Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 284 Knocking on the Door at Midnight
On May 5, "The Promise" premiered in North America.

The film's North American, British, and Australian distribution rights were acquired by Harvey Weinstein at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

China Film Group and Chen Kaige, the investors of "The Promise", claimed that they sold the copyright for 2 million yuan, and that Harvey Weinstein had promised to help "The Promise" win an Oscar.

Unfortunately, in October of last year, Miramax founder Harvey Weinstein left the company he created and formed a new film company, The Weinstein Company.

The copyright of "The Promise" inexplicably became the property of The Weinstein Company.

When Harvey Weinstein was still at Miramax, he tried to sabotage Zhang Yimou's film "Hero" because Miramax was acquired by Disney in 93, which led to Disney being taught a lesson in Hong Kong.

So Harvey Weinstein has toned it down a lot—at least he doesn't dare to mess with influential big-name directors in China anymore.

Now that Harvey Weinstein has gone independent, the first one to suffer is Old Chen.

After "The Promise" was released in China, as agreed, China Film Group and Lao Chen went to Miramax to collect copyright fees and discuss the possibility of a North American release.

Copyright worth 2 million RMB?
A Miramax Films executive told China Film Group that the contract you signed was directly with Harvey Weinstein, and the copyright wasn't even with Miramax.

Harvey Weinstein responded that it was a contract between you and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, and had nothing to do with Harvey Weinstein of The Weinstein Company.

Both China Film Group and Lao Chen were dumbfounded.

What does it mean?
Did we actually sell the copyright to "The Promise" or not?
If it's sold, who should I contact to claim the copyright fees?

Even if it wasn't sold, I clearly have a contract for the sale of the copyright. If I try to sell it again, who will be responsible for any legal disputes that arise? Besides, because of this contract, no one dares to buy it!

Finally, in December, Harvey Weinstein revealed his true colors: $100 million, take it or leave it, he just wanted to get it for free.

In addition, when "The Promise" was released, it was met with a barrage of criticism in China. Old Chen got angry and said, "I'd rather rot in my hands than sell it."

Love as much as you like.

Anyway, I've already received a $50 deposit. You're saying the contract is messy? Perfect. If the contract is messy, you won't dare to release the film. I'm not going to release it in North America either. I'll just consider this $50 a freebie.

Now it was Harvey Weinstein's turn to be stumped—the scoundrel had met his match in a stubborn mule.

This dragged on until January. Harvey Weinstein made inquiries from various sources and learned that Chen was serious, so he compromised.

We can talk things over. Shall we discuss the price of the copyright again?

Screw you!

Old Chen insisted, "I've got the copyright sitting on my hands, I'm not selling it to you."

In the end, Harvey Weinstein compromised. $50 is still money—you return my $50, and I'll sign a contract to terminate the copyright purchase agreement.

When Lao Chen and Sister Hong came to the US for the Golden Globe Awards last time, they had another purpose: to discuss copyright with Warner Bros. Independent Films.

Warner Independent Films is a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures, responsible for the purchase and distribution of art-house and independent films, similar in nature to Sony Classics of Columbia and Fox Searchlight of 20th Century Fox.

It wasn't until February that the two sides reached an agreement: Warner Bros. would independently handle the North American distribution of "The Promise," and the two sides would sign a contract during the Berlin Film Festival.

Warner Independent will re-edit the film into a 102-minute version for release in North America on May 5.

As agreed, once certain conditions are met, the scale of the screening will gradually expand on May 12 and May 26, eventually reaching 1300 theaters in 66 cities across the United States.

Initially, Warner Independent only planned to screen the film in 213 theaters on a small scale, so they didn't plan to hold a premiere ceremony. However, when they heard that Chen could invite Cao Yang, Warner Independent changed their minds.

On May 5, "The Promise" was screened on a limited scale in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Boston in the United States.

On that day, Warner Independent held a small premiere for "The Promise" in Los Angeles, inviting some directors and stars who had regular collaborations with Warner.

Old Chen and Sister Hong arrived in Los Angeles in early May and stayed at Cao Yang's house.

May 5th marks the start of the summer movie season, and theoretically, the release date for "The Promise" should be excellent.

However, everything has two sides; a good schedule also means fierce competition.

According to Cao Yang's information, many blockbusters were released that day, including "Mission: Impossible III" starring Tom Cruise.

At the premiere of "The Promise", not only did Warner Bros.' independent representatives attend, but several high-ranking executives from Warner Bros., one of the seven major Hollywood studios, also came.

Taking this opportunity, they made initial contact with Cao Yang and expressed their interest in his novel "Gravity".

Since Warner Bros. is interested in this novel, they must have already learned about its contents.

