Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 129: The Future Foundation of Xingchen Films
The next morning.

Dongzhimen in Beijing.

The sun was shining brightly, and the slightly warm breeze from the street blew through the glass curtain wall of the brand new office building, reflecting a transparent blue luster.

This is a newly emerging business district in BJ, next to the subway hub, with convenient transportation, concentrated office buildings and clean and tidy office space.

Although it cannot match the high-end style of CBD, it has attracted a number of start-up companies and cultural industry entrepreneurs with its cost-effectiveness and vitality.

Wu Chen took a look and saw the sign of "Wangshang Culture", then took the elevator to go up.

Phoenix TV's morning news was playing in the entrance hall. Wu Chen took the elevator to the tenth floor. When he got out of the elevator, there was a small glass doorplate on his left: "Wangshang Culture".

Wu Chen was just about to make a phone call when he saw a young man wearing glasses and a clean smile standing at the door. He was wearing a plaid shirt and casual trousers, looking casual and a bit literary.

"Director Wu, welcome." Li Feng smiled and extended his hand. "Please come this way. My place is simple, please don't mind."

Wu Chen followed him into the office, a small conference room with gray-blue carpet. The walls were covered with movie posters, including "The Woman in the Courtyard" and "Hero", as well as some posters for independent art films.

"The woman in the courtyard?"

Wu Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. Many people had not actually heard of this movie, but it was a blockbuster jointly produced by China's Beijing Film Studio and the American Hollywood Universal Pictures.

A trace of reminiscence flashed in Li Feng's eyes. "Speaking of which, this movie is my first movie since I switched from IT distribution to distribution."

Wu Chen smiled and said, "Then 'Hero' directed by Zhang Yimou is the second and last film you released, Mr. Li?"

I have to say that Li Feng’s resume is a bit magical.

In 2000, this man who had never been involved in film distribution before sold tens of millions of yuan at the box office for "The Woman in the Courtyard".

Later, Zhang Yi's team came to him, and in 02, Li Feng became a member of the distribution team of "Hero". If he continued on this path, Li Feng might become one of the most famous film distributors in China.

Hearing this, Li Feng laughed out loud: "Not really, I was at most involved in the distribution of Director Zhang's "Hero", a small contribution, but I'm not the only one who made it.

By the way, Director Wu, let me ask you a question. Do you think you can accumulate experience in film distribution?"

Wu Chen was slightly stunned. He didn't expect Li Feng to suddenly change the subject.

However, when the topic suddenly changes, it usually means that we are about to get down to business.

"Movies are a content industry, and distribution, because the content is different, is mostly impossible to copy." Wu Chen said bluntly.

Li Feng looked at Wu Chen deeply. He didn't expect that the young Wu Chen had such a profound understanding of the film industry.

“It is indeed as Director Wu said, in my opinion, there is basically no accumulation in film distribution.

Every movie has to be re-planned, recruited, and distributed. There is no sustainability and it is basically homogeneous competition at the public relations level. Making it for three years is not necessarily better than making it for one year. This is not in line with business rules.

What’s even more frightening is that this circle is still very closed. It’s very likely that the same group of people will be stuck there for more than 20 years. How can we innovate?”

Wu Chen glanced at Li Feng and smiled without saying anything.

He certainly understood that behind Li Feng's words "lack of accumulation" and "closed" was the current dilemma of Chinese films.

In the film distribution business, every film is like starting a new business. There are no fixed channels, no user stickiness, and no so-called economies of scale. It is indeed a thankless task.

Due to the well-known problem of piracy, in China, movies seem to be able to make money only through the theater channel, which is a few and single channel.

Li Feng then said, "Once, I went to an Internet cafe and found that although most people were playing games, there were also some people watching movies. Some people could account for as little as 10% and some could even account for as much as 30%.

At that time, I was thinking, can't we distribute movies in internet cafes? This market is huge. If we can develop a system that allows netizens to watch movies simultaneously in 200,000 internet cafes across the country, how big will the market be?

Wu Chen listened and nodded.

"Last year I visited almost all Internet cafes across the country. I can say that the people I'm talking to now are basically the owners of Internet cafes." Li Feng's tone was filled with emotion and a little fatigue.

"I heard from Director Zhang that Mr. Li, you seem to lack channels to purchase copyrights." Wu Chen changed the subject and took the opportunity to gently bring up one of the main topics.

Li Feng heard this and smiled awkwardly:
"Yes, to be honest with you, Director Wu, I personally disdain to engage in piracy. I believe that genuine products are the future, and my Internet cafe's video system must also be genuine.

Although everyone is laughing at me now, calling me a fool for covering up piracy, I believe that China's legitimate market will definitely see an opportunity." He paused and looked at Wu Chen: "Of course, this time point may take longer than I expected. The problem now is that I still don't know enough people in distribution. It's been three years since "Hero"."

