During my years at China Entertainment

Chapter 400: The Gift from Han Sanping, the Vanguard
Less than two days after the news from the Berlin Film Festival came out, the industry was shocked again.

The latest China-US film import agreement appeared on the official website of the General Administration in the form of a red-headed document.

Although they had been mentally prepared before, now that the stone had fallen, the entire domestic film industry was as if cold water was poured into hot oil, and it instantly began to boil.

The large companies are fine as they all have their own channels and got the news early on. It’s mainly the small production companies that are wailing.

There is an endless stream of opposition, complaints and abuse.

There are voices of support, but they are a minority.

Contrary to the negative and pessimistic mood of most film companies, theaters are now in a festive mood.

After all, for cinema chains, the more imported blockbusters the better. In the words of Zhang Weiping, it is like "sitting back and dividing the money". After all, it is a business that can only make money and not lose money!

As expected, the General Administration held a meeting the next day.

Wei Jin, Xu Laoguai, Wu Ershan and others went to the General Administration.

A group of industry experts and leaders explained the latest policies to the bigwigs in the film and television industry.

Perhaps the outside world's negative voices are really too loud, and the General Administration hopes to boost morale.

The experts attending the meeting stood on the stage and spoke passionately about the current development status of the domestic film industry.

"Last year, the total domestic movie box office revenue exceeded 160 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 100% year-on-year. Among them, the box office revenue of domestic films was close to 62.38 billion yuan, accounting for % of the total box office revenue for the whole year."

"In just half a year, three movies, The Thief, Mojin: The Lost Legend, and Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, have grossed over 10 billion yuan, and even took back the box office record held by Avatar."

"In the face of new situations, we must actively respond. The domestic film industry is capable of fighting. I hope that the companies and directors present here will continue to produce high-quality content and strive to achieve cross-border, cross-border globalization and the entire industry chain."

This was the first time that Wu Ershan attended such a meeting. In the past, he was not qualified to attend such meetings of top industry leaders.

The heads of state-owned enterprises such as China Film Group, Shanghai Film Group, and Xi'an Film Group, as well as the top leaders of industry giants such as Shanhe Media, Huayi, Bona, Fiber Optic, and Star Media were all there.

Look at the big guys sitting in the front row, including those from the Film Bureau and the publicity department.

Wu Ershan, a Mongolian man, forced himself to smile like a young man from the south of the Yangtze River.

He was quite serious, holding a notebook and taking notes of the key points of the leader's explanation from time to time.

But he found that he seemed to be unable to keep up with the pace, so he turned his head to look at the person sitting next to him.

On his left was Old Monster Xu. After taking a look at him, Wu Ershan was almost stunned.

Old Monster Xu sat upright with his bamboo-like body, holding his notebook with both hands, and writing rapidly.

But if you look closely, you will find that Old Monster Xu was actually drawing, and what he was drawing was a turtle.

It's so lifelike, and the artist's skills are quite profound.

Wu Ershan felt his mind a little confused for a moment, so much so that when his name was called, he stuttered and stumbled.

But the leaders didn't care. Instead, they treated him as an artist with that kind of personality and applauded loudly.

Then it was Xu Laoguai's turn. He was slightly better, after all, he had seen big scenes before.

Next it was Wei Jin's turn. He had participated in such meetings more than once and had rich experience. This time, as a director and producer, he went on stage to share his experience and insights in managing three billion-dollar movies.

Then a senior leader came to the stage to summarize and speak briefly.

An hour and a half later, the mobilization meeting ended.

Most of the production companies and some directors left first, but Wei Jin, Xu Laoguai, Wu Ershan and others could not leave yet. Just now in the middle of the meeting, a staff member greeted them and asked them to stay.

After looking around, Wei Jin found that those who stayed were all well-known directors and some of the largest companies in the industry, and he had some guesses in his mind.

But it’s a bit disgusting to see Lu Chuan here too.

After everyone in the venue left, Director Tong sat on the podium.

"Everyone, you should understand the meeting just now."

"hehe."

As soon as Director Tong said this, some people at the scene started laughing.

We all understand that it’s just superficial work, and we need to let leaders see our high morale.

Director Tong didn't mind and just took it as a way to liven up the atmosphere, but then his expression turned serious.

"Those who stay here are all from big companies or well-known directors in the industry. They are considered the pillars of the industry. I am not going to lie to you. The wolf is really here this time!"

Looking at the solemn faces of the people in the audience, Director Tong nodded with satisfaction. If this group of people did not have a clear understanding, then it would be all over.

