Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 746 Investing Million US Dollars
"Yes, Warner Bros. sent Minghua an email a few days ago, asking the company to send someone to contact them as soon as possible." Song Tangtang briefly explained the matter and said:
"Okay, Lili, you don't have to worry about this, just rest. Second Aunt, I'll go get ready first."

"Okay, Tangtang, be careful on the road."

After Song Tangtang left, Zhou Yunmei looked at her daughter lying on the bed and suddenly asked, "Lili, you seem to be very concerned about Minghua's situation?"

"Of course, he is my brother-in-law. Besides, my cousin and I have such a good relationship, her business is my business." Li Li replied.

Zhou Yunmei just said "oh" and said nothing else. She looked at the sleeping baby again and felt that something was wrong.

Song Tangtang called the airline and booked a flight ticket to Los Angeles for the next morning. She then sent an email to Fang Minghua and rushed to San Francisco International Airport early the next morning. The plane arrived in Los Angeles more than two hours later.

Warner Bros. Entertainment is headquartered in New York, but Warner Bros. Business, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., is located in Burbank, 20 kilometers north of Los Angeles.

Burbank is not only the home of Warner Bros. Pictures, but also the headquarters of Disney. Many world-renowned media and entertainment companies, such as NBC, Viacom, and PBS, have branches in Burbank. Therefore, Burbank is also known as the "Media Capital of the World".

After arriving in Los Angeles, Song Tangtang took another train and finally arrived in Burbank at noon. He stayed at the local Hollywood Amanola Hotel. After a simple pizza at noon, he took a rest and then called the administrative department of Warner Bros. Pictures. He met Jeff Robinov, vice president of Warner Bros. Pictures, in the headquarters building.

A white man in his forties, with a sturdy build, looked at Song Tangtang with a polite smile on his face.

"Ms. Song, you are the wife of the famous writer Mr. Minghua, and you are also the CEO of China's largest private film company. We are also optimistic about the huge Chinese market, so I am very happy to cooperate with you."

Jeff sat on the sofa opposite, crossed his legs, and said, "But I have to ask you to consider a question. Does your company have enough funds to co-produce this movie?"

"Mr. Jeff, we have considered this issue, so we propose that your company invest two-thirds and our company invest one-third. Of course, the profit sharing will also be based on this ratio." Song Tangtang was wearing a gray and black OL suit and spoke fluent English. She looked at Jeff sitting opposite her with a calm expression.

"Oh, this is our company's preliminary investment plan. You can take a look at it." After saying that, Jeff picked up a document from the coffee table and handed it to Song Tangtang.

Song Tangtang flipped through it roughly, and suddenly a number caught her attention: the film's budget investment was approximately between 9000 million and million US dollars.

Oh my God
Song Tangtang was shocked.

Before leaving Xijing, Song Tangtang convened a high-level meeting in the company to discuss this matter and everyone discussed this investment issue.

Knowing that movies made in the United States, especially Hollywood, require huge investments, the budget of this "Harry Potter" is expected to be not low. At the very least, it will cost about the same as "The Fugitive" produced by Warner Bros.

This is the first American commercial blockbuster introduced to China. It is said that the investment was as high as 4400 million US dollars, equivalent to more than million RMB, and of course it also achieved considerable box office revenue.

4400 million US dollars was considered very high by the senior executives of Shengshi Film and Television, including Song Tangtang. However, this time Warner Bros. actually offered a minimum budget of 9000 million, more than doubled!

"Mr. Jeff, is this budget a bit too high?" Song Tangtang suppressed the turmoil in his heart, put the documents on the coffee table, and asked lightly.

"Oh, Ms. Song, I'm afraid you don't know much about Warner Bros. and Hollywood." Jeff stood up with a proud look on his face:
"Do you know how much the investment cost of the movie True Lies that you introduced to China last year was? 1.15 million US dollars! It was produced by 20th Century Fox. We at Warner Bros. are determined to make a movie that surpasses True Lies, and Mr. Minghua's Harry Potter gave us this opportunity!"

"How can such a grand magical world be made into a high-quality movie with only tens of millions of dollars invested? I think this is a waste of time and Mr. Minghua's good book!"

this.
Song Tangtang fell silent after hearing this. As Minghua's wife, she was of course very proud that Warner Bros. attached so much importance to this novel, but as the general manager of Shengshi Film and Television, she felt unprecedented pressure.

Based on a budget of 9000 million, one third would be 3000 million US dollars, or 2.4 million yuan.

Gosh
Last year, Shengshi Film and Television’s annual revenue was only 8200 million RMB!

Even if I sold everything I had, I wouldn't have that much money.

Of course, there is another possibility.

The other party deliberately made a large budget to scare me away.

Don’t you Chinese want to cooperate with us?

Give me money!
After a while, Song Tangtang said, "Mr. Jeff, can I make a phone call?"

"OK!" Jeff pointed to the landline on the boss's desk and said, "I'll be out for a while, please feel free to do as you like." After saying that, he left in a very cool manner.

Song Tangtang stood up and walked to the desk, picked up the phone and dialed a number, naturally it was Fang Minghua.

It was around six in the morning Xijing time. Fang Minghua was sleeping soundly when he was awakened by a hurried phone call. He picked up the phone in a daze.

"Minghua, this is Tangtang, something urgent."

"Tangtang, what's wrong?" Fang Minghua suddenly came to his senses: "Did something happen to the child? Or Lili?"

"Neither, both mother and daughter are fine." On the other end of the phone, Song Tangtang replied unhappily, "We encountered problems in the negotiations with Warner Bros. I'm in the office of their vice president Jeff right now."

"what is the problem?"

"They gave this film a budget of up to 9000 to million US dollars!" Song Tangtang briefly recounted the process.

"Oh, so that's it." Fang Minghua's heart was immediately relieved, and he lay down in the bed and changed into a comfortable position: "One hundred million, not much."

"Ah? One hundred million is not a lot? I thought they were exaggerating on purpose to scare us away." Song Tangtang said.

"There aren't that many conspiracies. Tangtang, how much can Shengshi Film and Television come up with?"

"The company only has about 5000 million in cash in its account now. We have to wait until "If You Are the One" is released and the copyright of the first part of "Kangxi Private Visits" is sold. The initial estimate is that the revenue will be around 7000 million to 9000 million, but it cannot be in place immediately." Song Tang explained.

"Even if we have the funds, we can't invest all of them in this film. The company needs to maintain daily operations, invest in the second part of Kangxi's Private Visits, and reserve funds for filming the movie. After calculation, our company can invest a maximum of 9000 million."

(End of this chapter)