Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 401 will show you what it means to truly live up to its name!
"How do you feel now, Empress?"

Even after Gu Bei got into the car, he didn't let Liu Yifei go.

Liu Yifei rolled her eyes at him, then said directly, "I don't feel at ease! I feel that actors should accumulate experience step by step through their works, so that their future path will be more stable."

"Then today I'll put your mind at ease and make you believe that the title of Empress Qian is truly deserved!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Bei said with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

Liu Yifei has been keeping a low profile for too long. In doing so, she has come to believe that she is nothing special.

After all, she used her limited energy on things that interested her, such as acting.

It's really hard for her to muster the motivation to learn about things that she's not particularly interested in.

Actually,
The mention of Gu Bei, Tang Yan, and Zhang Liangying at the beginning of her Weibo post was probably just a joke.

However, starting with Huang Xiaoming, a leading actor, it was no longer just a joke, but a reaffirmation of Liu Yifei's status in the Chinese entertainment industry.

The entertainment industry is inherently a place with clear hierarchy.

From Huang Xiaoming to Li Bingbing, this has affected almost half of the entertainment industry. They're not going to play along with such a joke about an unknown nobody.

The fact that they can call her by name means that they have already acknowledged Liu Yifei's status in their hearts.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that the celebrities on Weibo are now real people, and the assistants of the studios that manage them in the future would not dare to post these things.

"arrive."

Gu Bei looked out the window; they had stopped at the entrance of Rose Pictures.

"There have been quite a few changes here!"

Liu Yifei glanced at the entrance of Rose Pictures. The main structure and decoration of the building had not changed much, but the limited parking spaces around the building were full of cars.

There are only a few parking spaces left where they parked.

Before Liu Yifei could ask any questions,
Gu Bei pointed to the parking space at the entrance: "This is your exclusive parking space. Even if you don't park here, no one else will. This space is reserved for you 365 days a year."

Liu Yifei was puzzled: "Why is it so strict?"

Gu Bei walked ahead and opened the door for her, explaining as he did so:

"Because that's Hollywood. In some ways, it's even more conservative than the domestic entertainment industry. Offices, parking spaces, and even party invitations—anything that can demonstrate scarcity is where they show off their status."

The joys of capitalism are sometimes so simple, unpretentious, and even a little boring!

Gu Bei was too lazy to fight against these unspoken rules; he would just follow the lead of other film studios.

The two walked into the Rose Film Building. Liu Yifei only glanced at it briefly, but it was obvious that there were many more people than last year, almost filling the office area on the first floor.

"Crystal, Bruce, welcome back victorious!"

Kate was already waiting at the door and began to applaud.

In an instant, all the staff in the Rose Film Studio building put down their work and began to applaud enthusiastically.

For an independent film studio, receiving fourteen Oscar nominations and eleven awards is nothing short of a miracle, and everyone is naturally incredibly excited.

Especially in front of this big boss who has been missing for almost a year, one should be even more excited.

Are these all my soldiers?
Liu Yifei stood in the lobby, looking around at the people from various departments.

Overwhelmed by the applause and cheers, she blurted out, "Everyone gets a bonus this month!"

what?
Kate, who was standing next to him, was slightly taken aback when she heard this.

According to the rules of this production studio, the producer is usually given a big reward in public to encourage others to learn from this producer. It is rare for the bonus to be added to the bonus of everyone in the entire production studio.

As expected... no wonder he's from China.
"Everyone will get an extra ten days of annual leave so they can spend some quality time with their families," Gu Bei said with a smile, following Liu Yifei's suggestion when he saw that Kate didn't react.

clap clap clap!
A large bonus plus 10 days of annual leave!

Upon hearing the rewards from the two bosses, everyone's applause intensified, feeling a surge of motivation, as these were the things that working people cherished most.

When Gu Bei led Liu Yifei up to the second floor and into her private office, her face was flushed, clearly caught up in the atmosphere.

He smiled and said to Liu Yifei, "Do you feel anything now?"

Liu Yifei nodded: "There are many more people than last year, at least several dozen now. Rose Pictures is no longer a small independent production studio!"

"Last year was a breakout year for Rose Pictures. To produce this many films, you need this many people. You can get busy for a bit, there's a surprise coming up later!"

