China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 282 Playing with you

Wang Shu chuckled and asked: "Director Han, is it necessary to be sloppy?"

When Han Sanping heard this, he fell silent, and then said: "Your name has been called, no matter whether you are selected or not, you have to go."

"Anyway, there's no harm in going, just to gain experience."

This experience refers to the experience of attending meetings.

Thinking about it in Han Sanping, with Wang Shu's strength, if he continues to hang out for a few years, sooner or later he will be famous in some places.

There will be a meeting at that time.

At this point, Wang Shu knew that whether he wanted to or not, he had to go and accompany Zhang Yimou.

The higher-ups have already spoken, and even though they knew there was no chance of being selected in the end, they still had to find time to show up.

This is force majeure and cannot be refused.

Of course, being called to participate in the selection is an honor.

These words were taken care of Wang Shu.

What this means is that Wang Shu's communication with senior directors can help him improve his level to a certain extent.

And during the press conference before the release of "Space Traveler", his words offended seventy-eight out of ten directors in the film and television industry.

Wang Shu and Han Sanping came and went together. Even if some people in the system looked down upon Wang Shu, they would not show it.

The Olympic Games are a matter of national interest, and their opening ceremony is no exception.

"Okay." Wang Shu groaned, not much.

"I know this." Wang Shu responded.

"It's good that you know." Han Sanping smiled and continued, "There will be a pre-selection symposium in a few days. You can go with me then."

China Film Group is the leader in the film and television industry, with a transcendent status.

When Wang Shu heard this, he asked quietly: "Director Han, do you think they will communicate with me?"

He laughed and said with a dry smile: "Hey, regardless of whether we communicate or not, you have to go to this selection. Your name has been named above."

Wang Shu is not a major student, not an academic, nor is he a director who came from Beijing Film Studio, West Film Studio, Shanghai Film Studio and other institutions. From beginning to end, he is not in the same league as the directors in the Beijing circle.

Although Wang Shu has become famous, his foundation is shallow and he may be looked down upon by some people when he comes to such occasions.

Although Wang Shu's performance was obviously not targeted, he was always waiting for Wang Shu to overturn and then jump out and step on him.

Han Sanping smiled and said: "Actually, this is a good thing. Then all the famous directors in the film and television industry will gather together, and you can also communicate with them."

Han Sanping was silent again. Youdao was a tough guy, and Wang Shu was not an academic, or he couldn't get along with those people.

"If you don't want to talk to them, just ignore them, but you must do the things named above."

Any other director would have been excited about this.

Therefore, regardless of Wang Shu's achievements, those academic directors who believe in their aloofness always have a contemptuous attitude towards him.

But Wang Shu was different. He was really busy and didn't want to waste his precious time knowing that he couldn't be selected.

At this time, you can't fight against each other, you can only do things according to the arrangements.

Wang Shu understood the meaning of the other party's words and immediately responded: "Okay."

"That's it for now. I still have things to do, so I won't say more." Han Sanping said with a smile.

"Okay." Wang Shu responded and hung up the phone.

Picking up the tea on the desk and taking a sip, Wang Shu thought about it carefully.

The selection of the director of the Olympic opening ceremony is an extremely cumbersome matter. Before the selection, there will be various symposiums and other meetings, and then there will be layers of selection. After many processes, there is no need to waste a lot of time. Only after going through the process will the already decided candidates be announced.

It would be easy if Wang Shu had nothing to do, but he not only has to prepare the movie to go to the Venice Film Festival, but he is also busy with the release of "Horror Cruise" and going to the Cannes Film Festival.

His schedule was very tight, but he still had to find time to play with Zhang Yimou.

this.

As Han Sanping said, his name has been mentioned above, so he can't go.

As for why the above should come up with a selection mechanism, he also knows it.

For such a big event as the Olympic Games, many people will have objections if the chief director is directly appointed to Zhang Yimou.

This is the only way to find a group of companions, and then naturally settle down with Zhang Yimou.

And Wang Shu is one of the companions.

"No matter what, being named as a companion is also a kind of affirmation."

Wang Shu comforted himself in various ways in his heart.

There are many directors in China, and it is impossible for everyone to be qualified to be a companion.

Among them, only some directors can be selected.

And all directors who can be selected, except those with connections, are capable directors.

