Huayu: Enjoy Yourself

Chapter 74 Winter Hot Pot

Q: What is life like for a famous director?

A: Goji berries soaking in my thermos, only today do I truly understand myself. A letter arrives from the Qiantang River, Zhenwu sees me, and I see myself. 💥😺 69ร𝔥Ⓤχ.𝓬𝐨𝕄 ♧☮

Chen An lay in the courtyard of the siheyuan, basking in the sun, taking sips from his thermos cup every now and then.

Looking at the bright sun overhead, Chen An rubbed his right lower back: "That was ruthless."

Lying in the yard, I felt the whole world was quiet.

Chen An used to think he was really brave, almost like a god of war, full of righteousness.

They had more than enough to last them, but when faced with prolonged combat, they were utterly routed.

Now that the movie has ended, all that's left is to collect the profits. This time, it's been a huge success, with profits in mainland China alone reaching around 20 million.

The other distributors found by the Hong Kong side would take a 10% distribution fee and a 10% copy fee, leaving only 30% of the revenue, which would still amount to around ten million Hong Kong dollars.

Taiwan was similar, but they found a boss to manage it all and didn't choose the usual distribution system.

Instead, they take 20% of the film's revenue, which is equivalent to taking 10% of the total box office revenue. However, under their management, they can get the same 50/50 split as domestic films.

Chen An also earned more than 24 million NT dollars in Taiwan.

Excluding overseas box office revenue, the total domestic revenue was around 35 million, which was a huge income in those days.

Even if Chen An stops making movies, he can use this money to invest in industries he knows and is basically set for life.

Buying real estate alone is enough.

"Once the money arrives, I won't even need to make a movie or work a hook job," Chen An said after doing a quick calculation of the film's revenue.

I feel like I can retire now. My domestic income alone has exploded. I've gotten so much back from a five million investment.

The handover between South Korea and the company is still being tallied. The revenue sharing from "Little Forest" only arrived recently, and it's unclear when this one will be available.

However, with Sony Pictures involved, there's no need to worry about the other party defaulting on their payment.

Sony handles the marketing and distribution for both companies, and takes a high cut of 20% on both. However, the only downside to these expensive products is their price; they take care of all other issues.

If we rely solely on Beijing Film Academy, then the only option is to buy it out.

Chen An, who was resting at home, planned to recover his health before heading to Hollywood.

Take a few days off first; there will be a lot of things to do when you get there.

It's estimated that they'll have to start filming again right away.

But suddenly a person walked into this courtyard, which was usually empty except for Chen An and the cleaning lady.

Not many people know about this place; apart from a few people Chen An is relatively familiar with, no one has told him.

The man walked in with a steady gait, wearing sunglasses around his neck, smoking a cigarette all by himself.

We're quite familiar with each other.

The man with a buzz cut and a rather robust build was none other than Jiang Wen, whom Chen An hadn't seen in a long time.

He acted as if he were in his own home, walked over to Chen An, plopped down on the rocking chair next to him, and casually picked up a cigarette that Chen An had left nearby, lit it himself, and took one.

"What's going on? Aren't you filming a movie?" Chen An was also quite curious. How could Jiang Wen, who was filming his second movie which he had been preparing for, have time to leave the filming and come here?

The other party had been preparing for this movie for a long time, and even the script took a long time to find. They then revised and revised it with great care.

Even "In the Heat of the Sun" was filmed more than five years ago. They've been holding back for so long, and it's been released before it was even finished.

"Isn't that why I came to you about the movie?" Jiang Wen, sitting in the chair, also breathed a sigh of relief.

The filming location for "Devils on the Doorstep" was a village in Tangshan, Hebei Province. It was quite a journey to get to Chen An's place.

Upon hearing Jiang Wen's words, Chen An thought for a moment and then said, "I understand, you're about to go over budget, right?" He knew Jiang Wen quite well.

Every film he made went over budget; he used piles of film. He was a notorious figure for overspending.

Jiang Wen nodded without saying anything more.

A significant portion of the 20 million yuan was indeed used up, and much of the filming was still unfinished. There was nothing he could do about it; he wasn't satisfied with the filmed footage, and the script had been revised repeatedly.

