Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 220 Encounter with Fan Bingbing

Michael Lynn suggested that Li Qiutang buy a house in Beverly Hills, as he already had one in Beverly Hills and an apartment in New York.

But Li Qiutang rejected this suggestion. He didn't buy a house in China and lived in a hotel room. It was impossible for him to buy a house in the United States.

The weather in Los Angeles is dry and there are many mountains and forests. What if a fire breaks out and burns down your house?
Might as well stay in a hotel.

Michael Lynn thanked Li Qiutang for his kindness and wanted to repay this oriental boss. He said that if he did not buy a house for his own use, he could invest. Real estate in Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and other places, especially luxury housing projects, are all worth investing in.

If Li Qiutang is not interested in real estate investment, he still knows a lot of Wall Street brokers who can introduce him to some wealthy clubs.

But Li Qiutang was not interested in these things. He said that he had bought a lot of American company stocks during the financial crisis, and in just one or two years, the returns were quite good, not less than investing in other projects. He did not need to bother Michael Lynn to introduce him to investment opportunities.

He would be satisfied as long as Michael Lynn ran Lantern Entertainment for him.

While talking about these, Li Qiutang also reminded Michael Lynn to pay attention to China: "There are many investment opportunities in China. If possible, you can also invest some money in China."

This can also be considered as attracting investment.

But Michael Lynn has no interest in investing in China. However, he is optimistic about the development of China's film and television industry. But unfortunately, foreign capital cannot invest in China's film and television industry.

Moreover, Li Qiutang's Haitang International and Autumn Pictures mainly focus on the mainland market, so there is no need for him to compete with his boss for business.

But Hollywood veterans like Michael Lean will try every means to enter the blue ocean market. The old man has considered registering a shell company to bypass mainland laws, or cooperating with mainland film companies and other methods.

However, Li Qiutang does not allow Lantern Entertainment to do so for the time being. They are thinking of going to China to make money before their North American headquarters is stable.

But Michael Lynn's desire for the Chinese market did remind Li Qiutang that domestic film and television capital was about to usher in an overseas expansion boom, and the policy level also encouraged domestic film and television capital to go overseas to conquer the market. Of course, the fact that it was later implemented incorrectly is another matter.

One day, Li Qiutang flew back to Los Angeles from New York and had dinner outside a restaurant next to the Chinese Theater on the Avenue of Stars.

It’s such a coincidence that I can meet Fan Bingbing on the Avenue of Stars.

It was already a bit hot in Hollywood during the day, about 25 or 26 degrees. Fan Bingbing seemed to be on vacation abroad, as he was dressed casually, wearing a straw hat and sunglasses.

"I was thinking you looked familiar. Turns out it's you." Fan Bingbing smiled and sat down opposite Li Qiutang.

"I didn't expect to see you here, are you here to play?"

"Well, I'm going to join the crew later. I still have some time, so I'm here to relax." Fan Bingbing didn't even bring his assistant with him. He was alone in Los Angeles. "What about you? Are you here for vacation too?"

"I'm not as lucky as you. I can't take a vacation. I'm here for work. Some of the post-production special effects for In Time were done in the United States. I came to take a look. I just came from New York." Li Qiutang picked up the fork and continued to eat noodles. "What do you want to eat? I'll treat you. The seafood stew noodles in this restaurant are very good."

Fan Bingbing didn't bother to be polite with Li Qiutang, and said with a smile: "If you want to treat us, please treat us to something high-end, such as cheese lobster or something like that, just treat us to seafood stew noodles."

"Why didn't you tell me you wanted to eat cheese lobster? I wouldn't have let you sit down if you had told me earlier."

Li Qiutang's turn caught Fan Bingbing off guard and he was amused: "You are such a big director, but you didn't even buy a lobster."

The waiter has come over and Fan Bingbing wants a cappuccino.

It is a good thing to meet old friends in a foreign place. Both Li Qiutang and Fan Bingbing were very happy to meet unexpectedly on the other side of the ocean.

"I've been speaking English to foreigners these days," Li Qiutang said, "but I can't find anyone to speak Chinese with."

"You didn't bring an assistant or anything to America?"

"My assistant can't speak English, so I have to take care of him when he comes here." Li Qiutang smiled, "What about you? You came alone?" Fan Bingbing smiled: "My assistant's English is worse than mine." Fan Bingbing's English is actually not very good, but she was inspired by Zhang Ziyi on "Perfect Match". Zhang Ziyi openly said on the show that if she wanted to enter the overseas market, she must learn English well. Of course, Fan Bingbing retorted at the time, saying that she wanted to learn English from Zhang Ziyi and find a foreign boyfriend.

Since then, Fan Bingbing has been studying English hard for a year and the results are very good. Otherwise, he would not dare to go abroad alone.

Fan Bingbing drank coffee while Li Qiutang ate. They chatted about all sorts of things and were quite happy.

Fan Bingbing was going to shoot three movies when she returned, and she even pretended to be busy with Li Qiutang, saying that she was too busy.

Li Qiutang took a sip of the drink and followed her words: "You are not busy, you are famous."

Fan Bingbing was smiling happily.

"Do you like to hear this?" Li Qiutang said with a smile.

Fan Bingbing continued to pretend: "It's still red, hahaha." She laughed first.

Li Qiutang paid the bill and invited her to visit Lantern Entertainment.

"You have a company in the United States?!" Fan Bingbing was confused. She only knew that Li Qiutang had a company in China called Autumn Pictures.

Li Qiutang did not deliberately conceal the existence of Lantern Entertainment. In order to attract investment for Lantern Entertainment, he even mentioned to many bosses that he also had a company in the United States.

"It's also a small company, established around the same time as Autumn Pictures." Li Qiutang stopped a taxi, "I'll take you to see it. You'll be the first one in the circle to visit my American company." This is true. Even Liu Yifei has never been to Lantern Entertainment.

"It's my honor." Since there was nothing else to do, Fan Bingbing followed Li Qiutang.

Of course, we visited the functional departments. The preparation of "The Hunger Games" was not done in the company, but in another place in Hollywood.

"Boss, is this your girlfriend?" After Li Qiutang took Fan Bingbing around the company, an employee took the initiative to ask Li Qiutang.

"No, this is my friend from China, she is an actress." Li Qiutang said with a smile.

Lantern Entertainment is small, but it looks very real.

Fan Bingbing didn’t know what Lantern Entertainment was doing, but seeing that the employees were all busy, he felt that Li Qiutang was quite capable and could run a company in the United States.

Li Qiutang also told Fan Bingbing: "The Hunger Games cost 8000 million, and the production cost was about 6000 million US dollars. It's a bit too much for one person to support such a big stall."

Li Qiutang also introduced Michael Lynn to Fan Bingbing. When she learned that Michael Lynn was the former co-founder and co-chairman of New Line Cinema, she was very surprised!

Li Qiutang can even invite such a big shot!

She still knew the name of New Line Cinema.

Li Qiutang told her privately: "It's just like that. New Line was completely acquired by Warner, and the old man lost his job. He wanted to make a comeback, but he was too old and no company was willing to give him a chance, so I worked with him. He is very capable." Li Qiutang recognized Michael Lynn's ability. "In just one year, you have run my small company pretty well. Now I have two projects on hand."

"Just one thing, he spends too much money!"

Nonsense, New Line is a relatively large independent production company, and Michael Lynn’s previous habits will inevitably be brought to Lantern Entertainment.

Fan Bingbing really wants to enter Hollywood now, and said with a smile: "If you want to film in China, you should ask me. If you want to film abroad, you should ask me to film in the future."

"Okay, okay, we are all friends after all."

(End of this chapter)