Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 169 Sorry, I'm interested in Travel Channel
On August 2003, 8, Green Tea, jointly produced by Peking Guoan Culture and Yanda Huayi Film and Television, held its premiere ceremony in Beijing.

Judging from the names of these two producers, they both have great backgrounds.

Guoan Culture is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Guoan. There is no need to mention CITIC Guoan's industry status and special nature.

Huayi Film and Television may not be well-known to book lovers, but when it comes to its boss Dong Shuangqiang, you may have heard of him.

In a sense, he is a person who has a more thorough understanding of the film and television industry than Lu Kuan.

Because he makes movies only to realize capital.

Lu Kuan accompanied Liu Yifei into the venue. There were many fans of the two along the way, but 90% of them were the girl's sister fans, aunt fans, and Ling'er fans.

"Guide, welcome!"

Director Zhang Yuan is a soft and kind person, otherwise he would not be able to work with a "drama tyrant" like Jiang Wen.

"Director Zhang, excuse me for disturbing you. I'm here to study today."

"Oh, that's not right. I'll criticize you more later."

Zhao Yanzi saw him come in early in the morning, wearing an OL-style suit, which was her look in the movie.

"Director Lu, Concubine Yi, you're here. Please sit down for a while. The show will start in about ten minutes."

She also didn't forget Zhang Yuan: "Director Zhang, you two know each other, so I don't need to introduce you again."

"Director Lu is the newest Golden Lion-winning director, and you're the first to win Best Director at the Venice Film Festival. So, you two have a strong connection!"

Zhang Yuan was delighted to hear this. Xiao Zhao was really good at speaking, unlike that rough guy.

As he was speaking, the rough guy came rushing over.

He put his arm around Lu Kuan's shoulders without any hesitation and said, "Come on, I'll introduce you to a friend!"

He also did not forget to arrange for Concubine Liu Yi: "Little girl, wait here for a while, there are drinks and snacks over there."

Zhao Yanzi smiled and said, "Director Lu, you guys chat. I'll leave the girl to me. I'll definitely return her to you in one piece."

Boss Lu smiled noncommittally and followed Jiang Wen to the backstage lounge.

Here, Yan Zi took Concubine Liu Yi's hand and sat down in the first row of the audience, and asked someone to bring warm water.

"Fei Yi, you are so beautiful and young. I really envy you."

Liu Yifei also responded with a commercial flattery: "Sister Yanzi, I really admire you. I applied to the Beijing Film Academy because of you."

Shit, I've been following Lu Kuan for two years and he's become a small-time idiot.

Yan Zi never thought that a sixteen-year-old girl could deceive her. She just thought it was the truth and laughed from ear to ear.

"Fei Yi, does Director Lu have any other film projects recently?"

This was the same idea he had with Huo Wenxi that night, asking Lu Kuan indirectly about his next film project.

She had sharp eyes and could tell that this little girl was someone close to Lu Kuan, so she took the opportunity to ask her some questions.

But this time she really got it wrong, and Concubine Liu Yi didn't know it either!
She didn't care too much about this matter. For her, she had always been under the setback of Lu Kuan in her acting, and the latter gave her a frustration education.

Concubine Liu Yi didn't have the confidence to ask these questions proactively, she just knew that if the right role was given to her, there would be one.

But what's strange is that Liu Xiaoli hasn't talked to her about these things recently. In the past, she would have taken her to find Lu Kuan a long time ago.

"Sister Yanzi, I don't know either. I only met him when I came back this week."

"But don't worry. Director Lu often praises our domestic actresses, saying that Sister Zhou Xun and you have the best acting skills and the best character portrayals. He wants me to learn more from you."

"If he gets a chance, I think he'll definitely think of you."

The wild goose wanted to peck the little girl's "eyes", but was fooled by the wild goose hunter Liu Yifei.

For a moment, he couldn't tell whether what she said was true or false, so he turned to ask Lu Kuan other questions.

"Princess Yi, I heard from Director Zhang that before you became an actress, your family asked Lu Kuan to tell your fortune."

Liu Yifei smiled and said, "Yes, he asked my mother to find the crew of "The Golden Age" and said that I am very suitable for playing this kind of ancient costume or Republican drama."

"Oh, I see. You're indeed a great director. You have a really good eye, haha."

Yan Zi spoke in a sugar-coated tone, but seemed to be thinking about something.

