1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhou Yan could never have imagined that Zhang Youan would be able to obtain all the streaming rights to "Titanic", 100%, regardless of language or region.

Although there is a deadline, in Zhou Yan's opinion, the so-called deadline is not something to worry about at all.

Fox is not aware of the importance of streaming rights, but they are still cautious enough.

After Lindemann reported Zhang Youan's conditions, they held a meeting and came up with a plan, whereby Zhou Yan could obtain all streaming rights to "Titanic" for twenty years.

That is, by 2017, the streaming rights to "Titanic" will be taken back by Fox.

If the plan was just this, Zhang Youan would certainly not agree, so Fox added another clause, which was that after the deadline, Zhou Yan would have the right of first refusal, and as long as no one bid more than 15% higher than Zhou Yan, they would have to sell the copyright back to Zhou Yan.

In addition, this plan has a condition, that is, as long as Zhou Yan can pay 15 million US dollars after the deadline in 20 years, he can directly renew the streaming media copyright for another 20 years.

In other words, if no one bids less than 15 million US dollars, Zhou Yan can renew the copyright by offering a price that is within 15% of the highest bid.

If someone offers a price of more than 15 million US dollars, a special clause will be triggered and Zhou Yan will directly renew the copyright for 15 million US dollars. Even if someone else offers 1 billion or 2 billion US dollars, there is no way to take the copyright from Zhou Yan.

The fact that Fox agreed to such terms shows that they do not think that the streaming copyright fee for Titanic will reach 15 million US dollars in 20 years, or at least not much different.

Besides, the current situation of Fox Corporation is not optimistic, so of course it attaches more importance to immediate interests.

Moreover, Fox is not without any interests to fight for.

They gave up the streaming copyright, but put forward a condition to Zhou Yan, which was that they hoped Zhou Yan could help "Titanic" enter the Chinese market.

The situation of China's film market is special. There are many restrictions on foreign films. It is not possible to enter the country just because you want to. Only ten overseas blockbusters can be approved every year.

Logically speaking, a big production like "Titanic" has a very good chance of being accepted as long as the effort is put in. However, Fox does not have enough control over the Chinese market after all, so they are not sure whether "Titanic" can be approved to enter the Chinese mainland market.

They also knew that Zhou Yan had a special status in China, so when Zhou Yan put forward his conditions, they also put forward a condition.

If "Titanic" can be approved to enter the Chinese mainland market, the previous conditions will remain unchanged, but if "Titanic" cannot be approved to enter the mainland market, Zhou Yan can only obtain 30% of the streaming copyright, and will not have the right of first refusal after 20 years.

The request made by Fox was not a problem at all for Zhou Yan.

Originally, "Titanic" could have been approved to enter the mainland market, and even if "Titanic" was not approved, he had the ability to help the film get approval.

Not to mention the movie "Titanic", even if Zhou Yan wanted to pre-select the list of ten overseas films that would enter the mainland every year, he has the ability to do so.

If he wanted, he could make money by selling films in bulk, but he didn't care about the money.

Therefore, Zhou Yan was of course happy to receive such conditions. He immediately decided to increase Zhang Youan's bonus to three million US dollars.

After the terms were agreed upon, the two parties quickly finalized the details of the contract and signed it.

Fox was more anxious than Zhou Yan. After all, if they couldn't get enough money, the Titanic project might fail.

The sooner the contract is signed, the sooner Zhou Yan can transfer the money and the plan can be started.

Early the next morning after the contract was signed, James Cameron made a special call to Zhou Yan.

James Cameron never mentioned Zhou Yan's investment in "Titanic" from beginning to end. He just confirmed the work plan for the soundtrack with Zhou Yan and communicated with Zhou Yan about some inspirations.

But Zhou Yan knew that James Cameron's call at this time must be related to his investment in "Titanic".

James Cameron was of course very anxious during this period, as he put a lot of effort into the "Titanic" project.

He spent a lot of time and energy on the film before it even started shooting. Later, the formal shooting took so long that they almost lost their lives during the period.

