Chinese Entertainment Intelligence King

Chapter 189 Total sales of 1.42 billion, the king of distribution? The king of film sales!
Beijing Royal Palace Hotel
The screening event, or more accurately, the "Yi'an Film Distribution and Promotion Conference," was held here.

Attendees included representatives from several television stations, advertisers, film and television companies and production crews, as well as journalists and media.

When Cai Yinong from Tangren was led in by the staff, she saw Yan Li surrounded by several people talking. They seemed to have seen her and reached out to greet her.

After a while, Yan Li strode over and shook hands with Cai Yinong.

"President Yan, what a grand occasion."

"Hey, it's all thanks to everyone's support."

The popularity of "Chinese Paladin" has boosted the fame of Tangren and Cai Yinong, making them quite prominent among the guests present today. Yan Li personally hosted them.

"Your company has been making a lot of big moves lately, with projects like 'Young Warriors of the Yang Clan' and 'The Little Fairy from Heaven' being major projects."

Tangren Media has been making quite a splash this year, focusing heavily on the rising star Hu Ge.

There are three dramas currently in production or planned for investment and participation: an urban romance, a historical drama, and a mythological drama, all starring Hu Ge.

On the one hand, they can capitalize on Hu Ge's current popularity to make more money from the TV series, and on the other hand, they can further promote Hu Ge to maximize the company's profits, achieving success in both film and television production and artist management.

"It's all thanks to President Yan."

Cai Yinong smiled and flattered her, and she wasn't wrong about what she said.

Yan Li certainly deserves a lot of credit for Tangren's ability to handle three projects in one go.

The Legend of Sword and Fairy project, although unable to be broadcast on satellite TV in the short term, can only be developed slowly and steadily.

However, thanks to Yan Li and Yi An's efforts, they are already close to breaking even. The "New Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" project is progressing smoothly and has already achieved initial profitability. It will continue to bring in money after it is broadcast.

Without Yan Li, Tangren, given its past efficiency and scale of publishing, would likely have faced significant financial pressure.

Even if Tangren can successfully run these projects, they will have to promise a lot of benefits.

The publication of "New Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" is no longer a concern. The reason I'm here today is to show my support for Yan Li and to casually mention the later collaboration between Tang Ren and Yi An.

That urban romance drama was alright; the two projects, "Young Warriors of the Yang Clan" and "The Little Fairy," had an investment of over 5000 million yuan.

Having already tasted success, Cai Yinong still felt somewhat uncertain until she finalized her collaboration with Yan Li.

"No problem, no problem, we can talk about it later."

Why did Yan Li organize this film screening? Wasn't it to gain fame and find projects? Tangren offered him a high-quality project, so of course he wanted to cooperate.

He also took a look at Tangren's projects and found that they all had certain selling points, especially the dramas "Young Warriors of the Yang Clan" and "The Little Fairy," which had good potential.

Securing the distribution rights for these two dramas would provide Tangren Media, Yi'an Media, and the television station with a satisfactory outcome.

Yan Li didn't stay with Cai Yinong for long before Liu Yanming from Hairun and a high-ranking official from CCTV arrived.

Although President Cai is very capable, he still has to concede a head to these two.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, and with almost everyone present, the film screening officially began.

They aired one episode of "Bright Sword" and one episode of "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," and the rest of the shows were only shown in the form of clips.

After all, it wasn't a real film screening; the film screening was just the beginning, and the rest was just a presentation.

This recommendation event featured eight TV series, including "Bright Sword" and "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio".

Three dramas that appeared in the top 50 ratings in 2005, namely "The Mute Bride," "Wrong Car," and "Nine Phoenixes in the Family," are also included in the list.

One noteworthy point is that "The Mute Bride" is a work by Yan Li's old friend, produced by Zhonglu Film and Television, which previously produced "Snowflake Goddess Dragon".

Dong Xuan was approached when this drama was being filmed.

However, Dong Xuan was filming "The Great Song Dynasty Mystery Case: The Prince Replaced by a Civet Cat," which is also one of the eight dramas today, and was unavailable at the time.

Yan Li paid more attention to the drama "The Mute Bride" because intelligence indicated that the drama was likely to win the 2005 satellite TV ratings champion.

For this reason, Yan Li even took a look at the finished product of the drama.

Frankly, he didn't think it looked good, but he also had to admit that his personal aesthetic didn't represent the market.

These melodramatic love stories set in the Republican era currently have a large audience.

It's said that teenagers are the biggest guarantee of viewership, but if housewives and the elderly start fighting over the remote, they all have to give way.

A significant portion of romantic angst and melodramatic stories target this demographic.

