Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 668 Public Relations Strategies (14)

Brad Pitt's Plan B has not only made a fortune in US dollars over the years by leveraging political correctness, but has also earned him a great reputation!
But the movie in Plan B...

It's really just about political correctness!

Movies like *12 Years a Slave* and *The Zelda*, without the veiled racism, are just ordinary dramas…

Oh, and as for Arkansas…

Racial discrimination is very serious!

Back then, in an attempt to prevent nine Black students from attending school, the governor of Arkansas actually sent the National Guard to occupy Little Rock Central High School, sealing off the school and prohibiting Black students from enrolling.

President Eisenhower then retaliated by ordering the 101st Airborne Division to capture Little Rock and temporarily take direct control of the state National Guard. Under the escort of fully armed paratroopers, Black children were finally able to attend school…

The Little Rock Incident!
And... Arkansas offers movie tax refunds, and they're not small!
California, home to Hollywood, prohibits actors' salaries from being counted as tax credits and offers lower subsidies than other states, causing many production projects to move to states like Louisiana and New York that offer higher tax breaks.

Arkansas is also willing to offer more incentives…

Ryan also has his own production company, Arcana Pictures.
The company, founded by producer Kenkow, had its first official production project, "The Lobster," directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Another investment company for this film was A24!

Therefore, he and A24 have always had a good relationship.

This is also why he agreed to star in "La La Land"...

Shen Yan has a very strong sense of execution. He called the person in charge of A24 that same day and also invited China Film Group and Enlight Media to participate in the mainland version of "Sheep Without a Shepherd," both of which are production companies.

The funds arrived in three days…

By the way, the Black actor in the American version of "Sheep Without a Shepherd" was Anthony McKay—not because he played Falcon, but because he and Ryan Gosling are good friends. The two worked together on "Half Nelson" before they became famous, and then collaborated several more times afterward…

Shen Yan was quite indifferent and didn't even get involved in the script discussion!
After all, he certainly didn't know America as well as Americans did.

……

Domestically, during this year's May Day holiday, "Life's Big Events" dominated the box office!
Released on April 24, it grossed 12.37 billion yuan in its first ten days of release as of May 4.

It has already entered the top ten highest-grossing films of all time…

It became the sixth domestic film to break the 1 billion yuan box office mark, following "The Big Shot", "Lost in Thailand", "Goodbye Mr. Loser", "Duckweed" and "The Martian".

Moreover, it has a 7.8 rating on Douban!
This is a very high rating...

You should know that when Shen Yan's movie is released, other movies released in the same period will definitely try to smear it.

Hiring online trolls to smear someone is a standard practice.

Nowadays, movies are bound to face a barrage of criticism after their release, and the more popular the movie, the stronger the criticism...

When *The Martian* was released, it was heavily criticized. Comments included, "It's too mediocre," and "It doesn't even deserve to be compared to *Interstellar*!" One of the most extreme criticisms was, "The sheer amount of dialogue, monologues, and plot points about 'solving problems with science' was utterly unappealing to me. It neither suspenseed nor moved me. So what am I supposed to watch *The Martian* for?"

Of course, these arguments were all refuted by the film's fans.

In comparison, the mudslinging by "Life's Big Events" is really child's play.

It's nothing more than attacking the movie for its clichés, and comments like, "Blow up Dad's ashes into fireworks? Grind him to dust? My head is spinning!"...

Useless!
The key point is that "Life's Big Events" is simply overwhelmingly superior. Looking at other films released in the same period, there's "The Left Ear" with a Douban rating of 5.6, "Silent Separation" with 3.9, and "Helios" with 6.3…

In terms of both critical acclaim and screen time, "Life's Big Events" is simply far superior!

Oh, The Left Ear grossed 1.7 million yuan;
"My Sunshine" grossed nearly 7000 million yuan on its opening day and 1.3 million yuan in total... "Helios" fared the worst, with its box office not even reaching 4000 million yuan in three days!
Yang Mi is quite unhappy – she was the female lead in "My Sunshine," singing and dancing in the movie and even wearing a sailor uniform, but the movie flopped both at the box office and with critics!

For the first time in all her years as the box office queen, she suffered a loss!

However, she also has another film in the summer blockbuster season, "Your Wedding"...

By the way, Wang Xiaoshuai criticized the film's screening schedule again, saying that "The Intruder" was not given a chance. This time, not many people supported him because Shen Yan's "Burning" had already been released and even chose to be released in the sluggish September season, but it still made 4.8 million yuan at the box office!

You're making an art film, and you haven't won any major awards, so why are you competing with commercial films for screen time?

Last year, when "Burning" was released, its initial screenings were lower than those of "The Expendables 3" and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes"!

……

Filming for "La La Land" wrapped up on May 7th...

After Shen Yan inquired about the remaining amount of money in the account and received a reply of $600 million, he simply invited all the actors in the crew to have a party on the beach!

Oh, $600 million, at least $550 million needs to be reserved for post-production...

The post-production of La La Land will definitely cost money!
The color grading, color scheme, and symmetrical composition of a film all require money…

However, Shen Yan plans to take the post-production work of "La La Land" back to China—the post-production directors, editors, and color graders he is familiar with are all based in China!
Therefore, it will save some money...

Whatever, the beach party is the most important thing!

Producer David Fenkel had a large beach rented out…

Shen Yan changed into a swimsuit—basically just a pair of shorts—and lay down on a beach chair with an ice bucket next to him containing several bottles of beer…

David Fenkel lay on a beach chair next to Shen Yan, and the two discussed the public relations strategy for "La La Land" while drinking beer—continuing the most classic strategy: first win a major award, then go through various art film festivals to accumulate enough word-of-mouth, and then go for the Oscars.

That's exactly what Harvey did!

Everyone followed suit.

Thinking of Harvey, Shen Yan casually asked, "Has Harvey made any moves this year?"

David Fenkel thought for a moment, then said, "Quentin Tarantino's *The Hateful Eight*..."

"The chances of Quentin Tarantino's movies winning Oscars are too slim, aren't they?"

David Fenkel stated, "Harvey has lost the trust of many filmmakers who would rather work with A24..."

"That's true!" Shen Yan nodded, and then shared Harvey's failed attempt to make money in China...

Harvey has always wanted Chinese investment, but unfortunately he has offended too many Chinese filmmakers!
He was publicly scolded by Feng Xiaogang, and even though Gao Xiaosong tried to defend him, it was to no avail.

China Film Group and Wanda Group only invested in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny"; they didn't agree to any of the other projects!
However, in recent years, China Film Group has held various film slate press conferences. Last year, they announced several film projects in collaboration with South Korea's CJ Pictures, including the sci-fi action films *The Fist* and *A Wedding Invitation II*, as well as *The Imperial City BJ* (dubbed "China's version of *National Treasure*"), the historical suspense film *Ahn Jung-geun*, and the war film *Angel's List*.

Then came the ban on Korean entertainment!

The cooperation thus came to an end…

As the two were talking, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone walked over.

(End of this chapter)