After all of them were reborn, who would still be an actor?

Chapter 706 The Hollywood Big Six, the Super 'Community of Interest' Clause

A cold sensation came from his hand. Li Mingyang looked down instinctively and saw a small, fair hand that wanted to hold his hand but didn't dare to.

"Director Li, are you alright?" Yui Aragaki asked in broken Chinese.

“I’m fine,” Li Mingyang said in English.

"But you seem very sad..."

"No, that must be your imagination."

Li Mingyang patted Yui Aragaki on the shoulder, stood up, and shook hands with director Hiroshi Doi. "A great movie."

"Thank you so much, Director Li. I've been worried for a long time... worried..."

Hiroshi Doi was very confident in the film he was making. He wasn't worried about any problems with the film itself, but rather about Li Mingyang becoming angry.

From any perspective, the Japanese version of the bouquet is superior to the Chinese version.

He had heard that Li Mingyang had a terrible temper.

Li Mingyang understood the hidden meaning in Doi Hiroyasu's words.

"Haha, don't worry, your good photos make me look good too."

In short, Doi Hiroyasu, who was in a good mood, was completely shut down by Li Mingyang.

"Have the distribution and screening rights for Dongda University been sold?" Li Mingyang asked, concerned about what he cared about most.

China Film Group has already bought it.

"what a pity."

"But the contract hasn't been signed yet..."

Li Mingyang laughed heartily. This Doi Yutai is quite wicked, making him compete with China Film Group for business.

What are you trying to rob?!

All the import film quotas for domestic film companies are granted by China Film Group Corporation!
Those little devils have ill intentions; they'll film your bottom-ranked hottie later!
Haha!

As arranged by the staff, Li Mingyang went on stage to take a group photo with the creators of the Japanese version of the bouquet.

He then greeted the media and audience present, and left the screening room surrounded by bodyguards.

After leaving the screening room, Li Mingyang did not leave the cinema palace, but went to the casino in the festival palace.

Met with representatives of the six major Hollywood studios.

When Li Mingyang tried to bring his men into the casino, the white security guard told him that the place had been booked out.

No one else is allowed in except him.

"Can't we bring any of them?" Li Mingyang pulled Zhang Wei over.

“If it’s this lady, then yes, that’s fine,” the white security guard said.

Teamwork makes the dream work. This white security guard is quite accommodating; he was just as confident that only he could go in, but now both of them can.

The casino at the Festive Palace is very large, but it's deserted outside, with only staff members around.

After passing through the magnificent corridor, the burly woman leading the way pushed open the thick, double wooden door and stepped aside to let Li Mingyang in.

"Thirry!" As soon as Li Mingyang entered the room, he saw Thierry standing not far from the door. He took off his sunglasses and gave him a big hug.

"Li!" Thierry warmly embraced Li Mingyang, then pulled him by the arm to the gambling table and introduced him to the six big names in Hollywood.

Spielberg was unusually absent today; he was watching a film, "Coming Home," with Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou and Spielberg are also friends, but they don't have such deep conflicts of interest.

The representatives sent by the six major Hollywood studios this time are all familiar faces.

Fox sent Deng Wendi, Li Bingbing's mentor in Hollywood.

He was also the most high-profile person present; the others were all junior executives.

"Ms. Deng, it's been a long time."

"haven't seen you for a long time."

Looking at Li Mingyang's strikingly handsome appearance, Wendi Deng was filled with mixed emotions.

Back when she first met Li Mingyang at Li Bingbing's birthday party, she had a premonition that Li Mingyang would become a great man in the future!

Because of his youth, his submissiveness that was far beyond his years, and his exceptional talent, she had already imagined Li Mingyang to be very formidable, setting his potential extremely high.

In the end, they underestimated Li Mingyang's development speed and he only went to South Korea for a year.

With three films, they swept through the Korean film industry, going head-to-head with Hollywood movies. They not only completely outclassed Hollywood films, but also opened up a new world of 2000 million moviegoers for Korean films.

monster!

A true monster!

Wendi Deng came to Cannes with only one mission: to bring Li Mingyang to Hollywood.

In all of Asia, the director with the highest commercial value is undoubtedly Li Mingyang!

She can bring Li Mingyang not only the Palme d'Or, but also an Oscar!
No filmmaker can resist the Oscars.

Wendi Deng then looked at Zhang Wei and shook hands with her very warmly.

Seeing is believing, and she fell in love with Zhang Wei at first sight.

