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Chapter 304 Envy
"Hello, Director Huang."

"I've been in a relationship with you for a long time, and today I finally saw you in person up close."

Li An and Huang Ze clinked their glasses, and Li An looked at Huang Ze with eyes full of envy and joy.

He really envied Huang Ze.

You can become a director in your early twenties, make money by singing to invest in yourself, and shoot whatever you want.

At a young age, he has won consecutive international awards, including two of the three major awards and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

He is obviously six years younger than me.

You can see the difference.

I am just a rookie in the Chinese film industry, let alone in the world film industry, where I am almost unknown.

Think about yourself again when you are thirty-two years old.

Two years after graduating with a master's degree, he was unemployed at home, and the family expenses were all supported by his wife who was studying for a doctorate in biology at the University of Illinois.

Thinking of this, his admiration for Huang Ze became even stronger.

Others might think that Huang Ze is lucky to have enough money to support himself in making movies.

But as a director, he has seen all of Huang Ze's films.

Whether it is subject matter, composition or structure, Huang Ze always innovates.

The success he has achieved is definitely not just about superficial awards and box office.

The more he looked at the film, the clearer it became that the young man in front of him was a genius!
Perhaps I can only be considered a talent.

And the other party is definitely a rare genius in the film festival!
"Hahaha!" Seeing Li An's eyes, Huang Ze was very satisfied and took a sip of the wine in the glass. "I've seen your film too. It's good. It's a rare film shot from the perspective of the fusion and conflict of Eastern and Western cultures. The emotions are delicate in every detail. Is this because you've lived in the United States for a long time?"

"Maybe." Li An nodded shyly. "It's been ten years since I went to study in the United States and returned to Taekwondo."

“You can say that I spent my entire period from 20 to 30 years old in the United States.”

"There I met many Chinese people who also live in the United States. These experiences are the source of inspiration for my filming."

"Is there a second source of inspiration?" Huang Ze revealed his true intentions.

"Our Xinghai Company can invest in your film."

Without waiting for him to refuse or agree, Huang Ze directly threw a large portion of bait over to him.

"I think your film could try to go to the Big Three."

"Although the main characters in your film are Chinese, there are many American elements in it. Plus, you studied in the United States, so you can definitely try to break into Hollywood. This Pushing Hands has some problems, but I think I can try to get my new film screened in the United States, and even try to win an Oscar."

"Oscar..." Li An felt his head buzzing.

My ears are filled with the noisy noise when the TV signal is poor.

As a filmmaker studying in college in the United States, I must have dreamed of winning an Oscar.

Now, when he heard Huang Ze say this word, he felt his heart beating faster.

As for whether Huang Ze has the ability, he has no doubt about it. With his understanding of Hollywood, a director like Huang Ze who has won high awards and high box office with low cost will be treated as a guest of honor no matter which film company he goes to before his box office failure.

Helping to distribute a film, even a Chinese-language film, is no problem!
You know, "Final Destination" was produced by Xinghai?

Oscar, just look at "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and you will know. To be able to operate a Chinese-language film to that level, Li An felt that the young man in front of him was simply unfathomable.

Li An really wanted to agree immediately.

But he knew that he could make Pushing Hands. It was because of the help given to him by Xu Ligong, the deputy general manager of Taiwan's Central Motion Picture Corporation. If he hadn't invested NT$1260 million, he wouldn't have made his directorial debut. And how much trust did it take to invest more than NT$ million in someone who had never made a film?
With a grateful heart, he didn't want to change his allegiance immediately and looked at Xu Ligong standing beside him.

"Director Li An does have a new script called The Wedding Banquet."

"Mr. Huang is interested in cooperation?"

Xu Ligong immediately realized that the opportunity had come.

Huang Ze joined in. Although the share of China Film Corporation was reduced, with Huang Ze's help, if The Wedding Banquet made a lot of money, the company behind him would also make several times the profit.

This is a very simple math problem of comparing sizes.

As a qualified businessman, he does not have the idea of ​​having 100% control over a movie.

And because the movie "A City of Sadness" invested by Cai Songlin won an award and then helped Huang Ze brag in the film and television industry, Xu Ligong had no doubt about Huang Ze's connections in the Big Three.

I couldn't help but start fantasizing in my head.

His "A City of Sadness" was invested by Huang Ze and was able to win one of the three major awards.

I also asked Huang Ze to invest in my film "The Wedding Banquet". With her connections, it may be possible for me to acquire one of the three major brands!

By then, the profit could be millions or even tens of millions of dollars.

Moreover, the current Huang Ze is no longer the Huang Ze in "A City of Sadness".

Now he has one foot in the top three European cinemas and one foot in the Oscars.

You might be able to earn more!
Xu Ligong became more and more excited the more he thought about it. When Huang Ze didn't say anything, he asked again, "How much share does Mr. Huang want?"

“What is the estimated cost?”

"The initial budget is $750,000," said Li An.

"I'll pay for everything. The copyright of Wanwan belongs to you, and the copyright of the rest of the places belongs to me." Huang Ze made a huge request.

"Isn't this a bad idea? Mr. Huang has to pay for it all, and we still have to occupy Wanwan's copyright. It's really embarrassing." Xu Ligong thought of Cai Songlin's exclamation after "A City of Sadness" that he should have invested more, and he couldn't help but start bargaining.

"How about we invest half and share the profits half and half?"

"Let's not talk about this for now. Who is the male lead in The Wedding Banquet?" Huang Ze turned his gaze to Li An.

"We haven't chosen yet. The plan is to recruit a newcomer and I will train him during the filming." Li An said.

"Don't you want to use a big star?"

"Hahaha." Li An laughed awkwardly again, but it was not that he didn't want to use a big star, the problem was that big stars were expensive!
The budget is US$750,000, which is equivalent to more than NT$20 million. It is considered a big production in Taiwan, and the cost of filming in the United States is also extremely high.

This left him with little room to invest in the actors.

“Big stars also get high pay!”

"Liang Jiahui, do you want one?" Huang Ze asked again.

"Wow!" Li An was a little shocked. "His market price is 8 million Hong Kong dollars, which is higher than the total investment of our film."

"Increase investment." Huang Ze waved his hand and began to persuade Li An, "How can art be constrained by cost? I think with Liang Jiahui, you can definitely raise the cost of this film to two million US dollars."

"I'll give you 1.8 million!"

Huang Ze made an eight with his hands and looked at Xu Ligong again, "The copyright of Wanwan still belongs to you, and we will split the rest 90-100?"

(End of this chapter)