Huayu: Starting from joining the mainstream entertainment industry in 96

Chapter 98, Section 97: Wonderful!

In October, it gets dark early in the evening.

The living quarters of the Beijing Film Studio were bathed in a warm orange glow, with the aroma of food and the faint sound of televisions wafting from every household.

Wang Sheng, clutching the Beijing Evening News, strode towards the apartment building where Han Sanping lived.

As soon as I reached the door, I heard Han Sanping arguing with Han Jianu, who sounded a little agitated and looked aggrieved.

"Dad! It's about calculating the parts in parentheses first! Our teacher just explained that!"

"Jia Nu, look at the question again! There's another multiplication problem outside the parentheses; the order of operations can't be mixed up! Oh dear, my temper is flaring up..."

"Just calculate the parentheses first! Uncle Wang Sheng taught me this method for similar problems last time!"

"Your brother Wang Sheng... his algorithm might not be suitable for this problem! Listen to me, calculate it again!"

Wang Sheng stood outside the door and couldn't help but smile when he heard the father and daughter arguing over a primary school math problem inside.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

The arguing inside the house stopped abruptly.

A moment later, the door was opened. Han Sanping's face still carried some lingering blood and helplessness. When he saw that it was Wang Sheng, he was stunned for a moment, then stepped aside to let him in: "Shengzi? What brings you here? Come in quickly."

"Uncle Han."

Wang Sheng greeted him with a smile and went inside.

The restaurant lights were on, and Han Jianu was sitting at the table with a pout, her homework open in front of her. When she saw Wang Sheng, her eyes lit up, and she greeted him sweetly, "Hello, Uncle Wang!"

"Hello, Jia Nu, are you doing your homework?" Wang Sheng replied gently.

"Yes!" Han Jianu nodded vigorously, then seized the opportunity to complain, "Uncle Wang, my dad insists I miscalculated..."

"Go away, go away, think about it yourself first. I need to talk to your Uncle Wang about something important." Han Sanping quickly interrupted his daughter and gestured for Wang Sheng to sit on the sofa in the living room.

Wang Sheng sat down, handed over the newspaper in his hand, flipped directly to the culture section, and pointed to the article titled "Aido VCD cleverly plays the 'return card,' with prices pointing directly to 1997 yuan!"

"Uncle Han, take a look at this."

Han Sanping took the newspaper, adjusted his glasses, and began to read it carefully.

He was no stranger to VCDs. In his early years working at Emei Film Studio, he had been exposed to various audio-visual media and once made a fortune for the studio by releasing all sorts of exotic 'cassette films'.

Upon seeing the keywords "VCD" and "1997 yuan," he raised an eyebrow slightly and quickly skimmed through the short report of a few hundred words.

"VCD... this thing has been around for a few years, right? But it's never really taken off."

Han Sanping put down his newspaper, looked at Wang Sheng, and his eyes were already thoughtful: "Aido has lowered its prices and tied it to the hot topic of its comeback... This is going to be big."

Wang Sheng nodded: "If the price drops below two thousand, which is an auspicious number, it will be much more attractive to ordinary families. I estimate that VCD players will become widely available within the next year or two, or even within six months."

Han Sanping took a deep breath and unconsciously sat up straight.

He knew all too well what the transformation of audio-visual media meant.

The widespread adoption of VCRs in the past spurred a huge videotape rental market, supporting countless audio-visual companies and individual businesses.

This VCD is smaller, has better picture quality, and theoretically costs less than a videotape...

"If this thing really becomes popular..."

Han Sanping's fingers tapped unconsciously on his knees as he spoke faster: "That's much more convenient than videotapes! The cost of CDs... is much cheaper than cassette tapes! The market... hiss..." He seemed to already see VCD stores springing up everywhere and the huge demand for home movie viewing in the future.

Seeing that Han Sanping had already realized the huge business opportunity, Wang Sheng took the opportunity to bring up his idea: "Uncle Han, what we talked about before, selling TV series to TV stations, is one leg of the alliance, and it's a path that benefits businesses."

Now, this second leg—taking the right path with consumers—has coincidentally been delivered to us as well. It's as if the times are giving us a push to accomplish this great feat.

