1990: Starting from Baojia Street

The American music scene now represents the mainstream of global pop music, and Mariah Carey is a well-deserved T0-level singer in the United States. No matter which country she appears in, she is enough to attract strong attention from the local media.

Although Zhou Yan did not announce the guests who would attend the concert, the media immediately guessed the purpose of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and other stars coming to Yanjing.

At this time, Zhou Yan's Forbidden City Concert was about to begin. One could tell with a single step that they were there to support Zhou Yan.

Reporters from all the TV stations and newspapers in Yanjing have gone crazy these past two days, all going out on the field just to catch those celebrities on the streets and try to take a few photos.

However, after these reporters from Yanjing walked around outside, they didn't catch many celebrities, but they found that there were many foreign reporters wandering around the streets like them.

After some communication, they learned that these reporters also came to the Forbidden City concert of Zhou Yan.

……

"There is some progress in the investment of Titanic."

On the evening of April 30, Zhou Yan was about to go home when Zhang Youan suddenly ran into his office and said these words.

"Really?" Zhou Yan smiled, "What did they say over there?"

The investment for "Titanic" has been in contact since last year, but Fox has been holding on tightly and is unwilling to give in.

At the beginning, the news revealed by Fox was that they were still $100 million short of filming "Titanic".

But Zhou Yan and his team calculated that it wouldn't cost that much money. The reason why Fox released the news that they were still short of 100 million US dollars was to be able to ask for more money and share the risk.

In fact, Fox could afford tens of millions of dollars, but as the filming of "Titanic" progressed, they found that it was too expensive and the filming effect did not meet expectations.

The main reason was that the on-site director James Cameron had a bad relationship with the producers, and they had various quarrels every day.

Therefore, Fox became increasingly pessimistic about this project, and they believed that this project was likely to make them lose money.

Since it is a project that is likely to lose money, Fox will not put more money into it even if it has money on hand, as this will only drag them down.

Not only can they not add more money to the pot, they also have to find ways to raise more money and withdraw the money they invested previously, so that they can stop the bleeding.

So, of course, they also hope to be able to raise 100 million US dollars, so that their risks can be greatly shared.

And they also have a variety of flexible financial plans that can reduce the next investor's share of the profits.

As long as the accounting is done well, they can calculate one cost.

In this way, subsequent investments will naturally be diluted.

For example, for "Titanic", their company first raised 100 million US dollars, and now they may need another 50 million US dollars.

If we honestly raise another 50 million US dollars, we will have to give out about one-third of the pie to others after the movie is released.

But if they change the original $100 million account to $200 million, and then raise another $100 million, then they still only need to give out one-third of the pie, but they can take out $50 million from the $100 million raised.

In this way, their investment increased from 100 million US dollars to 50 million US dollars.

In other words, they got two-thirds of the pie with one-third of the investment cost.

Of course they are willing to do this deal.

Of course, doing accounting is not as easy as imagined. The problem is that you cannot be discovered by the other party.

Zhou Yan told Zhang Youan at the time that as long as the amount was less than 50 million US dollars, they could do it.

However, Fox had no interest in Zhou and Tang Chen. Their main target was still the other eight major film companies. After all, these eight companies had more connections in Hollywood than ordinary companies. In addition to investing real money in them, they could also help with publicity and distribution.

Zhou Yan didn't care about this.

Of course he wanted to make the money from "Titanic", but there was no need to burn his bridges for this movie, and there was no need to make concessions again and again, putting himself in a very unfavorable negotiating environment.

Although he experienced the box office miracle of "Titanic", but if he had to do it again, could he reproduce the box office of "Titanic" 100%?
There are too many accidents that can happen when filming a movie.

For example, in the last poisoning incident in Canada, if the poisoned people had not been sent to the hospital in time, several people would have died, and maybe even James Cameron would have died.

What if this happens again?

Or what if other accidents happened during filming?

When Zhou Yan talked to Hong Ben and Zhao Lin on the phone two days ago, he learned from them that the crew was not peaceful during this period. There was a lot of tension between the producer and the director, and the atmosphere on the set was very bad every day.

There were even a few times when the two sides quarreled in front of everyone and said some very unpleasant things.

In addition, accidents often occurred during filming. The two protagonists suffered accidents one after another, and were either injured or sick.

There is a scene earlier where the heroine Kate Winslet and the actor Leonardo Dicaprio need to run in the cabin, and behind them are huge waves rushing in.

After huge waves rushed in, they were trapped inside and had to struggle to open the door to escape.

Everything was going well, but Kate's coat accidentally got caught on the door during the photo shoot, making it impossible for her to surface to breathe and she almost drowned.

Although she didn't die, Kate suffered a lot of injuries, such as a broken elbow bone and a big gash on her knee. She had a fever for several days and even got pneumonia from staying in the water for a long time.

When Zhou Yan heard the news, he couldn't help but sigh that James Cameron really didn't take the safety of the actors seriously.

In this matter, Zhou Yan is fundamentally different from James Cameron.

James Cameron can put actors and crew members in danger, and even put himself in danger, in pursuit of the final presentation effect.

For him, as long as the final effect is achieved, nothing else matters.

But Zhou Yan is different. If a scene requires sacrificing the safety of the actors, he will definitely give up, no matter how good the effect of the scene is.

He always believed that the so-called film art could not be compared with personal safety.

And to be honest, James Cameron's crew had many shortcomings. In fact, many accidents could have been avoided in advance, but because of the lack of precautions in advance, bad results were caused.

