Chapter 1525
2 Difficulties Solved
Shortly after, Zhang Yuan hurriedly landed in Los Angeles.
First, go to Universal Pictures to sign a contract for "Fast & Furious 6".
The fifth movie was so profitable that the outline for the sixth movie was already written, and I sent him a copy.
He was also given a $350 million salary for renewing his contract for the next film.
However, the film's budget has also increased from $1.2 million for the fifth installment to over $1.5 million.
Many of them are bald, and Paul and The Rock have also seen salary increases.
This is an unavoidable problem; it occurs in most series.
Many series even collapse financially because the actors' salaries and profit sharing become unbearable.
After he signed the contract, he checked the production team's finances.
After deducting the investment in this film from the profits from the previous film, and going through all the accounting, I'll only make around 2000 million US dollars...
Fortunately, they immediately sold the profits from the next film, along with the distribution rights and copyrights, making Harvey, the old man who acted as the middleman, extremely happy.
After inquiring, Zhang Yuan learned that the domestic distribution rights had been sold back to LeEco Pictures by that old bastard...
They just keep passing the money around, making money off the Chinese.
He didn't care, as long as his money was in his account.
"My friend, the news recently exposed that a company in China has bribed people from Legendary Pictures," the fat man asked, squinting his eyes.
"It's quite a coincidence that the person accused of receiving bribes is the same person you asked me to help investigate before."
"I think there must be some kind of deal behind this coincidence, right?"
Still not giving up, they wanted to make even more money.
"I was just using this information to curry favor with them," Zhang Yuan naturally wouldn't admit.
"You're so stingy," the fat man said angrily when he saw that the other man didn't speak.
"Don't worry, my friend, we'll have other collaborations in the future," he said, feigning reassurance.
"Maybe you could help me buy an Oscar for Best Actor or something."
“You have quite the appetite…maybe.” The man shook his fat head and big ears.
Judging from what he said, it's not entirely impossible.
But what will be the price, Gul'dan?
"Don't worry, we'll have other collaborations in the future."
"I'm about to go and discuss cooperation with Legendary Pictures. In the future, I will have a large number of copyrights for Sino-US co-production projects."
"Hahaha, don't forget me then!" Upon hearing this, the old Jewish man laughed again.
……
We took a car to the Legendary Pictures office building.
Unlike last time, this time Smith personally went out to greet him.
Zhang Yuan greeted him very warmly, as if they were half-brothers.
Of course, he kept this short video of his own brother.
And it's very meticulous; it's not just stored on a computer.
What if my computer gets hacked and breaks down?
Is a new Teacher Chen 2.0 coming?
So he adopted a multi-pronged approach.
It's not just stored on a separate, unused computer.
I also copied two hard drives and locked them in a safe.
That wasn't all. He also used a burning technique rarely seen in later generations to make several CDs, which he stored in his several residences.
So when Smith tentatively said that he had done his best, could these videos be...?
Zhang Yuan shook his head, indicating that he could not.
The other party tentatively asked how many copies you made.
Zhang Yuan's answer was the same as China's response to foreign media questions about how many nuclear weapons it had stored.
enough.
This cold and impeccable response left the other party scratching their head in frustration, but utterly helpless.
This time, he went directly to see his boss, Thur.
He had a round head, sparse hair, and the same fake smile typical of white people.
"How was your trip? Was it tiring?" the other person asked.
"It's alright. I can endure these hardships for the sake of the job," Zhang Yuan replied, and then added.
"Just like I also have to endure the initial probing during the early stages of cooperation and some disputes when we don't understand each other."
He had already been very polite, but the other party still looked a little stiff.
Our eldest brother doesn't laugh at our second brother, and we don't mention the past.
Let's just consider this a case of becoming friends after a fight.
"There are still many companies in China interested in cooperation," Tuer said after composing himself.
They're still trying to inflate their own value, implying that we're in high demand.
“My situation is exactly the same as yours.”
