Huayu: A Commercial Director

Who is the man standing next to her in Chapter 80?

"Director Chen, I need to think about it."

“Sister Zhong, I’m not forcing you to give me an answer right now, after all, my company is still very young,” Chen Shou said, nodding.

Who wouldn't want company shares? Who wants to be an employee for life?

But are company shares so easy to acquire?
It wasn't you who made the Qiao Family Compound what it is, but rather the Qiao Family Compound that made you who you are.

Many people are unclear about their own role and want shares as soon as they join the company. The prerequisite for wanting shares is to make sufficient contributions, not to receive them after joining the company.

Zhong Lifan is clearly ambitious; otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths to help Xiaoma go public. However, she overestimated both Xiaoma and herself. She is a competent manager, and if she could settle down and focus on her work, she would achieve great things.

Chen Shouzhe thought highly of her and hoped that she could join Shouzhe Film Industry to help him manage the company.

Zhong Lifan declined Chen Shouzhe's invitation to dinner and drove away from Xiaoxiaomeng.

With less than a week until the Chinese New Year, the finance department is working overtime to get Bona to return the money as soon as possible.

With the money from "Kung Fu Hustle" recovered, Chen Shouzhe needs to use a portion to pay off the company's loan, and another portion to distribute as year-end bonuses.

The company made good profits this year, with "2012" at the beginning of the year and "Kung Fu" at the end of the year. As for "The Day After Tomorrow" and "The Man from Earth," they are produced by Chen Shouzhe's company in the United States, which belongs to him personally and has nothing to do with the company in China.

The two movies earned a lot of money, at least comparable to the profits of some listed companies. Some listed companies have a scale of hundreds of billions or even trillions, but their profits are only a few hundred million. With just two movies, Chen Shou has already made a lot of money.

He also owns the copyrights to novels, including Journey to the West and Ghost Blows Out the Light, which have been fully updated. The income from publishing and electronic copyrights alone is as high as tens of millions, which is his private income, and he used it to pay off his mortgage.

Finally, the money was recovered before the Lunar New Year, and with the overseas box office revenue sharing, it was roughly what Chen Shou had calculated.

"You've worked hard this year, this is your bonus." Chen Shou handed a red envelope to Tao Le.

Tao Le already knew how much it was, and reached out to take it.

Although he didn't own any shares, he did receive dividends. Chen Shouzhe was quite generous. Xiao Xiaomeng hadn't achieved any results yet, but Chen Shouzhe hadn't treated them unfairly either. Guo Fan and the others received substantial year-end bonuses.

The company is doing well. Compared to other production companies, they certainly have fewer projects, but they can make a lot of money. Other companies may have dozens of projects, but they may not make as much as they do from just one project.

They can't compare to Chen Shouzhe no matter how hard they work, and now they're envious and jealous.

Many companies sent invitations to Chen Shouzhe's annual meetings, especially Emperor Entertainment Group. At the celebration banquet for "Kung Fu Hustle," Albert Yeung brought all of their star artists over and introduced them one by one to Chen Shouzhe, hoping that Chen Shouzhe would give them the opportunity to continue their cooperation.

Bona also tasted the sweetness of success and kept regretting not participating in "The Martian".

Actually, when Chen Shouzhe released the news, he thought about reserving some positions for Bona, but Bona refused, saying that he had no money, so there was nothing more to say.

Compared to Wang Changtian's open and honest demeanor, Yu Dong seemed somewhat hypocritical, just like Wang Zonglei, who was now smiling and accepting praise at the celebration banquet.

To celebrate the success of the film before the Lunar New Year, Emperor Entertainment and Bona Film Group invested heavily. Since the film was profitable, the celebration banquet had to be extravagant.

As the film's leading lady, Yang Mi received envious glances from many female stars present.

Her tummy isn't very noticeable yet, but wearing a corset dress gives off a "protesting too much" vibe.

She was now holding Chen Shouzhe's hand, sipping drinks as he mingled with the big shots in their circle.

"Director Chen, I think our companies should strengthen cooperation and produce more excellent films." Yu Dong's face was flushed, and his smile hadn't stopped all night.

When they went up to break the ice earlier, Chen Shouzhe and Zhou Xingxing both stepped aside, letting Yu Dong, Yang Shoucheng, and Ye Ning break the ice instead.

The success of "Kung Fu Hustle" gave him hope for the future. He believed that as long as he stuck close to Chen Shouzhe, Bona's stock price would continue to rise.

After tasting success, he realized even more how important it was to be tied to Chen Shouzhe, and ideally, to swallow Shouzhe Films and bring it under Bona Film Group.

“Yes, Director Chen, I think we can further deepen our cooperation,” Yang Shoucheng said with a smile, holding a wine glass beside him.

Ye Ning watched them with a cold smile. As Chen Shouzhe's long-term partners, they had never missed a single one. The only exceptions were "The Day After Tomorrow" and "The Man from Earth," which were filmed overseas. Wanda had never backed down from any of Chen Shouzhe's films.

The majority of Wanda's profits from film production come from Chen Shouzhe's side. If you were to name the company with the best relationship with Chen Shouzhe, it would definitely be Wanda. So, he doesn't need to ask; Chen Shouzhe will approach him with any projects he has.

Yu Dong and Yang Shoucheng now wore slightly ingratiating smiles, with only one goal in mind.

Chen Shouzhe mentioned two sequels.

When Chen Shouzhe was promoting his film at the Beijing Film Academy, he said that his first two films would have sequels, even if he didn't direct them, but the box office was destined to be good.

"Kung Fu Hustle" has shown that directors can be tools, only needing to film according to Chen Shouzhe's script. If Jiang Wen's "Let the Bullets Fly" can also be successful, then Chen Shouzhe only needs to be a screenwriter, and the filming can be completely handed over to professional directors.

