In the entertainment industry, everyone has been reborn, but who will be their servant?

Chapter 82 Profit Suppression
After discussing it with Liu Xiaoli, Qin Xuan went to his office at the Beijing Film Academy.

Fan Wei was already waiting there, flipping through the script. Just like everyone else, he had a thick neck and a round head, looking like a cook.

Qin Xuan greeted her warmly as soon as he entered the office: "Hello, Teacher Fan, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."

"I haven't been waiting long either, I just arrived. Look, I haven't even had a chance to drink my tea yet." Fan Wei stood up and pointed to the tea on the table, which was still steaming.

That person has very high emotional intelligence.

Cai Mei poured the tea. She was also there, with short, ear-length hair and a professional outfit. She looked very professional, approachable, and capable.

"I just chatted with Teacher Fan for a while, and she really likes our play," she said from the side.

"Oh, really? Please have a seat."

Qin Xuan gestured and sat down next to him, saying, "Let me make this clear first. You should know that my situation is complicated, right?"

"I don't care about any of that. Your script is good, and if it suits me, I'll act in it." Fan Wei waved his hand confidently.

He doesn't even give a damn about Uncle Zhao, so why would he care about the Beijing entertainment circle? You could say he's a pure performance artist.

Feng Xiaogang had previously approached him, asking him to act in "If You Are the One," but after considering it, he decided to take the lead role in this film, which has more depth.

That's just pure comedy, nothing profound. It's always the same actor, Uncle Ge, they never change the cast.

"Okay, it might take a month or two to film. Is your schedule okay?" Qin Xuan asked.

"It's acceptable. With my image, nobody invites me to events or anything like that. I just act," Fan Wei said jokingly.

Qin Xuan smiled and said, "Then let's talk about the pay. Since we're a small production team, how about 600,000 yuan? That seems reasonable."

He held up six fingers and looked at the other person's expression.

“That makes sense!” Fan Wei readily agreed.

His current film salary is only a few hundred thousand to less than a million, and he earned 300,000 for a cameo role in "If You Are the One".

Qin Xuan looked it over for him, and there were no problems.

It can be said that his salary was the highest among all the actors in "The Unknown". The others received only tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of yuan, which was very little.

In this era, as long as Hong Kong and Taiwanese actors are not hired, the pay for films is not very high. Mainland actors do not command such high fees for movies; in fact, their pay is lower than that for TV dramas.

Fan Wei asked, "When will filming begin?"

"You need to go to Guizhou in advance on March 25th to film the movie," Qin Xuan said.

It's only a few days away, it's already the 20th, and the movie started preparations at the beginning of the month. For modern films, there's not much need to prepare props or anything, just scouting locations is enough.

“No problem.” Fan Wei had no objections.

Seeing that the agreement had been reached, Qin Xuan said to Cai Mei, "Then, Aunt, please bring the contract over."

Cai Mei took out the contract she had prepared beforehand, along with a pen, and placed them on the table in front of Fan Wei.

"Teacher Fan can take a look," she gestured.

These contracts are templates made by lawyers; they just change the amounts, names, and tasks themselves before printing them out.

Once signed, it has legal effect.

Fan Wei picked it up and looked at it for a while. There were a few pages, so he browsed through them, turned to another page, and after seeing that there were no problems, he picked up a pen and signed his name.

"It's a pleasure to cooperate with you." Qin Xuan extended his hand.

Fan Wei grasped his hand and asked one last question: "This is the complete script, there won't be any major revisions, right?"

"No, at most some minor adjustments might be needed. What you see is exactly what you get."

Most actors have this concern: what they see is one thing, but once filming begins, they say they want to change the script, turning a good movie into a bad one.

So, after experiencing a lot, they would always ask questions. After the two reached an agreement, Qin Xuan saw Fan Wei off; he had driven there and was living a very comfortable life.

After delivering the money, Qin Xuan returned to his office and asked Cai Mei, "Has Wanda transferred the money yet?"

“They’ve already started advertising, but they’re deducting four million for marketing and promotion. Isn’t that a bit too much?” Cai Mei strongly disagreed.

This is several times more expensive than the production cost of a movie.

"Forget it, don't be so calculating. Let it go, it's not that much higher anyway." Qin Xuan didn't want to argue.

According to his estimate, the publicity expenses were around three million yuan. The audit would not reveal anything. The celebration banquet was held at someone else's hotel, although it only cost a little over ten thousand yuan.

But it's impossible to argue with Mr. Wang about this.

Cai Mei nodded, knowing that the other party was in a stronger position and they were in a weaker position. She took out the report and gave her presentation.

After deducting 5% for the film special fund and 3.3% for business tax, the remaining 91.7% is the distributable box office revenue.

Cinemas received 57% of the revenue, while distribution chains received 2%. That's how high cinema revenue was back then. It wasn't until December that the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a document reducing the cinema revenue share to below 50%, but distribution chains saw an increase.

This is also why cinemas have been constantly fighting with film producers these days; the proportion is too high.

Only 32.7% remains. Wanda's distribution fee is 15%, meaning that the remaining 17.7% belongs to the new forces.

Damn it, working myself to the bone, and looking so pathetic!

The claim of over 40% is because it excludes special funds and taxes. In our country, taxes are always hidden.

But this portion was indeed spent.

"Wanda's 15% shouldn't be calculated based on the total box office revenue, right? It should be the percentage after deducting taxes, special funds, and cinema chains!" Qin Xuan said.

“Yes…” Cai Mei continued with the expense report.

"Nightclub" grossed 3140 million; plus "Fame and Fortune" grossed 6310 million. This movie has increased a bit compared to before, since it was not taken off the screens before, and only took off the screens completely in the last month.

The total box office was 9450 million, and after deducting taxes and special funds of 784 million, the distributable revenue was 8666 million.

After deducting the cinema chains, there is still 3762 million left.

The revenue sharing with Wanda starts from 3762 million, which means they will take 15%, or 564 million. That's the current revenue sharing logic.

There are still 3198 million left, which belong to the new forces, so suddenly they are not pitiful anymore.

Qin Xuan felt relieved to hear this. If Wanda were to receive 15% of the total box office revenue, then he would have worked for nothing.

However, after deducting the 400 million yuan in marketing expenses from the 3198 million yuan, the profit is 2798 million yuan, which is quite good.

Qin Xuan asked, "So, how much should we give to those investors? Right now?"

There's still one movie that hasn't been released yet, that's all for now.

"The initial plan was to start with a profit of 5 million, then multiply 8 million by 3, and jump every 3 million for a total of nine times. That means the initial investment of 165 million multiplied by 9 would amount to a profit of 1485 million." Cai Mei said, flipping through the documents.

That means Liu Xiaoli alone took 45 yuan.

Qin Xuan stroked his chin, realizing he had only received a little over 13 million; he had been careless at the time.

They were given too much, more than 14 million, which is more than 2 million US dollars. If they used this money to stir up trouble on the international stage, it would multiply tenfold to 20 million US dollars.

That was impulsive. There should be a cap; just multiply that by 5.

He didn't expect the box office to be so high; it was all because of Lao Wang's pressure that he had to work hard.

Qin Xuan leaned closer and lowered his voice: "Aunt, do you have any way to reduce the profit of 2798 million?"

"Huh?" Cai Mei was stunned.

(End of this chapter)