Wu Chen looked at Li Feng and couldn't help but admire his vision. Although he ultimately failed to become the final copyright godfather, his vision was indeed unique.

Unfortunately, as an early investor in domestic digital film and television copyrights, Wangshang Culture's subsequent development was hindered by its over-reliance on the "anti-piracy and rights protection" profit model and copyright distribution.

In addition, because it used the Internet cafe channel, most of the stockpiled content was second-tier, and most of it was Internet cafe on-demand rights. Although it made a lot of money due to the copyright boom, it was unable to maintain it afterwards and eventually fell into disgrace.

Wu Chen thought for a moment and suddenly smiled: "Mr. Li, does your Wangshang Culture accept investment?"

Li Feng was slightly stunned, and for a moment he was a little dizzy by Wu Chen's words.

Logically, Wu Chen came here today not to ask him for help, but to see which Internet cafe he could locate. If possible, he also hoped that the other party could help, otherwise he would not have made such a long preparation before.

Of course, the degree of help provided by both parties is not equal. He has already thought about how to compensate them, but why did the topic of investment in Wangshang Culture come up again?

"My personal philosophy is consistent with Mr. Li's, and since it involves the content industry and film, I am willing to invest a little." Wu Chen smiled.

Of course, he said this on purpose. If he could invest, that would be fine, after all, he could sell it to IDG in two years and make a fortune. If he couldn't, it wouldn't matter, because Wangshang culture was not the focus.

Li Feng hesitated for a moment, his eyes complicated.

To be honest, Wu Chen is indeed an ideal partner. After all, whether it is the channel or the other party's identity as a producer, as well as the subsequent promotion of artists, if Wu Chen's resources are available, a lot of trouble can be saved.

"Director Wu, please think about this. Equity is no small matter. Besides, IDG's CEO Xiong Xiaoge has done me a favor. He's interested in investing."

Wu Chen heard this without urging anyone to hurry. He smiled and said, "Boss Li, with my help, IDG will only invest sooner, but I understand your considerations.

In fact, the reason I came here today, besides what Director Zhang mentioned, is that we can work together in a different way."

Wu Chen leaned forward, his tone becoming serious:
“I plan to set up a content copyright company that specializes in purchasing digital copyrights to serve as a backup resource library for Xingchen Pictures and add to its heritage.

Of course, what I have here does not conflict with that of Wangshang Culture. As far as I know, most of what Wangshang Culture purchases are the Internet cafe broadcasting rights in the digital copyright, and a small part is the full digital copyright, and most of them are second-tier content in large quantities.

But what Xingchen Pictures wants is foundation and some top-tier copyrights."

Li Feng was stunned for a moment, and a glimmer of light appeared in his eyes.

"How about this: I'll be the one to negotiate, and you, Mr. Li, will help me with procurement, be responsible for market implementation and price negotiations, and I'll pay an additional fee to Wangshang Culture.

In addition, the internet cafe on-demand rights for these contents will be granted to Wangshang at a reasonable price.”

"This way," Wu Chen chuckled, "Wangshang Culture can purchase the corresponding copyright, and Xingchen Films can also fill its resource library. It's a win-win situation for us."

"It's a win-win situation, Director Wu. It's definitely a win-win situation." Li Feng was a little excited and held Wu Chen's hand.

He didn't expect that the problem that had troubled Wangshang Culture for some time could be solved so easily.

With Wu Chen around, domestic and international copyright channels become much more convenient.

Because he not only needs to purchase the copyrights of some domestic content producers, but also some foreign content such as Disney's needs to be added to the resource library of the Internet cafe film and television service system.

Wu Chen looked at Li Feng's excited expression and shook hands with him.

His approach is different from Li Feng's. Li Feng has grand ideas. He even wants to recreate an online cinema through the Internet cafe film and television service system. If he takes the right approach, he may become China's STARZ.

Wu Chen followed LeTV's path. The first-line high-quality content actually belongs to the top IP and has long-tail value.

In this case, in the copyright market, "what to buy" is more important than "how to buy" - only scarce content has the vitality to transcend cycles.

This is also the foundation that Wu Chen wants to build for Xingchen Pictures. Only with an unbeatable foundation can Xingchen Pictures calmly deal with financial crises in the future.

"Director Wu, I'm considering the investment, but I'll take care of your matter. I'll get someone to investigate when I get home this afternoon. As long as he did this in an internet cafe, I'll definitely find out for you."

At noon, Li Feng toasted Wu Chen frequently, and whenever he spoke, he felt a sense of relief as if something big had been accomplished.

Wu Chen didn't mention the trivial matter of Song Zude, but Li Feng had already kept it in mind.
(End of this chapter)