In Zhang Jizhong's crew, Zhang Tianshuo was imprisoned, the Eagle Emperor was speechless, and Liu Yifei became popular.

One thing after another made her put on the filter of Lu Kuan, the master of metaphysics, again.

The past two years have been so miserable. Is it really as Lu Kuan said before, that her actions are contrary to the country's destiny?

Yan Zi saw the poster of "Green Tea" on the big screen and thought that the answer might become clear after the movie was released.

On the other side, Jiang Wen led Lu Kuan to the lounge, where a middle-aged man in a suit was drinking tea.

Boss Lu smiled as he watched the forty-year-old middle-aged man stand up and greet him. The two men shook hands and observed each other silently.

He had heard of Boss Dong, the Double-Gun General, in his previous life. He was a truly sober person in the entertainment industry.

In 1996, Dong Shuangqiang founded Huayi Film and Television. The following year, he witnessed the huge storm that "Titanic" caused around the world and decided to devote himself to the film industry.

He is a low-key and pragmatic person, and he has collaborated with all the famous directors of that era.

Jiang Wen's "The Devils", Zhang Yimou's "If You Are the One", Chen Kaige's "The Emperor and the Assassin", Feng Xiaogang's "Never Ending", and Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

It's one thing to have the wisdom to bet on these famous directors.

It is another matter to have enough connections and resources to intervene and make them willingly accept his investment. This ability and skill are more important than the former.

The reason why he is sober is that he never sticks to the gains and losses of one or two movies, and is always on the road of capital operation of expansion, acquisition, shell company and cashing out.

Take his Huayi as an example.

Founded in 1996, it is a purely private enterprise;

In 2000, due to the success of film investment and the operation of personal connections, Huayi Film and Television cooperated with Yanda Culture and changed its name to Yanda Huayi, and the cooperation partner became a school-enterprise.

In 2003, that is, at the end of this year, he made another move and sold 50% of the shares to Baoli for 6120 million yuan, just like Yu Dong. The cooperation partner changed from a school-enterprise to a state-owned enterprise!
This acquisition was famous at the time and was called the largest merger and acquisition case in the domestic cultural industry.

In 2005, Baoli Huayi, which boasted of its state-owned enterprise investment, sold 50% of its shares to Hong Kong listed company Youli Holdings for 5.5 million yuan.

This was equivalent to a backdoor listing, indirectly taking half of Huayi's equity to overseas capital markets for financing. Youli Holdings was later renamed Huayi New Media.

The finale was in 2008, when Dong Shuangqiang transferred all his shares for HK$2.2 million and exited the market.

In 12 years, the private company was established with an investment of more than 2 yuan, and ended up with nearly million yuan. Doesn’t this rate of return seem so exaggerated?

Don't forget that in these 12 years, whether cooperating with school-enterprises or state-owned enterprises, he has always been the head of the enterprise, and the profits he earned are far more than this figure.

To put it bluntly, he packaged a country girl into an international star.

He played with her for twelve years and made a lot of money from her. When the village girl became old and ugly, he sold her to pay him the balance.

It’s just that he was indeed a very low-key person. Even people in the circle in later generations were very secretive about his background and resources.

He himself did "admit" that I actually have no background.

Haha, this is similar to what he said about not knowing how beautiful his wife is, having a small goal, and regretting founding Alibaba. Just listen to it.

"Director Lu, I've long heard of your name, but I've never had the chance to meet you."

The situation was unclear, so flattery came first, and Boss Lu also acted very enthusiastic.

"I've heard Director Jiang mention a good friend of his who's considered the best film investor in China. Nice to meet you, Boss Dong."

"Haha, where is it?"

Jiang Wen watched the conversation between the little fox and the old fox with a smile. He was too lazy to expose these commercial flattery, but he knew what was going on in his heart.

"Director Lu, I started working in the film industry in 98, so it's been a while. This is the first time I've met a young talent like you."

"It's just the situation, not worth mentioning."

Dong Shuangqiang glared, expressing his disagreement: "Hey! You're being too modest."

"Brother Lu Kuan, you're an expert, what do you think of the box office performance of Green Tea?"

Boss Lu smiled awkwardly, feeling a little embarrassed, thinking to himself, "You are really bringing up something that is not relevant to the topic."

Because this movie "Green Tea" failed in its previous life. It had an investment of 1200 million and a box office of 900 million, not including the publicity costs.

Otherwise, he wouldn't use this as bait to trick the geese.

