I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

Chapter 39: Continuing to Make Historical Films

The company not only owns its own film studio, soundstage, dormitories, and technical team, but also established a cinema chain, realizing a self-production and self-sales business model.

This model enabled Shaw Brothers to produce more than 40 films a year at its peak, controlling a large share of the Hong Kong film market.

This self-production and self-sales model enabled Shaw Brothers to occupy an important position in the Hong Kong and even Asian film market, producing many classic films and movie stars. However, due to its monopoly and restrictions on creative autonomy, it also aroused a lot of controversy and criticism.

First, this model made Shaw Brothers very rigid in their creative process, lacking any flexibility.

Secondly, the company's self-production and self-sales model, which involved neither cooperating with anyone nor accepting investment, made Shaw Brothers films less flexible in responding to market changes, ultimately leading to their being surpassed by emerging companies such as New City in the 80s.

Overall, Shaw Brothers' self-production and self-distribution model demonstrated strong competitiveness and market control at its peak, but it also declined due to its rigidity and lack of innovation.

Cheng Sheng is now rich, and he can invest and issue his own products, but doing so will only make him seem petty and give others the opportunity to unite and suppress him.

Therefore, cooperation with others is necessary, and it is also necessary to share the film investment.

Moreover, having more investors can help share risks, generate revenue through multiple channels, and meet market demand.

Investing in movies is a high-risk activity. A box office hit can bring huge profits, but a box office flop can lead to huge losses.

Therefore, multiple companies investing in a single film can effectively diversify risk.

Each company only invests a portion of the funds, so even if the film performs poorly at the box office, it will not be a fatal blow to any single investor.

His historical films, in another memory, have no precedent.

This is definitely his original work. If it weren't for the simulation panel as a cheat, he really wouldn't be able to do it, and he might lose money on every film he makes.

Although with the simulation panel, there's no worry about movies losing money, but not every movie can guarantee a profit, so risk sharing is essential.

Multiple revenue streams are also one of the reasons that attract many investors.

A film's profitability depends not only on box office revenue but also on revenue from other sources.

For example, in terms of film awards, winning awards at international film festivals can bring prize money and recognition in the international market, which can then be used to sell film copyrights.

That's how he bought overseas copyrights in Venice.

Market demand is also a reason for attracting many investors.

As the domestic film market continues to expand, more and more investors are seeing the huge potential of the film industry and are willing to invest funds to share in the dividends of market growth.

In addition, some investors may not be entirely pursuing economic returns, but rather value the quality and brand effect of the film and are willing to pay for high-quality films.

China Film Group is the company Cheng Sheng most wants to cooperate with. With China Film Group backing him up, he is not afraid that anyone will cause trouble behind the scenes or that someone will secretly target him.

Upon hearing this, Third Master Han stared intently at Cheng Sheng, waiting for him to continue.

Having witnessed Cheng Sheng's overwhelming success in Venice, he was very interested in Cheng Sheng's new film and hoped to get involved.

The movie made 200 million yuan before it was even released, which is more profitable than "Hero" invested by China Film Group.

Han Sanye felt a pang of regret for not investing in Cheng Sheng's films sooner.

"When 'The Great Tang' wrapped up filming, I already had a preliminary idea, but I hadn't decided which dynasty to film yet..." Before Cheng Sheng could finish speaking, Master Han interrupted him with a look of surprise: "You want to continue making historical films?"

It's not that Han Sanye has any prejudice against historical films, but he genuinely finds them too difficult to make.

Cheng Sheng believes that the success of the film "The Great Tang Dynasty" was extremely fortunate.

If he continues, he doesn't know if he can replicate this miracle, but if he fails, Cheng Sheng's reputation will probably be completely ruined.

In Han Sanye's opinion, making some commercial comedy films would be better than making historical dramas.

With Cheng Sheng's current fame, if he were to make these types of films, audiences would buy them regardless of how they turned out, so there's no need for him to continue making high-risk historical films.

From a psychological perspective, epic films are best viewed only if the audience is already familiar with the relevant historical period.

Historical dramas are characterized by high risk and high investment, but the returns are very low.

The so-called high investment refers to the fact that historical films must have grand scenes, and this element requires high costs whether for location shooting or post-production.

Furthermore, historical dramas span a long period of time and involve many people, which increases production costs.

At the same time, audience tastes and the characteristics of the times also determine the current state of historical films.

A major characteristic of modern society is the rejection of grand narratives, while historical films must tell the story of a long period of time through linear narratives. This is the counterargument in the current creation of historical films.

Beyond grand narratives, today's audiences prefer mind-bending movies, big-budget films, all-star casts, high-concept films, and "paradise"-style films produced under the big IP franchise model.

The sense of historical depth has either disappeared and become flat, or it has become a way for science fiction films to think about the future of humanity. The deep reflection on history that historical films contain may no longer be what audiences are looking for today.

More obviously, historical films, often three or four hours long, are not well-suited to the bladder capacity and attention span of today's audiences.

This is also why historical films fail to become classics and achieve high box office returns; if the narrative drags on for too long, the audience will develop a sense of aversion.

Although Cheng Sheng's "The Great Tang Dynasty - Origins" was successful, many in the industry believe that it was just a fluke, and that if Cheng Sheng were to make another one, it would probably not be so easy to succeed.

Indeed, in most people's eyes, Cheng Sheng's success is an exception and cannot be replicated.

Now that Cheng Sheng wants to make a historical film, Han Sanye feels it's a bit risky.

He hoped Cheng Sheng could shoot different types of films, which would be safer and wouldn't require as much investment.

"indeed so."

His love of history meant he wouldn't change his mind, and there was no need for him to hide this from Master Han.

Han Sanye was devastated. He hadn't expected Cheng Sheng to be so obsessed with historical films, and he didn't know whether he should support him or not.

Do you have a script?

Looking at Cheng Sheng's youthful face, Third Master Han gritted his teeth and made a decision. Although it felt a bit risky, if he didn't invest, he would regret it so much that his heart would ache when Cheng Sheng succeeded again.

"I have a draft in mind, but I haven't decided which dynasty to choose yet," Cheng Sheng said.

(End of this chapter)