Chinese entertainment starts with idols

Chapter 137 Making Money and Losing Money

After "Swords of Legends," Lin Feng had a rare extra day to spend with Yang Mi, but it was only for this one day. Both of them are big stars with many events and announcements to attend to. In addition to his daily work, Lin Feng also had company matters to handle. More importantly, Lin Feng received news that Zhang Yiming was preparing to start his own business and had been frequently meeting with investors recently. Lin Feng did not want to miss this only opportunity to invest in ByteDance, so he directly arranged to meet with Zhang Yiming.

Zhang Yiming was a little puzzled when he met Lin Feng. He really didn't understand what he had to do with such a big star as Lin Feng. In his eyes, Lin Feng was a high-profile celebrity. Meeting Lin Feng felt more like a fan meeting an idol. Besides, his girlfriend liked Lin Feng the most and was a loyal fan of Lin Feng.

Lin Feng, on the other hand, was somewhat prepared. When he met Zhang Yiming, he spoke frankly and directly: "I have a lot of knowledge about mobile internet and I know that you, Zhang Yiming, are a successful serial entrepreneur. I am here today hoping to join your startup team and provide some financial support."

Zhang Yiming never expected that Lin Feng, a big star, would approach him about starting a business. Moreover, Lin Feng was very knowledgeable about mobile internet. He asked Lin Feng several questions in a row, and Lin Feng's understanding of them was very profound. In fact, if the person in front of him was a big star, he would have thought that he was an internet entrepreneur.

"So what do you think we should start with when we begin our business?" Zhang Yiming then asked tentatively, as he himself was also struggling to find a suitable path.

"The three major tracks of the Internet are social networking, e-commerce, and information, which are Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu, respectively. The mobile Internet is no exception. In terms of social networking, Tencent already has WeChat; in terms of e-commerce, Alibaba's Taobao and JD.com also have corresponding mobile apps. However, in terms of information, although Baidu also has a mobile app, it does not pay much attention to this area. Moreover, the information distribution channels in the mobile Internet era are different. People no longer search online in front of a computer, but instead use various apps on their mobile phones. At this time, information becomes scattered. Therefore, we need to integrate all information through algorithms, filter it, and then distribute it to users. I think what we need to do is to become the Baidu of the mobile Internet era, from the distribution channel of text information to image information, and finally to video information, and ultimately become the traffic portal of the entire information channel."

Lin Feng casually said a few words, which stunned Zhang Yiming. This was exactly what he had planned to do from the beginning, but he found that his understanding of mobile internet was far less profound and far-reaching than Lin Feng's. Moreover, Lin Feng's words had a kind of enlightening effect on him.

At this moment, Zhang Yiming opened his notebook, which was filled with the words "Information," "Algorithm," and "Toutiao" (a popular Chinese news aggregator). He then grasped Lin Feng's hand and said excitedly, "Sir, you are truly a genius! Your insights have enlightened me. Welcome to the team!"

What happened next was quite simple. Lin Feng not only acquired 10% of the shares for 100 million, but also had preemptive rights. This ensured that Lin Feng would continue to invest in the first two rounds. When ByteDance's market value reached tens of billions, Lin Feng would no longer need to continue investing and could accept the dilution of his shares.

When Lin Feng finally received the investment agreement, he was still somewhat happy. However, for some reason, his happiness was not as great as when he invested 100 million yuan to acquire 15% of miHoYo's shares last time. Perhaps it was too easy!

However, ByteDance is not comparable to miHoYo. You should know that ByteDance is a super company that can rival Tencent. Tencent's market value is 5000 billion US dollars, so ByteDance is about 4000 billion US dollars. That's US dollars. If converted to RMB, Lin Feng's shares may be worth hundreds of billions in the future.

Don't underestimate this small 10% stake. Zhang Yiming is a serial entrepreneur with money, and he values ​​shares very much. If he didn't value Lin Feng so much, he wouldn't have given Lin Feng so many shares right away. All the other entrepreneurial partners combined don't have as many as Lin Feng.

Furthermore, Zhang Yiming often consulted Lin Feng on many matters. Initially, Lin Feng would patiently offer his advice and analysis, but as time went on, he gradually became overwhelmed and eventually grew annoyed. "The company is yours, and you will hold my voting rights on my behalf. From now on, unless there are important matters concerning the company, I will no longer interfere too much in the company's specific affairs. I believe you have the ability to lead the team to develop ByteDance even better."

In his previous life, ByteDance had developed very rapidly, so Lin Feng didn't need to get too involved, nor did he want to. He only needed to offer suggestions on key areas such as short videos and AI. He was more passionate about acting and wanted to focus on making his own films.

