Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 666 Arrival Regret
Late February.

The weather in Los Angeles has not yet warmed up. At around nine o'clock in the morning, the wind outside the airport was still chilly.

Fortunately, Liu Yifei, Qin Hao and Yuan Quan were all wearing down jackets and were wrapped up tightly.

"Hi, Crystal, here." Reid's voice rang out, and coupled with his black clothes, black pants, and black sunglasses, he immediately attracted the attention of many people.

But when he saw the several dark and strong bodyguards behind him, he immediately looked away.

"Hey, Ryder, long time no see."

Walking up to him, Liu Yifei couldn't help but say with a smile, glancing at Gu Wei's figure.

"Crystal, my boss is very busy, so he only arranged for me to come and pick you up at the airport."

After seeing Liu Yifei's appearance, Reid laughed out loud and explained immediately.

"Oh oh oh, let's go then." Liu Yifei felt a little disappointed.

"Okay, get in the car."

……

As the car drove into the small town of Hollywood, the atmosphere of the Oscars was already extremely strong. Huge movie advertisements and photo posters of actors and stars could be seen everywhere.

The group went straight to Beverly Hills, and Reid had people prepare various ingredients and daily necessities one day in advance.

"The boss is very busy these days. In order to catch up with the filming schedule of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", the crew is now working in two shifts. The extra overtime pay alone is a considerable sum..."

"Add to that the continuous PR receptions and invitations to premieres from other big directors, and I can only sleep about four hours a day..."

"Look, there are a lot of performances here every day. You can come out and have a look when you have time..."

As the car was moving, Reid sat in the passenger seat and kept talking.

Liu Yifei listened very carefully. Even though she knew Gu Wei was very busy, she didn't expect him to be so busy.

"Look, there are our huge posters." Miss Liu was still thinking when she was interrupted by Reid. She looked in the direction of his finger and saw the huge posters of "The Revenant" and "Parasite" at a glance.

The protagonist on the "Parasite" poster is Liu Yifei, and the slightly smaller one is Qin Hao. There are also Chen Minghao, Hu Ge, Yuan Quan and others on the lower side, and Zhang Yimou's name is also on it.

The English above writes about the honors the movie received in Venice last year. The movie won the Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture awards.

On the street, people coming and going were attracted by the huge posters, as if they wanted to confirm what kind of work could win so many awards and honors.

The one next to it is simpler, with Leonardo in the middle, Tom Hardy on the right, and Gu Wei's portrait on the left.

The poster introduces some of Gu Wei’s honors, such as the Oscar for Best Director and global box office record holder.

"Madam Boss, the company's publicity is very effective." Reid took credit proudly.

"Hehe, not bad." Miss Liu responded.

Now, Reid became even more excited. "These two advertising spots are great, the only drawback is that they are too expensive. The price for one week is millions of dollars..."

In another car, unlike Liu Yifei's calmness, Chen Minghao was more and more moved the more he watched, "I didn't expect that I, Old Chen, would also be able to appear in Hollywood one day. Wow, I can't believe it."

"I wonder if you've figured it out over there. Can we all walk the red carpet together this time?"

As a supporting actor, Yuan Quan did not win any awards in Venice. This time when he came to Hollywood, he was not sure whether he could walk the red carpet before leaving, after all, the red carpet crew has a limit on the number of people.

"There will definitely be no problem. Didn't the director ask us to come here together? That means he is confident." Hu Ge's attitude was quite good. After all, Gu Wei asked him to come here from the crew of "Nirvana in Fire", and it was impossible for him to go back halfway.

Hu Ge's words put everyone at ease and allowed them to fully experience the unique scenery and atmosphere of this entertainment capital.

.........

On the set of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".

Although it was already night, the scene was still brightly lit and bustling with people.

Jason Statham and Scarlett Johansson are removing their makeup while another crew is getting ready.

Gu Wei was wearing a thick down jacket and was talking on the phone with Song Ge.

"According to the budget of the finance department, the company's project costs will increase by about 20% this year. With so many movies and TV series added together, it will cost at least million yuan more."

"Domestic film pay has increased again?" Gu Wei understood instantly.

"Yes, the increase is astonishing. The salaries of first-line celebrities have almost doubled. Fortunately, Painted Skin 3 was signed last year, otherwise the actors' salaries alone would have to be increased by to million."

Hearing this, Gu Wei nodded slightly. The impact of market expansion finally emerged.

Perhaps starting from this year, projects with a cost of 100 million yuan can no longer be called big projects. Without an investment of 200 to 300 million yuan, it would be embarrassing to declare it a big production.