He pointed to the newspaper: "I asked Director Liu before, and Beijing Film Studio Audio-Visual Company is a legitimate company with VCD publishing and distribution qualifications. In the future, the TV series and even movies produced by the alliance can be published as VCD discs by ourselves!"

Han Sanping's eyes lit up, and he immediately followed Wang Sheng's line of thought: "That's right! We don't need to rely entirely on the TV station's broadcast fees and the unclear distribution revenue!"
We release our own CDs and distribute them directly to record stores across the country! The revenue... is more direct! More transparent! And the returns are faster!

Compared to the revenue from TV drama distribution, which requires negotiation with various TV stations and film studios within the alliance, selling VCD discs directly to end consumers is undoubtedly a more controllable channel with potentially greater profit margins.

"Brilliant!" Han Sanping couldn't help but slap his thigh, his face beaming. "Shengzi, your brain really... works too fast!"

"If we take that step, our league's foundation will be even more solid!"

But after the initial excitement, Han Sanping quickly realized a practical problem. He frowned slightly and said, "But Shengzi, according to regulations, the publishing and distribution rights for these VCDs can only be held by state-owned entities like Beijing Film and Television Company."

Shengying Media is a private enterprise; it's difficult for you to directly get a share of the profits. You've been working so hard; you can't be doing all this for nothing, can you?

He habitually started considering the distribution of profits for Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng smiled, his tone calm and frank: "Uncle Han, my idea is that as long as we can build this channel and expand the market, then in the future, wouldn't the film and television works produced by our Shengying Media in deep cooperation with Beijing Film Studio, whether TV series or movies, be able to earn more money through this channel that we have built ourselves?"
As a content producer and key partner, Shengying Media naturally benefits from this growth. Currently, seizing the initiative and building advantages in distribution channels and content sources are more important than worrying about short-term gains or losses.

Han Sanping looked at Wang Sheng with admiration in his eyes, even a hint of respect.

This young man has a long-term vision and a broad perspective; he is truly extraordinary.

He not only saw the opportunity, but was also willing to temporarily set aside some immediate benefits for a greater goal.

"Shengzi..." Han Sanping patted Wang Sheng's shoulder heavily, his tone full of emotion: "I admire your vision and ambition! Don't worry, as long as I, Han Sanping, am in this position, the resources of Beijing Film Studio and the Alliance will definitely be tilted towards you! Let's work together to make this pie bigger!"

He secretly made up his mind that such a capable, responsible, and uncalculating partner must be firmly tied to the Beijing Film Studio.

As long as Han Sanping remains in power, no one should be allowed to easily shake Wang Sheng's position and interests.

"Uncle Han, you flatter me. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement between us."

Wang Sheng modestly remarked before getting back to the main point: "The most urgent task is to take advantage of the fact that the VCD market hasn't fully exploded yet, and prices haven't been inflated, to quickly acquire the VCD publishing and distribution rights for popular movies and TV series, stockpile content, and build a powerful copyright library. When the market really heats up, whoever has more and better content will have the power! And they'll also have a legitimate reason to deal with the impact of piracy."

"Yes! Stockpile copyrights! Build a film library!"

Han Sanping's eyes gleamed, as if he could already see a gold mine waiting to be mined: "This matter cannot be delayed. Tomorrow I will arrange for people from the audio-visual company—no, I will personally lead the team—to go and negotiate a few influential old films. We have to get ahead of others!"

The two then discussed in hushed tones for a long time the details of how to proceed, which types of films to focus on acquiring, and how to negotiate with copyright holders.

In the living room, Han Sanping and Wang Sheng spoke in low, rapid voices, filled with a sense of urgency regarding their strategic planning.

Over at the restaurant, Han Jianu seemed to have finally solved the math problem on her own, or perhaps given up struggling. She peeked out and whispered, "Dad, Uncle Wang, are you done talking? I'm hungry..."

Han Sanping and Wang Sheng exchanged a smile, and the tense atmosphere of their previous discussion instantly eased.

"We've finished talking, we've finished talking!"

Han Sanping stood up, in a great mood: "Jia Nu, have you finished your homework? Come on, Dad will show off his skills to you and your brother Wang Sheng by cooking two dishes!"

Wang Sheng also stood up with a smile: "Then I'm in for a treat."

(End of this chapter)