Lin Feng thought everything was fine. After finishing his event announcements and securing funding from ByteDance, he was about to start filming the movie "Double Exposure" when Lu Yang, carrying the movie script "Brotherhood of Blades," contacted him through Xue Xiaolu.

The idea for the script of the film "Brotherhood of Blades" was conceived before director Lu Yang directed his debut film "Blind Cinema." It can be said that Lu Yang's first film script went through more than 10 revisions. However, in recent years, the film market for period dramas has cooled down dramatically, with almost every film made flopping. It can even be said that if Lin Feng's "The Legend of the Banquet at Hongmen" had flopped, all period dramas would have been. In fact, "The Legend of the Banquet at Hongmen" also flopped in its previous life. As for period action films like "Brotherhood of Blades," it's like the martial arts genre in online novels: "Martial arts is dead." The highest-grossing period action film recently was Donnie Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro's "Wu Xia," which grossed 170 million yuan, while the investment cost was 150 million yuan, resulting in a loss of nearly 100 million yuan.

These market validations have shown that patterns sometimes do work. For example, the movie "The Swordsman: The Wind Rises in the Desert" is good, but its box office performance is not high. Therefore, all film companies in the market generally believe that the script of "Brotherhood of Blades" is good, but period action films are not popular with audiences.

After experiencing countless cycles of hope and disappointment, Lu Yang heard from people in the industry that Lin Feng was good at investing. He found Lin Feng through Xue Xiaolu. The reason he sought out Lin Feng was not only to attract investment, but also to sincerely invite Lin Feng to play the male lead.

After Lin Feng obtained the script for the film "Brotherhood of Blades," he invested in it because of its reputation in his previous life and because of director Lu Yang. "Is the investment cost of this film 'Brotherhood of Blades' 3000 million? I can invest 1000 million, and you can figure out the rest."

To be honest, Lin Feng's move is truly an investment driven by passion! It stems to a large extent from his appreciation of the script and the director, rather than purely from a commercial perspective.

Lin Feng knew perfectly well that the movie "Brotherhood of Blades" was going to flop, but he still invested in it. His 100 million investment in ByteDance could eventually yield hundreds of billions, while his 1000 million investment in "Brotherhood of Blades" would be lucky to get back 500 million.

The previous film, "Brotherhood of Blades," was very good and had a good reputation, but it didn't do well at the box office. If the first film did well at the box office, it was understandable that the promotion was not good enough. However, the second film, "Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield," had good word-of-mouth and star support, but it still flopped at the box office!

This proves that the saying "wuxia is dead" is no joke!

Just like the current "The Swordsman: The Wind Rises in the Desert," it has good reviews, action, and stars, but the total investment is about 7 million yuan. It needs at least 20 billion yuan to break even, and its final box office is estimated to be around 13 billion yuan. It will definitely not exceed 15 billion yuan and will eventually flop.

However, Lu Yang was still somewhat dissatisfied. He wanted to cast Lin Feng as the male lead, mainly because he was attracted by Lin Feng's box office appeal. He believed that if Lin Feng became the male lead, there would be no shortage of investors, let alone 3000 million. "Lin Feng, the key reason we're bringing you here isn't for investment. We mainly want to invite you to be the male lead. We're also planning to turn this film, 'Brotherhood of Blades,' into a series of movies, which might become one of your representative works."

Lu Yang's plan was quite clever. To be honest, Lin Feng also had a martial arts dream, and after obtaining the action essence of Jet Li's "Elite Heroes", he did want to try action movies. However, he didn't have the time, so he had to refuse. "My schedule is not suitable. This year is already full. I also have a movie called 'Double Exposure', and I want to shoot another movie myself in the second half of the year. I really don't have time. Please understand!"

As for the male lead, I think you could try actor Chang Chen. Both his image and acting skills are a perfect fit for the role.

Having failed to persuade Lin Feng the first time, Lu Yang had no choice but to give up for the time being. However, he had achieved his goal: the investment cost of 3000 million had been reduced to 1000 million, and the rest would be easier to handle. Moreover, this was Lin Feng's investment, which he believed would attract investment from other film and television companies. If all else failed, he could also invest some money himself.

Lin Feng thought everything was fine and joined the film crew for "Double Exposure." However, after only two days of filming, Lu Yang came to his door again, this time with a vice president from China Film Group, La Kangpei.

