2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 51 A Huge Red Envelope of 2000 Million

Filming wrapped up, it was over, and everyone felt a sense of emptiness.

Looking back on the past two or three months, it all feels somewhat unreal.

From the terrible script of "My High School Days" to the siege in Tiandu, and then to breaking through the encirclement under Chu An's leadership and achieving today's success, it has been a truly difficult journey.

Ji Yinglai collapsed to the ground. As the most exhausted person in the group, he had only slept two or three hours a day for the past two months. Now that the burden had been lifted, he seemed to have collapsed.

Old Dong remained in the position of carrying the camera, rubbing his forehead vigorously with his other hand, and after a long while, he blurted out, "Isn't there any reshoot footage?"

This made everyone laugh; it seems he hadn't taken enough photos yet.

Chu An then clapped his hands at the opportune moment, drawing everyone's attention, "Tonight's wrap party, not a single one can be missing!"

Then, with a mysterious smile, he said, "There's a red envelope!"

Guesthouse, Lu Mingze's room.

Since Chu An was also serving as the producer, he finally did a simple accounting with Lu Mingze, Ma Lan, and other key members of the production team.

"We made a lot of money from this film, but we also spent quite a lot."

The others didn't respond, but they were all mentally prepared.

The show aired weekly, and nearly 3000 shots were filmed in two months. Besides everyone working like crazy, it was also about burning money without regard to the cost.

Chu An, "The salaries of the behind-the-scenes staff are approximately 370 million."

This includes Lu Mingze's own director's fee of 100 million yuan and Chu An's script buyout fee of 20 yuan.

"The actor's salary was 519 million yuan."

Ma Lan, who was listening nearby, nodded secretly, noting that the costs for these two items were basically within budget.

Among them, Xu Shu's salary is the highest among current actresses, but it is only 5 yuan per episode.

In order to prevent Lu Mingze from causing any more trouble, Tian Du did not increase his salary for the overdue portion of the film.

Chu An's acting fee was also 5 yuan, and Director Lu wanted to give her a little more, but Chu An refused. However, it still set a record for the highest television drama fee for a newcomer.

Lin Wanxing also received 5, but because she joined the crew later, her share was less.

The rest is the total price for the other main actors, supporting actors, extras, special guests, etc.

Chu An continued, "The food, lodging, and transportation for the crew of about a hundred people cost 110 million, which is a bit high."

Lu Mingze shook his head, "Not high! These past two months have exhausted everyone, it's normal for them to eat better."

Ma Lan said, "It's really expensive in Ningyuan. It would be more reasonable to spend over a million in Shengjing or Shanghai. We should be careful in the future!"

The production team's money was spent little by little, and it was also saved little by little.

It's less about settling accounts and more about summarizing experiences.

He sighed, "To be honest, although Li Chunhua, Jia Chenglin, and those other people from Tiandu are no good, if they were here, we could save at least 50% on our filming costs."

Chu An nodded; what he said was true. He had only temporarily stepped in to manage production costs, and his performance had been far from adequate.

"I'll learn it slowly later!" No longer dwelling on it, she continued, "Props, venues, equipment rentals, and the big expense of film."

"A total of 1700 million was burned!"

"How much?" This surprised everyone!
1700 million? That's outrageous!
Chu An smiled wryly, "Actually, the props, venue, and costumes didn't cost much, less than a million."

"The main problem is those six film cameras and 600 sets of film; they're way too damn expensive!"

This is the price of using film cameras.

If you were to use a digital camera, you probably wouldn't even need a million pixels.

but……

"We're the first weekly drama series in China, and we started filming under pressure from all sides, plus..."

Chu An glanced at Lu Mingze, and his tone became resentful, "In addition, our Director Lu has no self-awareness and is obsessed with film cameras."

The production team eventually got to use the Panavision Millennium that Lu Mingze had been longing for, and they rented out 6 units at once, at a cost of 7 yuan per day!
In order to meet the deadline, three cameras were used for shooting, and 35mm film was used as if it were free.