Many aspiring directors are now eyeing Chen Shouzhe, with some even volunteering to come to his company in person, hoping to sign with him, direct a couple of films, and take a step up in the ranks. Such a lucrative opportunity to enhance one's resume is the envy of many directors who haven't yet made it big.

Looking at the two lapdogs, Ye Ning was full of disdain. He had already talked to Chen Shouzhe about it, and both movie sequels featured Wanda.

Even if Wanda can keep up in the future, she will definitely still have a place.

"There's a chance," Chen Shou nodded, not giving a definite answer.

The party was a social event, and after following Chen Shou for a while, Yang Mi went off to chat with other people on her own.

There were more people around Chen Shou, and Zhang Qiang also came. Han Sanping did not come over; Zhang Qiang came on behalf of China Film Group.

This deputy general manager, who has already decided to leave China Film Group, is now trying his best to win over Chen Shouzhe. His idea is simple: to get on board. In particular, the two sequels that Chen Shouzhe mentioned are exactly what Alibaba, this out-of-town dragon, wants most. To gain a foothold in the film and television industry, good projects are a must.

Undoubtedly, Chen Shouzhe's project is currently the best in the entire film and television industry, after all, the three highest-grossing films in China are all related to him.

“Director Chen, you can consider it. Once Alibaba’s big data is involved, it will be a huge boost to the entire film industry. And through Alibaba’s big data analysis, we have concluded that you are the director that audiences are most looking forward to. Therefore, Alibaba hopes to cooperate with Director Chen,” Zhang Qiang said.

"I can't promise you right now, I can only say we'll see when the time comes," Chen Shouzhe shook his head.

Zhang Qiang knew that Chen Shouzhe was the type to not act until he saw a clear benefit. How "Kung Fu Hustle" was approved and how Chen Shouzhe managed to pocket hundreds of millions in box office revenue without investing a single penny had become legendary in the industry.

These people are even more ruthless than those in the stock market; they make money by exploiting the rules.

One party is willing to hit, and the other is willing to be hit. Chen Shouzhe has the power to make them willingly take the bait.

Alibaba certainly has a strong need to enter the media industry; it is very ambitious.

Chen Shouzhe knew that Ali was no good. He had been there too. The timelines of the two worlds had changed, but there were still many similarities.

According to Alibaba's usual practice, if he agrees, he can earn two yuan, and Alibaba can earn one hundred yuan from him. Jia Yueting built an empire by creating one PPT after another. Who knows when he will return to China? At least before he travels back in time, Jia Yueting is still making his presence felt.

Seeing Chen Shou's words, Zhang Qiang was helpless. Alibaba has no shortage of money, but money is not everything in the entertainment industry.

There are historical lessons to be learned. When Wall Street entered Hollywood with great enthusiasm, it was completely exploited and forced to flee in disgrace.

It has been proven that talent matters in the film and television industry, but internet companies are also formidable; the channels they control can influence film marketing.

It's possible for a movie that's just average to be marketed up. The movie itself might be rated six out of ten, but if you lose weight, it could be rated ten out of ten. The film production cost tens of millions, the publicity cost 300 million, and the production cost of the movie is announced to be over 300 million.

In Chen Shouzhe's opinion, the production cost of that kind of film would not exceed 50 million, with the rest going to marketing.

This has made Chen Shouzhe even consider selling diet pills, constantly peddling body image anxiety.

After chatting for a while, Zhang Qiang left. One by one, other people came over and chatted for a bit. Chen Shouzhe suddenly saw Yang Mi talking to a man not far away.

"Who is he?" Chen Shou asked Huang Xiaoming, who was standing next to him.

"Oh, that's a Hong Kong actor, his name is Hawick Lau." Huang Xiaoming looked in the direction Chen Shouzhe pointed, and wow, he was actually entangled with Yang Mi.

Everyone present at the celebration banquet knew that Yang Mi was Chen Shou's man. Even if the two hadn't explicitly said so, they should have known that Yang Mi was involved. How dare anyone approach Yang Mi in such a setting? They were courting death.

“From Hong Kong.” Chen Shou nodded without saying anything, picked up his wine glass and drank the red wine in one gulp.

Huang Xiaoming could tell that Chen Shou's eyes were hostile. Despite being younger than him, Huang Xiaoming found that his junior was more ruthless and already had the demeanor of a big shot.

Zhou Xingxing came over to chat with Chen Shouzhe, while Huang Xiaoming took the opportunity to walk over to Yang Shoucheng's side. At this moment, Yang Shoucheng was chatting with mainland film and television industry bosses. He had drunk quite a bit, his face was flushed, and he was very happy. He had made a lot of money, so how could he not be happy?

"Mr. Yang, could we speak in private for a moment?" Huang Xiaoming said, bringing over a wine glass.

Huang Xiaoming is indeed a celebrity. He made a capital leap by leveraging Huayi shares. Yang Shoucheng is very optimistic about him. He gestured to the others and walked to the side. Huo Wenxi followed.

"Xiao Ming, what's wrong?" Yang Shoucheng asked with a smile.

"Mr. Yang, Ms. Huo, look over there." Huang Xiaoming gestured in Yang Mi's direction.

The two looked in that direction, and Yang Shoucheng's eyes narrowed immediately, while Huo Wenxi's face darkened.

"I won't say much more. I just saw that Director Chen wasn't very happy." Huang Xiaoming said, gesturing slightly.

"Thank you, Xiaoming," Huo Wenxi said.

"Wenxi, please handle this. I don't want it to affect our relationship with Director Chen."

(End of this chapter)