Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 231: Inception and Paprika

During the intimate moment afterwards, Liu Yifei betrayed her best friend.

She told Li Qiutang everything about how Shu Chang took her to the movies, how she taught her about physiology and hygiene, and how she talked about her and her boyfriend.

"So you girls talk about these things in private."

Li Qiutang had to change her impression of Shu Chang, and said, "Don't watch it with her in the future, let's watch it together."

If the lights had been turned off, Li Qiutang would have been able to see Liu Yifei's red face.

"Have you told her about us?"

"No." Actually, he did say a little.

"Hey, tell me about your website."

"You are sick, you are looking for a woman's website!"

"I don't have any."

"Come on, you men don't have a website."

"Really not." Li Qiutang really didn't lie. He also watched exciting movies, but there was no website. He had a girlfriend before, and they both watched them, so the website is no longer effective now.

"Me neither." Liu Yifei didn't want to tell him anymore. "I'm going to brush my teeth." She lifted the quilt and went into the bathroom again.

The two of them slept until dawn. Liu Yifei went to pick up her mother, and Li Qiutang went to work.

Li Qiutang went to Hengdian to meet Xu Yongan.

Hengdian Film and Television is the angel round investor of Autumn Pictures. Although the initial 500 million was not much, it was a timely relief.

Now that Autumn Pictures is about to start its Series A financing, it is necessary for Autumn Pictures to inform Hengdian in advance.

Before financing, Autumn Pictures will notify all previous investors in writing. For a particularly important one like Hengdian, not only will there be a written notice, but Li Qiutang will also visit them in person like he is doing now.

There are only two options for Hengdian Film and Television: follow the A round and continue to bet on the autumn; if not, its shares will be diluted, or it will cash out and leave before the A round.

Xu Yongan didn’t know that Qiu Qiu was going to raise Series A funding. It had been less than two years since he invested, and Qiu Qiu was going to raise Series A funding. He was surprised by the speed.

After listening to Li Qiutang's story, Xu Yongan thought about it and decided that it was just a round A, so there was no need to think about it too long. He verbally promised that he would continue to invest in Autumn Pictures, but he needed time to meet with the company to discuss the matter.

After all, Round A is different from venture capital, and you can make your own decisions.

Xu Yongan also praised Autumn Pictures for its rapid development.

Li Qiutang needs the resources of Hengdian Film and Television. If it were ordinary venture capitalists, Li Qiutang would not even come to inform them. He would take the opportunity of the A round of financing to decisively kick these ordinary investors out.

Simply put, take the money and get out!

Different from resource-based investors like Hengdian, the coal bosses in Shanxi Province, although they don’t have resources in the film and television industry, they are so rich!!!
Not just ordinary rich!

Li Qiutang still counts on them to be his source of income.

So after leaving Hengdian, he visited several coal bosses in Yanjing and Shanxi Province with whom he had previously cooperated.

The proposal he gave was: "You guys should get together and start an investment company. You guys want to start a film and television company, right? I'm about to raise funds, and I'll leave a share for you."

But the coal bosses are not so easy to fool. Although they are optimistic about Li Qiutang and want to invest in the television industry, their money is not so easy to get.

The boss who took his girlfriend to the United States said that we should look at last year’s investment returns before deciding whether to invest.

"But time waits for no one. The A round can be concluded in three months at the fastest, or early next year at the slowest. Your investment returns will not be seen until the middle of next year."

"It doesn't matter. It's just the A round. You'll need more financing later. As long as we can see profits, we can have billions or hundreds of billions."

Wow! He is indeed very wealthy!

Having said this, Li Qiutang stopped lobbying.

If you don't invest in companies, the same applies to projects. Li Qiutang also heard a piece of gossip from him, saying that a boss wanted to invest in Jia Zhangke, but Jia Zhangke didn't want to take money from his fellow villager.

"He said that film and television investment is too risky and we are outsiders who don't understand it, so he can't take the responsibility."

The section chief has his own source of funds, and his business is not big, so there is really no need for him to take money from his fellow villagers.

However, another director from Shanxi Province, Ning Hao, took money from the coal bosses.

Li Qiutang knew a little about Ning Hao's affairs. The cancellation of "No Man's Land" and its release date were nowhere in sight hurt his resolve, so he decided to start his own business and become his own boss to take the initiative.

After finishing this lap, Li Qiutang returned to Yanjing.

"Under the Hawthorn Tree", an artistic romance film, has grossed over 8000 million at the box office, setting a record for artistic films in the past decade.

This result also proves to some extent that Zhang Yimou made the right choice in choosing Zhou Dongyu, as she is indeed very suitable for the role of Jingqiu.

The box office of "Ip Man: The Legend of Chen Zhen" reached 6500 million in the first week, ending the three-week box office myth of "Inception".

"Inception" has been released for nearly a month, and its total box office in mainland China has exceeded 4 million yuan, approaching 4.5 million yuan.

"Inception" was a huge hit in mainland China, casting an indelible shadow on the future of domestic science fiction.

The negative sentiment towards domestic science fiction is even more rampant.

Some netizens even shouted that no director in China could make a movie like "Inception".

Are you angry? Yes, I am, but there is nothing I can do.

Some netizens even challenged Li Qiutang on his Weibo, asking him to learn from Nolan: "Look at how he shoots science fiction."

Li Qiutang was stubborn and actually talked about "Inception" on Weibo, but his angle was extremely tricky:

"Inception is certainly a rare science fiction masterpiece. But the crew said that Inception did not draw on Satoshi Kon's Paprika, which is obviously not true. I believe Nolan when he said that he had not seen Paprika, but filmmaking is a collective effort, and I don't believe that no one in the entire Inception crew had seen Paprika. Some scenes and storyboards of Inception can indeed be found in Paprika. Satoshi Kon passed away at the end of August, and Inception will be released in early September, which makes people wonder."

Li Qiutang's words caused a strong response on Weibo. Everyone said it was good, but you jumped out and said "not good", as if you were so capable.

Many netizens on Weibo began to criticize Li Qiutang and also criticized "In Time".

"Your In Time is definitely not as good as Inception."

"Nolan is a master of narrative structure, you should just stick to low-budget films."

Li Qiutang didn't want to comment too much on "Inception" because it is indeed very good.

But he can't stand the provocations from domestic netizens.

So he sent another Weibo post:
“Inception has a simple core, and the characters are driven by missions. Nolan’s genius in narrative is not fully realized in this film.”

The publicity team of "In Time" was all grinning!

Sometimes it is a good thing for a director to be able to stir up trouble, and sometimes it is a bad thing.

After Li Qiutang’s incident, no matter what netizens’ attitudes are, at least their expectations for “In Time” have been raised.

"See how you can make science fiction!"

Comparing an unreleased film with the global hit "Inception" saved the publicity and promotion team a lot of effort.

Whether "In Time" can compare with "Inception" is not important at all for publicity and promotion. As long as it can compare with the standard and it is popular, that's enough!

After National Day, the Lunar New Year films will slowly begin to be promoted, and "In Time" has won at the starting line.

However, just after the benchmarking was completed and before the National Day arrived, bad news came.

"In Time" was rejected by the Film Bureau at the first review!

(End of this chapter)