"So everyone, the situation is not optimistic. Director Wei Jin, Director Xu Ke, Director Wu Ershan, Director Chen Kaige, Director Feng Xiaogang
There are movies coming out this year, and I hope you won’t shy away from it, but be the vanguard and set an example for the industry!”

After hearing this, the faces of the people who were named, except Wei Jin, looked unhappy.

No one present was a fool. Director Tong's meaning was very clear. That is, as long as their movies were scheduled, at least one imported film would be arranged as a rival, and it was possible that there would be two.

After all, those present here are the most successful directors. If they all ran away en masse, the entire industry would really lose its spirit.

"Director Wei Jin, you are the box office record holder, why don't you express your opinion first?"

Seeing the silence in the audience, Director Tong directly called out the name.

Wei Jin didn't say anything more and just stood up to express his opinion.

"Director Tong, I can't guarantee anything else, but my works, or the works controlled by Shanhe Media, only look at the release date, not the competition. I will never skip or escape the release date!"

"Good! This is the momentum we want!"

Director Tong slapped his thigh, stood up and shouted, then looked at everyone else. Except for a few directors who had signed contracts with Shanhe Media, the rest of them lowered their heads, obviously unwilling to be cannon fodder.

The meeting was over and everyone left one after another. Many people began to sigh, including Xu Laoguai and Wu Ershan.

"Okay, you think you'll be fine if you don't express your opinion? If you run away once, the General Administration will record it."

Wei Jin's action just now was not to make a high-profile statement. There is no publicity for the release of imported films. They may be released at any time. Whether you like it or not, the General Administration has already given the notice.

It was impossible to avoid it, and Wei and Jin had no intention of avoiding it.

Wu Ershan and Xu Laoguai also obviously figured out the problem and nodded.

"Then President Wei, shall we go together?"

"No, I have something else to do, you guys go first."

After sending the two away, Wei Jin headed towards Director Tong's office.

He knocked on the door and waited until someone said "come in" from inside before Wei Jin pushed the door open.

Tong Ju was making tea and looked at Wei Jin, a little surprised: "Why didn't you leave? Is there something wrong?"

Wei Jin smiled and replied, "Director Tong, I need your help with something."

Director Tong is worthy of being a leader. He reacted instantly.

"About the script? Are you unsure or is it too explicit?"

"Well, the script is a bit too explicit, so I wanted you to review it."

"Okay, sit down first and tell me."

After spending an hour in Tong Ju's office, Wei Jin finally left with satisfaction. However, he received a call from Han Sanping on the way, so he told Lao Zhu to go straight to the Central Film Studio. The traffic conditions in Beijing were really worrying, and it was almost time for lunch when he arrived at the Central Film Studio.

Han Sanping was not in a hurry to talk about the matter and directly invited Wei Jin to have dinner in the small cafeteria of China Film.

In this regard, Wei Jin of course had to obey the order respectfully. You know, this was a small canteen specially opened for leaders, and the food tasted really good.

After the meal, Han Sanping started talking about business.

"Wei Jin, this is what I think. In the past, you were the one who made concessions to China Film. We have been cooperating for so long. In fact, there are many ways to cooperate. The simplest one is project replacement or import film quota. What do you think?"

Han Sanping's tone was very sincere. China Film Group had made a lot of money with Shanhe Media over the years, but there were some projects that he was obviously optimistic about, but he couldn't bring himself to do so because of the investment costs, which made him feel uncomfortable.

In addition, Han Sanping felt embarrassed for always taking advantage of Wei and Jin and winning without doing anything, so he proposed a new way to deepen cooperation.

Wei Jin was somewhat touched by Han Sanping's proposal.

Leaving aside the issue of project replacement, after all, no one except himself can say whether the movie can be profitable, but the quota for imported films is really giving money to Wei Jin.

Speaking of quotas, it is actually a gray area in the film industry.

Only China Film Corporation has the right to import foreign language films.

The distribution of foreign language films in China is controlled by two companies, China Film Group and Huaxia Film Group.

Imported films are divided into split-revenue films and wholesale films, but most of the time, these two groups are too busy with split-revenue films, let alone wholesale films with more quotas?

Therefore, the usual choice is to transfer some batch film quotas to private distribution companies for a fee.

However, due to policy constraints, the nominal statement is that private film companies assist the two state-owned enterprises in distributing batches of films.

Private film companies only need to pay a "paid" fee, which is about 25% of the domestic box office of the batch films, to distribute overseas films without any risk. The key is that this part of the distribution fee can be very high.

All in all, many of Summit Entertainment's film projects can obtain batch film quotas in this way, with almost zero cost.

However, with the introduction of the new agreement, the value of the quota is also decreasing, after all, there are too many imported films.