Thinking of this, Wang Shu scratched his head. He suddenly couldn't figure out whether he was chosen because of his connections or because of his strength.

As we all know, he has a good personal relationship with Han Sanping, and Han Sanping is already the chairman of China Film.

With this personal relationship, he might be eligible to play with her.

And based on his achievements, he might be able to do the same.

"It's just that what I said before offended a lot of people, and many of them didn't want me to be one of my companions." "So... maybe it's not because of my strength, but more because of my personal relationship with Director Han?"

Wang Shu called Zhou Xiaofa, told him about sending audition invitations to Huang Xiaoming, Chen Kun, Deng Chao and others, and then left Yishu Company.

Next, he will meet with the heads of several other companies under his umbrella to start collecting cash flow.

In April 2007, the bankruptcy of New Century Financial Corporation, the second largest subprime mortgage company in the United States, exposed the risks of subprime mortgage bonds.

Since August 2007, the Federal Reserve has responded by injecting liquidity into the financial system to increase market confidence, and the U.S. stock market has been able to maintain its high level.

However, in August 2008, the stock prices of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giants in U.S. mortgage loans, plummeted, and financial institutions holding the bonds of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffered widespread losses.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve were forced to take over Freddie Mac and Freddie Mac to demonstrate the government's determination to deal with the crisis.

However, the U.S. government’s inappropriate real estate and financial policies have already foreshadowed the crisis.

Coupled with the abuse of financial derivatives, the financial transaction chain has been lengthened and speculation has been encouraged.

And, U.S. monetary policy has added fuel to the fire.

Many financial institutions in the United States were unable to survive this crisis.

The severity of the subprime mortgage problem is also far greater than people expected.

The Wall Street storm caused by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis later evolved into a global financial crisis. The process was so fast and its impact was so huge that we were not expecting it.

This is the most serious financial crisis since World War II that has plunged the global economy into a comprehensive and sustained recession.

The subprime mortgage crisis in the United States will evolve into a global financial crisis this time because of the domestic debt crisis in the United States, which began to withdraw a large amount of funds from all over the world. In addition, countries around the world purchased real estate bonds, so this time the United States The financial crisis turned into a world financial crisis in a short period of time.

It is now March 2007, not even April yet, and the real risk exposure was in July.

And even in July, many people still hold an optimistic attitude.

Even in August next year, many people are still quite optimistic.

In other words, it is still too late to short the United States at this point in time.

However, those who dare to bet against the United States will not end well.

There is a man named Barry in the United States. He was the first fund manager to short the U.S. property market.

Shorting the property market is easy to say, but it is very difficult to implement it. First of all, the property market is the lifeblood of the people no matter which country it is in. Shorting the property market is essentially going against the residents of a country. In history, people who short the property market generally end up with bad consequences. No, there are a lot of examples of this kind at home and abroad.

House prices in the United States have been rising for more than 06 years since the Great Depression. House prices have been rising forever and have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the United States. U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Frank Blanc have stated on various occasions that U.S. house prices are very stable. From a God's perspective, in , Barry dared to bet his fortune and life on shorting the U.S. real estate market. This prediction was truly remarkable.

In 2006, Barry looked through a bunch of stimulus loan information. He found that many subprime mortgage customers were "three-nos", that is, they had no job, no income, and no assets. However, this kind of customer could buy a house with zero down payment. These loans defaulted in minutes. , it’s simply child’s play.

But even this kind of bad loan, through the layers of MBS and CDO packages, can actually get a AAA rating from the rating agency.

Barry wants to short these subprime mortgage assets with falsely high ratings, but the second difficulty in shorting the U.S. property market is that there are no suitable short-selling tools. There are many ways to short the stock market, including stock index options, stock index futures, and securities lending.

So what are the ways to short the property market?

There is no other option but to sell the house.

Barry looked up information and asked around, and then he found CDS, a derivative traded over the counter.

He was the first person to use CDS, an artifact, to short the U.S. property market.

CDS is essentially an insurance that covers the risk of bonds. For example, there is now a CDS that covers the risk of Afghanistan’s national debt. The buyer of Afghanistan’s CDS has to pay regular premiums to the seller. If something goes wrong with Afghanistan’s national debt during the insurance period, , then the CDS seller has to cover the buyer's losses, and if there is no problem with the Afghan national debt, then the seller's premium will be in vain. CDS is an OTC derivative and cannot be bought on the secondary market. If you want to invest, you can only Find an investment bank to customize.

