fought, then the economic war, and finally the war.

What on earth is Chen Shiping trying to do?

Now no one knows what Chen Shiping is up to, but they can't catch him. So they ask people in the capital through their connections, but they all remain silent and say they don't know.

Don’t any of them know this?

That must be a big deal!
Not only do people here think so, many people in the mainland also think so.

Anyway, the cinema chains are now cooperating very well with the investigation.

The salary cap proposal submitted by Mei Juan was officially discussed, and the actors were all confused.

My pay has just gone up and you're limiting my salary?

Don't play like this!

After asking around, I found out that after the salary cap was put in place for those high salaries, 90 percent of the actors don’t care anymore.

They are still a long way from having their salaries capped.

After knowing that it would not affect them, everyone felt a little happy.

It’s good to limit it! I feel uncomfortable when I see them making money!

This time, the salary cap affects not only mainland actors, but also Hong Kong actors who come to the mainland to film must abide by this regulation, and the same applies to foreign actors.

The pay of all actors cannot exceed 30% of the production cost, and the highest pay cannot exceed 15 million.

The pay for TV dramas is more complicated, with clear regulations on everything from the pay for a single episode to the cost of a single episode, the total number of episodes, etc.

However, the salary limit for TV dramas is not strict, it is just a little troublesome.

At the same time, the salary cap order also stipulates the minimum pay for extras. While limiting high salaries, it also needs to ensure the minimum wage and not give capital the opportunity to exploit them!

This salary cap will not affect too many artists, it will only affect the small group of people mentioned above.

Mainland producers and investors are delighted with this regulation.

This is great. I'm not going to sign the contract that I was originally going to sign.

Wait until the regulations come out before signing!

The actors and stars were so anxious that they made eighteen calls a day to the producers urging them to sign the contract, but it was of no use.

Everyone knows that once the regulations are issued, a large amount of costs will be incurred in contract terminations.

In addition to actors and stars, people from the entire industry support this regulation.

This is a good thing!
The only downside is that it limits the minimum wage.

The minimum wage for extras is thirty dollars for eight hours a day, and an additional five dollars per hour for more than eight hours.

It seems that the stars' pay is used to subsidize the extras, but overall the cost is still a lot cheaper.

The salary of extras is really low, even lower than that of waiters, but we still need to provide them with protection.

The most dissatisfied with the salary cap are those from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Their pay has always been very high, especially those who became famous in the 1980s and 1990s. Their pay has long exceeded 10 million yuan. Now that the cap has been imposed, making movies is not that profitable.

The Four Heavenly Kings all received pay of over 10 million yuan in 1998, and Liu Dehua's pay had reached 20 million yuan.

Now with the restrictions, income has been cut in half!
Hong Kong artists are anxious, but Taiwanese artists are helpless. It is already a problem for them to develop in the mainland, so why bother about salary caps?

These actors were all very anxious, but there was nothing they could do.

They have begun to think of using other conditions to increase income, such as requiring participation in box office revenue sharing.

Anyway, the pay can’t be so low!

Chen Shiping, who was still in Hong Kong at this time, couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he saw the various reports in the newspapers.

He also has no choice.

He is too lazy to care about these things. If the producers are willing to give up their dividends, that is their business.

He is just considering this matter for long-term development. The salary cap is not set in stone and will be adjusted based on market conditions.

However, the film pay in mainland China is really high, while the prices in Japan and South Korea are really miserable.

The atmosphere among domestic entertainment actors is too deeply influenced by Hollywood and is developing completely in the direction of Vanity Fair.

We should learn from others in terms of fame and fortune, but not other good aspects.

Grandma has legs!
If we continue to learn like this, Chinese-language films will be doomed sooner or later!

In the past two or three years, news about how much a certain star is paid for a movie has often been revealed in Hong Kong and the mainland.

He didn't notice it before, but now he understands that this was the foreshadowing that had been started a long time ago.

When the atmosphere of the entire industry is towards making money, the production cost will definitely increase!
The actors' pay will also become very unreasonable.

Chen Shiping rubbed his head and thought about many movies invested by Hollywood film companies, in which the actors' pay was outrageous.

There are also actors who have gone to Hollywood to make movies and their pay has increased to an outrageous level.