"I had a private meeting with Huayi without your company's prior notice."
"Most shareholders are very angry and say they are unwilling to work with a dishonest company."
"However, I suppressed everyone's objections and came in person."
"It's because I hope to get a satisfactory result."
"Please understand, I am under tremendous pressure."
The white man also felt that this Chinese man was not someone to be trifled with.
He had just raised his hand in a standard, routine gesture, and the other person was gesturing to him.
You think it's too expensive? I think it's too expensive too!
The company doesn't agree to cooperate. If it weren't for me, who the hell would sit down and talk to you!
If I'm not satisfied with today's discussion, then I won't take the pressure anymore, and we can all part ways.
Did they think I came here to beg for food on my knees?
He adopted a very tough stance.
I'm furious!
I'm standing in the middle, trying to suppress the foreigners with one hand and these domestic guys with the other.
It was only because Lao Tzu's decisive action this time humiliated Hua Yi that the internal resistance to investing in "Pacific Rim" was lessened.
But still, I have to find the money myself.
The company doesn't have that much cash.
He is already prepared to seek financing from banks.
Anyway, the company has been a big winner during the Spring Festival for two consecutive years. With this track record, it's not only easy for him to borrow money, but many banks are also eager to lend him money, but he has turned them all down.
Seeing that the atmosphere was not very harmonious, the "traitor" Smith stepped in to smooth things over.
"We invited you here today to find a cooperation plan that maximizes the benefits for everyone."
"Okay." Zhang Yuan gently raised his hand.
"So all I said was that I could provide the investment for Pacific Rim."
"But you need to meet my conditions."
“You can talk,” Tull nodded.
"First of all, we must establish a joint venture in China."
"From now on, the regional distribution of Legendary Pictures films in Asia will be handled by this company."
"NONONO, at most it can only be the China region."
“Okay, then the distribution rights for mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will all be handed over to this joint venture company.”
“Isn’t Taiwan considered part of China?” Tuer asked.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuan immediately stood up.
"If you don't acknowledge that Taiwan belongs to the Chinese territory, then there's no need for us to cooperate."
"This is a matter of principle. If you don't face this issue squarely, don't even think about passing the review in mainland China."
“OK, Taiwan is of course part of China.” Tuer immediately changed his tune.
He didn't really care; he just wanted to fight for his own interests.
He didn't care which country Taiwan belonged to.
You say that the island nation belongs to China, but he doesn't care, as long as it doesn't affect my making money.
He cares about the ability to sell the distribution rights for money.
"Also, the management personnel of this company must be involved by our company."
"We cannot use all foreign personnel appointed by Legendary Pictures."
"Only Chinese people truly understand the Chinese market."
The other party will definitely send in senior executives, but we can't listen to the foreigners completely.
We also shouldn't listen to those "fake foreigners," foreign Chinese, or people who have received North American education for a long time.
The story of Li Debogu is not far removed from the past.
These kinds of people do a bad job, then just pack up and run away, leaving behind a mess and refusing to take any responsibility.
Blindly trusting foreign and overseas-returned executives is also a major ideological flaw in many Chinese enterprises.
“We can discuss these further.”
"Alright, regarding the shares in the joint venture, I demand 6%."
"You're being far too greedy." This time, the foreigner couldn't hold back any longer.
How come I only have 4%?
Smith, standing to the side, thought to himself, "You should be secretly happy; 4% is pretty good."
I still have to be mindful of Master Zhang's mood.
"Not only do I want to take 6%, but I also have to put the company name first."
Zhang Yuan said, "I'm pushing my luck."
“This is not a cooperative attitude,” Thur said, somewhat displeased.
“Zhang, cooperation is based on equality,” Smith chimed in. “You have to offer suitable terms.”
This was meant to be a hint to him.
Zhang Yuan was, of course, well-prepared.
"Of course, these are just my conditions."
"I will also make some concessions to Legendary Pictures."
"For example, the revenue from the film 'Pacific Rim'," Zhang Yuan pointed with his fingers.