So, even though these kinds of dramas don't get much online discussion, media coverage, or star power, and seem to flop quietly, their viewership ratings are actually quite high, even surpassing some universally acclaimed hit dramas.

The actual commercial revenue may not be as high as some mainstream hit dramas and popular themes such as period dramas and martial arts films, but the ceiling is not low and the floor is very high. It is a low-key but profitable business.

Regarding the eight dramas released by Yi An this time.

"The Mute Bride" ranked fourth in terms of sales revenue, with a very small gap from the third place, and it was also one of the earliest dramas to break even.

Even Yan Li was tempted after doing the math, wondering if he should invest in a couple of similar projects when he had some spare money.

If this is managed well, it's like a mainstream theme project; you don't earn much, but the risk is extremely low, almost like a guaranteed return on investment.

The PPT presentation touted eight dramas and Yi An's distribution capabilities. Then the host invited Yan Li to the stage to announce the total selling price of the eight dramas.

Yan Li went on stage, praised Yi An's publishing team, and complimented all the partners.

Just as he was about to boast a bit more, seeing that the audience was getting restless, he stopped keeping them in suspense and made the official announcement himself.

"To date, we have partnered with over sixty television stations, covering more than a dozen provinces, including Taiwan and Hong Kong. The total price for the eight dramas is..."

"1.42 million!"

Cai Yinong's ears rang, and she looked at her assistant: "How much did he say?"

"1.42."

Cai Yinong counted on her fingers: 1.42 million divided by eight, that's roughly 1700 million per film.

Of course, the prices for the eight dramas will vary.

Because some parts of the contracts between the various companies need to be kept confidential, Yan Li only announced the total selling price. Only Yi An and the production teams of each company know the specific amount sold for each drama. Even the TV stations only know their individual contracts.

Cai Yinong was not familiar with the other authors, but she was familiar with "New Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio".

Market development, the Tangren brand, and the influence of "Liaozhai" generated a total revenue of 2800 million yuan from two satellite TV channels, multiple terrestrial channels, provincial and municipal channels, and DVDs.

This number should be among the top in several projects.

Even if the top-ranked company has over 3000 million, the middle and upper-tier companies have over 2000 million, and the middle and lower-tier companies have 1000-1700 million, this 1.4 million figure shouldn't be too inflated.

The key point is that this 1.4 million is only the revenue from the first round and the early stages. After it is broadcast on TV, it can continue to be sold, plus the revenue from the second and third rounds.

The total price of these eight dramas will definitely not be less than 2 million, and 3 million... is unlikely to be reached.

Cai Yinong felt a bit parched. Putting aside the money that hadn't arrived yet, just this 1.42 million yuan, with a relatively low issuance dividend of 10%, meant that Yi'an would directly receive 1420 million yuan in one go.

It's impossible for Yi'an to take such a low percentage.

Anyway, Tangren gave 14%. If some weaker production teams have a more attractive distribution contract with Yi'an, it's not impossible to negotiate a 20% percentage. Let's take 15%, which is more in line with the market price for a strong distributor like Yi'an. These eight dramas will bring in about 2000 million yuan in one go.

If these eight dramas can eventually gross 2-2.5 million yuan, Yi An will receive 3000-3800 million yuan in distribution revenue alone.

This is only half a year. With this reputation established, if they take on another 8 to 10 dramas in the second half of the year, they will earn tens of millions more.

Cai Yinong's eyes were red with envy. Tangren works themselves to the bone on several projects a year, and that's how much money they can make. She even considered switching careers to publishing.

Yan Li was unaware of Cai Yinong's thoughts; otherwise, he would have certainly refuted her.

It's not as easy as she thinks!
Although publishing is a risk-free business, it is not without expenses, such as team transportation, accommodation, salaries, bonuses, public relations fees, and taxes.

Only about 60-70% of the funds actually ended up in Yan Li's hands, and for some large-expense projects, it might only be half.

More importantly, Yi'an's scale cannot support as many projects as Cai Yinong mentioned.

These eight projects require long-term follow-up, at least six months, and a significant investment of time and manpower.

Adding in some scattered high-quality projects and projects produced by Yi'an herself, there's really not much left.

This isn't something that can be solved simply by expanding the distribution team. Even if the team expands, not to mention the projects, the TV stations might not be able to handle them all.

With just a few dramas to choose from, Yi An can try to select TV stations with good reputations, ethical standards, and generous payments, and the prices can be quite satisfactory.

However, if there are too many projects, it will be necessary to cooperate with some less discerning TV stations and make some concessions, which will lead to endless variables and troubles.

Blind expansion is tantamount to losing everything!
Yan Li was not blinded by the profits from the issuance and still chose to take a steady and gradual approach to development.