Even though James Cameron was very tough with Fox and quarreled with the producers from the company every day, he was also worried that the plan would be shelved.

After all, he knew that if Fox eventually gave up this plan, it would be difficult for other companies to take over.

Only if Fox doesn't give up will this movie have hope of moving forward.

At this time, Zhou Yan suddenly appeared and solved Fox’s funding problem, thus extending the life of "Titanic".

In theory, this was a normal business transaction between Fox and Zhou Yan and had nothing to do with James Cameron, but James Cameron was still grateful to Zhou Yan.

Last time in Canada, Zhou Yan saved his life, and this time Zhou Yan helped to extend the life of "Titanic". He really has a good impression of Zhou Yan now.

However, his inner pride did not allow him to express his gratitude to Zhou Yan for such a thing, so he called Zhou Yan to discuss the music composition.

At the end of the conversation, James Cameron smiled and said, "Although I believe in your ability, can you come to the United States in the near future so that we can discuss the soundtrack in person. Perhaps you can come to Los Angeles to hold a few concerts. I am very sorry that I could not go to your Forbidden City concert. Perhaps you can come to Los Angeles so that I can make up for this regret."

You can tell that James Cameron is really happy. He rarely speaks like this.

"I'm not sure whether I can go to Los Angeles. If you have any questions about the soundtrack, you can tell me. I have arranged for the staff on site, and they are all very capable."

"I believe in you, so I believe in them too. No matter what, I hope to meet you soon and watch your new movie soon."

……

After hanging up the phone with James Cameron, Zhou Yan called Han Sanping.

After receiving Zhou Yan's call, Han Sanping was in a very good mood. "Time Traveler has set a new record in the box office in Japan, and the single-day box office performance in the past few days has been very good. The momentum is very strong."

Han Sanping paid more attention to the box office of "Time Traveler" than director Zhou Yan. Even though their Yanjing Film Studio could not get a penny from the box office of Neon, Han Sanping still paid attention to the real-time data every day.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "With such a good result, the celebration party should be more lively when we host it later."

Han Sanping had said before that he wanted to hold another celebration party for "Time Travelers", and now Zhou Yan also said what he said before.

Hearing Zhou Yan mention the celebration banquet, Han Sanping was even happier. "That's true. You're calling me now, aren't you just talking about the celebration banquet?"

"Boss Xu will definitely arrange a celebration banquet. I called you today to ask about the film order." Han Sanping asked in surprise, "Why are you concerned about this?"

"Is such that……"

Afterwards, Zhou Yan told Han Sanping about the events of "Titanic".

Of course, he only said that he would keep half and the other half. He said that he participated in the investment in "Titanic", but he did not say how much he invested.

Han Sanping was not surprised that Zhou Yan was involved in foreign film investments. After all, Zhou Yan had done this before.

At that time, Zhou Yan and his team participated in the investment of "The Sixth Sense", saying that they invested several million US dollars, and in the end they made several times the profit from the movie box office alone.

Since Zhou Yan invested in "Titanic", he has the position to arrange the film approval for "Titanic". Therefore, although Zhou Yan did not tell Han Sanping the details of the contract, he was not surprised.

After listening to Zhou Yan's words, Han Sanping smiled and said, "For a blockbuster like Titanic that has a lot of investment, as long as they are willing to accept the mainland's share ratio and there are no principled issues in the movie, the possibility of it coming in is very high."

"I know, but I want to be safe in everything."

In the previous life, "Titanic" entered the mainland, but Zhou Yan did not dare to be careless and still had to take out insurance to prevent any accidents.

"In that case, I'll help you with this matter. It shouldn't be a big problem. But when will this movie be released? This year?"

“I probably won’t be able to get into the domestic arena this year,” Zhou Yan said.

"If you want to be on the show this year, you have to tell me in advance. Every year, the batch of films goes out in advance, and I can't always keep a spot for you."

Zhou Yan thought about it and said, "Then don't keep it this year, let's talk about it next year."

