Chinese Entertainment Intelligence King

Chapter 110: Goodbye, Fat Fan

"The Emperor of Han Wu" started filming in March this year, and by September when the grassland scenes were filmed, it had already taken half a year.

Therefore, the grassland scenes were also the last filming location for the crew of "The Emperor of Han Wu".

Yan Li joined the crew in September and wrapped up filming in early October.

His role is relatively small, and there are also scenes with generals such as Wei Qing, Li Guangli, Li Ling and the Huns.

For example, Li Guang, played by Lu Shuming, not only fought in his middle age and died in battle in his later years, but also included scenes of his youth fighting against the Huns during the reign of Emperor Jing of Han.

Yan Li estimated that after he finished filming, the crew would have to continue shooting for dozens of days.

As a result, the actual shooting time of the entire "Emperor Wu of Han" exceeded eight months. Including some preparations for costumes and props, scene scouting and subsequent shooting, it took at least one year.

It is said that the script and creation of "The Emperor Wu of Han" took a year. The script list alone has thousands of named characters. It is expected to be a 60-episode film, and the post-production will take nearly half a year.

To round it off, "The Emperor Wu of Han" can be considered a fine historical masterpiece that took three years to complete.

Considering the cost and cast of "The Emperor of Han Wu", although it was not explicitly stated, many people speculated that this drama would be a strong contender for CCTV's opening drama in 2005.

Others are just guessing, but Yan Li has already made his plans clear.

It's not just the future information of the monthly intelligence, the key is that he saw people from CCTV come to visit the set with his own eyes.

The people from CCTV hid their identities when they came, but they could not hide it from Yan Li, who had an intelligence system. Yan Li even found out the lowest purchase price of "The Emperor Wu of Han" by CCTV.

The price per episode is 65 to 70 yuan, and the total price is kept around 4000 million yuan.

The target price for "The Emperor of Han Wu" is only 60 per episode, and they would be satisfied with a total price of about 3500 million.

The difference between the two transactions was 500 million, and Yan Li was anxious watching it.

But there's no point in being anxious, as this drama is produced by China Film Group, and they won't give him the distribution business.

However, Yan Li is still a little jealous of "The Emperor Wu of Han".

Big productions require high investment and make a lot of money!

The original plan for "The Emperor Wu of Han" was to invest 3000 million yuan, but later during filming it was found that it was not enough, so the producer added a lot of money, claiming it was 5000 million yuan, but in reality it was only around 4500 to 4800 million yuan.

CCTV alone has recouped most of the investment, and I heard that the DVD copyright is also under discussion, which is expected to exceed 10 million, breaking the record for TV drama DVD audio and video copyright.

With these two companies together, "The Emperor Wu of Han" has basically made its investment back!

In addition, for a drama of this level, it is possible to negotiate some advertising revenue, and China Film also has channels to export overseas.

In addition, after it is broadcast on CCTV, if the performance is good, the price of the subsequent second and third rounds of broadcasts will not be too low.

Yan Li calculated that the total profit of "The Emperor of Han Wu" should not be less than 3000 million.

Don’t think it’s too little. It seems that it’s not even as high as the return Yan Li got from selling “Conquer”.

"Conquest" was too accidental, with low cost, good ratings and high returns. It was a dark horse among dark horses, but they only produced two or three films in a whole year.

Not to mention that Yan Li's system also contributed to this. If someone else had released it, it would have been difficult for "Conquer" to sell so well.

As I said, investing in film and television is very risky. There are many people who lose money or even a small loss, and there are also many who lose all their money.

Most crews are lucky if they can earn a few million. A project like "Snow Goddess Dragon" that is expected to make a profit of over 10 million is a high-quality project.

"The Emperor of Han Wu" can not only make tens of millions of dollars in profit, but the key is that it is almost guaranteed to make a profit. If it weren't for China Film, such a project would have been scrambled for by various companies.

Even though Yan Li has a cheat system, he doesn't dare to say that the project he is working on will definitely make money.

Although attracting financial support for investment is insufficient, it also helps in sharing the risk.

For example, Yan Li did not spend a penny on "The Seven Fairies". Even if the drama flopped, it would only be a loss of some energy and time, and he could even get some of the capital back according to his share.

Unethical... ahem, a good businessman is one who transfers as much risk as possible and only enjoys the profits himself.

Not to mention, Yan Li felt that compared to being an actor, his talent in business was indeed better...

----

Compared with the past, Yan Li in "The Emperor Wu of Han" has received some recognition, at least he was given flowers or something when the filming was completed.

But Yan Li, who wanted to keep a low profile, did not say anything. He said hello to the director and people he knew, and quietly left the crew.

Instead of returning to Beijing, he went directly to Dali, Yunnan Province, which is also the filming location of "Fortune Star Pig Bajie".

Almost as soon as he arrived at the crew, Yan Li entered into negotiations with producer Fan Xiaotian.

