China Entertainment started in 2004

Chapter 547 Another Schedule Conflict

Fan Binbin is now supported by the Hong Kong circle. In this era when the Hong Kong circle dominates commercial films, she really speaks with her head held high.

Afterwards, Huayi and Feng Xiaogang collaborated with Fan Binbin again because the big boss behind Fan Binbin was becoming more and more powerful and unstoppable.

In this situation, there are no eternal enemies, only friends who have reconciled.

It was just past nine o'clock when Wang Shu returned home.

I had just taken a sip of water and taken a short rest when I received a call from Li Binbin.

"Director Wang, I heard that you are about to start casting for a co-production?" Li Binbin asked hurriedly.

"Yes." Wang Shu answered truthfully.

"Ah?" Li Binbin was a little bit unbelieving. "I thought it was just a rumor, but I didn't expect it to be true?"

"Haha." Wang Shu laughed and said, "It just so happens that we already have the script, and Life of Pi has also been filmed. Plus, Mr. Han and his team can't wait to put this project on the agenda, so we just start working on it."

After hearing this, Li Binbin fell silent.

On May 2009, 5, the film "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame" directed by Xu Ke started filming, with Liu Dehua playing the male lead and she playing the female lead.

If Wang Shu were to start casting and filming a co-production now, her schedule would conflict with that of Sun Li, Zhou Xun, and Fan Binbin.

After a moment of silence, Li Binbin said angrily, "I thought the earliest would be the end of the year."

Like Zhou Xun and others, she inferred that it would take Wang Shu until the end of the year at the earliest to finish filming "Life of Pi" and come up with a script for the co-production.

So they each accepted a acting offer, and the filming was all scheduled to be completed two or three months before the end of the year, which just freed up their schedules.

Unexpectedly, Wang Shu's co-production film was put on the agenda in the middle of the year.

The plan could not keep up with the changes, and they were caught off guard.

Wang Shu listened and said, "Originally, we didn't plan to do it now, but Director Han and his team couldn't wait and kept mentioning it. Plus, we had the script, so we started doing it."

He is good at passing the buck, and since Han Sanping is around, he can just pass the buck to Han Sanping.

Given Han Sanping's ambitious character, there is nothing wrong with his words of shifting the blame, and they are extremely convincing.

As expected, when Li Binbin heard this, he thought Wang Shu was under pressure from Han Sanping, and immediately blamed Han Sanping for his resentment, saying, "Boss Han is really something. China Film has so many projects, yet he is still so anxious."

Wang Shuxin said, we have to be anxious.

Han Sanping's term as the head of China Film Corporation was only a few years. He was powerful while in office, but the situation was completely different after he left office.

If you are not anxious now, will you wait until the day lilies are cold before you become anxious?

Wang Shuxin said to himself, but he said: "Director Han is also for the development of our domestic commercial films."

"Creating more projects will also help promote the development of commercial films."

Li Binbin curled his lips when he heard this. Everyone in and out of the circle knew that Wang Shu and Han Sanping had a close relationship. The fact that Wang Shu was speaking in Han Sanping's favor further proved this point.

She thought to herself that only Wang Shu would speak for Han Sanping.

In private, who wouldn't call Han Sanping a mountain eagle? !
Zuoshandiao is the nickname of the leader of the Northeastern bandit gang.

In the domestic film and television industry of this era, Han Sanping is a well-deserved "big boss". As the head of China Film, few can compete with him.

At the end of this year, the movie "Three Shots Surprise" directed by Zhang Yimou will be released.

Producer Zhang Weiping blasted the Huabiao Awards for being corrupt and accused Han Sanping, the head of China Film Group, of being like a mountain eagle engaging in personality cult.

Then he first said: "The General Administration and the Film Bureau strongly support domestic films and attach great importance to the overall development of Chinese films."

Then he continued: "But China Film Group Corporation uses its monopoly on the film market to restrict and persecute domestic films."

The reporter asked him, "What do you mean by monopoly?"

Zhang Weiping replied: "The meaning is very clear. A single dominant company is a form of monopoly."

"A few days ago, I met a leader from the Film Bureau. He asked me why you didn't come despite being invited many times to the Huabiao Awards in the past two years. I said that the Huabiao Awards have become a one-man show and a cult of personality. People who know about it think it's the highest government award, but those who don't know about it think it's a party held by a company."

This is an irony, expressing that the general public who are unaware of the inside story think that the Huabiao Award is the highest government award and is authoritative.

In fact, everyone in the circle knows that the Huabiao Awards is in a mess and has a certain authority.

