Hong Kong variety show: The tycoon who emerged from Portland Street

Dafei is a man of his word; as the big boss of Causeway Bay, his words do carry weight in the area.

In just two days, a time was arranged for Chen Mo.

At 10 p.m., Chen Mo had already arrived at Da Fei's private room at the bar.

Soon, Dafei led a man in his thirties into the private room, followed by several subordinates.

"Brother Mo, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Chen Rong, one of the owners of Xinbao Cinemas."

Mr. Chan, this is Chan Mo, the big boss of our Hung Hing Mong Kok district.

Chen Mo stood up and smiled as he extended his right hand to Chen Rong.

"Hello, Mr. Chen."

Chen Rong was quite polite to Chen Mo, taking two quick steps forward and shaking hands with him.

"Hello, Brother Mo, it's an honor to meet you."

Since we were going to talk about serious business today, Dafei didn't call the hostesses in now.

The waiter served everyone drinks and then left.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the group began to discuss business.

"I heard from Brother Dafei that Brother Mo has a movie he wants to distribute through us, is that right?"

Chen Mo nodded and smiled, "That's right. I recently opened a film production company, and the first film was completed soon."

I plan to release my movie at your Xinbao Cinema chain at the end of this month.

"The film is still in production, so we can't show you a sample yet. However, we can give the script to Mr. Chen to take a look."

As he spoke, Chen Mo took a script out of his bag and handed it to Chen Rong.

Chen Rongke is a veteran in the film industry.

After a quick glance at the script, I discovered one of the film's selling points.

"Is the inspiration for Mo Ge's film 'The Central Robbery' based on an armored truck robbery that occurred six months ago?"

Chen Mo did not continue using the title "Men's True Colors" for his film, and instead gave it a new name to emphasize its selling points: "The Great Robbery in Central".

"That's right," Chen Mo said with a smile. "My screenwriter combined media reports about the robbery with some of his own ideas to create this script."

"A brilliant idea!" Chen Rong couldn't help but exclaim.

Because of Chen Mo's involvement, the armored truck robbery case is still in a state where the main culprit is on the run, the robbers are unknown, and the stolen money has not been recovered.

However, apart from the identities of the robbers who carried out the robbery and the whereabouts of the stolen money, all other relevant information about the perpetrators has been clarified.

The entire process of solving the case was simple and straightforward, with virtually no twists and turns.

However, in the script, the events following the robbery unfolded completely differently from the actual events.

This way, the movie plot will be rich, and the gimmick of a heist can be used to attract the audience.

A few minutes later, Chen Rong finally finished reading the entire script.

"What a great script! I wonder who directed this movie and who the lead actors are?"

Chen Rong has confirmed that the film can definitely be released in their theaters.

However, besides the basic script, the director and lead actors are also very important factors influencing a film's box office performance.

That will be their focus for the next round of publicity.

"The director was Li Yaofu, who was originally from Cao's Film Company. I also invited Long Wei to participate. As for the other actors, they were basically not well-known."

However, with Li Yaofu and Long Wei in the cast, the lineup for this movie should be considered quite good.

"I see..." Chen Rong's expression showed slight disappointment.

In his opinion, with such a good movie script and such a good gimmick, the investment should be increased, more stars should be invited, and it should be made into a big production.

Perhaps this movie can become the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong this year.

However, it would be a pity if we only had Dragon's Might.

"Li Yaofu is a very experienced director, and Longwei is also very famous."

"It's a shame that with only these two, they might not be able to attract much box office revenue."

Chen Mo smiled without saying a word, showing no intention of responding.

As the boss, how could he not know the advantages and disadvantages of this movie after it was made?

Chen Rong is saying all this now, not only because it is indeed a pity, but also because he still wants to take the opportunity to lower the price.

Currently, there is no unified system or standard for the revenue sharing of cinemas in Hong Kong Island. Instead, the revenue sharing is negotiated between the cinema chains and the production companies based on factors such as the strength of the film company, the cast, and box office expectations.

As the owner of the cinema chain, Chen Rong naturally hoped that Chen Mo would receive a smaller share.

Seeing that Chen Mo hadn't spoken, Chen Rong directly quoted a price: "Mr. Chen, our issuance fee is fifteen percent."

This is our first collaboration, and I genuinely like the script. I won't ask you for any publicity fees; it's a token of our theater chain's sincerity.

"After the film's release, we, the theater distributors, will get 70% of the box office revenue in the first week after deducting entertainment tax and distribution fees. In the second week, we'll get 60%, and from the third week onwards, we'll only get 50%. How does that sound?"

The revenue-sharing model that Chan Wing reported is the most common one in Hong Kong Island: tiered revenue sharing.

This revenue-sharing model, where the production company receives more money as time goes on, allows theaters to recoup their costs quickly and incentivizes film production companies to create high-quality films, rather than just looking to make a quick buck.

Chen Mo was slightly surprised when he heard the price.

Before meeting Chen Rong, Chen Mo had already inquired with Li Yaofu and had some understanding of the revenue sharing ratio between Xinbao Cinemas and the film production company.

Chen Rongbao's profit-sharing ratio is a very common ratio.

However, this film is the first film produced by Chen Mo's new film production company, and there is no guarantee about its quality or box office performance.

The proportion Chen Rong provided is quite rare.

However, after a moment's thought, Chen Mo guessed Chen Rong's idea.

Their Xinbao Cinema Line has two core cinemas located on Chen Mo's territory, so naturally he has to give Chen Mo face.

However, Chen Mo was not satisfied with this profit-sharing ratio.

"Mr. Chen, if I may ask, how do you split the profits with Xinji Film Company?"

Xinji has been in the film and television industry for several years and has been cooperating with Xinbao Cinemas for a long time.

They receive significantly higher box office revenue shares from Xinbao Cinemas compared to other film production companies.

Chen Rong smiled apologetically: "Please forgive me, Brother Mo, but it's really inconvenient for me to tell you the profit-sharing ratio between us and Xinji."

The revenue sharing ratio between Xinbao Cinemas and Xinji Cinemas is much higher than that of other film production companies.

On the one hand, it is because Xinji Film Company is relatively strong, its film shooting team is very mature, and the quality of the films produced is guaranteed.

On the other hand, there are also many other transactions between Xinbao Cinemas and Xinji.

For example, Sin Kee would help Sin Po Cinemas solve many problems related to triads, and Sin Po Cinemas would also use box office revenue to help Sin Kee launder money.

Many of the things involved here are not for outsiders to know.

This time, Dafei acted as a matchmaker for Chen Rong and Chen Mo. Before coming, Chen Rong had inquired about Chen Mo with the people from Xinji and had a prior understanding of Chen Mo's identity and strength.

Because of Chen Mo's status, he offered a fairly normal profit-sharing ratio.

Otherwise, for a newly established film company, even if the script is excellent, they will still keep the profit sharing very low for their first film.

However, this doesn't mean he's afraid of Chen Mo; he simply can't tell him the questions Chen Mo asks.

However, Dafei didn't understand the ins and outs of the matter; he just felt that Chen Rong was being too secretive and unpleasant.

"Mr. Chen, it's just box office revenue sharing, what's so hard to say? Aren't you being a bit disrespectful to us!"