Gu Bei whetted Liu Yifei's appetite a little before leaving her office.

He went to a meeting with the producer.
With Spider-Man filming about to begin, he has to go back to his home country.
Many things must be arranged in advance, after all, Spider-Man is the biggest project he has ever handled, and he is the one who holds the creative control.

"Crystal, are you ready?"

Manager Linda pushed open the door and came in. Since it was a workday, Liu Yifei naturally had work to do.

"Yes, you may come in!"

Liu Yifei nodded.

"The first thing we need to discuss is whether your public image should be linked to that of Rose Pictures." Linda came in with her assistant, turned on her computer, and began discussing the issue with Liu Yifei and Liu Xiaoli.

"I will still consider developing more in the direction of acting."

Liu Yifei and Liu Xiaoli exchanged a glance, then spoke firmly.

"This is also a good option, downplaying your identity as a studio owner and avoiding some risks."

Linda nodded in agreement, unsurprised.

In fact, she also advised against Liu Yifei getting too involved with Rose Pictures, because the content produced by the studio could easily provoke the dislike of a certain group, which would also affect Liu Yifei herself.

Many Hollywood stars own independent studios, but even with the successful Plan B Studios, owner Brad Pitt doesn't tie himself to Plan B Studios, instead showcasing his personal charisma more publicly.

She then suggested, "We can continue with what you said in your previous interviews, emphasizing the importance of acting to you, and in the studio section, we can emphasize your leading role in women's films. This is one of the better impressions Rose Pictures has of the outside world."

"How is the public's reaction to Xixi right now?" Liu Xiaoli was concerned about this question.

"The public reaction has been very positive. Crystal's largest fan base is young girls, and they think it's cool that a woman Crystal's age owns a production studio. This is a very healthy statistic."

As Linda spoke, she showed various survey data and discussed some follow-up plans.

Liu Yifei started to drift off.
She wasn't very interested in these marketing packaging data and plans.

However, she did notice that as the two largest offices on the second floor, her office was directly opposite Gu Bei's office, and she could see Gu Bei talking to someone in front of a whiteboard through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Seemingly sensing something, Gu Bei turned his head and saw Liu Yifei through the floor-to-ceiling window.

The two exchanged a glance, and Liu Yifei guiltily looked away, feeling like she'd been caught slacking off by the teacher. However, she quickly recovered.

I'm the boss now, what's there to be guilty about?
Subsequently,

She turned her gaze back to that direction.

Even when she met Gu Bei's gaze, she raised her eyebrows provocatively, as if to say, "I'm going to watch and supervise your work."

Gu Bei noticed her gaze, shrugged helplessly, and then continued to immerse himself in his work.

Liu Yifei can now watch without any restraint.

It even made her feel that going to work wasn't so boring after all.

Occasionally, she could exchange glances with Gu Bei across from her, experiencing that kind of silent, purely spiritual communication.

By the way... why is there no sound in the room?
Liu Yifei turned around.

He noticed that Liu Xiaoli and Linda were staring at him.

It was obvious that Gu Bei's actions were too obvious, making it impossible for the two of them to ignore them.

"I……"

Liu Yifei was about to explain.

Linda suddenly laughed and said, "Crystal, you should know that this is considered workplace sexual harassment in North America!"

"what?"

Liu Yifei was startled.

He quickly realized that Linda was just joking.

After all, she knew that she and Gu Bei were in a romantic relationship.

After making a joke, Linda continued, "Let's continue discussing the subsequent promotional positioning!"

In Hollywood, it's commonplace for celebrities to be packaged and positioned; in fact, Hollywood is the birthplace of these techniques, especially when media conglomerates controlled over 90% of North American media resources in the last century, and the Big Six were bought up one after another.

However, with the rise of the internet, the monopoly of media groups became less obvious, independent studios rose, and the era of superstars came to an end.

However, the packaging and positioning of celebrities has been written into the underlying code of Hollywood. In essence, it is about playing to one's strengths and avoiding one's weaknesses, which is somewhat different from the way people in China create their own personas.

After chatting for a while,

Gu Bei pushed the door open and came in: "Linda, can I borrow Sisi for a moment?"