The reporter then asked: "You said that China Film has a monopoly on the market. How exactly is that manifested?"

Zhang Weiping replied: "It doesn't cost a penny, but it can share the profits and get the benefits."

"China Film Group doesn't actually have many cinema chains, but its biggest power is importing films. It is well known that it uses the release schedule of imported blockbusters to squeeze out domestic films."

"If you don't cooperate with him, he will release two imported blockbusters during this period to compete with you and let the dog bite you."

"Sanqiang chose to cooperate with Huaxia this time, so it was blocked by two imported blockbusters, "2012" and "District ", in addition to some films participated by China Film."

"This practice is unethical. Domestic films are already in their growth stage and are at a disadvantage in competing with American blockbusters. "2012" and "District " have definitely played a role in diverting audiences."

"He is the banker, and no one dares to mess with him. This monopoly has restricted and persecuted the domestic film market, and he has used the mutual slaughter among domestic films to seek profits."

"We private companies don't have any special privileges. Without any protection, it's been very difficult for us to make movies today."

From the perspective of domestic film businessmen such as Zhang Weiping, there is indeed not much wrong with these words.

However, the situation is different from the perspective of China Film Group Corporation and higher-level organizations.

Because imported films are introduced into the country, the foreign producers only get 13% of the share.

In other words, with imported blockbusters entering domestic theaters, it will not only stimulate the domestic commercial film market, but also make a lot of money and put pressure on domestic films.

From a higher-level perspective, if there were no imported blockbusters entering the country to disrupt the market, it would be impossible for domestic films to develop rapidly in a comfortable environment.

Only with external pressure can there be change.

Imported blockbuster, equivalent to catfish.

In this era, introducing foreign language blockbusters has more advantages than disadvantages.

However, for domestic film businessmen, imported blockbusters have squeezed out their money-making space.

It is said that blocking someone's financial path is equivalent to killing his parents.

However, if you have a good relationship with China Film, you will not have to encounter imported blockbusters during the movie release period.

Every time the release date of a movie that Wang Shu collaborated with China Film Corporation was set, Han Sanping asked him this question.

But Wang Shu was full of ambition and didn't care about these things.

It is also because of this that his movie box office performance has silenced many people.

Some of his films were not released through China Film Group Corporation to avoid imported films, but instead achieved box office results by competing with imported blockbusters.

This kind of box office performance is of high quality. No doubt about it!

Li Binbin sighed and continued, "I thought I would have the opportunity to audition for your co-production this time. Maybe I could get the role if I'm lucky, but I didn't expect to miss it."

These words are actually a test and also a hint.

If he is a bootlicker, he will definitely say a bunch of bootlicker words like "It's okay", "I've reserved a role for you", "Don't worry" and so on.

However, Wang Shu did not answer like that, but pretended to be puzzled and asked back: "What do you mean?"

Li Binbin complained: "I am currently working on the set of Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Filming started last month and it will take at least two or three months to wrap up."

"Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame?" Wang Shu continued to pretend to be confused.

"Yeah." Li Binbin responded, thinking that Wang Shu had been busy with Life of Pi and didn't know about this news, and then explained, "This is a movie produced by Huayi, directed by Xu Ke, Liu Dehua plays the male lead, I play the female lead, and there are also Hong Kong Island Liu Jialing and others in the movie."

After listening to it, Wang Shu said immediately: "This is great. Not only is it directed by a famous director, but also a big star like Liu Dehua plays the leading role."

"There are also Liu Jialing and others."

“It’s obviously a big production.”

Li Binbin remained noncommittal when he heard this. "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame" is indeed a top-notch film resource in the domestic entertainment industry.

However, compared with Wang Shu's co-productions, it is still a level behind.

No matter how top-notch the resources of the drama "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame" are, it is ultimately a domestic entertainment film.

Wang Shu’s co-productions are oriented towards the world from the beginning, targeting the film resources on the international stage.

If given a choice, Li Binbin, like Zhou Xun and others, would prefer to star in a co-production with Wang Shu.

"It's really good. If a movie of this level wasn't produced by Huayi, I wouldn't have the chance to play the leading female role." Li Binbin continued.

Wang Shu heard this and didn't ask why Huayi chose her to play the leading female role instead of Zhou Xun when Huayi already had Zhou Xun.

He knew in his heart that Zhou Xun and Huayi were now at odds with each other, and Huayi had already shifted its resources to Li Binbin.

Next year, Zhou Xun's contract with Huayi will expire and will not be renewed.

