Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 479 Branch Company Project
circle.

Whenever Sino-US co-productions are mentioned, "2012" is inevitably brought up.

From the investment perspective, four companies including Xingchen Pictures, China Film, Wanda Pictures, and Light Media Group jointly invested, plus Hollywood's Warner Bros., with Chinese funds accounting for the majority, and it can be said that mutual benefits were achieved.

From the shooting perspective, the film was directed by the famous mainland director Gu Wei, and the Chinese and American teams jointly participated in the shooting process. After the filming of the movie, the domestic film technicians can be said to have gained a lot.

Judging from the participants, the US side has many Hollywood superstars headed by Matt Damon and Nicole Kidman, while the mainland has Jackie Chan and Liu Yifei, as well as first-line stars such as Huang Xiaoming.

The actors from both sides have seen their status in the global film and television industry soar thanks to the film's box office record.

Especially Huang Xiaoming. Before filming this movie, almost no one knew him in Hollywood. After the movie was released, he became very popular in Hollywood for a while.

Looking at the box office revenue, the extremely high global box office has made the major film and television companies that participated in the investment earn a lot of money.

No matter from which perspective, this movie can be regarded as a benchmark work of "Sino-US co-production".

Therefore, the topic of co-production is becoming more and more popular in the circle, and countless film and television companies want to get involved.

The most talked-about movie at the moment is of course "Iron Man 3".

The mere matter of casting in the mainland was hyped up by reporters from all major media outlets.

Even though the film company said it was just a supporting role, there were still a large number of first-line actors and actresses flocking to it.

Zhang Ziyi, Li Binbin, Fan Binbin and others came one after another and were the most enthusiastic. Even Lu Zheng was asking Jing Tian for news.

All the big stars are using all their tricks. You mobilize your internet trolls to discredit me, and I find someone to expose some of your dirty laundry, and we are fighting tooth and nail.

Even the news that the script of Shanghai Film Studio's "Grave Robbers' Chronicles" had passed review had no impact at all.

Celebrities compete for roles, while filmmakers in the industry compete for investments in co-productions.

For this purpose, the General Administration also held a special meeting, and Gu Wei was naturally among the invited guests. After all, the purpose of this meeting was to discuss the cultural elements of Sino-US co-productions.

"I won't go. You ask Mr. Song to go." Gu Wei waved his hand, and the assistant left quietly with a tactful look.

Speaking of Song Ge, Gu Wei couldn't help but admire the other party for being so ambitious in his career.

For the sake of a TV series, he went to the South Korean branch in person and stayed there for more than half a month.

Gu Wei heard from the head of the branch office that Song Ge was full of energy. He not only participated in the casting of the crew, but also conducted a special investigation in South Korea and finally compiled it into a report.

On the office desk is a report on “Expanding the Scale of the South Korean Branch”, all the contents of which were written by Song Ge himself, which shows that a lot of effort was put into it.

Of course, Song Ge went there in person and naturally gained something. The TV series "My Love from the Star", directed by Zhang Taiwei and starring Jun Ji-hyun, Kim Soo-hyun and Park Jin-hae, started filming smoothly.

As soon as the TV series was launched, it was reported crazily by major South Korean media, with the help of CJ Entertainment and NEW Films.

Before the filming of "My Love from the Star" was completed, the first round broadcasting rights were directly booked in advance by KBS, the largest broadcasting company in South Korea, and the price offered was not low. It can be said that the TV series has already achieved profitability before it was even aired.

Afterwards, Gu Wei made two phone calls to thank the two companies respectively. After the two sides talked on the phone for a while, the two companies naturally raised some additional requests.

Among them, NEW Films hopes to obtain the exclusive distribution rights of the subsequent series of "Painted Skin" in South Korea.

Seeing this, Gu Wei thought about it for a moment and then agreed. After all, he himself was not sure whether the subsequent series of "Painted Skin" could generate as high box office revenue as the first two films.

When CJ Entertainment saw that the subsequent distribution of Painted Skin was directly bought out by NEW Company, they were unwilling but had no choice.

Afterwards, he turned around and thought about Gu Wei's script.

.........

Not many directors attended the General Administration's Sino-US co-production meeting. After all, all the big directors are busy with projects now, and the focus of this meeting is on financial investment, so most of the participants are CEOs of film and television companies in the industry.

the next day.

Many filmmakers gathered in front of the General Administration, and the topic they talked about most was naturally how to get on this train and not fall behind others.

As the general manager of Xingchen Film and Television Company, Song Ge has been involved in many co-productions and naturally became one of the subjects that many people inquired about.

After chatting with the people who participated in the meeting for a while, Song Ge immediately realized that this was just a mess between the circle and Hollywood, and everyone wanted to make money from this co-production quota.

"Mr. Song." Zhang Zhao from LeTV Pictures saw Song Ge in front of him, then strode forward and greeted him.