"Director Jiang, Boss Dong, you're both straightforward people, so I won't hide anything either."

"Director Jiang gave me the director's cut of this film on DVD at Cannes. I think the box office prospects for this subject at this point in time are not very optimistic."

Jiang Wen interrupted: "Xiaolu, tell me in detail." He admitted that Lu Kuan was well-versed in human nature and had a deep understanding of the world, and was able to offer so many insightful opinions on Liu Xiaoqing's issue.

But when it comes to movies, Lao Jiang is no pushover either. This is his first urban movie after being banned.

Similar to "Looking for a Gun", he is not only an actor, but also participates in the director's creation to a "certain extent". Jiang Wen does not think the situation is as serious as he said.

It is not appropriate to talk too much with someone you have just met, so Boss Lu just gave a brief explanation of the place.

"Green Tea's subject matter targets urban white-collar workers, which means it's aimed at audiences in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. However, the film contains a lot of northern Chinese dialogue, which isn't very friendly to audiences in Shanghai and Guangzhou."

“Some of them don’t understand!”

"Secondly, Director Jiang also knows that although Lou Ye's "Purple Butterfly" and yours have different themes, they both follow the path of high-brow, fashionable films, reversing the logic of narrative and emotion, which is also very detrimental to the box office."

To put it bluntly, the director was too obsessed with expressing his own emotions and failed to tell the story clearly and thoroughly. "Green Tea" is better, after all, it is an urban drama.

"Purple Butterfly" is a spy war drama, and filming it like this is tantamount to asking for failure.

"Shanghai Film Group distributed Purple Butterfly, and they also distributed Stone. I got some data from them."

"'Purple Butterfly' was produced over 100 times, but the total box office was only over 200 million yuan, and in Beijing, only over 20 yuan!"

Dong Shuangqiang and Jiang Wen looked at each other, their hearts dropping.

To be fair, "Purple Butterfly" even won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. If it flopped like this, wouldn't "Green Tea" have failed even more miserably?

Dong Shuangqiang sighed, "Brother, to be honest, we printed over 100 copies of Green Tea, which cost us nearly 100 million. We also estimate we'll have to spend another 400 million on publicity."

Jiang Wen asked anxiously, "Director Lu, I heard from Yu Dong that you and your team were responsible for the release of 'Drummer'. Is there any solution now?"

Dong Shuangqiang also stared at him intently, but Lu Kuan just spread his hands.

"It's too late, you two. I'm afraid there's nothing you can do now."

Even if he had it, he wouldn't tell anyone. He was hoping to trick Yan Zi into falling for it by using this big trap.

There is a kind of cruelty that is when you know where your destiny will go, but you can only watch the prophecy come true.

This is the mood of the two people opposite Lu Kuan now.

Even if we don't believe his words 100%, after this well-reasoned analysis, it is clear that the future of "Green Tea" will not be very bright.

Dong Shuangqiang suddenly smiled in relief: "Let him be, the film has already been taken, just learn from it."

Boss Lu admires his mentality. It is this decisive and easy-going character that allows him to maneuver in the capital market.

Jiang Wen and he have a close relationship, right? Ever since Devils on the Doorstep flopped, he hasn't touched a single one of his movies.

Even for a recognized good project like "Let the Bullets Fly", he resisted getting involved.

Book friends who have played stocks know that this is called discipline in market transactions. It is to move in the right direction, repeat countless times, and achieve stable compound interest.

"Boss Dong is so cool, and Director Jiang, don't be discouraged. I'm just guessing, so it may not be correct."

Only then did Dong Shuangqiang realize that what Jiang Wen said at the dinner table that day was true. This young man really had some skills.

He was envious of Lu Kuan’s talent in movies.

Dong Shuangqiang feels that if he can work with such a director with both vision and talent, he can gain more profits in the capital market!
I just don't know whether his industry will accept investment...

While Dong Shuangqiang was thinking about how to tie him to his chariot, Boss Lu was also planning to get some good stuff from him.

A thief never leaves empty-handed. Lu Kuan meets Zou Chongheng in California and sets his sights on the dying Jia He.

And this boss Dong also has good stuff in his hands. To some extent, its value is even no less than that of Golden Harvest!
Travel Channel!

As mentioned earlier, at the end of 2003, Baoli Culture, a subsidiary of Baoli, spent 6180 million yuan to acquire 50% of the shares of Yanda Huayi, owned by Dong Shuangqiang, and Yanda was liquidated and exited. (Note 1)

What exactly did Baoli see in this little-known private enterprise?