This is a cold-blooded man, an ambitious man.

They are the same kind of people as myself.

Only someone like him could assist Li Mingyang in advancing the massive Asian streaming media project.

"Director Li, shall we chat while we play?"

"Don't make it too big."

"This private room has a limit of ten million euros."

Li Mingyang nodded and sat down. Soon after, the staff brought him ten million euros in chips.

No need to sign any agreement; his reputation is worth that much money.

Casinos are very generous to those who can repay...

Of course, when it comes to asking for money, they show a completely different face.

They were still playing Texas Hold'em.

Li Mingyang had some bad luck today. His bottom cards were high cards, but the community cards were low cards.

Do it the other way around...

He either folded or lost; after more than ten rounds, he hadn't won a single game.

“Li, you seem to be having some bad luck today,” Thierry said with a smile.

"The one who wins in the end is the one who truly wins."

“Li, you’re absolutely right.” Thierry smiled, a smile that was somewhat cunning.

Game after game...

More than two hours later...

Li Mingyang had lost all but a few hundred thousand euros. At the same time, he had already realized that there were several card counting experts at this table. It wasn't really gambling at all.

But now that we've sat down, we should see it through to the end.

Li Mingyang originally planned to play slowly and patiently, but Zhang Wei encouraged him to place a large bet. In that one hand, he lost a full three million...

Otherwise, it could have held on a little longer.

“Li, you’re almost out of chips,” Thierry laughed.

"Everyone makes mistakes."

“Li, you really have great composure. Even after losing so much, your emotions remain so stable.” Thierry stopped smiling. “We should cooperate properly, not let our tempers flare up. What do you think?”

"I'm curious, what role do you play in all of this, sometimes on Wall Street, sometimes in Hollywood..."

"It's all business, you can do either."

"You don't try to hide anything at all."

Thierry made no attempt to conceal his intentions.

Although it was a clandestine operation, he made it public.

Li Mingyang didn't know how he had done things before, but he was in a very bad mood and no longer had the chance to "openly repair the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang pass".

This business is discussed openly and honestly; there are no secrets!

Cannes holds absolute initiative; it's too passive and has no chance to pull off any surprises.

“I was forced into this too. You’re being too dishonest… How many chips do you have left?” Thierry asked.

That's all.

“I’ll put you on the 20s, I’ll bet everything on you.” Thierry threw down a chip worth 200,000, intending to end the bet.

Li Mingyang glanced at the hole cards; they were low-ranking.

I glanced at the community cards again—four high cards. This is weird…

Let's finish this soon!
Li Mingyang threw out his chips, and everyone else jumped into the water, quitting gambling.

Suddenly, the game became a heads-up match between him and Thierry.

The dealer dealt the last card, which was also a high card.

Thierry has three Kings, while Li Mingyang's best hand is a pair of Kings on the community cards...

Having lost all his chips, Li Mingyang cut to the chase, looking at Wendi Deng and smiling, "My luck isn't so good today. Alright, let's get straight to the point. What do you want me to give up?"

Deng Wendi did not answer directly, but looked at Thierry.

Thierry snapped his fingers, and an older white man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses picked up a black box at his feet.

Approaching Li Mingyang, he placed the black box on the card table, opened it, and inside was an open blue box with a transparent crystal base featuring a snowflake pattern. Inlaid on the base was a golden olive branch, 13.5 cm high and 9 cm wide, composed of 19 leaves.

This trophy is noticeably larger than the Best Screenplay award he received last time.

The real Palme d'Or trophy!

Li Mingyang's eyes were more fervent than ever before. "This is the Palme d'Or trophy?"

The Palme d'Or trophy does not have the winner's name engraved; the inscription is fixed as the year of the award and the name of the award.

Although this approach avoids any embarrassing incidents, due to issues with materials and production timelines, there are always some people who don't receive the Palme d'Or at each Palme d'Or awards...

The manufacturing quality is terrible...

"Can I touch it?" Li Mingyang asked.

“This was originally prepared for you,” Thierry said with a sly smile. Li Mingyang picked up the trophy; it was really beautiful… but the most beautiful one was the 2022 75th Anniversary Gold Palm trophy with its pink rose quartz base.

2片金叶子，1片嵌有75颗钻石代表戛纳75周年，另1片嵌有25颗，代表奖杯赞助商Chopard与戛纳合作的25周年。

One of a kind, only one available, absolutely stunning!
After admiring the Palme d'Or trophy in his hands for a while, Li Mingyang put it back into the blue box.

