Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 437 Meeting

After having a working lunch at the management committee, Zhang Yan went home to pick up Chen Hong and then went to the company for a meeting.

First, he informed the company's senior management about the cooperation with the Broadcasting Academy and the rectification plan for the chaos at the film and television base.

"In order to successfully take over the film and television base, the most urgent task is to expand our management team. Currently, one-third of the offices in the building are still empty, and even those that are occupied are not being used very well. In the coming period, we need to fill these offices with quality and quantity!"

When the company's executives heard that they were going to take over the film and television base, they were all excited and eager to get started.

Although some irregularities have emerged at the film and television base, the overall situation is still thriving, with the number of tourists constantly increasing and the number of film and television crews set up there soon to exceed double digits—Yuanmeng Family alone has contributed four.

At Zhang Yan's prompting, Wang Jinghua, who had just finished her pregnancy maintenance period, spoke first: "President Zhang, will all the supervisors sent by the August First Film Studio leave, or will some stay to assist us with our work?"

"It's hard to say for now, but I will try my best to get them to stay and complete the handover procedures with us first. We'll discuss their stay or leave once everything is on track."

Chang Jihong was the next to raise a question: "President Zhang, how will the investment and dividends be calculated during our management period? When the film and television base was designed, profitability was not the premise. If the Hong Kong investors make dividend demands, we may not be able to meet them."

"This……"

Zhang Yan frowned slightly. This was indeed a troublesome matter. The film and television base was currently in the process of building its reputation, so suddenly raising the fees or asking the production crew for money was definitely not an option.

They could have worked on improving the food and accommodation situation around the film studio, but since the August First Film Studio was in charge of management at the time, Zhang Yan was on the side of the management committee and naturally wanted local vendors to benefit, so they didn't bring it up.

Looking back now, it seems like we've created our own trap.

After thinking for a moment, he tapped the table lightly with his fingers and said, "First of all, in terms of cost-cutting, the Broadcasting Academy's approach has given me some inspiration. We can get rid of the excess personnel in the base—like those who do crosstalk and skits—and give them a small theater so they can try to be self-sufficient."

Then, we can leverage Tianjin's abundant university resources, contact the school's arts and culture clubs, and invite them to perform during holidays.

In addition to paying them a portion of the compensation, we can also provide them with professional training and promise that those who perform well will have a chance to appear in films and television dramas.

This will significantly reduce performance expenses and allow us to schedule more performances and services during peak holiday periods, thereby enhancing the attractiveness of our film and television base.

After hearing Zhang Yan's words, everyone looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.

These days, college students are still the pride of heaven, and they have just transitioned from guaranteed job placement to self-reliance. If an ordinary private company can manage to get a few college students to work in an office, that's already considered quite good.

Mr. Zhang is really something else, treating college students like slaves, and not only paying them little but also making empty promises.

Finally, Chen Hong chimed in, "And what about open source?"

Zhang Yan rubbed his temples and said, "As for opening up new sources of revenue, the first thing we need to do is find Hong Kong businessmen to invest. I haven't thought about anything else yet, but we should try to attract traffic from surrounding cities. In terms of culture and historical heritage, we definitely can't compete with Beijing, so the core is still to rely on celebrities to attract traffic."

He doesn't have a good solution yet, and he'll probably have to think about food and lodging in the end. But that involves a negotiation between the film studio and the surrounding vendors, so he has to be careful.

After he finished speaking about these two things, it was Wang Jinghua's turn to report on the company's recent situation.

"After several months of communication, 'New Game Dragon and Phoenix' still failed to enter Hong Kong Island because it lacked this most important springboard, and its development in the Southeast Asian market was not ideal."

Fortunately, after several rounds of repeated broadcasts in China, our revenue has become quite considerable. Adding in the advertising revenue share from General Manager Chen and Director Zhang, as well as various hidden benefits, we estimate the gross profit to be at least seven or eight times the initial investment.

She paused, then added, "The Korean side did contact us, but they offered very low prices, and they were only offering to fill the midnight slots."

Chang Jihong chimed in unhappily, "These Korean bastards love to play tricks. After the establishment of diplomatic relations in 92, the Korean dramas we imported were all broadcast during prime time, but the things they imported from us were all broadcast during the middle of the night or even the early morning hours, which is considered garbage time." There's nothing that can be done. It's not that Dongda University doesn't value cultural export, but it has indeed taken many detours.

In the 8s and 90s, due to a lack of self-confidence, many things could not be negotiated on an equal footing. By the time we realized this, many things had already become customary.

Zhang Yan thought for a moment and then made a decision: "Even if it's a midnight slot, there will still be people who see it. Good wine needs no bush. However, when signing the contract, we must require them to do a good job of translation. If there are any problems with the translation, we have the right to take back the copyright."

He didn't want to experience the situation where TVB completely omitted the word "Tianjin" when translating "Tianjin Wei" back then.

Wang Jinghua nodded, took notes, and then said, "Director Feng's 'Three No-Man's-Land' has completed casting and is expected to start filming at the end of the month—shouldn't we also start casting for our 'The Age of Glory'?"

"I'm not getting involved in this."

Zhang Yan directly pointed to Chang Jihong's role: "Manager Chang will lead the screening within our organization first. If there are still roles that haven't been selected, then we'll look for people from outside."

Now that the company is becoming more and more formalized, he doesn't plan to hold onto some power forever, otherwise it would be a waste of Chang Jihong's talent.

Of course, when it's time to make a decision, he won't hesitate—for example, the male and female leads for "The Age of Glory" have already been reserved for Li Yapeng and Wang Luyao.

Upon hearing that they were going to find actors from outside, Chang Jihong hurriedly asked, "If we're going to find actors from outside, do we need to sign them?"

"There's no rush yet."

Zhang Yan shook his head and said, "Our company's resources are also limited. If we sign too many people, it will inevitably lead to favoritism, and then people will be in disarray and the team will be difficult to manage."

The meeting, which covered a variety of topics, lasted for three hours and finally came to an end around 5 p.m.

Zhang Yan helped Chen Hong, whose belly was already noticeably protruding, to her feet and asked, "Shall we eat out today, or go back to eat?"

Let's eat out.

Chen Hong said, "It's a good opportunity to go see Director Sha."

"Director Sha? What Director Sha?"

Zhang Yan felt confused. Where did this Director Sha come from?

"You're the director who wanted to make 'Meet a Millionaire.' Didn't you ask me to invite him to Tianjin before you went to Beijing?"

"It's him."

Zhang Yan immediately remembered this matter and asked, "Did he agree to change it according to our wishes?"

"No, but he still wanted to talk, probably to convince you—he paid for all the travel expenses out of his own pocket, but I later had Brother Wang [Wang Zhongqi] make up for it."

Tsk~
Hearing that the other party insisted on their own opinion and even tried to persuade him in return, Zhang Yan was not surprised at all—after all, after his battle of wits with Jiang Wen, he had a profound understanding of the directors' stubbornness.

"Then go and meet him."

So he said nonchalantly, "It's better to get rid of them sooner rather than later. Anyway, we have quite a few things to do now, so it doesn't matter if we have one more or one less."

(End of this chapter)