Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 605 LeEco Ban
Li Qiutang's better reference is, of course, "The Wandering Earth".

But as Li Qiutang and Chen Zhixi had long predicted, the most important issue in making science fiction, especially hard science fiction blockbusters, in China now is not funding, nor team, nor technology.

It's a matter of trust.

Nationwide and within the industry, those who believe Li Qiutang can make "The Wandering Earth" a success can be counted on one hand.

Even now, with only six months until the scheduled start of filming for "The Wandering Earth," some people around Li Qiutang still don't believe him when he talks about "The Wandering Earth" on the set of "The Butterfly Lovers."

Some people think that the director is putting in a lot of effort for no reward. Li Qiutang already has this wealth and status in the industry, why should she take the risk of science fiction? She can just film something she is good at, which is less tiring and more profitable.
But that's not how the director did it.

If we only consider worldly success, Li Qiutang had already achieved financial freedom by selling ringtones before graduating from university, and at that time he already had more than 20 million yuan.

06 years!
He intended to use that money to buy a house in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen, and would now be a perfectly comfortable landlord. But he didn't do that; instead, he plunged headlong into the unpredictable world of film and television without hesitation.

Back to the film crew. Although "The Great Wall" achieved a respectable box office of 4.7 million yuan in its opening weekend, which is still in the 10 billion yuan range, the film's poor word-of-mouth means that LeEco's expected 30 billion+ yuan target is definitely gone.

But none of this has anything to do with Li Qiutang or "The Butterfly Lovers".

Li Qiutang continued filming at a leisurely pace, magnifying Liu Yifei's performance issues under the standards required for art films.

Liu Yifei now understands why Liang Jiahui, Zhang Manyu, and others said that filming with Wang Jiawei was too tiring, and even swore angrily that they would never work with Wang Jiawei again.

Li Qiutang's actions were certainly not as excessive as Wang Jiawei's. At least Li Qiutang didn't throw paper around on set and showed Liu Yifei a complete script and storyboard. However, Li Qiutang kept cutting her off.

At first, they would give her acting instructions, but after a while, they stopped. After the take, they would just say, "Yifei, that's not right, let's do another take."

Sometimes he would scold Liu Yifei: "If you give me a performance like this, you'll only ever be a mediocre actress."

"You usually get 60 points on tests, but you only get 70 points with an exceptional performance. Is this the kind of performance you want?"

This is considered quite harsh from Liu Yifei's perspective.

But Liu Yifei could no longer lose her temper with Li Qiutang. She could only swallow her anger and rely on hard work to adjust her state and skills again and again in order to achieve the effect that Li Qiutang wanted.

Because she also wanted to know where her current limits lay. Zhu Xiaoyan was a character far removed from her own, yet she was incredibly alluring to her.

It kept getting cut, and I kept adjusting it.

This resulted in Liu Yifei being physically and mentally exhausted every day.

Of course, Liu Yifei wasn't the only one tormented; other actors, especially the main actors, were also tortured to the point of near death by Li Qiutang.

The first time Li Qiutang photographed Qin Hao, she understood why Lou Ye liked him; it wasn't just because he was cheap.

Qin Hao's acting skills have an extremely high minimum standard. Some actors can win Best Actor awards, but they can also win Golden Broom Awards. For example, Xiao Ming's performance can be so bad that it could break the floor. But Qin Hao is different. He is very consistent and always delivers a 70-point performance. His acting skills are unbreakable.

If he were just a 70-point actor, he wouldn't be so popular. Qin Hao's acting skills are solid, and he's also very genuine.

In other words, he is the kind of actor who can convincingly portray any role, but his authenticity doesn't leave a "deep impression" on the audience. He rarely has "highlights" in his acting, and the feeling he gives the audience is that he lives in the role.

This kind of performance quality is what art-house film directors particularly like—erasing the actor's own traits and becoming the character himself.

Of course, viewers could also say that Qin Hao is not handsome enough to attract their attention.