"Many domestic companies have already reported the issue of actors' pay to higher authorities. The pay has increased too much, and many small companies simply cannot afford to hire big names. Without the influence of big names, the films they produce do not perform well at the box office. This vicious cycle has led many companies to the brink of bankruptcy," Song Ge continued.

Gu Wei certainly understood this. You have to know that whether it is the newly influx of capital or the traditional film and television production companies, they are all the driving forces of the controversy over actors' pay. Because of the ever-increasing pay, capital has to bear greater risks, but the growth of profits is not exponentially higher than the risks.

“For a long time, the TV stations have been the biggest moneymakers in the TV drama industry, and in the film industry, it’s the production companies and cinema chains. But why is no one standing up to criticize when capital is making money?

In comparison, actors are actually a disadvantaged group, so when actors want to get a bigger piece of the pie, some people can’t sit still, haha.”

"Their ideal situation would be to pay just 50,000 yuan per actor," Song Ge also joked.

However, the actors' pay is too high, and for the producers, the risks they bear are indeed increasing exponentially.

For example, seven or eight years ago, a movie project could be launched with an investment of just over 10 million yuan, and the investment could be recovered with a box office of 30 million yuan.

But now, for example, if you invite a first-line male or female star to film a movie, the salary budget for each person will be 20 to 30 million, which means that the total investment must be at least 30 million. Even if the movie is still sold for 60 million, after taking into account taxes, the producer will lose more than half of his profit.

Moreover, due to the increase in production costs and publicity and promotion expenses, investors have to invest more money, and in the end they can only find ways to reduce costs. But when they look around, they finally realize that actors are the easiest targets to bully. It’s like now, it’s not that investors can’t make money, but they feel that they don’t make enough.

But on the other hand, excessive pay is also a huge harm to actors, because in order to control risks and reduce costs as much as possible, producers can't help but make shoddy products, or simply use the money to create stars and sign a 2:80 ten-year contract. Although they still need to pay the pay, it's just transferring money from the left hand to the right hand, and all the money earned is profit. So the final result is the current situation, the quality of movies and TV series has declined across the board, and there are more and more bad movies.

Gu Wei sighed and said, "This is the evil consequence of the influx of capital. Although they raised the pay in the beginning, the purpose of capital is to pursue maximum benefits. As for the survival of the entire industry, it is not a problem they care about. In addition, they have also ruined the reputation of the industry."

"Then, will it always be like this?" Song Ge asked doubtfully.

"Definitely not." Gu Wei shook his head. "Because the quality of most audiences is improving, some people can't accept the capital stuffing shit into their mouths. Especially if a few companies make good dramas seriously, in contrast, public sentiment will explode and backlash will come. Therefore, the company should honestly control the quality of its works. With such a large market, this overall shoddy production is only temporary."

"Then should we join? I heard that Bona and Guangguang are planning to unite and report to the General Administration to control the range of actors' pay." Song Ge asked again.

"Yes, we will join, but our demands are different from theirs. We want to reduce the pay of top actors and increase the pay of second- and third-tier celebrities."

Although the domestic entertainment industry has always emphasized developing in accordance with the Hollywood model, after so many years, not much film-making technology has been learned. Instead, the star artists' segmented pay has been learned in the same way. Star artists are also either full or hungry. The pay of the top actors is astronomical, and the pay of the lower actors drops off a cliff.

The most obvious point is that many people only think about becoming famous and don't care about acting skills at all. Take the drama team of the People's Art Theatre for example. The old actors can't make money and young people are unwilling to learn. The entire industry is in a serious deformed prosperity. Gu Wei is worried that there will be no real actors in the country in a dozen years.

"I support you on this point, including what you said some time ago about improving the treatment of your artists. Zhong Lifang has drafted a new agreement, and the expired contracts will be re-signed.

By the way, the General Administration has talked to me twice, and the meaning is self-evident: monopolistic groups are not allowed to appear in the country. " Song Ge was ambitious at first, but the domestic environment is like this. Once it develops to a certain scale, the higher-ups will take action.

"It's okay, just keep a low profile. The domestic box office sharing is too unfriendly to the producers. It's hard to develop an entertainment company into a large one, haha."

Gu Wei shook his head, and felt more and more that he should have taken advantage of Han Sanping's still in office and used "The Wandering Earth" to force theaters to increase their share of the profits.

Most people think that if a movie is a big hit at the box office, the producer will definitely make a lot of money, but the actual situation is not like this. Take Star Films as an example. The profit of eight or ten movies made in China may not be as high as that of one movie in Hollywood.