"Lin Feng, thank you for your investment. China Film Group has agreed to make up the remaining investment. However, we still unanimously believe that you are the most suitable for the male lead. There are no issues with the salary or box office revenue sharing. What do you think? Besides, you are an investor yourself, so this role is perfect for you. Moreover, China Film Group attaches great importance to this cooperation. The person who accompanied me here is Vice President Kang Pei from China Film Group."

Just as Lin Feng was about to refuse, he was stunned when he saw the vice president of China Film Group, La Kangpei. Wasn't this the future chairman of China Film Group who would succeed Han Sanping? Although China Film Group's power will decrease in the future, it is still China Film Group and still has a certain weight in the film industry.

However, Lin Feng thought about it and declined. "Director Lu, President La, thank you for your recognition, but to be honest, who doesn't dream of being a martial arts hero? It's not that I don't want to act, it's that I really don't have the time. I'm going to invest in and film the movie 'Goodbye Mr. Loser' in the second half of the year, so please understand!"

"We understand. Before we came, our Chairman Han Sanping even asked me to apologize for the distribution of the movie 'Love is Not Blind' last time. It's a great honor for China Film Group to be able to work with a star like you, Lin Feng, who has box office appeal, through 'Brotherhood of Blades'. If you don't have time or availability, we can wait. We're not in a hurry. As long as you agree to play the male lead, we can wait until you have the time and availability," said La Kangpei from China Film Group.

Lin Feng suddenly didn't know what to say. The other party had been so sincere, and it wouldn't be appropriate to refuse directly. Moreover, although the "Brotherhood of Blades" film series didn't do well at the box office, it would definitely still be a boost for Lin Feng, especially for martial arts fans.

Moreover, even if Lin Feng were to star in "Brotherhood of Blades," the box office results would certainly not be the same as in the previous film. However, once Lin Feng participated in the first "Brotherhood of Blades," he would definitely continue to participate in the second film, "Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield." He didn't want to make two martial arts films of the same type, like he made "Meteor Shower" and then "Meteor Shower 2." He felt very uncomfortable about that. After thinking for a while, he said, "Because nothing is finalized on my end, since Director Lu and President La are so sincere, and it's my investment, how about I take a cameo role as Ding Xiu? I really like this character, and this way, it won't take up too much of everyone's time."

Leading roles and cameo appearances are two different concepts. Leading roles have promotional responsibilities and can be used for promotion, while cameo appearances do not have promotional responsibilities and are generally not used for promotion.

"Well...we still think you're the most suitable person to play the male lead. This role seems tailor-made for you." Lu Yang genuinely felt that Lin Feng was the perfect choice for the lead role.

"Actually, I think Chang Chen is quite suitable. He has acted in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'The Grandmaster' before, and he also has martial arts skills. You can give him a try. I believe he won't disappoint you." This time, Lin Feng didn't give a definitive answer.

"Why look for something else when there are better options?" Just as Lu Yang was about to say something, La Kangpei interrupted, "Well, let's go back and discuss it further. But I just heard you mention investing in the filming of 'Goodbye Mr. Loser' in the second half of the year. I wonder if China Film Group has that opportunity?"

Um... why does everyone want to get involved in his movie "Goodbye Mr. Loser"? And Lin Feng has already promised several investment companies. How many investment shares are left? Enlight Media is a must. The collaboration on "Love is Not Blind" last time was very pleasant, and a deep relationship of trust was established. Tianyu Media is also a must. Lin Feng promised it when he terminated his contract.

Huanrui Century is also a must. Lin Feng got so many roles in "Swords of Legends" and then got the second male lead. And Happy Twist, needless to say, is a company that Lin Feng invested in. Besides, this movie is originally a movie from their previous life. Lin Feng agreed when he invested, so all of this is necessary. There are already 4 investment companies. Adding Lin Feng's side, that makes 5 companies. "Goodbye Mr. Loser" is a low-to-medium budget movie with a very limited investment share. There really isn't much investment left.

However, many of these were favors Lin Feng was doing to repay favors, not long-term partnerships. China Film Group, on the other hand, holds a pivotal position and enjoys widespread influence in the film industry, making it a good long-term partner. Therefore, Lin Feng did not refuse this collaboration. "There is no problem with the collaboration, but we have already identified many partner institutions. I estimate that the investment share that China Film Group can receive will not be large. I hope Mr. La can understand."

"Thank you so much, Lin Feng. As long as we can cooperate, we don't care about these things. And as for funding, China Film Group has absolutely no problem. As for 'Brotherhood of Blades,' we'll discuss it further when we get back. Ultimately, we'll respect your opinion."

"Sure, sure!"