For example, Kate Winslet almost drowned. This kind of underwater shooting must be very dangerous, and they should have considered any emergencies when shooting.

It's easy for people's clothes to get caught on the door, or for actors to accidentally bump into something underwater. They should arrange in advance for professional rescue personnel to be on standby at all times.

In this way, the problem could be discovered immediately and Kate could be rescued, so she would not be kept underwater for so long. According to Hong Ben, Kate was underwater for more than a minute before the crew realized something was wrong and the rescuers went into the water to rescue her.

Normally, a person will not die if they drown for more than a minute, but it is also very dangerous, and there is no need for actors to suffer this.

Of course, director James Cameron did not take the safety of the actors seriously, and neither did the actors themselves.

It is true that James Cameron is a tyrant, but if the actors are unwilling, he will not force them. At most, he will replace the actors. After all, doing so is illegal, and it is the actors themselves who are unwilling to give up the opportunity.

Although Kate, this little girl, suffered so many injuries and almost died, she probably thought in her heart that she was devoting herself to art.

And the girl probably doesn't want to miss such a good opportunity to become famous.

In any case, these are actually the risks of "Titanic".

This film will take one or two years to shoot, and if anything unexpected happens during this process, the entire plan may be ruined.

And even if the movie is finally completed, it cannot be 100% certain that it can create the same box office miracle as the previous life.

For Zhou Yan, he is now wealthy and has a bright future, so there is no need to take too many risks. Therefore, he lets Zhang Youan talk to Fox slowly. If they can talk, then they can talk, otherwise forget it.

Both sides have this idea in mind, and the matter has been delayed until now.

After some investigation, Fox found that the conditions offered by other companies were not as good as those offered by Zhou Yan, so they decided to have more in-depth contact with Tang Chen and Zhou Entertainment.

The reason why other companies were relatively indifferent and unwilling to invest was because there were more and more bad news about "Titanic".

The crew is so large that it is impossible to hide what happens inside.

Just like the incident where Kate Winslet almost drowned, Zhou Yan knew about it, so other companies would be able to find out if they wanted to.

Things like this will definitely affect those companies' risk assessment of the project.

No one's money comes from the wind, and they certainly don't want to invest money in a high-risk project.

The cost of the second phase of "Titanic" was too high. The higher the cost of a movie, the more difficult it is to recover the cost.

"Since they came to us, it means that the conditions we proposed before are very close to their expectations. At least at this stage, there should be no more suitable partner than us."

After wasting such a long time, whoever finds whom first will fall into a passive position.

The fact that Fox has come to them now on their own initiative naturally means that they have no other options.

"Do you want to leave them alone for a while?" Zhang Youan asked.

Zhang Youan didn't want to miss such a good opportunity to lower the price.

Zhou Yan shook his head and said, "No, let's negotiate as soon as possible according to the terms we originally agreed upon. This kind of thing will not benefit any of us if it is delayed for too long. Since Fox has found us, it probably means that the situation of the crew has reached a point where it can no longer be delayed. If we lower the price at this time, they may switch to other companies."

At this time, the most important thing for Fox is time.

If you put pressure on the other party at this time, they may turn to other companies that may not offer good conditions but can sign contracts quickly because they want to save time.

Of course, Zhou Yan didn't want the filming of "Titanic" to be affected by the delay, which would not benefit anyone.

No matter what, he was going to get a share of the profits from this movie, so even if this collaboration didn't work out, he still hoped that the movie would be a big hit.

Zhang Youan nodded, "Okay, I understand. I'll call them back later and have a good chat. I'll try to negotiate the terms with them as soon as possible. I'll have to go back again to sign the contract, so I may not be able to attend your concert."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You have attended so many of my concerts."

“I’ve heard it many times, but this time is different.”

"There's no need to rush. The concert is right around the corner. It won't be too late to leave after it's over. At least you can finish listening to the concert."

"That's fine. There's really no rush in the next two days." Zhang Youan thought for a moment and said, "Billboard contacted me and said they hope to interview you."

"When and where?"

"Their reporter is in Yanjing now. You decide the time."

"Oh, Billboard has even sent a reporter to Yanjing."

"Yes, it's a female reporter. I've met her before."

Zhou Yan recalled for a moment and asked, "Is it Linda?"

"you know?"

"I have met you before."

Zhang Youan smiled and said, "Your memory is really amazing. This Linda pays a lot of attention to you and has written many columns about you. I have read a few of them and they are more in favor of you."

Zhou Yan nodded and said, "In that case, let's arrange an interview for her from 9 to 10 tomorrow morning. Give her an hour and ask her to come directly to my office."

"Okay, I'll tell her then."

Zhou Yan seldom accepts interviews, so giving Linda an hour was already a great honor.

After Zhang Youan left Zhou Yan's office, he immediately called Linda and told her that Zhou Yan was willing to be interviewed.

"You have an hour tomorrow morning in his office at nine o'clock."

"One hour. That's great. Thank you, Zhang."

You can tell that Linda on the other end of the phone is very happy.

"You're welcome. Remember to come before nine o'clock. Zhou Yan doesn't like people who are late."

"Don't worry, I won't be late."

After hanging up the phone, Linda was still rubbing her hands excitedly. She didn't expect that she would actually get the opportunity to interview Y.

Before, Billboard had contacted Y several times, but Y had not responded. This time, she was on a business trip to cover the Forbidden City concert, so she tried to contact Zhang Youan. Unexpectedly, it really worked. (End of this chapter)