Linda nodded: "It's okay, we can take a rest."

You're all resting, but what about me?
Liu Yifei couldn't help but feel a surge of complaints.
Then Gu Bei pulled her out and led her to a small conference room in the corner of the second floor.

"Just the two of us?"

Liu Yifei looked around the conference room and asked in confusion.

Gu Bei pulled up the blinds in the conference room one by one to ensure that the scene inside the room could not be seen from the outside, and then said, "Didn't I say before that I would let you know why you are the real deal? Well, today there is the most important thing, which is to give you a share of the money!"

Subsequently,

Gu Bei opened the door,
Milo, the financial director of Rose Pictures, pushed open the door and came in carrying a large box.

Since the release of "Mistake in Our Stars" last year, Liu Yifei has never visited Rose Pictures again, and all her earnings are still in Rose Pictures' account.

The reason Gu Bei insisted on bringing Liu Yifei to Rose Pictures was because the North American tax season was about to end, and if she didn't pay her taxes soon, the IRS would come after her.

"bring it on!"

Liu Yifei had a look of resignation to her fate.

As an LLC established in a tax-free state, Rose Films has the advantage of being almost entirely exempt from federal and state taxes. All the money goes to the company owner, who only needs to pay personal income tax.

This avoids double taxation of corporate tax and personal income tax.
However, the disadvantages are also obvious.
That is, mandatory profit sharing from the company.

I can’t spend it all, I can’t spend it all!
Last year, it was Gu Bei who helped Liu Yifei find an investment opportunity in Facebook, a place where money is spent.

As for this year... even Gu Bei probably doesn't have a good solution for the time being.

“Last year, Rose Pictures mainly produced revenue from three films: The Artist, The Fault in Our Stars, and Twilight 2. The revenue was distributed by two divisions: Sony Classics and Summit Entertainment,” Milo said.

“Let’s start with the artists. This is the only film released by Sony Classics,” Gu Bei said.

"As for the artist, since the release date was at the end of December, all the revenue from the entire project was only received last year."

Milo rummaged through a large box and pulled out a bunch of documents, then said, "The artist's final North American box office was $160 million, and its overseas box office was $230 million, for a total global box office of $390 million, which did not break $400 million."

"Are there so many?"

Liu Yifei was a little confused.

She recalls that the artist's box office gross was around $1.3 million in North America, and even with North America's global box office, it wouldn't exceed $2 million.

Gu Bei explained, "Because the artists weren't initially well-received overseas, and China was one of the earliest regions to import their work. It wasn't until after the Oscars that it was released on a large scale globally."

Gu Bei felt that hiring Leonardo DiCaprio was definitely the best choice for an artist.

Although Leonardo DiCaprio received $10 million plus 1000% of the box office revenue,
But without Leonardo DiCaprio's global fame, this film, despite winning an Oscar, only grossed $100 million worldwide.

However, with the added hype of helping Leonardo DiCaprio achieve his dream of winning an Oscar, the film's box office more than doubled, almost breaking $400 million, and subsequent revenue from DVDs and copyrights also increased accordingly.

Milo continued, "We received a net share of $1.5 million from Sony Classics, after deducting the $1750 million share paid to Leonardo DiCaprio."

Before Liu Yifei could ask any questions, Gu Bei took the initiative to say, "Leonardo's box office share is 10% of the box office revenue that the distributor receives from the cinemas, while our net box office share is calculated by deducting the distributor's fees."

"But... that still leaves over a hundred million dollars!"

Liu Yifei, however, did not notice the difference of several million dollars in box office revenue sharing. She felt that even after deducting the box office revenue sharing, there would still be more than 100 million dollars in box office revenue sharing.

"In fact, we also need to add the $300 million in product placement revenue and the $260 million in tax rebates from filming in California, which are all part of our revenue during the first window."

Even after deducting Sony Pictures Classics' 25% investment share,

"We recouped $100 million in cash during the first round of financing with a 75% stake."

Gu Bei stated an astronomical figure, which was a portion of their combined income from an artist's film.

Liu Yifei realized that The Artist wasn't Rose Pictures' most profitable film last year; the Twilight series was still the most profitable!

(End of this chapter)