Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 698 Li Qiutang's After-Sales Service
Li Qiutang is probably the judges' chairperson who provides the best after-sales service.

In 2016, he served as the chairman of the first Changchun Film Festival Project Pitching Conference and selected several films. Unfortunately, some of them were difficult to produce in a short period of time, even if they won awards. A small number of lucky films were able to be produced smoothly. Li Qiutang would go to the premiere of these lucky films whenever he had time.

Two years ago, Li Xiaofeng's feature film script "Wrath of Silence" won the highest award at Golden Deer Ventures, which led to an investment of 2000 million yuan from Mr. Lü of Spring and Autumn Era, and the film was finally released to the public this year.

The first Golden Deer Venture Capital Awards were quite successful, with a high success rate in incubating winning entries. The short film "The Taste of Rice Flower" received a Special Mention at the 17 Venice Film Festival. While this award isn't particularly prestigious, it's still a great achievement for a newcomer.

Now another feature film has been successfully released.

"You've been a very dedicated chairman for two years now, still chasing after award-winning films," said General Manager Lü of Spring and Autumn Era, shaking Li Qiutang's hand with a smile.

His good attitude was naturally because he had seen the finished film of "Wrath of Silence" in advance and judged that the film had potential.

"It's just a matter of doing our part. We can't just give the awards and then forget about it. The awards are just the beginning." But actually, of the venture capital judges that year, only Chairman Li Qiutang kept up with the proceedings. He then asked Mr. Lü, "Have you seen the film? What did you think of it?"

"Okay, I think it'll make money. This film even won an award in Macau at the end of last year, what more could I ask for?" *Wrath of Silence* was nominated for the Macau International Film Festival last December, winning the Jury Special Award and Best Actor Award. There's a prize!
Mr. Lü has extensive connections in the industry and is able to invite many guests to the film premiere.

But when Li Qiutang and Xia Yu get together, they don't talk about movies or work; they only talk about where they're going to have fun.

Li Qiutang sighed, "I haven't been out for over a year. I'll go as soon as Yifei starts filming." For the past year or two, Li Qiutang has been busy filming and can only swim in his spare time. His diving equipment is almost rusted to death.

Xia Yu laughed and said, "Does she still have any say in your affairs?"

Li Qiutang said, "She's training in Yanjing now and comes back to sleep every day. Once she starts filming in Phoenix City, I'll be able to leave."

When will Yifei start filming?

Li Qiutang revealed a hopeful expression: "After Qingming Festival, around the 10th."

"Then next week."

"correct."

"Then come with me next week to Australia."

"Sure." The two fun-loving people readily agreed to the deal.

"Wrath of Silence" is indeed a good film. Li Qiutang came to support it, not to nitpick. He praised it generously: "Many directors like to film eating scenes, and 'Wrath of Silence' also filmed a lot of eating scenes, but the director filmed the food chain, which is what touched me the most. In addition, I want to give special praise to the male lead, Song Yang. He didn't have a single line of dialogue and relied entirely on his body language and expressions to act. He was really amazing."

After the premiere, Li Qiutang met with the main creators again before their interview.

He, Jiang Wu, and Tan Zhuo are all old friends.

"If there are any problems with the distribution, just tell me and I'll solve them for you." Then he laughed and said to General Manager Lü, "I've taken over General Manager Lü's job."

Mr. Lü laughed and said, "It's nothing. You can take it, and I'll be happy to have an easier time too."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Li Qiutang took his leave.

Perhaps it was Li Qiutang's involvement that changed the situation for "Wrath of Silence" during the Qingming Festival release window.

This movie earned over 1000 million yuan on its opening day.

It's not high, but it's very good for a low-budget film by a newcomer.

The distribution by Spring and Autumn Film Studio wasn't strong enough. If they had brought in Autumn Film Studio, the revenue would have increased by at least another ten million.

Moreover, the film "Wrath of Silence" received excellent reviews, which attracted a number of casual viewers to the cinema.