"According to your project budget proposal, the total budget for this film is less than 2 million US dollars, less than 1.9 million."
"And you want me to cover $7000 million of the production costs."
"According to the proportion, after our investment, we should enjoy a 36.8% share of the profits."
"Including but not limited to box office revenue, comics, video games, toys, character licensing, etc."
Many people say that Pacific Rim is good and popular, but it lost money.
If it were truly a loss, why would Legend make a sequel?
However, judging from the box office, it did not make a profit, and even lost money.
But there are also surrounding areas!
This show has both PC and mobile game versions, and a bunch of comics have been released, selling quite a lot.
The figurines don't sell well in the country because they're too expensive.
Furthermore, the main consumer group for dolls in China is women, not men.
Men who buy figurines and toys are often criticized for being idle and wasting their lives, while women who buy these things are seen as childlike and cute...
Can those be the same?
Therefore, high-priced toys like official Transformers are simply not popular in the country.
Not to mention companies like Warhammer that sell chess pieces.
Lego is one of the few brands that has benefited from children being an easy target for consumers, so it's not bad.
Besides these, we haven't even included the significant proportion of CD and streaming copyrights held in North America.
No one mentions Pacific Rim.
That knock-off version of "Atlantic Rim" made millions of dollars selling DVDs and streaming services.
Based on these figures, the film definitely won't lose money, but it didn't make a lot either.
The main reason is that box office revenue in North America, its key market, was lower than expected.
Americans aren't buying it!
They love watching flesh wrapped in iron, whether it's Iron Man or Stormtroopers.
I'm not interested in gigantic mechs.
However, this is exactly where Zhang Yuan intends to strike!
“Under normal cooperation, we should enjoy this portion of the benefits.”
"But we can make concessions on the revenue from North America."
Upon hearing this, Tuer was no longer sleepy.
He immediately perked up.
"But in exchange, I want all the profits from the Huaxia region."
This drama is a typical example of the rise and fall of the East and West, and can be regarded as a weak point.
Before this, no one had imagined that China's foreign language film market would be so strong.
While Avatar achieved high box office returns, its revenue share in China was very low, only around ten percent.
Because the production company of foreign language films in mainland China only receives 12% of the revenue.
You need to make a net profit of 100 million to receive 12 million.
So when Tours did the math, it was quite interesting.
The stereotype of white people is that they are bad at math, but not all of them are bad at math.
As a boss, and someone with a Wall Street background, math skills are essential.
The moment it crosses my mind, I start to think about the costs.
Even if it sells for 5000 million US dollars in China... that's already a bold estimate.
We can then get 600 million US dollars.
In North America, however, if the other party concedes 1% of its profits, it could be worth several million US dollars.
The profitability gap between the two markets is too large!
What foreigners don't know is that this film sold incredibly well in mainland China.
However, this is only one aspect.
There's a second one!
More importantly, by the end of the year, China will comprehensively reform its imported film mechanism.
In addition to a larger share of imports each year, the revenue share of foreign language films has also surged from 12% to 25%!
Moreover, this 25% is the net profit after tax, so that's all you get.
All things considered, it's not actually that much less than domestic films.
This is a landmark policy marking the full opening of China's film market.
At the same time, Zhang Yuan believes that this is a manifestation of the higher authorities' confidence in Chinese films.
Why were there restrictions before?
Fearing that our own films would be overwhelmed by Hollywood and unable to develop, domestic film and television companies, like some other industries such as early computers, automobiles, and machine tools, became hubs for compradors.
Things are different now. With a diverse range of industries flourishing domestically, we are no longer afraid of being crushed by foreigners.
These two factors combined led Zhang Yuan to choose to uphold domestic interests in order to seek higher returns.
But if you just say, "I want the domestic profits," foreigners aren't stupid; they'll become suspicious.
So he used this excuse.
They used the guise of cooperation and profit sharing to exchange this portion.
