Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 131 If you want to do it, do it well!

Saturday, November 2002, 11, Beijing Wenjie Culture Media Company.

Boss Lu held a regular meeting with all core management levels.

What, today is Saturday?
Haha, I guarantee that we won’t have a day off on Saturday, but I can’t guarantee that we will have a day off on Sunday.

Yang Siwei, Lu Yao, Sun Wenwen, and our recently hired Chief Financial Officer Li Xiao, I guess you can't sleep at your age either, right?

Lu Kuan first listened to the financial report data in his own president's office.

"The North American copyright revenue for the Whiplash project reached 2317 million RMB."

This was sold to the Jewish An Lushan Harvey.

"European copyright income is 1240 million RMB."

This was later sold to France's Europa Film Company through the introduction of Takeshi Kitano.

The owner of this company is Luc Besson, the director of "Léon: The Professional".

"The mainland box office share is 1390 million."

Li Xiao paused after reading this, and the boss's face was obviously not looking good.

It's really too shabby. No wonder no one wants to make movies in mainland China these days. "Whiplash" can be said to have been filled with BUFFs, but the producer's share of the box office is only that much.

Even after he wavered between China Film Group and Bernard, he finally agreed with Fatty Yu on a distribution fee of 10%.

The box office share of 1390 million is not low compared to the revenue of more than 3550 million from the sale of overseas copyrights.

"continue."

"DVD and other channels brought in 100 million, and advertising revenue from Starbucks, Motorola and other companies brought in 200 million."

"Mr. Lu, the current box office in Hong Kong and Taiwan is 3200 million RMB, and there's less than a week left until the film is released."

"Well, the tax matters need to be handled properly."

In addition to the "special fund fee" that has been prepaid when calculating the box office, the producer must also pay 6% value-added tax.

The 200 million in advertising revenue is subject to a 6% value-added tax rate, and a 3% cultural undertaking construction fee, not to mention other corporate income taxes.

Even if the box office in Hong Kong and Taiwan is estimated to be around 4200 million yuan, based on a cost of 620 million yuan.

After the entire film was produced and taxes were paid duly, the net profit that finally reached Wenjie Culture was approximately 5300 million.

Is it a lot? Not at all.

It was only due to the limitations of the times and the subject matter of "The Drummer" that many profits from movie derivatives could not be obtained, which was the main source of income for Hollywood film companies in later generations!

This is also the direction that Boss Lu is working towards, so he reached a deal with An Yixuan's father Wu Anguo in Taiwan Province and began planning to set up his own special effects company.

This is an important step in creating science fiction film IP and earning revenue from derivative products in the future!
The conference room was packed with people. In addition to Wenjie's own employees, there was also a filming team from Xiangtai, led by Yao Jia.

"Mr. Lu!"

"Road guide!"

Greetings and compliments came one after another.

If the employees who just joined the company a few months ago were still worried and skeptical about the development prospects of the industry.

But after Lu Kuan personally led them to formulate a release plan for Whiplash;

Lead Yang Siwei to build Liu Yifei's internet personality;
He brought Lu Yao and Xiangtai to discuss the development of "Chinese Paladin", retaining the copyright and having certain casting rights;
With Ning Hao, who is not present today, we adapted the script, conducted location scouting, and made budgets according to the Hollywood film industry.

What they don’t know is that the blog website was also created by Boss Lu.

The best way to build a team is to win battles.

Leaders like Lu Kuan led the team to overcome difficulties and created the prototype of a future entertainment empire from scratch, which made the team morale and cohesion of Wenjie Culture unprecedentedly high!
"Okay, everyone please take a seat." Boss Lu adjusted the microphone in front of him.

"First of all, let us give a warm round of applause to Mr. Jiang Wei, the director of "Chinese Paladin," as well as Mr. Yao, our guest from Hunan and Taiwan, and all the business elites who have come all the way here!"

"Quack quack quack!"

This is applause.

"Thank you, Director Lu."

Yao Jia smiled and nodded.

Jiang Wei is Lu Kuan's head teacher. He's still a freshman at the Beijing Film Academy, but he's already taken a leave of absence until next year...

The director that Lu Kuan and Xiangtai were trying to get was the screenwriter and director of "Don't Talk to Strangers" and the later "The Lurker".

Of course, this life's "The Lurker" was written earlier than the novel's author Long Yi, and Jiang Wei no longer had the opportunity to write the screenplay himself.

It is hard not to doubt Boss Lu’s intentions when he brought his own chief teacher to be the director.

For the convenience of taking leave and skipping classes.

"Okay, let's get to the point. As the supervisor, I have the following plans and requirements for the production of 'Chinese Paladin'."

There was the unanimous sound of pages turning, and all relevant employees took out paper and pens, ready to listen to the instructions of the Golden Lion Award-winning director.

Of course, there were also some outsiders who were dissatisfied at the scene, most of whom were crew members of Hunan Economic TV.

Later generations of audiences got to know Xiangtai through Satellite TV, the satellite TV station with the toilet logo.

However, in the 80s and 90s, the Economic Satellite TV led by Ouyang Changqing was the boss among provincial TV stations.

Their staffing, team size and profit levels are far higher than those of satellite TV stations.

Later, after the provincial TV station reform, Ouyang Changqing brought his team to Hunan TV (Mango TV), which led to its subsequent glory.

Many of those who attended the meeting with Yao Jia today were the crew members who filmed "Return of the Pearl" with the Taiwan drama group.

This group of arrogant and brave men are members of the crew that have created several hit dramas and ratings myths.

Even though you are a Golden Lion Award-winning director, everyone still has reservations about your level in the field of TV dramas.

Boss Lu didn't realize this. People who get things done always get more recognition. There's no point in wasting words. The real results will be revealed by taking action.

"First of all, the costumes and props must be perfect. Producer Director Yao and several production assistants are responsible for this. Shoddy work, inconsistencies with the original game setting, and low-level mistakes are not allowed..."

"Secondly, I've read the script, and there are many places that need to be sent back for revisions. I'd like to position it as a fairy tale drama. It can have idol drama elements, but it can't be clichéd."

"Script writing and character creation must be down-to-earth and not vague. If we are going to do it, we must make it a masterpiece!"

The screenwriter of Sugar Man in the Previous Life had very poor logic. For example, he set Baiyue as omnipotent from the beginning, so why did he let Zhao Linger be captured for so many years?
Why didn’t you kill the main characters earlier?

There is also the inexplicable appearance of the Sword Saint who captures Zhao Linger, and the very exciting Demon Tower plot in the game is only briefly mentioned, which is full of thunder points.

"While the script doesn't have to be completely faithful to the original, it must avoid childish dialogue, paper-thin characters, and low-intelligence villains. Don't try to imitate the idol drama style of Taiwan!"

The screenwriter team nodded frequently. These were screenwriters and directors who had won the Golden Lion Award. Although not every word they said should be touted as gospel, they were still the leading voices in the industry.

Yao Jia couldn't help but sigh inwardly, a young genius like Lu Kuan really couldn't succeed easily.

This guidance to the screenwriter is very concise and insightful, and it fundamentally determines the tone of the show.

We don’t want the clichéd ancient costume idol style. In the words of later generations, what we want is that little bit of fairy spirit and class!

After Yangyangsa made comprehensive arrangements in terms of costumes, props, actor selection, shooting guidance, location scouting and budget, all the employees of Wenjie and the team of the former Hunan Economic Satellite TV were convinced.

The Golden Lion Award-winning director deserves it!

　The next chapter has been blocked, wait until you are released. 2024.9.12 /21:00
　　
　
(End of this chapter)