A trophy is a trophy, and an honor is an honor.

This Palme d'Or is hard to get...it's freaking expensive!

Not only is it expensive, but you also have to kneel!
Paying money and still having to kneel, what a terrible thing...

"It's good," Li Mingyang said.

“Li, you’re giving me the impression that you’ve lost interest in the Palme d’Or, that you no longer want it.”

Li Mingyang grinned and said, "None of your business."

“Li, you are a genius, you know what we need... We should cooperate properly instead of wasting time on infighting.”

"Uh... I'm just a director, how would I know what you need?" Li Mingyang said, feigning ignorance.

Thierry laughed and said, "Cannes is a business, and also a circle. Although you won the Best Screenplay Award in Cannes, you have never entered the Cannes circle. It's not that we are against you, it's that you don't want to, right?"

There's no point in pretending to be stupid now that things have come to this point.

“I didn’t resist, it’s you who lack sincerity. You’re just a bunch of robbers, demanding exorbitant prices without any bottom line,” Li Mingyang chuckled.

“We are business people, we know the value, this is a fair transaction.”

"Ha! A Palme d'Or costs over a billion US dollars? Is that fair? That's blatant robbery!"

"So how much do you think is appropriate?" Thierry, who was usually so aggressive, suddenly changed his tone. "Since you're not satisfied, let's have a proper talk and come up with a mutually satisfactory result. We don't want to do business just once; we can continue to cooperate!"

Li Mingyang's heart skipped a beat. Thierry's concession came too quickly, exceeding Li Mingyang's expectations.

“Li, let me be blunt. Your film, *Miss Cantabile*, was nominated by Mr. Jacob… This year, a total of twenty films were nominated for the main competition, but only eight can compete for the Palme d'Or, and *Miss Cantabile* is one of them. Giving you the Palme d'Or is well-deserved… However, your disruptions these past few days have caused us a lot of trouble. We must consider the credibility and long-term interests of Cannes…”

Li Mingyang was stunned. No way, he's backing down already?

"So you're not planning to sell?" Li Mingyang asked.

"Would you still like to buy it?" Thierry asked with a smile.

This guy is too difficult to deal with...

This is the first time in all his years in the industry that Li Mingyang has encountered such a formidable opponent.

Thierry's greatest strength lies not only in his ability to seize the initiative, but also in his capacity to adapt to changing circumstances.

We need to ensure he can continue playing, while also protecting the best interests of all parties!
Receiving no response for a long time, Thierry piled up his bargaining chips and said, "How about this, we'll overturn all the previous negotiations and give it to you for free, just to make friends?"

"..."

Thierry stood up, closed the blue box containing the gold palm, took it out, placed it on the card table, and took out six documents from the bottom of the box.

Open them one by one, and introduce them one by one.

It was a film project contract from one of the six major Hollywood studios.

These contracts all contain a 'community of shared interests' clause.

It's somewhat similar to a Sino-US co-production agreement.

The film was jointly invested in and produced by mainland Chinese and American production companies, with shared copyright, shared risks, and shared profits.

The only difference is that this contract changed the ownership of the mainland company to his personal ownership.

It directly and deeply binds individuals, and the benefits include directorial editing rights and box office revenue sharing.

This contract looks great, but actually...

There are many potential problems because the contract is signed by an individual, not a company.

The compensation amount is three times the production cost.

According to Hollywood's investment standards, which often involve hundreds of millions of dollars, if a film cannot be released due to his problems, he must fully compensate three times the production cost.

Even he would be spitting blood from the financial losses!

“Li, now that we’re all friends, it’s only right that we help each other out, isn’t it?” Thierry said.

Friend, you idiot!
Free things are always the most expensive!

This is worse than just paying cash on delivery.

"Li, with your talent, six Hollywood movies, distributed worldwide, could easily earn you six hundred million US dollars. What's there to hesitate about?"

"Think it's too much? Don't have time? Five movies are fine too."

"Four departments, no less than that, that's the bottom line."

“You can take the contract back and have a professional review it. Only the world’s best directors deserve these contracts.”

Thierry's words were very persuasive, and Li Mingyang also believed that there was nothing wrong with these contracts.

If it were anyone else, they would have signed long ago...

Winning the Palme d'Or without spending a penny, and still getting film contracts from six major film categories.

Even Oscar-winning directors flock to it!

Spielberg would be willing to sign if all he had to do was change the final cut rights!