Hero has investment from both China Film Group and foreign capital, and after Feng Kuzi and the Wang brothers hooked up with Columbia, the actors' pay was not low.

This kind of situation is very common, and there are also many film and television companies that have foreign capital.

No matter how high the film pay in the mainland is, it is still a small part for those big companies.

Chen Shiping is also partly responsible for the current situation. He developed the market too well, making everyone think that the domestic market can be compared with foreign markets.

Others get high pay, and movie tickets cost dozens or hundreds of dollars, so why can't we do the same?

After all, I was still affected.

Whether in the original time and space or now, Hollywood began to make efforts in China since the millennium.

Before the millennium, the three European organizations were the most powerful. After the millennium, Hollywood and the Oscars became the most powerful.

There are three major reasons for Europe's decline, and more importantly, the infiltration of Hollywood capital.

It will indirectly or directly affect the domestic market and curb the development of local films.

Hollywood does this in many places, and it works.

Otherwise they wouldn’t have such a big influence and market.

But this trick doesn't work here.

Either you take people directly to Hollywood, or you can’t influence them!

But I won't take the dog with me. I know that it will have a greater impact if the dog is kept at my own home or at someone else's.

It's better for your own dog to bark at other people's homes.

It’s annoying enough that you have to spend money to raise it when you bring it home.

This is just like the people in Run, everyone just wants to breathe the free air without considering whether others want you or not.

But as long as they are in China, they still want to make movies and continue to develop, just give it a try!
Chen Shiping will not be polite to them!
Hollywood's methods are useless now anyway.

To put it bluntly, this is price gouging!
The cinema chain investigated and dealt with illegal price increases, restricted actors’ pay, and reached a consensus with Hong Kong on introduction standards, putting pressure on Taiwan.

Chen Shiping's series of tactics made Hollywood's little tricks fail.

They also thought that Chen Shiping would be so tough, and this actually helped the development of Huayu Film to be better.

Eliminate the drawbacks.

Damn it, not only did we lose the lady, but we also lost our soldiers!

The introduction of the film was blocked, the sneak attack from behind failed, and the enemy even launched a sneak attack on their base camp.

It is simply a failure among failures!

At this time, Uncharted 2 and Frozen are currently showing in our home country.

China Film Group Corporation is enjoying the fun and is promoting the box office revenue of these two films in the North American market in the media every day.

It's like a slap in the face!

Chen Shiping is a man who never delays in slapping others in the face. People who don’t understand some things may not understand them, but those who understand the situation know what is going on.

Ordinary audiences would at most think that it’s awesome that Chinese-language films have gone abroad!
Those who know more clearly will understand that there has not been a single Hollywood blockbuster released this year. The Western films that have been released are all art films, and they have been highly criticized.

Comparing the two, this is China Film Group slapping us in the face!
You can't come to my house, but I can go to your house for a stroll.

Make some money before you leave!
Uncharted 2 performed well in the North American market, but it was also badly criticized.

Harvey boasted a lot when he started marketing, but now that Chen Shiping has shown his tough attitude, the media groups behind Hollywood have started to make their efforts.

There are so many people criticizing Uncharted 2 that they are almost saying that Uncharted is the worst movie of the century.

Harvey could only do some publicity in some small media, and he was powerless in the face of those media giants.

But if there are too many black ones, it is also a kind of publicity.

Uncharted 2's box office performance was not completely cut in half, mainly due to the accumulation of the first film and the audience's curiosity.

It's really curious that so many media outlets are criticizing such a bad movie.

Then go and have a look!

After watching it, it seems pretty good, not as bad as the media said.

In this strange atmosphere, Uncharted 2 has already grossed million U.S. dollars in North America in just half a month.

As long as the quality of the movie itself is good enough, smearing it can sometimes be a form of publicity.

Harvey was quite happy and called Chen Shiping to congratulate him.

But he also said that by the time Frozen is released, the situation might not be so good.

Harvey took the initiative to reveal that several animation companies including Disney were ready to snipe Frozen.

The sudden popularity of Frozen in the Asian market and the huge sales of its peripheral products have made Disney very nervous.

Chen Shiping didn't care about this at all. Just snipe. As long as Harvey holds on, it'll be fine!
Finally they were scared and started to defend themselves actively!

Isn’t this the American version of Domestic Film Protection Month?

From today on, offense and defense have changed!

(End of this chapter)