This is called using deception instead of robbery, thus resolving the dilemma.
The foreigner was very happy and felt it was a good deal.
They also believed that Zhang Yuan was quite sincere.
In addition, Tours has also analyzed recent news.
We were just about to have in-depth negotiations with Huayi and reach an agreement when the news was suddenly leaked.
Whoever benefits is the murderer, so it's very obvious who did it.
They don't care about the internal strife within your Huaxia Company; they actually want to gain benefits by instigating it.
It has now been discovered that this young collaborator is clearly more sophisticated and has a strong grasp of public opinion in mainland China.
And this "concession" is likely the result of our instigation of internal strife.
In order to cooperate and compete, give us some concessions!
Foreigners always think the best things...
“Very good, I think this shows great sincerity.”
After thinking for a moment, Turs spoke again.
"I have decided that I will personally go to China for an investigation soon."
"We will contact your company."
“Okay, I’ll arrange the reception.” Zhang Yuan stood up and shook hands with the other party.
"However, we hope that you will only contact us this time."
Hahahaha... The old white man laughed shamelessly.
After both parties finalized the general plan, Zhang Yuan had a meal with the other party and discussed the details of the movie.
When discussing casting arrangements, the other party even "kindly" suggested that they could arrange several supporting roles for Chinese artists.
Zhang Yuan chuckled inwardly.
Yes, arrange the seating.
I found a bunch of well-known people for you, but they only had a few lines, and their screen time was cut very little. We still have to promote your second-rate artists.
In the early days, not only Hollywood, but also Hong Kong and Taiwan did this.
Mainland actors are truly frustrated.
Do you think I'm being polite?
It costs money and makes people suffer.
"I'd rather not play a supporting role, but if you're willing to give up the lead role, I might consider it," Zhang Yuan said seriously.
"Hehehehe..."
They took it as a joke.
He shook his head slightly. "Pacific Rim does have a lot of scenes set in Asia."
The original plan was to set the battlefield of the great battle against the two beasts, namely the Ridgeback Turtle and the Tail-Standing Rat, two level-four behemoths, in Japan.
After all, mecha is a unique feature of island nations.
But the Japanese side had just experienced an earthquake, not to mention a nuclear leak...
To avoid upsetting the audience, the background was changed to Hong Kong.
Because in the eyes of foreigners, the most famous cities in Asia, besides Tokyo, are Hong Kong, and then Bangkok and similar cities.
Koreans always claim to be international, but actually, very few people know about Seoul and Busan.
Then came the mechs, Crimson Storm and Cherno Alpha, the two red faction machines, which went in together and were instantly killed.
In the end, the North American Jaeger, the Dangerous Ranger, had to save the day.
A strong North American messianic flavor.
However, there are details in the movie that show that Crimson Storm and Chernobyl are not weak.
This is because after the scientists connected to the beast's brain, they not only learned about the information from the giant beast, but the giant beast also learned about the human mechs from its brain.
The two behemoths, the Ridgeback Turtle and the Tail-Standing Rat, are specialized behemoths designed specifically to target several active mechs.
Not only were those two instantly killed, but the most advanced Australian mech, the Eureka Raider, was also brought to a standstill by a single bio-EMP attack.
Only during major overhauls were unregistered, high-risk individuals left untargeted.
At least in terms of the premise, the director and screenwriter provided a reasonable explanation, unlike some movies that are arrogant and illogical in portraying China and Russia as weak and evil.
If the mechs are all wiped out, what role can the crew play?
Therefore, Zhang Yuan was too lazy to listen to what the other party had to say.
Don't cause any trouble. If the box office is bad, don't blame it on me.
Seeing that he wasn't buying it, the other party stopped talking.
Just thinking about this person, he feels completely different from other Chinese business owners.
Both their ideas and practices were unusual.
After returning to China, the company will arrange a time for the other party to visit and negotiate.
He had just thought he could take a break when he received a call from someone.
It was a call from Wanda... (End of Chapter)