The revised script rendered the previous film reels obsolete.

69🅂🄷🅄🅇.🄲🄾🄼

"Just tell me how much you want, let's not talk about those empty words." Chen An didn't play games with these things, even though he knew the movie wouldn't make money and would probably even lose some.

But since Jiang Wen had already come to him, he certainly wouldn't refuse.

And although the film was eventually banned, it was still the Cannes Jury Prize, so it wasn't a huge loss.

The two had always been good friends, so it didn't matter if they lost a little; they had made quite a bit of money in the last two times anyway.

"Five million should be enough." Sitting in the chair, Jiang Wen pondered for a moment and finally gave a number.

Jiang Wen trusted Chen An, but he couldn't ask for too much. Although they had a good relationship, he couldn't mess around with him.

Chen An, on the contrary, didn't seem to care. He took a sip of tea, lit a cigarette, and said, "Is five million enough? I'll add another million, and we'll make up the difference later."

Judging from the way the other person was pondering, Chen An estimated that five million was barely enough, and the real amount was much higher.

"Here, this is my company's general manager's business card. You and her discuss it, and I'll notify her later so she can contact your people." Chen An planned to hand over the contracts and such to Li Xiaoping.

Jiang Wen took it without looking at it and put it in his pocket: "Okay, thank you this time, brother. I'll go now, I have something to do with the crew."

After saying that, he patted Chen An's thigh and left. He came quickly and left quickly, like a gust of wind that was gone as soon as it was over.

"Take it easy on the road, safety first." Chen An called out to Jiang Wen's retreating figure as he watched him leave in a hurry.

The other party did not reply, but simply waved with their back to Chen An.

Chen An already knew that Jiang Wen had gone over budget for this movie; the 20 million yuan investment was 30% over budget, which was a huge investment in those days.

I just didn't expect Jiang Wen to come to me this time. It seems that the other party trusts me quite a bit, for such a large investment.

He then called Li Xiaoping, told her about the matter, and gave her Jiang Wen's contact information so that the two of them could come and talk.

After I finished speaking, it seemed like the other person had a lot to do, so they simply hung up the phone.

Sigh, I just can't stand seeing others suffer.

Then he lay down on the rocking chair, swaying back and forth in the sun, thoroughly enjoying himself.

I feel warm all over.

Chen Wei happened to return that evening, and Chen An immediately invited him over for a meal. Eating hot pot in the winter, which is almost December, is a wonderful thing.

Unfortunately, Zeng Li, Chen Kun, and Yu Jinghong, the three employees, were not able to enjoy the meal, as they all had jobs.

They are all very busy people, and Li Xiaoping is also constantly busy.

Only the two brothers, Chen An and Chen Wei, sat together in the house, enjoying the delicious hot pot in front of the steaming pot.

Chen Wei turned on the TV in the room, playing a rerun of the popular TV series "Princess Pearl," which the other person seemed to enjoy watching.

"How about I ask for leave and come to Hollywood with you?" Chen An, who was sitting at the table, said to Chen Wei, who was eating hot pot and watching TV.

Upon hearing Chen An's question, Chen Wei paused for a moment, then put down his chopsticks: "Let's forget it. I know you want to help me, but I won't go abroad with you if I haven't mastered what I've learned in China. Let's focus on learning what we have learned in China first."

After thinking for a while, Chen Wei finally rejected Chen An, saying that going to Hollywood would definitely be a great opportunity.

But Chen Wei felt that he was not a genius like Chen An. He was not even as good as the filming in China. He had not mastered the skills. Going there would only be like pulling up seedlings to help them grow.

"Alright, let's not talk about it anymore and have a drink." Chen An didn't expect the other party to refuse, but he still respected the other party's choice.

He downed the wine in his glass in one gulp and let out a long sigh: "Then you need to work on your training. My movie is waiting for you to direct it." This has always been Chen An's thought.

I brought Chen Wei along on every shoot, hoping he could learn more from other well-known domestic photographers.

It wasn't for any other reason than that the other person didn't look down on that country boy who carried a burlap sack into the dormitory back then, was willing to help him, and didn't feel that being with him was a shameful thing.

Four chapters released first, more to come.

(End of this chapter)