Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 537 Profiteers
The assistant left the office, leaving the two of them alone to talk.

"Did you come here to drink or to talk business?" Li Qiutang hadn't planned to drink, but since Wu Jing had brought alcohol, he decided to have a couple of drinks with him. In the end, Wu Jing downed eight liang (400ml) of the jin (500ml) liquor all by himself.

"Wolf Warrior" had a high return on investment and was a high-quality project in the industry, but Wu Jing still did not receive much support from investors when he started preparations for the second installment.

Investors still don't believe in military action, and Wu Jing even compromised by wanting to find a fashionable young actor to boost the popularity of his film.

But all the young male actors he approached refused to participate in action training or filming in Africa, no matter how much money they offered.

Aside from large-scale international projects like "Pacific Rim 2" and "Mulan," Li Qiutang rarely inquires about the company's specific projects now. He asked, "Won't the company fund the second film?" He assumed the company would naturally support Wu Jing in making the second film, since the first one had made money for the company.

“I’ve given it to you, but I can’t let you bear all the risk. I want to find a few more companies to share the risk.” Li Qiutang was willing to believe what Wu Jing said because the current market doesn’t believe in military action films. It was also kind of Wu Jing not to let Qiutang’s family bear all the risk.

Wu Jing continued, "Actually, it's not that no one invested, but they made too many demands. They wanted me to listen to them, use their actors, and wouldn't allow me to go to Africa, saying they wanted to reduce costs. I said no, I wanted to do it my own way, even if you have money, I don't want it."

It's hard to say who's right and who's wrong in this kind of thing. As the director, Li Qiutang certainly understands Wu Jing's thoughts. He himself doesn't want to be told what to do by the investors when making a film. But are the investors' demands wrong? You took my money, shouldn't you do it according to my requirements?

Before Wu Jinglai arrived, Li Qiutang had already read the script for "Wolf Warrior 2," which had some minor differences from the final film.

In Wu Jing's script, the final scene of the film shows Leng Feng's convoy carrying the national flag on a tree branch as it passes through the blockade zone.

But Li Qiutang told him to change it: "The tension is not enough. Let Leng Feng climb onto the roof of the car, use his injured arm as a flagpole, and raise the national flag high."

Li Qiutang put down her chopsticks, picked up a pen and paper, and quickly drew a storyboard: On the roof of the car, a crowd surrounded Leng Feng, who was half-squatting and half a head taller than the others, with his right arm raised high and the national flag fluttering in the wind.

Li Qiutang dared to make a film like "In Time" in 09 that criticized capitalism. In terms of tough, ruthless action films, he is no less skilled than Wu Jing.

After reviewing the storyboard, Wu Jing remarked, "I can't draw storyboards as fast as you."

"After four years of formal training, I've forgotten everything except this storyboarding skill."

While drinking and eating, Li Qiutang almost forgot that he was the one who called Wu Jing over to discuss the script. Instead, Wu Jing kept talking about how difficult it had been to prepare for the second part.

"I'm going to Africa in a few days to see for myself."

"It's almost Chinese New Year, why are you still going out?"

"I'll go again before the New Year to get the work in Africa sorted out, and then I can have a peaceful New Year."

The two then began to discuss the script. Li Qiutang pointed out some of his current minor errors, mainly regarding the pacing. Li Qiutang felt that the pacing could be sped up a bit more, and suggested that Wu Jing shorten the duration of the two dialogue scenes.

The script has been in development for several years and is basically finished.

After we finished eating and drinking, it was almost 1 a.m.

Since Wu Jing had been drinking, Li Qiutang didn't dare let him drive. When she learned that he had driven alone, she had her assistant take him home.

After finishing the transoceanic meeting with the United States, it was already 4 a.m. Li Qiutang did not go home, but instead spent a few hours in the company's lounge.

At 7:30 a.m., Li Qiutang was woken up by her assistant and took a car to Shijiazhuang to prepare for the new day's work.