But it's still undoubtedly a great gift.

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Han. Regarding the quota, I will ask you if you need me to. As for the project replacement, the company will launch several projects in the near future. Can we talk about it then?"

To be honest, Wei Jin doesn't think much of China Film's projects because Han Sanping likes blockbusters too much, and there are really too few blockbusters that can make money in China at present.

"Don't talk about it then. Take a look at this first and see if anyone is interested."

Han Sanping signaled to his secretary and handed over a few bound A4 papers.

"Forehead"

Seeing that Han Sanping was so well prepared, Wei Jin could only shake his head and took the paper to read it.

"So Young", "Havoc in Heaven", "Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains", "Journey to the West: Hero is Back", "The Crossing".
The A4 paper is only 5 pages long, but contains the plot outlines of more than a dozen movies, including the director, producer, and even the production team and cast.

Among these movies, except for the animated film "The Monkey King: Hero is Back", the rest have a main controller.

However, Wei Jin's eyes were fixed on the cartoon.

He had never seen this movie in his previous life, nor did he know the production team, so even though he knew that the movie was a box office hit, he had no way of getting ahold of it.

But he really didn't expect to come across this movie under such circumstances.

Isn't this just like a sleepy person meeting a pillow?

Seeing that Wei Jin seemed to be interested, Han Sanping nodded, his mouth curled up: "Wei Jin, these movies are all carefully selected by me. If you are interested, you might as well pick a few more."

Han Sanping's words sound very grand, but in fact, almost all of these movies have controlling parties, and the shares that can be invested are not large.

However, Wei Jin really had to eat Han Sanping's cake. He put down the paper in his hand, pondered for a while, and then spoke slowly.

"Director Han, whichever of Shanhe Media's subsequent projects you like, you can invest 30% of the shares. In exchange, I want to take control of "The Return of the Great Sage"!"

As soon as Wei Jin finished speaking, Han Sanping's eyes lit up, and he immediately made the decision with a smile on his face.

"Okay, it's settled!"

After settling this matter, both Wei Jin and Han Sanping were in a good mood. They were not in a hurry and chatted during the lunch break.

"I haven't congratulated you yet. Are you going to make a fortune again?"

Han Sanping's words sounded a bit sour, but Wei Jin knew what he was jealous of.

A few days ago, "Happy Death Day 2" was released in North America.

With the support of the previous work, theaters were generally optimistic about this low-budget horror film, and the number of openings was quite impressive.

The movie's box office performance was beyond expectations, with $910 million on the first day and a whopping $3420 million in the first three days of the weekend, which is truly a miracle!

Summit Entertainment predicts that this movie may even surpass the first one at the box office.

Although the cost of this second film soared to 800 million, it is definitely a huge profit considering this result.

"Hey, dividends to shareholders, just a small amount of money, not worth mentioning."

Seeing that Wei Jin didn't want to talk more, Han Sanping also changed the subject.

"By the way, you went to Tongju just now, right? What did you talk about? New projects?"

"Well, there is a script that I have polished halfway through, but I am not sure about some parts, so I asked Director Tong to give me some pointers."

Wei Jin did not hide anything and told the story of the script.

Even if this project is approved, China Film Group is still indispensable.

Honestly speaking, with the development of Shanhe Media to this point, it doesn’t really make much difference whether China Film Group is involved in the project or not. After all, the help that China Film Group can provide is not that great, whether it’s scheduling films or publicity and promotion.

But now that the new agreement has been implemented, some things are very delicate.

According to the General Administration, all big directors’ films will have opponents.

But who is this opponent? When will this opponent appear? There are some things worth manipulating.

China Film Group, which controls the distribution of imported films, happens to have the power to manipulate this chess game.

Therefore, China Film Group will be an integral part of the company’s future blockbusters!
After listening to the outline of the script, Han Sanping looked amused.

"You kid, you really gave Director Tong a big problem."

This book from the Wei and Jin Dynasties involves money-for-power transactions, power, coercion and inducement, and somewhat exposes the class contradictions in society. The scale is too large!
"Hey, Mr. Han, things are different now. Since we have to deal with external enemies, we can't tie our own hands, right?"

"That's true."

Han Sanping nodded, "What did Director Tong say?"

"In principle, it's fine, but the ending must be positive."

"It seems Director Tong is under a lot of pressure. By the way, how much is the investment this time?"

Looking at Han Sanping's bright eyes, Wei Jin smiled.

"Director Han, the script hasn't been reviewed yet. Don't worry, China Film Group will be there."

"Okay, I'll wait for your news, haha."

(End of this chapter)