this man is not calm

Chapter 424 Sense of Distance

After Jin Shang left, the celebration party continued. Producer Nan Dalong, lead actor Dai Yiqun and the main creative team went on stage together to open champagne and express their gratitude to the guests.

In its third year in the industry, Changdi Culture finally reached its peak moment and became one of the forces that cannot be ignored in the domestic film and television industry.

It was an interaction similar to a press conference, and many questions were answered. Some of the questions that were difficult to explain were also dealt with.

The whole event is not only a celebration, but also provides a platform for communication for many related colleagues. In the past, if there was nothing else to do, it would be impossible for everyone to get together like this. It is only natural to take this opportunity to communicate with each other and deepen understanding and cooperation.

In comparison, Nan Dalong really likes the glamour under the spotlight and seems to be able to handle things with ease; the more introverted Nan Dabiao, after a simple social event, chatted with Dai Yiqun, who was separated from his fans and a group of colleagues who were trying to get close to him, in the backstage lounge.

"We succeeded, but...Ashan is walking faster. If we don't hurry up, we might not be able to keep up."

At this moment, Nan Dabiao's expression was not as relaxed as he showed to the outside world. Instead, he looked quite worried, and he seemed to be talking to himself,
"A few hundred million in net profit every year is not dispensable to him, but it is not crucial either. If it weren't for the special influence of this industry, Ah Shang wouldn't even want to bother with it."

"Not really. I think he still cares about me."

"You do not understand……"

Nan Da Biao sighed slightly and said,

"I have watched this kid grow up. He is a genius, but he is also difficult to get along with. He is not the kind of arrogant person who comes from a noble family and looks down on others. Instead, he is truly indifferent and doesn't care about the opinions, trends, and criticisms of the outside world. Don't look at him playing music and forming a band. This is not because he pursues fashion or likes to be famous. He really likes music. Similarly, he intervenes in film and television entertainment only because he is interested and it does not conflict with the strategic development of the group company..."

Only his biological father Jin Shi had a great influence on him. Even his biological mother, who gave birth to him but not raised him, refused to acknowledge him and has ignored him for nearly twenty years.

For traditional family friends like the Nan brothers, it's hard to even find a way to make connections, let alone play the emotional card. As for the thousand-year-old family "Jiangxia Huang", which has been prosperous for the past few hundred years, it has so many servant families, retainers, family generals, allies and even in-laws. Why are they the only ones who can get close to them?

To put it bluntly, Nan Dabiao has a good personal relationship with Jin Shi. Because of this relationship, and the fact that he behaves very decently, they have some contact with each other.

All the allies with vested interests surrounding Changdi Culture have benefited from this special friendship.

"Are all the children of noble families like this?"

"How is that possible? It's an era now. Traditional clans in many places have collapsed due to urbanization, modernization and internationalization. Let alone celebrities, it's good enough that morality hasn't declined. It's absolutely rare to see a scholar-official with a classical style like Ah Shang."

"Scholar-officials? Isn't that an exaggeration..."

Looking at Dai Yiqin's smile, Nan Dabiao said with emotion:

"People nowadays only know about the pedantic old scholars who are bound by traditional Confucianism, or the school culture that has been distorted and alienated by the eight-part essay and Chengwen to the point of losing its original intention. They are just like the degenerate nobles in old Europe, who have lost their proud and glorious traditions and are just parasites who focus on their own private interests. The classical scholars are not fools of that level..."

"It's me who is ignorant."

"A few years ago, Ah Shang wrote a poem that was almost never made public. Only those closest to him heard it. It was called "Silkworm Woman," and it goes, 'Yesterday I went to the city, and when I returned I was in tears. The one dressed in silk and satin is not a silkworm farmer.' Isn't it great?"

Dai Yiqin thought for a moment and replied:
“Very flavorful and thought-provoking.”

"Do you find it ironic? The ordinariness and misery of workers, accusing them of injustice and exploitation?"

"Yes, that's accurate."

"This is a good understanding now, but before the Song Dynasty, especially before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the deeper understanding was not like this."

Nan Dabiao explained leisurely,
"When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace; when the superiors obey the standards, the six relatives are strong. If the four virtues are not strengthened, the country will perish. Give orders like flowing water, and the orders will follow the will of the people..."