"If it's next year, there's no rush." ​​Han Sanping said with a smile.

"Well, let's talk about this after Titanic is scheduled for release in North America."

"No problem. If the movie gets high box office in North America, then we don't have to worry about it."

The purpose of introducing foreign films into China through the batch film model is to stimulate the domestic film market. Therefore, the box office performance of the imported films is generally quite good.

"Okay, I know."

Han Sanping is a man of his word. Once he has promised something to others, he will basically not break his promise. Now that he has agreed to do this, it is a done deal.

After that, the two chatted for a few more minutes and then hung up the phone.

Zhou Yan had just hung up the phone and was about to get back to work when the phone on the desk rang again.

This time it was Xu Xiangjie who called. After the call was connected, he reported his work directly without any hesitation, "Zhou Chuanxiong's new album has been almost revised. After you made suggestions last time, we have made a new promotion plan for him. This time the plan focuses on the mainland."

Zhou Chuanxiong had already been doing this before he was signed by Huanyin.

After signing with Huanyin, Zhou Chuanxiong was most concerned about whether he could continue to work on his new album. Zhou Yan's suggestion was that the album could be made, but some changes had to be made.

There are some songs in the album "My Heart is Too Messy" that can attract the public, but the album is highly homogenized. Zhou Yan suggested that either at least five of the ten songs originally planned should be replaced, or two or three more songs should be added to the ten songs. Although there is serious homogeneity, it is possible to win by quantity.

After listening to Zhou Yan's suggestion, Zhou Chuanxiong was overjoyed. He originally thought that his new album would be shelved after he went to the new company. However, after arriving at the new company, not only was the new album not cut, but they also gave him a few more songs.

Huanyin’s support for Zhou Chuanxiong’s new album is not as simple as adding a few songs, but increasing funding in all aspects, including song recording, MV shooting, and various publicity. All the things that were not done before are now arranged.

Therefore, when the company wanted him to make changes, he certainly cooperated fully.

"Now that it's confirmed, proceed according to the plan you made. If there's anything you need Zhou Entertainment to coordinate, don't be shy to ask."

Huanyin is a new company based in Taiwan. Now Zhou Chuanxiong's publicity plan will focus on the mainland, so it will naturally rely on its parent company Zhou Entertainment.

"Well, Mr. Xu has been very helpful."

"Is there anything else?"

"Also, there is the matter of David Tao's new album. He is relatively slow, so he may not be able to release it this year."

Tao Zhe's new album is also one of the important projects of Fantasy Sound Company in the near future. Tao Zhe is basically responsible for the entire album alone, and the company can only provide some small help, such as helping him find a recording studio.

Therefore, the production of the new album progressed very slowly, sometimes there was no movement for several months.

Xu Xiangjie is an impatient person. Of course he was anxious because Tao Zhe's new album was progressing so slowly. He called Tao Zhe several times and asked him if he needed help from the company, but Tao Zhe insisted on doing most of the things by himself.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Just let him do what he wants. When he tells you that the album can be released, then you can worry about it. If he doesn't contact you, then you shouldn't contact him."

“Isn’t this irresponsible?”

"You are taking too much responsibility. David Tao may not be happy. Anyway, after his new album comes out, you can evaluate it yourself and see how much resources you can give him."

"I understand, but I still hope his new album will be released this year."

"Well, in addition to David Tao and his friends, we should also pay attention to the newcomers and recruit them in advance."

"I have been in close contact with several talent shows and can get first-hand information about the contestants, trying my best to prevent any fish from slipping through the net."

Zhou Yan nodded, "It mainly depends on the creative ability."

"Well, I'll pay attention to anything that can create."

"That's good. If you find anything outstanding, feel free to contact me."

After talking to Xu Xiangjie, Zhou Yan hung up the phone. He had always asked Xu Xiangjie to keep an eye out for creative talents. In fact, he already had a target candidate in mind, but he didn't know if Xu Xiangjie could bring him one. (End of this chapter)