Song Ge turned around and responded, "Mr. Zhang."

"I heard that Mr. Song recently went to South Korea and started a new project. It was reported in the domestic news. Congratulations." After greeting, Zhang Zhao mentioned the latest news report. While speaking, he looked at Song Ge and couldn't help feeling a little envious.

Although LeTV is one of the largest companies in mainland China, it has not yet developed any major projects in the country, let alone ventured abroad.

"Hey, it's just a small project, not worth mentioning. Director Gu didn't even take it seriously, so that's why I made the trip." Song Ge waved his hand very Versailles, and after he finished speaking, he stared at the other person's face with a smile.

Sure enough, no one knew whether it was a true expression or a pretense, but Song Ge was quite pleased with Zhang Zhao's expression.

Both of them are well-known figures in the entertainment industry. They both work in the film and television company, so naturally they have a competitive and comparative mentality.

But as Xingchen Film and Television developed better and better, Zhang Zhao gradually couldn't keep up with Song Ge's pace.

This can be seen from the different attitudes of the people around them towards the two of them. The more so, the more Zhang Zhao takes this co-production meeting seriously.

“Well, this meeting may have no impact on Xingchen Film and Television Company, but it’s hard to say for us.

If China participates more in investment and production, it will still allow domestic film teams to learn the operating mechanism of Hollywood and establish a long-term model suitable for their own development.”

As they walked, Zhang Zhao said with emotion that he had the ambition to make a global blockbuster, but if the censorship was strict, the difficulties would be extremely great.

"American filmmakers make co-productions just to use Chinese elements to make money in China. You can see that other countries are also the same. In the past few years, Hollywood entered the island country and the films it released also contained many "artistic" elements."

Influenced by Gu Wei, Song Ge also somewhat disagrees with the so-called co-production model of major production companies.

But no matter what he said, Zhang Zhao did not take it to heart. Instead, he felt that the other party said that on purpose. The purpose was naturally to prevent other domestic film and television companies from developing and challenging the status of Xingchen Film and Television Company.

If Song Ge could guess what was in the other person's mind, he would probably laugh out loud. The longer he stayed in the company, the more Song Ge could feel Gu Wei's energy.

Not to mention the domestic Star Films Company, the Hollywood's Rising Star Films Company alone is not something that other domestic companies can easily surpass. After all, at this time, Rising Star's status in Hollywood is second only to the Big Six, and it is one of the top independent companies.

"Mr. Song, if you have good investments, you can help LeTV. We are not short of money. As long as we can invest in Director Gu's movie, we can negotiate any premium."

Zhang Zhao is very confident in LeTV, which is now in its heyday. As long as it can tie up some big directors or cooperate with some big directors, LeTV Pictures will have great potential.

"Haha, let's talk about it when we have the chance. After all, no one can predict what will happen in the future."

Song Ge turned a blind eye and smiled.

The two of them walked into the hall together.

The seminar was chaired by another deputy director of the General Administration.

The theme of the meeting was very clear, which was actually about the issue of Sino-US co-production films.

"Looking at the Sino-US co-productions released in recent years, the earlier "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "The Karate Kid" and the recent record-breaking film "2012" are basically shot by China and contain a lot of Chinese elements.

But now, look at the upcoming films such as Looper, Cloud Atlas, and Iron Man 3. Although they all have Chinese elements, they are still dominated by American elements, and most of the plots and values ​​they promote are still Hollywood models.”

Director Zhang pointed directly to the core issue and admitted that the bureau is currently very worried.

The heads of the production companies in the audience were also listening very seriously. After all, it concerned their own interests. Some even took out their prepared things and kept taking notes.

"Mr. Song, Director Gu is not here today. Xingchen Films accounts for the majority of Sino-US co-productions, so you can come and share with everyone."

When he was called, Song Ge spoke directly.

"Director Zhang, all the bosses.

There are many foreign films now, with a completely American story, a little investment, some Chinese elements, and a domestic actor, and it is called a "co-production"?

Of course, there are also some movies that do add some Chinese elements, but the other party does not understand the corresponding Chinese story background, does not understand the Chinese people's thoughts, and even fabricates history themselves.

If this continues, we ourselves may be polluted by these fabricated cultures, and I think this is the most terrifying thing.”

Song Ge first pointed out some of the current operations of Hollywood producers, which made everyone present nod their heads.

The leaders of the Film Bureau who were sitting at the long conference table also nodded slightly in approval. After all, this was the purpose of the meeting, and the higher-ups felt that they could not continue to let this go.

"All the stipulated elements of a co-production must be present. We can't say that a domestic company investing some money, or even not investing any money at all, can be considered a co-production. We can't say that adding some domestic elements can be considered a co-production. Adding domestic elements is done by the film producers out of market considerations." Song Ge continued speaking, expressing his thoughts.

.........

(End of this chapter)