Of course, Yan Li was cautious, but for publicity purposes, Yi An's slogans to the media were quite eye-catching.

The eight dramas have grossed 1.42 million yuan in the early stages, with a target total gross of 2.5-3 million yuan.

The media outlets that were bribed privately even planned to call Yi An "the number one distributor in the mainland television industry," and Yan Li himself was even crowned "the king of TV drama distribution."

Some people will definitely disagree with this statement!

However, currently, aside from state-owned enterprises like China Film Group and CCTV, there are very few private companies in the television distribution field that can rival Yi'an.

Companies like Hairun may have similar data, but upon closer examination, none are as impressive as Yi'an's.

Otherwise, Yi An wouldn't have been in charge of producing "Bright Sword," and Hairun has even considered collaborating with her on some projects.

However, the awkward thing is that Hairun also has its own distribution team. They are reluctant to give good projects to them, while Yi'an doesn't like the bad ones.

Only a dark horse like "Bright Sword," which is of excellent quality but not widely recognized, can facilitate the distribution cooperation between Hairun and Yi'an.

After the screening, related reports were published, praising Yi An and Yan Li in various ways.

The Yi'an Film Screening Event generated 1.42 million yuan in sales; it is reported that Yan Li profited at least 10 million yuan.

"The King of Distribution is Born: Yan Li Aims to Earn 3 Million Yuan from Eight Dramas"

Compared to a genius producer, Yan Li's true nature lies in his genius distribution skills.

Since "Conquest" in 2003, Yan Li has produced and distributed more than ten TV series, earning a total of nearly 5 million yuan.

"..."

After the news was released, ordinary people, unaware of the industry's inside stories and intricacies, simply assumed that the 1.42 million yuan belonged to Yan Li.

Is this guy surnamed Yan a reincarnation of the God of Wealth? He makes money faster than printing money?!

Some people understood the situation and realized that Yan Li was in sales. Some people on Tianya even did some popular science and analysis, and roughly calculated Yan Li's income.

Although it differs somewhat from the truth, it's still much more reliable than the wild guesses of the media and netizens.

Furthermore, some experts, combining media reports, industry insider information, and Yan Li's various resumes, have uncovered that Yan Li's core strength in building his business lies in his strong personal sales and public relations abilities. To this day, distribution remains the trump card for Yan Li and Yi An in the industry.

While the title "King of Distribution" for Yan Li may be somewhat exaggerated, it is not entirely unfounded.

Previously, the outside world knew that Yan Li was a capable person who knew how to make money, but they only had a vague understanding of how he made his money and rose to prominence.

The overwhelming popularity of this screening has indeed given many people a deeper understanding of Yan Li.

Whether it was netizens on Tieba or Tianya, they gave Yan Li a humorous nickname: "King of Selling Videos".

This title is much more well-known and widely spread than "King of Distribution".

After all, ordinary netizens may not understand what distribution means, but they certainly understand what selling films means.

However, Yan Li, the person involved, was very dissatisfied with this nickname.

Too indecent!

His once domineering reputation has been ruined by this incident, making him look like a general agent selling CDs on a pedestrian overpass.

What's even more infuriating is that some people went to his blog to ask when Wu Xilan's new film would be released.

This is outrageous! Didn't you know she retired in 2004?!

Online and in the outside world, most people just watch the spectacle, and many simply ignore it.

People are more interested in seeing which girl this bastard is dating than in how much money he's made.

In contrast, the industry itself will be shaken much more.

There was some controversy before as to whether Yan Li could be considered a big shot in the industry, mainly because Yan Li's rise to prominence was too short.

However, after this screening, a basic consensus was reached.

Yan Liguang has produced several dramas, and many actors do have to curry favor with him, but there are still quite a few who don't give him face and will simply refuse to act in his dramas.

However, with such unparalleled distribution capabilities, many film and television company bosses and industry bigwigs have to give them a few smiles.

After all, going against the top salesperson is going against money.

Yan Li's status and influence within the industry have risen sharply, especially in the television drama field, where the title "President Yan" has become increasingly prominent.

However, once someone becomes famous, troubles inevitably follow.

...

In Hong Kong, Huang Shengyi, who had just returned from the company, began to wipe away tears and hesitated as she took out her phone, pacing back and forth between several numbers.

Jia Nailiang is good at comforting people, but it's completely useless.

That young master Yang seems quite confident and eloquent, but he's not very good-looking and is a bit stingy.

Huang Shengyi looked at the last number. "Senior brother is the best. He will definitely help me."

After gathering his emotions and carefully considering his words, Huang Shengyi dialed the number, only to be met with a busy signal.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service area..."

(End of this chapter)