"Mr. Fan, I'm very grateful for giving me this opportunity, but as you know, my crew is just starting out and I'm really busy."

"The Bull Demon King has too many scenes, and I don't have enough time in my schedule. Can you just give me a small role? I don't want any pay, just consider it as a favor to you."

"What kind of words are these?"

Seeing that Yan Li was very determined, Fan Xiaotian didn't want to force him, so he settled for the next best option.

"I'll find you a distinctive role. You can't play it for nothing. You have to show off your talents."

"Thank you, Mr. Fan, for your understanding."

Yan Li toasted Fan Xiaotian with a glass, and the latter also asked about "The Seven Fairies".

As someone who also works on mythological themes, he is very interested in this drama and even expressed some intention to invest in it.

However, Yan Li is not short of money now, and he can't get much share of the project, so he laughed it off and asked about the distribution business of "Fortune Star Pig Bajie".

Fan Xiaotian’s Fona has been established for many years and is considered a well-known company in the industry, with a certain reputation and network of contacts.

Therefore, they have their own distribution team, and generally produce and sell their own products, and will not distribute the profits to those distribution companies for nothing.

But Yan Li still tried hard.

After all, it is not an ordinary distribution company. Even if it takes a portion of the profits, it can sell more, which is more beneficial to the film company.

However, Yan Li has only released two dramas so far, and because money is involved, many specific details are difficult to disclose, so Fan Xiaotian, who claims to have a good distribution team, is not very interested in this.

Yan Li couldn't say that he was very disappointed. It was a matter of trying to get any business. If there was business, that would be better, but if there was no business, it didn't matter.

...

After meeting up with Fan Xiaotian, Yan Li went to buy two bottles of good wine, planning to wait for Director Meng Ji to finish work and then talk to him.

He had previously made inquiries about being the director of "The Seven Fairies".

Meng Ji did not refuse, but did not agree either, and was still hesitating. Yan Li's first purpose in coming to the crew of "Fortune Star Pig Bajie" was to persuade the other party.

In the end, I didn't catch Meng Ji, but I ran into two actors who were finishing work, one of whom was an acquaintance.

The acquaintance is Huang Haibo, the actor who played in "Fortune Star Pig Bajie" and has also starred in "The Passionate Years".

Although I have never met the other Yan Li, I recognized him, the host of "Happy Together" Hu Ke.

Yan Li nodded to Hu Ke, then shook hands with Huang Haibo: "Senior Brother, long time no see."

Huang Haibo was a student of the class of 97 at Beijing Film Academy. When Yan Li entered the school, he was a senior, so they met at school.

The two of them are not very familiar with each other.

At the time, Yan Li and his classmates were freshmen, and they didn't know much about acting, including how to stage skits. So, before exams, they'd seek out their seniors for advice. Zhang Songwen, with his early accent, often went to the playground to practice Mandarin alone. That's when he met a senior who also loved going there to practice.

The senior student’s name at that time was Huang Yi, but later she seemed to have changed her name to Haiqing.

Haiqing and Huang Haibo had a very good relationship, so they became friends after a few interactions.

When Yan Li and his roommates were rehearsing a play during their freshman year, they invited these two seniors to come and help with guidance several times.

By the time Yan Li entered his second semester of college, Huang Haibo was about to graduate and was busy running groups, so we basically didn't see each other anymore.

Now it has been almost three years, and I didn’t expect to meet you again on the set of "Fortune Star Pig Bajie".

Compared to Yan Li who recognized Huang Haibo at a glance, this person had a slightly shallower impression of him.

I simply thought that he was my junior fellow student from Beijing Film Academy, so I exchanged a few pleasantries without even calling out Yan Li's name.

Yan Li was a little hurt, but it was understandable.

Not to mention his junior, he himself had a hard time recognizing Dong Xuan's undergraduate classmates. He had only met Huang a few times and their time together was not long, so it was normal that he had no impression of her after a few years.

As for the article in Southern Metropolis Daily, it is not some world-shaking news, and many people have not read it.

It's been over half a year since the Hong Kong superstar jumped off a building, but many people still don't know about it or haven't noticed it.

The reports and interviews in Southern Metropolis Daily did make some noise at the beginning.

Except for some people who were interested and knew Yan Li, who had a deep impression of him, others forgot about it after being surprised. At most, they had some memory of the scandal between him and Li Bingbing.

He started from scratch and is worth tens of millions, but he can't share a penny with them. However, gossip about him dating female celebrities can be entertaining and fun.

Yan Li was not so shameless as to brag about who he was and how well he was doing now. He just cooperated and chatted for a few minutes before leaving tactfully.

However, after Yan Li left, the actress who was traveling with him looked at Huang Haibo strangely.

"You don't know him?"

Huang Haibo said: "I know him, he's my junior from Beijing Film Academy."

Hu Ke hesitated to speak. When it came to Yan Li, the young actresses were relatively more sensitive.

The reason is that "The Seven Fairies" had a large-scale casting, and many young actresses submitted their resumes, including Hu Ke.

