Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 217 Investing in Wang Jinghua

Zhang Chen did not refuse directly, but asked: "Sister Hua, why don't you do it yourself?"

"Do it yourself?"

"Yes, do it yourself."

After a pause, Zhang Chen continued, "Do you know CAA in the United States?"

The latter nodded. Of course she knew about Innovative Artists Company. In fact, everyone in this business knew about them.

“The CAA approach may not work in the country, but we can definitely learn from it…

You have so many big stars, and if you sign a few more directors and screenwriters, you can even start your own film and television company. You may not be sure about movies, but TV series should be no problem.”

Compared to movies, TV series are indeed easier to operate.

TV series are B2B, movies are B2C, one is only aimed at TV stations, while the other needs to face millions of viewers.

It is obviously easier to deal with a few people than to deal with a large group of people.

Moreover, most of the people under Wang Jinghua's control are TV celebrities, such as Chen Daoming, currently the most expensive TV actor in China, who earns 100,000 per episode, and is a guarantee of ratings.

Moreover, the past few years have been his rising period. "Black Hole" and "Chinese Divorce" have all been hits. It can be said that as long as he appears in a drama, the TV station is willing to pay for it.

Wang Jinghua hesitated after hearing what she said. Who doesn't want to be a boss? Who doesn't want to have the final say?
What’s more, Wang Jinghua is the number one agent in the domestic entertainment industry.

Through what happened at Huayi Brothers, she also realized that it would be difficult for her to be under someone else for long.

"But... where does the money come from?"

It costs money to make a TV series. A TV series costs at least 2000 million yuan, and a movie may be less. But with the status of the stars under him, it is impossible for him to make a low-budget film.

These are all money.

"Funding is easy. I can introduce a few coal bosses to you. They all want to join the industry, but they are afraid of being cheated. If there is an expert willing to lead them, they will definitely be happy."

"Thank you for your kindness, Director Zhang. You have pointed me in the right direction. I am really tempted, but I am still unsure. Is Director Zhang interested in investing in my new company?"

Wang Jinghua's sudden invitation was exactly what Zhang Chen and Dong Jianqiang wanted.

The two of them came here with this idea in mind. First, they wanted to prevent Wang Jinghua from cooperating with Chengtian. Second, they themselves did not want to be deeply bound with Wang Jinghua. Third, they wanted to reap the benefits of being an agent.

Seeing Wang Jinghua looking over, Zhang Chen and Dong Jianqiang exchanged a glance and said, "Xingchen Entertainment can invest in part of Sister Hua's new company, but we cannot guarantee that we will hire Sister Hua's people in the future. It mainly depends on whether the role is suitable..."

Zhang Chen said it first.

"Of course, no problem. Drama is the most important thing. I understand that. I just hope that under the same conditions, I can use the artists under my company as much as possible."

Wang Jinghua also made her attitude clear. After much discussion, everyone decided that Xingchen Entertainment would invest RMB 300 million and hold a 15% stake.

"Great! Congratulations to Sister Hua and Director Zhang for their strong alliance. Let's drink tea instead of wine..."

Seeing that everyone had agreed to cooperate, Xu Qing, who was standing by, immediately refilled everyone's teacups with tea.

Everyone clinked their glasses with a smile. Zhang Chen and Wang Jinghua both felt that this was a good outcome and a win-win situation for both parties.

Zhang Chen actually didn't have to pay anything. The principles of selecting actors remained the same as before, and he also enjoyed the benefits of being an agent.

Wang Jinghua's side is more cost-effective.

As long as she spread the news of Xingchen Entertainment's investment, the status of the new company would immediately rise, and "Taken" was the best proof of this.

With funds, stars and the endorsement of Star Entertainment, the development of the new company is predictable.

After the cooperation was agreed upon, everyone started talking about Chengtian and Wu Kebo unnaturally.