However, in the eyes of many directors, good looks are never the main consideration when casting actors.

That afternoon, the crew missed the daylight, and the last take couldn't be filmed, so they had to wrap up. While they were packing up, the company's strategic investment president suddenly called. Li Qiutang rarely answered his calls; he usually reported to Zhang Zhao.

To get straight to the point, the investment president wanted Li Qiutang to stop an upcoming investment by the company in LeEco.

Strategic investments have always been managed by him and Zhang Zhao. This year's controlling investment in Maoyan was mainly promoted by Zhang Zhao, and Li Qiutang has given them full authority in this regard.

However, this investment in LeEco was not proposed by Zhang Zhao, but rather by his subordinates.

Many people in the company approved of LeEco's model, and since Autumn Pictures was not doing well in the field of internet entertainment, many people were considering investing in LeEco.

Even some of Autumn Pictures' investors wanted to push for this investment.

Zhang Zhao and other senior executives naturally disagreed, but the investment intentions of the middle and lower classes were very strong, and he could hardly suppress them anymore.

The investment amounted to over 70 billion yuan, making it the largest single investment since the establishment of Autumn Pictures.

The company plans to invest in two listed companies, LeEco.com and LeEco Zhixin. The former is LeEco's streaming media platform, and the latter is LeEco's hardware company that develops mobile phones and televisions.

These are the assets you'll need in the fall.

Upon hearing this, Li Qiutang instantly regained her senses.

Mr. Jia must have approached some senior executives of the company to discuss investment.

This guy is a master at making empty promises; most people are easily fooled by his smooth talk. Even Li Qiutang admits she can't out-talk him.

Li Qiutang was not yet clear on what exactly happened inside LeEco, but she knew for certain that Jia Yueting would be running away in six months.

Investing in LeEco at this time is tantamount to jumping into a fire pit.

Li Qiutang didn't say much, only that he would be returning to the company tonight: "All department deputy managers and above are to be called back. All members of your strategic investment department will attend the meeting."

"Invite those who are out of town, and those investors who want to push this investment forward, call them all."

Li Qiutang rarely goes to such lengths at the company, but this time she has to.

Even the largest conference room at Autumn Film Studio couldn't accommodate so many people, so they decided to hold the meeting in the main office.

Li Qiutang arrived at the company at 10 p.m. Holding the microphone, she didn't say anything at the beginning and went straight to the point: "I called everyone here so late, not to talk about anything else, but to talk about investing in LeEco."

“I know Jia Yueting must have approached some of you to discuss investment, which is normal business dealings, and I won’t say anything about it. But I’m the first to oppose this investment!”
"If we were an investment firm that didn't understand film and media and made a decision to invest in LeEco, I wouldn't say anything, since we're not professionals. But we are in the film and television industry ourselves, so what's wrong with LeEco? Can't you see the problems?"

“I have to specifically criticize the Strategic Investment Department,” at this point, a department has to step in and take the blame. “How did you come up with such a foolish investment decision? Have you even studied LeEco’s financial statements? Their film production ranks outside the top five nationwide, and their streaming media is no match for iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video. How can they have the highest profits in the entire industry? We are the top film production companies in China. We work ourselves to the bone to earn so much money every year, and their annual profits are higher than ours. Do I really need to tell you professionals about the problems here?”

The strategic investment president cooperated with Li Qiutang in putting on an act, looking ashamed and remaining silent.

Li Qiutang strongly opposed this investment. Although Qiutian Pictures really needed its own streaming platform, LeTV was definitely not the best choice.

Li Qiutang predicted: "LeEco will definitely die a horrible death, and Jia Yueting will definitely run away. He's just a speculator; he doesn't know anything."

He also issued a ban: "The company is not allowed to mention investing in LeEco again. Even if it is mentioned to the board of directors, I will not approve the 70 billion investment."

"Okay, that's settled then. It's getting late, everyone can go home now."

(End of this chapter)