In the end, it cost nearly 1000 million yuan for almost 600 sets of film.

To put it simply, Hollywood probably wouldn't burn this many film reels to make an Oscar-worthy film these days.

Hearing this number pained Ma Lan. "Even if we use film cameras, we must learn from this experience and use them more sparingly in the future. We can't let Director Lu be so willful anymore!"

He glared at Lu Mingze and said, "You used 1000 million yuan worth of film to shoot a 24-episode TV series. People will laugh at you if they find out."

As a result, Ji Yinglai blurted out, "Well, it's mainly because Director Lu is willful!"

Lu Mingze showed no remorse whatsoever; instead, he was quite proud, saying, "Tell me, isn't the result amazing?"

They ignored him and looked at Chu An, asking, "Is there anything else?"

Chu An flipped through the pages and saw that "Shengjing TV's editing cost 120 million, and the rest of the miscellaneous parts cost less than 200 million, totaling a little over 3127 million."

"The original plan was to reinvest 2000 million, but we exceeded that by more than 1000 million."

When everyone heard this, they could accept it.

After all, filming and broadcasting on the fly is a process of trial and error. Often, expenses such as editing fees paid to Shengjing TV and equipment rentals are spent regardless of cost in order to meet deadlines.

Ma Lan laughed and said, "The county-level TV station has already given us 67 million yuan for the first broadcast, and we still have more than 3 million yuan left."

Chu An, "You're overthinking it!"

“When Zhang Junmei was doing sales, her team of 100 people spent 12 million yuan in 40 days, covering all over the country.”

Ma Lan was stunned. "Only 2000 million left?"

A campus drama cost over 4000 million yuan? That's too high a price to pay.

Chu An hadn't finished speaking when he asked, "At the wrap party tonight, shouldn't we give everyone some red envelopes?"

"Forehead……"

Headache.

Chu An's words made it clear that it was fortunate that 6700 million had been sold first; otherwise, the production team would still be facing financial difficulties.

Chu An smiled at Lu Mingze, "Old Lu, the rest of the money is nominally yours. How much are you planning to give to everyone?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Mingze became generous again, "Release as many as possible! We must release as many as possible! Without everyone's desperate efforts in filming, there would be no 'The Best of Us,' so we should release as many as we can!"

Upon hearing this, Chu An turned to Ji Yinglai and Dong Wende, "You two, how much should we give everyone?" "This..." Brother Lai and Old Dong thought to themselves, "Shouldn't we just ask for directions?"

How much to distribute is up to Director Lu and Chu An.

However, since Chu An had asked, Ji Yinglai pondered for a moment before frankly saying, "The crew has treated everyone well, and the salaries have already been very high, so it's understandable that they haven't paid us."

"But these past two months have really been tough. How about we give each of us 10,000?"

A red envelope of 10,000 yuan is not small, but everyone's efforts were worth it.

Chu An looked at Old Dong again, "Uncle Dong, what do you want to say?"

Dong Wende then became shy, "Anything is fine, anything is fine, it's almost Chinese New Year!"

Chu An's smile deepened, thinking to himself that Old Dong also wanted to take more money home, but he was just too embarrassed to ask.

Then he looked at Lu Mingze and asked, "Do you think ten thousand is a good amount?"

Lu Mingze's eyes widened. "Ten thousand!? That's too little!"

"I have no objection to giving them all to everyone!"

That was a very frank statement, and it made Brother Lai and Lao Dong feel good, but it's unrealistic to expect to make over 2000 million.

Just as he was about to say something polite, Chu An raised an eyebrow and said, "Then it's settled! Settle the accounts with the production team, and whatever's left will be divided equally according to contribution!"

Gah! ! !
Ji Yinglai and Dong Wende almost fainted.

That's over 2000 million! Not just 2000 yuan! All split!?

They later learned why Chu An had brought the two of them, who were just doing the accounting work, along.

Chu An stopped teasing and said, "Brother Lai, Uncle Dong, we're all on the same side, so let's be honest."

