Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 671 The Film Purchasing Manager's Aesthetic Sense

At the opening of the 54th Golden Horse Awards, Liu Yifei traveled from South Korea to Taiwan to meet with Han Yan, the director of "Be With You".

Liu Yifei knew her chances of winning the award were slim, but she still did a great job with the crew of "Be With You". She felt obligated to promote "Pacific Rim 2" as well, but her team told her that unless the Taiwanese side brought up "Pacific Rim 2" on their own initiative, Liu Yifei could answer, but she should not mention it herself.

Since Taiwan was not included in the planned promotion of "Pacific Rim 2", Liu Yifei's initiative to mention "Pacific Rim 2" would be seen as an unauthorized activity without prior notice. In addition, since Liu Yifei is from mainland China, Taiwan is very particular about such matters, which could cause trouble.

Liu Yifei didn't insist. Since there was no such stop, she decided not to mention it.

This year's Best Actor and Best Actress awards were pretty much a foregone conclusion. Tu Men won Best Actor for "Old Beast," while Kara Hui won Best Actress for "The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful."

Deserved.

The Golden Horse Awards are indeed well done. Although the judging may be biased towards Taiwan, they are generally fair, the awards are very convincing, and there are very few cases where awards are given out of necessity.

Liu Yifei left midway through the ceremony, not out of impoliteness, but because she had to catch a flight to Germany and had no choice but to leave.

There's no way around it; time is just that tight for international flights.

Liu Yifei has been so busy lately that her husband can't even get through to her on the phone, and Li Qiutang doesn't even know that Liu Yifei went to the Golden Horse Awards.

During this period, he not only had to film, but also had to raise money.

The promised 20 billion should be raised within three months, and at least half should be received before the end of the year.

He had to persuade Autumn Pictures to provide funding, but he faced opposition from some within the company who argued that Autumn Century's profitability was no less than Autumn Pictures', and that if they needed money for expansion, Autumn Century should raise it themselves, not Autumn Pictures.

However, Chairman Li insisted that Autumn Pictures provide the funds. Of course, Chairman Li also had to fully consider the opinions within the company. In the end, Li Qiutang took the lead, and the two companies reached an agreement that Autumn Pictures would provide 10 billion yuan to Century Autumn in the form of an investment.

Haitang International lent 2 million yuan to Century Autumn in the form of a low-interest loan, and Li Qiutang personally lent another 3 million yuan.

That's 15 billion. Li Qiutang plans to raise another 5 million after filming "The Wandering Earth".

The flow of 15 billion yuan is not a large amount in the industry, but it was still discovered by some meticulous people.

But despite the discovery, no one else noticed anything unusual.

The TV drama market is profitable now, so isn't it normal for Autumn Pictures to increase its stake in Century Autumn?

But the penguin noticed something was wrong.

Autumn Entertainment, an internet entertainment company, is producing a Chinese version of the talent show "Produce 101". During the preparation period, Autumn Entertainment contacted all the major talent agencies in China. Now, a large amount of money has entered Autumn Entertainment.

Penguin's investment analysts believe that the company is highly likely to expand into artist management in the fall.

That's some sharp insight! The penguin was right.

Who told Mubu Culture to partner with Tencent on "Produce 101"? Autumn's little scheme couldn't be hidden from Tencent at all.

Tencent's strategy in the entertainment sector is similar: to build its own capital network and profit chain through extensive investments. For example, Tencent controls the source of IPs through China Literature Group and then controls production through Tencent Pictures, although Tencent Pictures has not performed well.

It's quite difficult for an internet technology company like Tencent to incubate a film and television company capable of producing films from within.

I heard that Penguin is looking for an established production company to strengthen its capabilities from the outside. If it can't incubate its own products, it can just buy them!
Penguin is a shareholder of Autumn Pictures. Seeing that some of Autumn Pictures' practices and ideas coincided with his own, he also wanted to invest in the company.

The way the Autumn series is applied to the film and entertainment sector is something that Tencent can learn from.

The right way is for everyone to work together to build a large enterprise and make money together. Tencent's investment philosophy is more acceptable than Alibaba's. Why wouldn't Century Autumn take the plunge? But Cao Ping also said that Century Autumn has no plans to go public in the short term, so if you're looking for financial investment, don't bother.

Penguin's investment in the fall of the century is certainly driven by strategic objectives over financial ones.

The two parties quickly reached an agreement, and the remaining 5 million yuan would be taken by Tencent, which would also give the money to Century Autumn under the guise of investment.

The 20 billion yuan prize pool was divided up within a month.

It's also because Century Autumn is one of the best companies in the industry, so investing in it is definitely the right choice.

"Do I need to teach you?" Li Qiutang said into the phone. "Use this 2 billion, plus your own money, to invest in TV dramas, to invest in talent agencies, and to buy shares in artists. What I want is for you to have the inventory I need in two years, so that our production costs can drop to a reasonable level."

Damn it, Li Qiutang hasn't paid attention to TV dramas in a long time, and she only recently realized that the cost of making a TV drama is actually so high! And it's all due to the actors' salaries!

The claim that half the budget was spent on actors is a lie; the truth is that the male and female leads alone took up half of the production budget.

They make money by selling celebrities.

Putting aside everything else, just take Lu Han as an example. Last month, he officially announced his relationship, causing a massive online buzz.

Huace immediately opened champagne because the male and female leads of their next drama, "Sweet Combat," are Lu Han and Guan Xiaotong.

Why is it the TV drama crew celebrating with champagne instead of the movie crew? Lu Han has already joined the cast of "The Fortress".

Because TV dramas are not sold directly to viewers, platforms and TV stations value viewership more, while movies have to sell tickets to viewers one by one.

It's easy to win over the platform's film purchasing manager, but it's difficult to win over individual viewers.

"You don't know until you calculate it, and you'll be shocked when you do. Filming a TV series is so much more expensive than making a movie these days," Li Qiutang muttered after the debriefing meeting that evening.

The film's visual effects supervisor said, "These days, the crew members who go drinking with the leaders are all young men."

"What does that mean? We used to have actresses accompany them." Someone didn't quite understand.

"Tsk, the leaders who buy TV programs are all women now, and they're mostly in their forties."

"Of course, you won't reach this position if you're not old enough."

"They only like young, handsome men. When they come to your film set, no women are allowed to show up. They call on the handsome guys to come and have dinner and drinks with me."

“If a middle-aged female leader is still single, what’s the difference between her and a living Yama? No film crew would dare to offend her; they would all be careful to serve her.”

"If the male lead and second male lead in the crew aren't good-looking, we'll get the assistant director, cameraman, and stuntmen who are good-looking to dress up and have them have dinner with the leaders. If all else fails, we'll find professional actors from outside and have them pretend to be crew members."

"That's what everyone does now."

Finally, he cursed, "What the hell is this trend? It's just those big platforms' purchasing managers who are perverts. They only like to watch young, handsome actors and are only willing to buy their movies, so of course they raise prices."

When actors on stage receive too much, those behind the scenes receive less, so naturally they get criticized.

"Alright, stop yelling. Our crew is getting a young heartthrob tomorrow, so it's enough to finish yelling today," Li Qiutang said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)