Even in the car, he didn't forget to call Chen Zhixi to inquire about the situation of "Wolf Warrior 2".

Chen Zhixi's words were similar to Wu Jing's: "He said he didn't want our family to take too much risk."

How much have we invested so far?

“His budget was 120 million, we gave him 50 million, and his own company raised 20 million.”

Autumn's share is indeed quite high, and the risk should be the greatest, but Li Qiutang said, "I didn't say anything last night. Find some time to meet with him and tell him to stop looking for money everywhere. We'll make up for whatever is missing."

Li Qiutang even came up with a seemingly great reason: "Just consider it as reinvesting the money we made from the first movie into him." But Chen Zhixi could easily tell that he was optimistic about the prospects of "Wolf Warrior 2" and wanted to make more money.

Chen Zhixi teased him on the phone: "I can tell you're a shrewd businessman just by hearing what you're saying."

"Is it so obvious?"

"It's alright. When it comes to investing, nobody gets up early for nothing."

After saying all this, Li Qiutang hung up the phone and closed her eyes to rest.

Before we knew it, it was the last week before the new year. Li Qiutang brought a group of people from Chengdu back to Beijing to hold the company's annual meeting.

This is the company's first annual meeting since its listing, so it should be a grand affair.

2015 was undoubtedly the year Autumn Pictures took center stage. Just when everyone thought that Autumn Pictures, having lost "Lost in Hong Kong," would be unable to maintain its market position, Autumn Pictures dominated the summer season with three films: "Monkey King: Hero Is Back," "Jian Bing Man," and "Go Away Mr. Tumor." During the National Day holiday, they secured the top spot with the low-budget "Goodbye Mr. Loser," and delivered another perfect performance during the Lunar New Year season: the company went public, "Mojin: The Lost Legend" broke box office records, and "Detective Chinatown" surpassed 7 million yuan.

Last year alone, four films released in the fall grossed over 1 billion yuan at the box office, and four of them were produced by the main producers.

No one can find fault with this year's report card.

At the annual meeting, Li Qiutang said, "I didn't originally plan to go on stage; I came here to eat. But Zhang Zhao and the others said that since I broke the record this year, it wouldn't be appropriate not to say something, so I'll say a few words."

Li Qiutang's words were truly just a few words.

The first sentence: "Thank you all for your trust in us over the past year, whether you are actors, directors, producers, supervisors, or screenwriters. We hope that we can continue to trust each other and work together sincerely in the future."

The second sentence: "Alright, it's time to serve the food. Everyone, enjoy your meal."

The listing bonus is definitely different from the annual meeting bonus; Boss Li wouldn't skimp on such a small amount. He generously distributed bonuses on the spot, winning cheers from the employees.

But now Mr. Li regrets drinking a full glass with the film investors. Now he's in trouble. The publicity team is not having it: "Director Li, you drank with the film investors, so you have to drink with us too."

Other departments followed suit, even the finance department, which had the most female employees, insisted that he have a drink with them, otherwise it would be considered disrespectful.

"Don't you guys not drink alcohol?"

"We sent our department's best drinker as our representative."

By the time they reached the legal department, Mr. Li was truly too drunk to continue drinking.

"Please let me off the hook, considering how many red envelopes and gifts I gave you today," Boss Li pleaded.

He didn't know why his employees were targeting him, since so many senior executives could drink more than him.

The legal department was definitely not going to agree. The company's general counsel said, "We won't have any energy to work if we don't drink this."

"The Human Resources Department has already used this reason."

"We don't care about that, we can't get through this without drinking it."

Li Qiutang said, "I should have known better than to hire someone from Shandong as my legal counsel."

"It's too late, let's finish this drink first."

Mr. Li was given another drink.

"I wasn't this drunk at my wedding." Mr. Li really couldn't drink anymore; he felt like he would pass out if he drank another drop.

(End of this chapter)