So Cao Yang asked, "Do you have any specific plans? Although this novel has a single setting, it takes place in space, so the cost of filming it will be quite high."

Ian Howard, Warner Bros.' vice president in charge of production, said, "Our department has done a rough calculation based on the scenes in the novel. Trust us, we are professionals, and the budget will not disappoint you."

Cao Yang nodded. This was only initial contact, and the other party might not be ready to commit. Cao Yang wasn't certain they would grant them the rights, so they were speaking cautiously, revealing no hidden agenda. Cao Yang guessed that the other party was currently waiting for the box office performance of "Juno," and perhaps even the box office performance of the larger-scale "Inception," before finally making a decision.

In Hollywood today, comic book movies haven't become mainstream yet, and everyone is still very cautious about producing a big-budget A-list production that isn't a sequel.

It's not an exaggeration to say that a big-budget production can bankrupt a film company.

Even for the seven major Hollywood studios, if a big-budget A-list production with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars flops, it will be a major blow and affect future investment plans.

Of course, as cautious as they are, if Cao Yang's "Juno" becomes a box office hit and "Inception" also becomes a hit, they will be in a much more passive position when negotiating terms than they are now.

Although "The Promise" was screened on a small scale, since a premiere was held, the main actors would definitely have to come and promote the film.

Chen has a huge influence in South Korea and the United States. With just a call from Chen, Jang Dong-gun from South Korea and Hiroyuki Sanada from the United States all put aside their work and came to the United States to promote "The Promise".

They believe that with Chen's fame and influence, coupled with the huge success of Zhang Yimou's "Hero" and Cao Yang's "Nine-Tailed Fox" in North America, "The Promise" will definitely achieve good results as well.

On the contrary, Nicholas Tse from Hong Kong did not come to promote the movie, citing that he was filming.

However, Cecilia Cheung did come.

After the premiere of "The Promise", Chen decided to split up the film into two groups to promote it. He personally took Jang Dong-gun from South Korea and Hiroyuki Sanada from "Little Life" to New York, Chicago and Boston for promotion.

Let Sister Hong take Cecilia Cheung to Los Angeles for two days to promote the product, and then go to San Francisco for promotion depending on the situation.

That evening, Cao Yang invited Zhang Baizhi to stay at his home. There was no other reason than that Old Chen had left, and it wasn't really appropriate for him and Sister Hong to live alone together.

We still need to avoid suspicion.

When Zhang Baizhi heard Cao Yang invite her to stay at his home, she was stunned for a moment, gave Cao Yang a meaningful look, and then seriously considered it for a while before nodding in agreement.

This left Cao Yang somewhat bewildered. If he was going, he was going; if he wasn't going, he wasn't going. Why did he need to think about it for so long?
That evening, Cao Yang didn't know what time it was, but he vaguely heard a knock on the door.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw a slender figure slip into his room.

Cao Yang was stunned. Only then did he realize that it was Zhang Baizhi.

At this moment, Cecilia Cheung was only wearing a semi-transparent nightgown.

This is?

"Miss Zhang, you?"

Seeing Cao Yang staring at her, Zhang Baizhi smiled sheepishly, then puffed out her chest, closed the door behind her, and said, "Director Cao, am I late?"

"Ok?"

"I was afraid that if I came too early, Sister Hong would see me, so I came a little late."

As Zhang Baizhi spoke, she took off her semi-transparent nightgown.

So, what came into Cao Yang's view was that all she was wearing was a tiny pair of panties the size of a palm.

However, besides the underwear, there was a very noticeable rose pattern with leaves tattooed on the lower right side of her navel, where it connects to the triangular bandage.

Her figure is undeniably stunning.

Seeing that Cao Yang didn't speak, Zhang Baizhi walked over, put her arms around Cao Yang's neck, and said with a smile:

“Director Cao, I’m not one of those small-time actresses or models from Hong Kong. I don’t usually entertain clients. But you’re a big director, young and handsome, so I’d be willing.”

"oh oh."

Cao Yang finally understood. No wonder she had that expression when he invited her to his house today; it turned out she had misunderstood.

Is the entertainment industry in Hong Kong always this direct?

But aren't you and Xiao Xie talking? It seems like you're getting married in September, so what's the matter now... Well, Cao Yang then thought of Edison Chen.

Even after getting married, people can still have a lot of fun.

Sister Hong's room was a bit far from Cao Yang's master bedroom, but they were on the same floor.

Zhang Baizhi knocked very carefully, but Hong Saozi still heard it.

She was a little confused at first, wondering why there was a knocking on the door so late, but she didn't pay much attention to it.

After getting up to use the restroom, Sister Hong couldn't fall back asleep for a while, worrying about "The Promise" and wondering if it would be a big hit in North America.

(End of this chapter)