In fact, from this point we can also see the gap between Li Binbin and Zhou Xun.

Huayi allocated resources to Li Binbin, which gave Li Binbin the opportunity to star in top-level movies such as "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame".

In comparison, even if Zhou Xun no longer has Huayi’s resources, many film crews still offer her acting contracts.

This is because Zhou Xun’s face is recognized in the circle as being photogenic and she also has acting skills.

She actually enjoys this job better than Li Binbin.

No matter her appearance or acting skills, it would be difficult for Li Binbin to make a name for herself if there is no one supporting her behind the scenes.

"Haha, Huayi is getting stronger and stronger now. Last year it made "The Forbidden Kingdom", and this year it made "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame." Wang Shu said with a smile.

Li Binbin heard this and said, "It's far inferior to Director Wang's Yikeshu Company."

"Director Wang's Yikeshu Company has produced many blockbuster films in succession."

“Now, we are even producing co-productions.”

Wang Shu said with a smile: "That's different. Yikeshu Company only follows the film companies like China Film Group and gets some benefits, but Huayi gets to eat the meat."

“It seems to have produced a lot of movies, but in fact its revenue is not as good as Huayi’s.”

When Li Binbin heard this, he didn't believe it at all. If Yikeshu Company was just taking a share of the profits, then why did Wang Shu give 5% of the share to Huayi without hesitation when filming "Travel to Taipei" last year?

But since Wang Shu didn't tell the truth, Li Binbin didn't expose him. She asked, "In that case, is Director Wang interested in cooperating with Huayi in the future?"

After that, he continued, "Other film companies cooperate with China Film because they are worried that they will be targeted if they don't cooperate with China Film."

"With Director Wang's strength, he is not worried about these things."

"In that case, Director Wang can definitely cooperate with Huayi."

Wang Shu smiled when he heard this.

From Huayi's perspective or Li Binbin's perspective, there is nothing wrong with saying this.

It’s just that Wang Shu’s Yikeshu Company does not have the distribution capabilities and is destined to cooperate with companies that have distribution capabilities.

In this case, it is better to cooperate with China Film than with Huayi.

After all, China Film is the big boss. Cooperating with it is easy, labor-saving and worry-free, and can save a lot of trouble.

For example, Zhang Yimou's "Three Shots Surprise", although it did not cooperate with China Film, it was still a cooperation with Huaxia.

Hua Xia is also a state-owned enterprise, established with the participation of a number of state-owned enterprises including China Radio, Television and Film, China Film, Shanghai Film, Xi'an Film and Changchun Film, and is directly under the Central Propaganda Department.

He said, "Are you a competent artist under Huayi? You have even helped your boss negotiate cooperation."

"Haha, I'm just thinking that if Director Wang cooperates with Huayi, it will be easier for me to get a role~" Li Binbin knew that Wang Shu was teasing him, so he said some tentative words.

When Wang Shu heard this, he wanted to say that he was cooperating with China Film Group, and Han Sanping basically did not interfere with the casting, and it was up to him to decide who to choose. However, he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.

If he said this now, it would be equivalent to confirming that he has absolute right to cast.

If the news gets out, Sun Li, Zhou Xun, Mei Ting and others can come to him to seek the role he has been selected for.

Will he refuse or agree then?
By then, several people will have the same idea at the same time. Even if we agree, who will we agree to?
Therefore, even if you have absolute casting rights, you cannot admit it.

Instead, they pretend that they do not have absolute right in casting, so that there is room for negotiation.

For example, this time, Wang Shu's words that he needed to be responsible to China Film Group, Shanghai Film Group, and overseas film companies blocked the way for someone to approach him for a directly-selected role.

For example, when actresses such as Sun Li, Zhou Xun, and Mei Ting came to him, Wang Shu found it difficult to refuse because of their relationship.

But he said that these people did not want to embarrass him, nor did they want to strain the relationship between the two parties, so they would not ask for the role directly.

"Haha, what you said makes sense." Wang Shu smiled.

The two chatted for a while and then hung up the phone.

Although Li Binbin didn't know whether Wang Shu would be like many big directors who could not tolerate the main actors in the crew overlapping their roles, she guessed that Wang Shu probably had the same temper.

After all, this kind of behavior is embarrassing for the director, and any director with a say will not tolerate it.

In order to avoid offending Wang Shu, Li Binbin gave up the idea of ​​overlapping roles.

In comparison, Fan Binbin is much more inflated.

She wants to act in a drama.

(End of this chapter)