Putting aside Boss Dong’s personal resources, the answer is simple: Travel Channel.

Before his Huayi was acquired by Poly, it had already invested in acquiring 49% of the shares of Travel Channel (Note 2).

Travel Satellite TV is Hainan Province Satellite TV. In 2002, it applied to the Radio, Film and Television Administration to change its name to the more recognizable Travel Satellite TV, but changed it back in 2019.

Book lovers born in the 80s and 90s should have heard of this channel.

Why is it said that for Lu Kuan, the value of Travel Channel is comparable to that of Golden Harvest, or even greater?

First is [advertising revenue].

Before the advent of the Internet era, apart from CCTV, satellite TV was the media type with the most advertising value.

Take Travel Channel, a low-tier TV station, for example. Its advertising revenue in 2002 was nearly 4000 million, even though it didn't have any good film and television resources.

But is there a lack of good works?

The second is [public opinion resources].

This is like having a loud speaker that can be used by the entire nation.
Before the advent of the Internet age, what could be a better external mouthpiece than satellite TV?

Even after the transition to the Internet age, he still has blogs, Weibo, and WeChat.

The public opinion front must be firmly controlled.

In Western society, a media tycoon owns not only newspaper groups but also television stations. Their importance is self-evident.

The third is [media channels].

What Lu Kuan lacks is not works, but executors and media channels to help him turn plagiarized texts into commodities.

Movies can find distribution companies and participate in foreign film festivals.

But what about TV dramas? What about variety shows?

In the first decade of the 21st century, domestic films were still gaining momentum year by year. At this time, whether in terms of star-making or revenue, TV series were the most cost-effective.

Didn’t Zhao Yanzi and Liu Yifei both come out of TV dramas?

With a satellite TV station like Travel TV, his plagiarized articles can be monetized more quickly, and he no longer has to go to great lengths to seek cooperation with satellite TV stations such as Hunan TV.

Even when Hunan TV really introduced Korean dramas in the later period, he could have come up with targeted works to attack them.

The rest of the value includes copyright, pay TV, diversified business value, etc.

It can be said that if Lu Kuan builds a closed loop around the film industry through film companies, brokerage companies, special effects companies, distribution businesses, online streaming media, and derivative companies.

Then this Travel Satellite TV is a natural, self-generated closed loop in the television industry.

This is a scarce resource that cannot be bought with money. So how did Boss Dong get it?
Different people have different opinions, and it is not something that can be told to outsiders. After all, it is something that people say themselves and there is no background to it.

"Guide? Guide?"

Boss Lu was in deep thought for a long time. When he came to his senses, he saw Dong Shuangqiang pouring him a cup of hot tea and looking at him curiously.

"Where's Director Jiang?"

"He's out meeting guests. Let's chat."

"Oh, sorry, I've been staying up late writing the script for a new movie lately, and I haven't had a good rest. I got distracted."

The dirty bastard is using his movies to bait people again, and those who are willing to take the bait will do so.

Dong Shuangqiang's expression changed slightly. Script?

"Director Lu, I'm wondering what plans you have for your next film? Could you please share some information?"

Lu Kuan slapped his thigh and said, "Brother Dong, to be honest, I'm planning to collaborate with a Hollywood star on this film. It's going to be an English-language film for global distribution, and the pressure is quite high."

"Is it the collaboration that Tom Cruise mentioned at the end of the Cannes Awards Ceremony?"

"That's right!"

Dong Shuangqiang looked excited. When a staff member came in to remind him that the premiere was about to begin, he was scolded back.

"Brother, are you short of policies or money? Brother Dong will give it to you!"

He looks very heroic.

But he is not bragging. Boss Dong has an incredibly good reputation in the industry. He was the one who led the two Wangs of Huayi to make movies.

Wang Dajun once commented in an interview: "Because of Lao Dong, I have never lost money since I entered the film industry. He always said that he was the main investor and that profits would be shared by everyone and losses would be his."

All I can say is that people with resources and high emotional intelligence and EQ will not do too badly in any field.

Boss Lu also took the opportunity to say, "Brother Dong, I'd like to ask, have you finalized your cooperation with Baoli?"

Dong Shuangqiang was beaming with joy one second ago, but the cup in his hand fell into the tea tray the next second, and he looked at the road opposite him which looked like a ghost!
“You! You…”

(End of this chapter)