"It was something that Director Lu and I had discussed beforehand: sending out all the money in the account."

Seeing that the two were about to speak, Chu An stopped them, saying, "Let me finish what I have to say."

"This money is not Director Lu's way of thanking everyone for their contributions, but rather for the future."

The two were puzzled. "The future?"

Chu An: "The State Administration of Radio and Television is about to make an exception and allow weekly dramas to be broadcast on a small scale."

"Our group of about a hundred people is the only team in China that has ever done and can successfully do instant video streaming!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Yinglai was shocked, for he understood everything.

Dong Wende's mind didn't quite work that fast. "Xiao Chu, you mean..."

Chu An said, "Keep our people here! Once weekly dramas are allowed again, we will still be the most competitive and best team! And with such a big incentive, no one can poach our people."

Now Dong Wende understood, and sighed deeply, "Director Lu and Xiao Chu really think ahead!"

He immediately made the decision, "Xiao Chu, don't worry! Your Uncle Dong will work for you from now on! I won't be filming other people's movies."

Ji Yinglai's eyes were also gleaming with excitement. More than 2000 million! How much of that would he, the great contributor, get?

He laughed and said, "Anyway, Director Lu said that I will still be in charge of the next film. You can try to get rid of me, but I'm not leaving."

Chu An slammed his hand on the table. "It's settled then. We'll give everyone over 2000 million to have a prosperous New Year! After the New Year, we'll immediately join the 'You Are My Glory' crew and continue to make an awesome drama."

Ji Yinglai said, "Don't worry! Leave this to me and Lao Dong. We'll make sure to bring back a complete set for our crew after the New Year."

After saying that, he and Dong Wende turned and left.

They're both shrewd people, so there's no need for Chu An to spell things out. Telling them in advance shows that they're newcomers and that he truly considers them family.

Secondly, Chu An wanted them to spread the word and then work on them to ensure that everyone would remember the crew's kindness after receiving the money.

Once inside, only Lu Mingze, Chu An, and Ma Lan remained.

Looking at the two spendthrift children, one old and one young, Ma Lan felt nothing but helplessness.

"A few words and you've spent over 20 million. Don't you two feel the pinch?"

Chu An rubbed his chest and said, "Whoever doesn't care is a coward!"

"But we have to look forward!"

Those who could join Lu Mingze's team were already top talents in the industry. After being exposed to the constant filming and broadcasting, these people were all precious gems.

As for Lu Mingze, with that carefree and nonchalant personality...

With a wave of his hand, he said, "So what if we split it? What can you do about it? There's still ad revenue sharing and the second, third, and fourth rotations!"

"We don't lack money!"

From now on, every penny earned from "The Best of Us" will be a profit, so Director Lu has nothing to worry about.

Besides, we can't even spend all the money in the account, right?

The 1000 million yuan sponsorship from Green Field, the 1500 million yuan loan from the bank, and the 4450 million yuan from Chu An selling his shares in the drama are all lying dormant in the studio's accounts.

That evening, the film crew booked the best restaurant in Ningyuan and held a grand banquet. Everyone knew in advance that Director Lu was going to give everyone a huge red envelope, but at first they didn't believe it.

But when Chu An, representing Lu Mingze, officially announced that all of the more than 2000 million yuan in the production team's account would be distributed, the atmosphere immediately boiled over, and the cheers and shouts almost lifted the roof off.

As for Chu An's final nice words, "I'll give everyone a three-month vacation. See you in the 'You Are My Glory' crew after the New Year!"

Naturally, everyone responded enthusiastically, and none dared to disobey.

That night, everyone got completely drunk!

The next day, after sobering up, they started packing their bags and went their separate ways.

……

.

My computer system crashed, and reinstalling it took a whole day.

Sigh! Back in the day, Lao Cang built his own computer. Not to mention a broken system, he fixed every problem himself.

Now look what's happened! I spent 30 yuan to go to town to get someone to install it, and they didn't even bring a power cord.

When I got there, they asked me for a power cord, and I was completely confused.

(End of this chapter)