Although he didn't even make it through the audition, he was familiar with the crew and Yan Li, so he recognized him just now.

After all, he is the producer of a crew that has invested tens of millions, and he is considered a big shot for non-popular actors. However, Huang Haibo's attitude is so perfunctory.

Are all the senior students at Beijing Film Academy so arrogant?!
...

Yan Li, who had no idea what was going on, looked for Meng Ji for a while and then went back to the hotel. However, not long after he entered the room, there was a knock on the door.

When Yan Li opened the door, he was a little surprised. It was Fan Xiaopang and Han Yu, whom he had met at the dinner party.

"What are you..."

"Han Yu wants to talk to you about something. She's timid, so I'll bring her here to knock on the door."

Fatty Fan gave a brief explanation, and Yan Li nodded, extending his hand to gesture for him to come into the house: "Then come in and talk."

Han Yu glanced at Fatty Fan and nodded quietly, "Sorry to bother you, Mr. Yan."

Fatty Fan was about to go in, but Yan Li stopped him: "She wants to talk to me about something, why are you coming in?"

"what?"

Fatty Fan was stunned, then he saw the smile on Yan Li's face, knew he was joking, rolled his eyes, reached out and pushed him away.
"She's such a beautiful girl. What if you get wild and unruly? I'm worried."

Yan Li shook his head, closed the door, and poured a glass of water for Han Yu. Fat Fan looked at his empty hands.

"Is this how you treat guests?"

"I'm afraid you'll suspect I drugged you, so don't drink it. Pour it yourself."

Yan Li returned what he had just said. Fat Fan muttered a few words to himself, and without drinking the water, he opened a bottle of drink in the hotel room.

Han Yu looked at the two of them strangely. She had heard from Fan Xiaopang before that the relationship between the two was not good, and they seemed to have had a conflict in a certain crew before.

But when he heard that she wanted to find Yan Li, Fan Xiaopang took the initiative to help connect them.

After meeting Yan Li, Fan's attitude towards the two of them, although not very friendly, was also familiar and casual, more like friends than enemies.

In fact, Han Yu was indeed mistaken in this regard.

The two were indeed more enemies than friends before, but now they both want to reconcile with each other, one wants to make friends with the new rich, and the other wants to recruit people to join.

It would be embarrassing to just bow down and give in, especially in front of an outsider like Han Yu.

But the previous grudges cannot be eliminated just like that. At least Yan Li wants to tease Fan Xiaopang when he sees him, and Fan Xiaopang doesn't like Yan Li very much either.

Thus, a kind of relationship was formed in which the words were sharp but not to the point of breaking up the relationship, similar to the bickering and mocking of friends.

Not to mention, the two had fought each other in the "Cornucopia" before, so they had some understanding of each other. As soon as they saw that the other was useful, they immediately wanted to reconcile and become friends. They also had similar personalities.

So the level of tacit understanding is quite good. After a few words, we can understand each other.

Yan Li did not rush to get close to Fan Xiaopang, but instead focused his attention on Han Yu, wanting to get rid of her first.

From the moment he saw Han Yu coming to his door, he knew the other party's purpose, not to mention that Fan Xiaotian had mentioned it explicitly and covertly before.

This person came here for "The Seven Fairies"!
How to say it, Han Yu has good looks, he is young, beautiful, well-behaved and lovely, and he is quite suitable to play the role of the sixth and seventh brothers.

However, Yan Li, who had figured out the other party's situation the last time they met, knew that this person was rather complicated.

Although she doesn't have a very powerful background, it's not appropriate to have any conflicts with her. Yan Li doesn't want to and doesn't need to curry favor with the other party, so there's no need to bring a young lady back to worship and cause trouble for himself.

Therefore, Yan Li quickly used the excuse that the role was full and politely declined Han Yu's self-recommendation.

Han Yu felt a little disappointed, but there was nothing she could do. Fan Xiaotian's company was in Su City, and happened to have connections with her family.

But outside of Su City, their family's power is not very useful. Anyway, Yan Li doesn't want to buy it, so she can only accept it.

Han Yu and Fan Xiaopang left, and Yan Li picked up his phone and sent a text message.

About a few minutes later, there was another knock on the door. Yan Li opened the door and Fat Fan came in.

Yan Li said with a forced smile: "I thought you didn't dare to come."

"I'm afraid of you, can you still eat me?"

Fan Xiaopang was very tough, but she shook her hand honestly, signaling Yan Li not to do anything rash, as she could call for help or even the police at any moment.

This time Yan Li personally poured a glass of water for Fan Xiaopang. Fan Xiaopang didn't drink it. He held the glass and asked.

"You wanted to talk to me, what?"

"Of course, we're talking about cooperation."

Yan Li looked at the fair-skinned, beautiful, and slender Fan Xiaopang and wanted to talk about something else, but with this little hot pepper's personality, he was afraid that after he finished speaking, she would jump up and scratch his face...

(End of this chapter)