Barry selected a few MBS with the worst underlying assets in advance, and then went to Goldman Sachs to inquire.

MBS and CDS are two different things. MBS is a mortgage bond and the Afghan government bond above is a bond, while CDS is an insurance that guarantees that MBS will not go wrong.

Barry was worried that Goldman Sachs would open the asset package and carefully analyze the risks of MBS, so he did not dare to take out the few bad MBS he selected during the inquiry. He asked Goldman Sachs to first determine the range of MBS that could be shorted.

But Barry is obviously overthinking. Goldman Sachs doesn’t care what the underlying assets of these MBS are. They only look at the ratings. Different ratings correspond to different CDS premiums.

In Goldman Sachs' view, MBS would never default, and Barry, who came to customize CDS, was a fool who came to give money.

Of course, Goldman Sachs regarded Barry as a fool, and Barry regarded Goldman Sachs as a fool.

In 2006, Barry's Sion Capital customized a bunch of CDS at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns, and Morgan Stanley. The big investment banks on Wall Street all regarded Barry as a money-giving boy.

For things like CDS, as long as the MBS he underwrites does not explode, he has to keep paying premiums, because Barry started shorting the real estate market in 06, and the subprime mortgage crisis only broke out in 08, so Barry's Thain Capital was in 06 and 07. In , it suffered losses for two consecutive years.

The scale of Thain Capital is US$600 million, and the annual premiums it needs to pay are about US$80 million. This means that as long as the U.S. housing market does not collapse, Thain Capital will lose money in about five years.

Investors must not be able to bear the losses every year. What’s more, at this time, the U.S. real estate market shows no signs of collapse. Investors have asked to withdraw their capital. Even Barry’s nobleman, Joel, made a special plane to dissuade Barry. He stopped shorting the U.S. housing market, and Joel even threatened to withdraw his investment, but Barry still believed in his judgment.

In Barry's view, he was participating in an asymmetric gamble. If he lost, he would only lose 80 million US dollars in premiums every year. But if he bet correctly, the profit would be dozens or hundreds of times the premium. , this bet is a good deal.

Therefore, Barry forcibly froze the fund and rejected all divestment applications. He must finish the gamble and fight against all customers and the capital market on his own. Most people cannot bear this pressure. After freezing, Barry locked himself up. in office.

In the second half of 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis that spread across the world finally showed signs. As the Federal Reserve continued to raise interest rates, stimulating customers to be unable to repay their mortgages, default rates soared, and banks were forced to dispose of mortgaged properties in large quantities. As a result, housing prices plummeted, and more mortgage customers Choosing to default, the U.S. real estate industry formed a closed loop of loan defaults and property price reductions. Just as Barry expected, the U.S. real estate market collapsed quickly, but to Barry's surprise, the U.S. real estate market had already collapsed, but his hand The CDS inside did not earn a penny.

CDS is an over-the-counter derivative. OTC means that CDS is not traded in the open market, and its pricing is entirely determined by investment banks.

Although the underlying assets have exploded one by one, the credit rating of MBS bonds has remained unchanged, and the priority has always been 3A. The investment bank has refused to settle claims on the grounds that the rating remains unchanged. Not only does Barry not make any money, but he also has to continue to pay premiums.

Rating companies in the United States have always been unreliable. In order to steal business from investment banks, rating agencies generally listen to the investment banks. If the investment banks do not let MBS be downgraded, then the rating agency will never dare to downgrade. Normally, Barry's ending is It was dragged to death by investment banks and rating agencies, but the entire Wall Street did not expect that the subprime crisis would turn into such a huge disaster.

In 2008, the crisis was completely out of control. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and AIG Insurance Group broke out one after another, and investment banks collapsed one after another. If the rating agencies still insist on not downgrading MBS, then the rating reports will be like waste paper in the future.

In June 2008, the credit ratings of subprime mortgage products were significantly downgraded, and the price of CDS skyrocketed.

After more than two years of leadership, Barry finally wrote down the historic rate of return of 489% on the company's whiteboard.

(End of this chapter)