Even putting aside personal grudges, Zhang Chen didn't want Wu Kebo to get involved. This person was not the kind of person who could settle down and work in the film and television industry. All he thought about was investing.

What is investment? Investment is a money game and does not create any value in itself.

In other words, if Orange Sky wants to develop by following the investment route, it can only suck blood, and he did so. His first move was to dig out Wang Jinghua's team and almost hollowed out the artist structure of Huayi Brothers.

“By the way, Director Zhang, Wu Kebo seems to have been in contact with Hong Kong recently. He has always wanted to make a big movie, and then he found out about Taken, so he wanted to just take advantage of the existing one.

Since I can’t cooperate with you now, I will probably cooperate with a Hong Kong director to make a blockbuster movie…”

Wang Jinghua doesn't have much information, and some of it is just speculation.

Zhang Chen pondered:

Hong Kong director?

Wu Yusen?
"Red Cliff"?
After chatting for a while, they were ready to leave. Before leaving, Zhang Chen specifically reminded Wang Jinghua: "Sister Hua, since we have decided to do it ourselves, we should try our best to maintain good relationships with each company. Cooperation is a win-win situation. Let's let go of the past grudges.

I will find an opportunity to help you and Huayi smooth over the relationship later. All the unpleasantness in the past was due to different positions. Now that the positions have changed, there is nothing to worry about. "

"Then I would like to thank Director Zhang for his kindness." Wang Jinghua did not care about the unpleasantness between her and Huayi. Zhang Chen was right. Those were misunderstandings caused by their positions. Once the positions changed, the misunderstandings would no longer exist.

She was like this in the original time and space. She was at odds with Huayi at first, but later the relationship with Huayi eased and there were many collaborations between the two sides.

To put it bluntly, it's all about money.

One side has money and production capabilities, the other side has big stars, and the two sides just complement each other.

If you refuse to cooperate for the sake of your reputation, you will lose out on money.

……

Two days later, at Star Cinema, the premiere of "A Letter from an Unknown Woman"
Xu Jinglei's work was actually completed last year, but it has not been released yet and has instead been shown at film festivals around the world.

But it was also a reward, as it won the Best Director Award and was nominated for Best Film at the Locarno International Film Festival.

The Locarno International Film Festival is an international A-class film festival, second only to the three major European festivals in fame.

Xu Jinglei is very beautiful tonight, wearing a costly dress, and she greets guests from time to time. Zhang Chen is also wearing a handsome suit. Since he is here to show his support, he should dress formally. Otherwise, if you are wearing sportswear while others are wearing suits, it means you are not here to show your support, but to ruin the party.

Of course, it’s a different story if you can get to the level of Xiao Ma Ge.

Nowadays, premieres are organized like award ceremonies, with red carpet segments.

Zhang Chen saw Zhang Guoli and his wife in the crowd. Zhang Guoli also saw him and waved for him to come over.

"Uncle Guoli~"

"Why did you come here alone?"

"My company doesn't have any female artists signed, so I came here alone."

"That's not necessary. With your current status, if you just make a phone call, wouldn't the people who want to walk the red carpet with you line up outside Dongzhimen?"

"Haha, I was just too lazy to look for it, and I didn't even know there was a red carpet segment at first."

"Okay, come with us~"

After waiting for less than two minutes, the host called out the names of Zhang Guoli and Zhang Chen, and Zhang Chen left with Zhang Guoli and his wife.

Originally he was thinking of leaving, but Zhang Guoli still asked him to notify the organizer to avoid causing any mistakes on the part of the organizer, which would be a bit of a spoiler.

When I entered the venue, I saw quite a few guests attending the premiere.

Xu Jinglei's face, or the face of the Beijing circle, is still very useful. Not only did almost all the bigwigs in the Beijing circle leave the show, but many other stars also came.

This is the time Starlight Glimmer was talking about.

Zhang Chen greets people he knows from time to time. He is now a well-known figure in the community, and many celebrities take the initiative to say hello to him when they see him.