Sima Qian explained it very clearly in "Biography of Guan Yu and Yan Yan": only when materials are abundant can the people understand etiquette, and only when food and clothing are sufficient can they distinguish between honor and disgrace. The actions of the monarch must conform to the law, and the "six relatives" will be stable. If etiquette, righteousness, integrity and shame are not promoted, the country will perish...

There is a lot more to come, which Nan Dabiao did not elaborate on, but one thing is clear.

"Full granaries" and "sufficient food and clothing" are not so easy things to do, especially in ancient times before the Qin Dynasty. How can we make the people understand etiquette and distinguish between honor and disgrace when the granaries are not full and the people have insufficient food and clothing?

Officials are saints, the world is for the public, the family and the country are all important. There must be someone to support the backbone of a nation and a culture. Those who "are dressed in silk and satin" do enjoy more, but they also have to bear more.

"I'm afraid that not many people remember the sentence in the Tao Te Ching, 'To bear the disgrace of the country is to be the master of the country; to bear the misfortune of the country is to be the king of the world.' The sons of heaven, dukes, marquises, viscounts, nobles, and literati are all one. The only difference is the size of the king. No matter how it changes, one thing remains unchanged. The longer the country is, the corresponding rights and responsibilities are corresponding. With the provision of fine clothes and delicious food, when needed, you must also fight in the war, drive chariots, charge into battle, pass on culture, and maintain the ethnic group. Expecting to go hungry three times a day, living from day to day, and being a pile of scattered sand, will not achieve anything. The early 'those covered in silk and satin' were not just good at reincarnation, but they really wanted to do something. They were not the same as the pure profiteers who shirked their responsibilities later..."

Times have changed, and it is certainly inappropriate to use classicism anymore, but this does not prevent the occasional emergence of some true classicists.

"You mean, Ah Shang doesn't look down on anyone, but just thinks that people with different ideologies cannot work together?"

"The film and television entertainment industry we are in, or the cultural industry, is one of the few fields where 'silkworm breeders' and 'those dressed in silk and satin' have a lot of intersections. So A Shang is still concerned, but he doesn't care much about the rampant material desires in the world of fame and fortune. For the general public, whether this country, this nation, these compatriots, are 'yours' or 'ours' is a question that needs to be distinguished, but for A Shang, they are all 'ours'. The difference is whether you want to be a 'silkworm breeder' or a 'those dressed in silk and satin'..."

The idea of ​​classical scholar-officials is to take all the benefits and bear all the responsibilities, while others should live a good life, not cause trouble, and live according to the rules.

Of course, the difference nowadays is not so obvious, and the channels for upward and downward mobility are still obviously unobstructed, but there are more scoundrels who occupy the toilet without doing anything.

In terms of Changdi Culture and even the entire film and television entertainment industry, Jin Shang does not have high expectations for the Nan brothers. In other words, they are just useful, not real like-minded partners. If their future actions are not to his liking, he does not rule out starting a new business, or even supporting the film and television cultural industry with his own hands. "Without expectations and hope, there will naturally be no disappointment. Personal friendship will affect judgment, but not too much?"

"Then... what exactly are the dissatisfactions that may lead to Changdi Culture being abandoned?"

"I wasn't dissatisfied, but... I wanted to see if there were any surprises. As expected, there was no sense of déjà vu that was worth being too concerned about."

Nan Dabiao said helplessly,

"It's not easy to get on this train. We... are the remnants of the Huang family who have been excluded. Even though Ah Shang is treating us with courtesy for the sake of Lao Jin, he may not necessarily take us with him because of the interests involved. The Mei family and the Zhang family are cooperating more closely with him..."

"It's a bit like a family of generals and retainers competing for favor..."

"It sounds a bit harsh, but that's the way it is. Let alone striving for equal cooperation, even sitting at the table for a meal is a bit of a stretch. Changdi culture is too irreplaceable. Once you are marginalized in this small circle of people who keep each other warm and make progress together, it will be a bit difficult to squeeze in again."

In the past, there wasn’t so much crowd around the Jin family father and son, but it’s different now.

Listen to what Jin Shang said not long ago. He has to pay back tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars. What kind of person is it to owe so much money?
Not to mention Changdi Culture, even if all the domestic film and television companies were packed together, they might not be enough for Jin Shang to squander.

"See that large piece of land south of Liangshui River? In just half a year, 1 billion yuan will be invested, and we don't know how much more will be needed in the future."

"know."