The film grossed over 5000 million yuan in just three days during the Qingming Festival holiday. Don't think it's too little. This film has no big director, no special effects, no big stars, and relies purely on its plot. The story is also a bit dark. It grossed 6000 million yuan in four days and successfully broke even. Be content!

It seems that breaking 100 million should not be a problem.

On the first Tuesday after the Qingming Festival, Liu Yifei and the film crew set off for the Western Film City, where the "Mulan" crew renovated an entire Mulan City.

"You'll be free to go have fun once I leave, right?" Liu Yifei knew that Li Qiutang had been looking forward to her starting filming soon.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Li Qiutang didn’t care that her thoughts had been exposed. “Married men also need the freedom to run wild.” Li Qiutang pushed the two suitcases out the door: “Let’s go, let’s go.”

Liu Yifei's assistant had been waiting outside for a long time.

The couple hugged at the door, and Li Qiutang watched his wife get into the car and leave.

Just as Li Qiutang was planning to go to Australia with Xia Yu and his friends in a few days, Zhang Zhao called her back to the company with an industry report.

Because LeEco made a move.

Jia Yueting himself has been "actively repaying his debts," but since the financial crisis broke out last July, there seems to be no substantial action. Mr. Jia has only been saying that he will repay his debts.

He was too shrewd; he knew he couldn't escape, and he knew he wouldn't be in any trouble anytime soon.

The saying goes, "When you have too many lice, you don't feel the itch; when you have too much debt, you don't worry." With so much money owed by LeEco and Jia Yueting himself, it's the creditors who are anxious, not him.

However, he was not respectable, so someone helped him to be respectable.

Because of certain people and events that cannot be openly discussed, Jia Yueting's overseas family trust, which had been isolated for a long time and was worth as much as $23 billion, was breached.

The court ruled to enforce the execution of the trust property to repay the debt.

Mr. Jia has once again been thrust into the eye of the storm of public opinion!

So you had over 100 billion! You old liar! You kept over 100 billion for eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring, and you just won't pay back the money, huh!

Mr. Jia is now truly panicked.

Because this 100 billion yuan has been exposed to the public, LeEco's creditors will really tear him apart!

However, his response was not simply to repay the money; instead, he announced that he would "start a new business"!
This time, the target is the new energy vehicle industry!
His car company was registered in the United States, and he also bought land and made plans there, but he didn't go abroad, so he had to bite the bullet and do it in China.

Therefore, in Jia Yueting's words, selling LeEco's assets this time became a "necessary choice for business specialization."

He said he would focus all his energy on starting a new energy vehicle business and would not be able to devote any more attention to other businesses. He also said he would definitely take full responsibility for his creditors!

As soon as Mr. Jia agreed, many domestic financial tycoons came running.

Sunac has been eyeing LeEco's land plots for a long time, and it has also been eyeing LeEco's website for a long time.

"How is LeEco doing now?" Mr. Li had to postpone his vacation and return to the company to listen to the report. He could delegate 90% of the company's work to Zhang Zhao, but he had to be present for such a major investment decision concerning the company's future.

"The stock was suspended long ago. The investors can't escape, especially the celebrity shareholders. They dare not speak out and can only accept their bad luck."

But Li Qiutang never underestimated the difficulty of this matter: "LeTV is a key card. We know that, Jia Yueting knows that, and other investors also know that even if Jia Yueting wants to recover his losses, LeTV will be his last trump card."

"Who else is keeping an eye on LeEco?"

"Ahri."

"Doesn't he have Youku?"

"The three giants iQiyi, Youku, and Tencent Video are in a three-way competition. If iQiyi can acquire LeTV's film library and memberships, it will be able to take a step ahead of the other two."

Aren't the penguins envious?

"Tencent is actually alright; they're not very interested in LeEco. Then there's Fosun Group; they're very active in the entertainment sector." He then mentioned a few more names, all major domestic capital players.

"We're not necessarily guaranteed a win."

Li Qiutang never felt confident of winning: "Let's keep in touch."

Finally, he couldn't resist taking a jab at Mr. Jia: "Now that he's making cars, I wonder if he can still scam money."

(End of this chapter)