But... Li Mingyang can't sign!
Netflix, nurtured by Wall Street capital, is certainly formidable, but that is the future, fully realized Netflix.

Hollywood is even more terrifying now... This film will likely lock him up for at least ten years!

Li Mingyang felt that if he offered them Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, they would accept it without hesitation!

Everyone was looking at Li Mingyang, everyone was waiting for his answer!

Everyone understood Li Mingyang's value, and they were eager for him to sign the contract!

Thus, they became one of Hollywood's own people.

They don't mind Li Mingyang's status as a student at Dongda University because Li Mingyang's biological mother is an American of Chinese descent.

If you can't control Li Mingyang, you can at least control his mother!

"Ms. Zhang, what do you think Director Li should choose?"

Li Mingyang hesitated to make a decision, so Deng Wendi spoke up and asked Zhang Wei for her opinion.

Zhang Wei scanned the entire room with an indifferent gaze.

Only today did Zhang Wei truly understand the pressure Li Mingyang was under in Cannes and who he was fighting against.

The Big Six of Hollywood!
The pinnacle of global entertainment!
In accordance with Western negotiation methods, the six major Hollywood studios gathered, with the artistic director of Cannes acting as the intermediary; this was the final ultimatum.

If you disagree, then you're the opponent.

As long as Li Mingyang remains valuable, Hollywood will not give up and will use various methods to harass and suppress him until he compromises.

Wall Street's methods are business warfare—simple, brutal, and focused on efficiency.

With such vast financial resources, they can easily crush it without wasting much time and effort...

Hollywood is very insidious...

"How about we make a bet?" Zhang Wei suggested.

"What are we betting on?" Li Mingyang snapped back to reality and asked.

"fair."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and Li Mingyang was also completely confused.

Zhang Wei stood gracefully, her slender hand resting on the blue box containing the Palme d'Or, and slowly said, "We will no longer market ourselves, but you should give Director Li a fair chance to win the Palme d'Or. If Director Li wins, he will sign these contracts."

“No problem! Of course, no problem!” Thierry was the quickest to react and immediately agreed.

The others realized what was happening and nodded in agreement.

The Palme d'Or is basically awarded to whomever people want it.

Li Mingyang was annoyed; Zhang Wei's gamble had come to nothing.

But he had no choice but to accept it.

Bang!
Thierry had already started popping champagne and spraying people with it halfway through the match, causing chaos on the field and making it impossible to have a proper discussion.

Even when the contract got wet, nobody cared...

Then Thierry and Wendi Deng flanked Li Mingyang, and everyone raised their glasses to wish Li Mingyang success in winning the Palme d'Or.

……

"Are you out of your mind? What kind of ridiculous betting game is this? How could you make decisions on your own again!"

On the way back to the hotel, Li Mingyang got out of the car halfway and dragged Zhang Wei into a deserted grove of trees, saying something extremely angry.

"You're the one who's crazy... If I didn't say that, I wouldn't be able to get away tonight!" Zhang Wei swung her arms, trying to break free from Li Mingyang's hand, but not only did it fail, Li Mingyang gripped her even tighter.

"Fine, I won't sign!"

"If you're so tough, why didn't you say anything just now!"

"..."

Li Mingyang was speechless after being rebuked and let go.

If he didn't loosen his grip, Li Mingyang was worried he would break Zhang Wei's wrist... He was counting on her to do the work, so he couldn't let her hand be ruined.

Zhang Wei winced in pain, rubbing her wrist, and pressed on relentlessly, "It's not easy for a big fish like you to appear, Cannes won't let you off the hook... Unless you give up the Palme d'Or, you'll be kneeling sooner or later."

"anything else."

"As long as you have no ambition for the Oscars, the six major Hollywood studios can't hold you back. You can choose not to go to Hollywood, you can break your contract, and you can slowly fight the lawsuit for breach of contract."

Father, like son.

Zhang Wei's analysis is very accurate.

"Actually, I was stalling for time because I was considering one thing: whether personal honor or collective honor is more important."

"None of that matters... What you lack is time."

Li Mingyang turned around and glanced at Zhang Wei.

Although Zhang Wei created a terrible situation.

But given the current situation, he can't really create a good outcome.

Delaying time... Applying maximum pressure.

It's just a stopgap measure!
Since Cannes and Hollywood wouldn't play along, he had to make his own decision.

"You're not thinking of winning an Oscar, are you?" Zhang Wei suddenly said.

(End of this chapter)