Dai Yiqun nodded.

Such tall wind turbines are being installed intensively, it is hard not to notice them.

Basically, everyone in Beijing knows that there is a large area of ​​windmills being built in the south, reportedly to generate electricity. Once it is built, you can use air conditioning in the summer and electric heating in the winter without having to worry about power outages.

"Some time ago, a well-known domestic and international financial group negotiated with Ashan for a deal valued at tens of billions, but the deal fell through. This kind of business... we can't even catch up."

"Next, how do we strengthen our connection?"

"Personal relationships still need to be maintained, but we can't be too lazy and let the interest alliance become too weak. Make more money, create more momentum, and have more say. Especially on your side, you need to maintain the domestic situation and open up the situation abroad. Our peers don't like to do such thankless tasks. We need to spend more energy on 'going overseas'. Some of Ashang's businesses are not suitable for overseas expansion. If we have entertainment leading the way, we will get twice the result with half the effort."

"Internationalization? I understand."

The domestic market is not small, and will be even bigger in the future. But we can talk about the future later. Now is the stage where we should try our best to make our products bigger and stronger. We cannot just pick the delicious ones and ignore the unpalatable ones.

"In addition, the screenwriter and copyright departments also need to recruit more people. We cannot rely entirely on Jinxi Culture's IP development plan. Other film and television creations are lackluster, and there are few of our own things. If we don't have these external blessings, how can we survive? We also need to strengthen publicity and promotion. There is still a big gap between us and those old film and television companies. The offline promotion is not strong, and it is very weak outside of our own theaters. These are all chronic problems, and it is difficult to improve them in a short time."

If the influence was greater, the box office would probably increase a lot.

Making money is one thing, but letting more people see it is the key.

The exposure of big IPs benefits the entire upstream and downstream of the industry chain. The high-quality paying customers screened out through the channel of film and television dramas will be the main force that will continue to pay in the future.

There aren’t many high-value customers who have both money and free time these days!
Jin Shang, who rushed back to the company, did not have too many prejudices against Changdi Culture and the Nan brothers. It was just a business of tens of millions or hundreds of millions, and it was a bit not worth it to be busy for half a year. Time is precious now, and in the limited working hours, there is really no time to care about the details of the film and television entertainment industry. The limit is to focus on the big and let go of the small.

I am a little disappointed with the poor performance of projects developed by Non-Jinxi Culture.

This is the normal level for Changdi Culture, a company that has been established for less than three years. Even the entire industry is like this, so it is not surprising.

Today's movies are still mainly author-made films, which are complicated to explain. They can be roughly regarded as a kind of creator who tells stories with pictures and expresses his own emotions and thoughts, just like writers write with pens. Therefore, directors are real artists like writers, painters, and calligraphers. Movies are not pure commodities, but tools for directors to create and innovate.

In comparison, TV dramas are much simpler. The script is the core, and the TV drama director only needs to complete the filming step by step.

In the era when commercial films are popular, the boundary between the two has become very blurred, but in 1997, the difference was still huge. Author films are works of art created based on the ideas of artist directors, while TV dramas are commodities created by artisan directors based on the "template" of the script.

Although Changdi Culture is now on the right track, it is still an alternative in the traditional film and television circle. In the game between tradition and future, market demand and cultural creation, commerce and art, the company seems a little torn, a little neurotic, and some operations make Jin Shang, who has experienced the rise and fall of the era of commercial blockbusters, feel a little awkward.

Therefore, Jin Shang has always been indifferent to and has not made any comments on film projects other than big IP development.

There may be some good works, but most of the author's films are entangled in the "author theory" and similar "New Wave" thoughts and traditional literature and art, and seem out of place.

Jin Shang would rather read a mystery novel with no nutritional value than spend time trying to figure out other people's so-called inner expressions, not to mention the pretentious and showy works of so-called art film directors who have low cultural level, weak foundation, and lack of common sense.

If he had the spare time, Jin Shang would "move over" a few poems and songs from his previous life and beat the whole audience. He really looked down on those rubbish.

As for the commercial operation of Changdi Culture, that is the business of the Nan brothers, and Jin Shang is too lazy to interfere too much. If it works well, use it, and if it doesn’t, do it himself.

Putting these minor matters aside, with so much investment in the huge business, Hong Renquan now has a major event that requires Jin Shang to make a decision...

(End of this chapter)