Entertainment tycoon since 83

Chapter 305 Hard-earned Money

"Mr. Huang, isn't this a bit low?"

"Don't worry." Huang Ze raised his hand to interrupt the other party, "If you don't agree, then I will pay the entire two million dollars, and you will only have the Wanwan copyright."

"But……"

"It's nothing." Huang Ze waved his hand, looking a little overbearing.

Huang Ze knew that he still had the initiative.

After all, it can be said that all of the three major Chinese-language films are related to him.

Now a film that won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress award is also related to her.

Doesn’t it give people the impression that you have strong connections among the three major people?
Otherwise, how can you win awards that are related to you, but not win awards that are not related to you?

It's impossible that I can perfectly control the tastes of the three major flavors, right?
If you tell others the truth like this, no one will believe it. They will just think you are showing off.

Li An and Xu Ligong want to get the film into the Big Three and North America, so they definitely want to work with me.

The only obstacle between the two is profit.

Huang Ze also thought of an excuse.

"You all think I made too much money making millions of dollars on A City of Sadness."

"But if you think about it carefully, is this the case?"

"I'll tell you the truth. The copyright of A City of Sadness was sold for a total of nine million US dollars."

"The investment was about two million, and I took 80% of it. I made nine million out of one million and six hundred thousand. After deducting the cost, the return is roughly 4.6 times."

"Cai Songlin spent 400,000 US dollars, and the box office of Taekwondo was 66 million Taiwan dollars. Converted to the whole of Taiwan, it is almost 200 million New Taiwan dollars. How much is that? 7 million US dollars! Let's count it as 30% of the profit for the production party, that is 2 million US dollars."

"But he also has a large number of cinema chains and video distribution, and the profits from those are also his."

"If you calculate it this way, he earns much more than me, and I also have to pay with my connections."

"Tell me, who is at a disadvantage between us?"

“I just earned some hard-earned money.”

“But if he hadn’t cooperated with me, would A City of Sadness have won the Golden Lion?”

This is actually possible, but who knows?
Everyone thinks that their connections are also crucial. Since everyone thinks so, Huang Ze naturally has to make good use of them, otherwise wouldn’t this hat be worn in vain?

"If we don't win the Golden Lion, let alone the $9 million for overseas copyright, can the box office in Taiwan be that high?"

"So, the way I cooperate with you is beneficial to everyone."

"You are in a business with no capital investment. All the profits from Wanwan belong to you. As for me, I have to bear the greatest risk. If I win the grand prize, I will definitely make money. But have you ever thought about what if I don't win? Who will buy it? I will just lose it."

"Even if I win an award like the Best Actress award for Ruan Lingyu, I don't know if I can get back the $2 million I earned."

Huang Ze's implicit meaning is just one thing: all other copyrights belong to me.

There's no way. If I remember correctly, "The Wedding Banquet" in the previous life sold for more than 20 million US dollars. If one tenth of it is distributed, it is still more than 2 million. This is too much.

Money is karma.

I have to help Wanwan Film Company get rid of the karma.

Let Mr. Huang bear this karma himself. If I don’t go to hell, who will?
After some deception, Huang Ze asked seriously, "Do you still think I took advantage of you?"

"..."

Li An and Xu Ligong looked at each other and felt that what Huang Ze said was indeed correct.

The other side is high risk with high return. If "The Wedding Banquet" doesn't win the award, Mr. Huang will lose $2 million on this film.

The most important thing is Huang Ze’s most critical connections, whether it is the Big Three or the Oscars.

Without Huang Ze's help, the difficulty would increase by several levels!
Moreover, for a state-owned company like theirs, making money or not is secondary, as long as they don't lose too much money. Not losing money means no responsibility.

Also, you need to be able to gain fame, and fame is a positive achievement.

Huang Ze's cooperation with them perfectly meets these two points!

As long as the film can win a big award, no matter how much Huang Ze earns, everyone knows that this film was made by Taiwan China Film Group and directed by Li An, and this is the most important thing.

At that moment, Xu Ligong wanted to agree, but this matter was not something he could decide on his own. "I need to go back and report to the higher-ups and see what they think. Should we keep in touch?"

"Well, keep in touch!"

"Director Li, I'm optimistic about you. By the way, do you have a script for the movie you just mentioned? I'm curious about what the story is about." Huang Ze asked casually, and then said, "Don't worry, no matter what the script is, I'm determined to invest in it. The previous conditions remain unchanged."

After hearing these words, Li An felt warm in his heart.

Only then did he realize that Huang Ze was willing to invest two million US dollars in him to make a movie without even having a script!

This kind of trust was something he had never experienced in his 38 years of life.

You know, that’s two million dollars!

Sixteen million Hong Kong dollars is definitely a big production for Chinese-language films.

Make an art film with a big investment.

He wanted to kneel down immediately, "I have been wandering for half my life and have never met a wise master. If you don't abandon me, I am willing to kneel down..."

Feeling a little sour in his nose, Li An wiped the corners of his eyes and said, "Sorry, I lost my composure."

"It's ok."

“Without delicate emotions, it would be impossible to make a movie like Pushing Hands.”

……

After the dinner, Huang Ze asked Xinghai Film and Television to contact all the crews shortlisted for the main competition unit.

If there are foreign copyrights, mainly those in Europe and the United States that have not been sold, Huang Ze's Xinghai will spend a not-too-much amount of money, no more than 200,000 US dollars, to acquire them.

Each film has a different price.

The reason for doing this is, firstly, to let others know that participating in the Golden Deer Awards can make money by selling European and American copyrights, and secondly, to enrich the film library.

Anyway, there is no shortage of money, and the quality of the films shortlisted for the main competition unit is guaranteed. Even if it is just to fill up the film library, it will not be a loss for me.

Of course, Huang Ze didn't pay much attention to this matter.

Huang Ze is now completely focused on the collaboration on "The Wedding Banquet".

After waiting for two days, news finally came from Xu Ligong.

The higher-ups agreed.

According to the cooperation method proposed by Huang Ze, Huang Ze will be responsible for the entire cost of two million US dollars, Wanwan China Film Group will enjoy the Wanwan copyright of "The Wedding Banquet", and the rest of the copyrights will all belong to Huang Ze.

As for Huang Ze's help in winning awards or something, the other party never mentioned it at all. As long as the contract is signed, Huang Ze and the film will become a community of interests, and Huang Ze will naturally do his best to push it to a higher position.

After signing the contract with the people sent by Wanwan and paying the down payment, Huang Ze called Liang Jiahui and asked him to come to the office.

(End of this chapter)