For example, if the total box office of a movie is 1000 million, 8.3%, or 83, must be paid in taxes and special funds. Of the remaining 917 million, theaters and cinema chains will retain 57%, or 522.69 million. China Film Digital will retain 3% as an agency fee, or 27.51. The remaining 40% is the box office share that belongs to the producer and distributor, which is approximately 366.8 million.

Assuming that this movie is jointly released by two companies, and each takes 50% of the profits, the two companies would each earn 183.4 million.

However, in order to get high screening schedules, some films sometimes give rebates to theaters or cinema chains. The rebate ratio is generally around 5%, which means that the final box office revenue that belongs to the producer is only between 25% and 28%, which is more than two million.

This has led to a strange phenomenon in the film market: when film and television production companies reach a certain scale, they will be involved in distribution and theaters. After the distribution companies expand in scale, they will move into upstream film and television investment and downstream theaters and even cinemas, ultimately achieving the goal of monopoly.

Because only through monopoly can we obtain greater profits and reduce intermediate consumption.

But how could the parties involved agree to this? You know, cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents.

"Okay, let's put it this way. By the way, Yifei and the others should be here by now."

"Well, send me a message and call them when you're done."

After staying on the crew until nearly ten o'clock and finishing the remaining two shots, Gu Wei arranged the rest of his work and prepared to go home.

On the way back to the villa, Gu Wei looked through the Hollywood news. Zhang Ziyi arrived two days ago, Gong Li arrived yesterday afternoon, and Li An just arrived this morning.

More and more people gathered in Hollywood, and the city was completely transformed into a city that never sleeps, with singing and dancing and partying all night long.

...

After returning to the villa, as soon as he entered the door, Gu Wei saw Liu Yifei, Liu Xiaoli, Qin Hao and others still chatting in the living room.

"You haven't had a rest yet?" Gu Wei said with a smile.

"You're back." Miss Liu came over with a smile and helped Gu Wei take off his coat.

"No, Director. We can't sleep unless you come back."

"Stop talking nonsense. You're not sleeping with me, so why can't you sleep?"

"Haha."

After everyone made a few jokes, Liu Yifei hugged his arm and asked him if he had eaten.

"I'm not Superman and I'm not eating at this hour."

Gu Wei talked to Miss Liu for a few words, and suddenly remembered something. He turned his head and looked at his mother-in-law, "Mom, I've given you a position in Parasite. You can walk the red carpet with Xixi and the others."

"Can I walk the Oscar red carpet too?" Liu Xiaoli was a little confused. So many top celebrities in the domestic entertainment industry dream of getting this opportunity, but it just came like this?
Hearing this, Hu Ge, Yuan Quan and others also felt a little emotional. It was because Gu Wei was so powerful that it would be impossible for anyone else to do this.

"Of course you can. When you applied for the red carpet crew, I gave you the position of deputy producer. We've also got Hu Ge, Yuan Quan, and Ming Hao. We'll go together then." Gu Wei said with a smile.

"Mom." Miss Liu moved to Liu Xiaoli, hugged her and called out, and the others also had smiles on their faces.

After chatting for a while, everyone dispersed. After returning to the room, Miss Liu said that after coming here today, everyone called her to make dinner arrangements.

"Who?" Gu Wei asked curiously.

"There are many, such as Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Nicole Kidman..." the young lady said proudly.

"Oh, I didn't realize you have such a wide network of contacts." After stretching, Gu Wei lay down on the bed.

"What do you think? But I plan to take my mother and Sister Yuan Quan with me. Do you want to go?"

"The progress of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is slower than I thought. Maybe I won't even have time to attend the cocktail party tomorrow." Gu Wei smiled bitterly. Plans cannot keep up with changes.

...

The next morning, the news that the "Parasite" creative team arrived in Hollywood was quickly reported by the media.

As a film shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Daily News... have all sent interview invitations, and we were able to get first-hand exclusive reports.

In addition to these media, even domestic media such as Sina, Sohu, Penguin, Six Princesses, and Island Daily are also contacting Gu Wei, Liu Yifei and Zhang Yimou.

The meaning of these media is very simple. They want to interview them before the award ceremony. The Sixth Princess even wants to directly book an exclusive interview after the award ceremony.

Gu Wei thought about it and decided that the interviews before the award ceremony could be left to Sina and Six Princesses. As for after the award ceremony, if he won the award, he would definitely take more interviews to increase his popularity. If he didn't win the award, he should keep a low profile.

.........

(End of this chapter)