This premiere was different from that of Star Entertainment. Star Entertainment’s premieres always screened the original film, but only some clips of "Letter from an Unknown Woman" were played, and most of the content was interactions with the actors.

"Letter from an Unknown Woman" is adapted from the novel of the same name by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, starring Jiang Wen.

This time he didn't do anything like "Looking for the Gun", perhaps Wang Shuo's face played a role.

Most of the interactions on the stage were directed at Jiang Wen and Xu Jinglei. Occasionally, when there were questions, they would be directed to Zhang Chen, who would also be generous with his praise.

"The Best Director Award and Best Film nomination at the Locarno International Film Festival are amazing. I have never won the Best Director Award at one of the four major European film festivals. I am looking forward to it..."

Berlin, Cannes and Venice are recognized as the three largest, while the fourth is slightly controversial. Some say it is the Locarno International Film Festival, while others say it is the Tokyo International Film Festival.

What Zhang Chen said was not nonsense. He had indeed never won any of the top three European titles.

In fact, Zhang Chen has won very few awards, and none of them from A-class film festivals.

The Saturn Awards and the Spanish Fantasy Film Festival are all Category B and are niche. If you don’t read Chinese entertainment novels, you may not have heard of these awards.

As for the country, there is not even one.

In terms of awards alone, Xu Cairen is indeed far better than Zhang Chen now.

"Director Zhang is too polite. Director Zhang is a big commercial director and doesn't need the blessing of awards at all. I have to learn from Director Zhang how to shoot commercial films when I have time..."

Faced with Zhang Chen's praise, Xu Jinglei immediately became humble.

The premiere ended in a relaxed and happy atmosphere, but the focus of the guests was actually the thank-you banquet after the premiere.

Just like the dinner after the Hollywood awards ceremony, this is a social occasion where many directors, actors, and producers network and reach preliminary cooperation intentions.

This film is mainly invested by Poly Huayi, and Huayi is of course the protagonist of tonight.

Wang Zhonglei led the "Huayi Army" to the dinner.

After parting ways with Wang Jinghua, the number of stars at Huayi has visibly decreased.

Although there are still a lot of people in the Huayi Legion tonight, there are not many famous ones, only Li Lianhua and Huang Xiaoming.

Huang Xiaoming is not a member of Huayi yet, but the two sides have been in close contact.

After Wang Jinghua left, Huayi had to have a star to show off, so it has been in contact with Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Gongzi.

Huang Xiaoming is not very satisfied with his current agency and is thinking about changing companies.

Zhang Chen was chatting with Chen Daoming: "Uncle Daoming, I'm afraid we'll have to wait for a while for "The Sanction Agent". I want to use "Taken" as the beginning of the agent universe, so Uncle Daoming will probably have to help out with a cameo appearance..."

"No problem, do I need training?"

In the past two days, the news that Tony Leung was sent to Hollywood by Zhang Chen to receive formal firearms training has spread everywhere, and I wonder how many people are envious.

That's Hollywood.
Entering Hollywood is the ultimate dream of many actors.

"No, your role this time is just to show up. It's a prelude to your character's introduction later. It's purely literary. When the filming of "Sanction Agents" really starts, then Uncle Daoming will need to learn gun skills..."

"Haha, it looks like my wish to play with guns will be dashed..."

"Uncle Daoming is really good at joking..."

"I'm not kidding. In the scenes I filmed before, although there were guns, they were all props. They looked fake when held. It's nothing compared to North America, where real guns are used for filming."

Well, that's true.

There isn't much in the United States, except for a lot of guns.

The average number of guns owned per person is 1.57, and many families have at least one long gun and one pistol.

There's no way. This country is too free. People buy things for free at any time. It's really not good to be without something to protect yourself.

As the two were chatting, a hearty laugh was heard. It was Wang Zhonglei who came with his Huayi Legion.

(End of this chapter)