Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 146: Filming Wraps Up, Making History Again
Since Lu Jiang received his Grammy nomination on January 5, the topic has remained a hot topic in society.

Under its initial influence, within two days, "you" spread across the mainland internet.

By the time Warner released the album "You" a week later, the album's initial sales advantage in mainland China had been almost completely lost.

However, neither Lu Jiang nor Warner seemed to care much about it.

Anyway, the main market for the songs is in Europe and America, and piracy is rampant in the mainland market. The overall market size is just so small, so we might as well turn a blind eye.

However, this doesn't mean that releasing this album won't make money.

Regular albums don't earn much, but limited editions can still make a fortune.

Warner Music released a Grammy nomination commemorative edition vinyl record, limited to 11111 copies, symbolizing a historic first, with a price of 111 yuan per copy.

The commemorative edition album sold out immediately upon release, and was resold by fans and scalpers for over 800 yuan on the same day.

No one thought it was an exaggeration.

This is a Grammy nomination, after all!
As a result, the price of Lu Jiang's Golden Lion Award Collector's Edition album also skyrocketed a few years ago.

However, that collector's edition was issued in many places, so the price increase was not high, only rising to around 200.

Conversely, the album "Fairy Tale," which was initially released by Rock An-Luo, is now selling like hotcakes.

The first edition of the album had a production run of only 21500 copies, available in both CD and cassette versions. The price has since increased from an average of 10 yuan to 150 yuan.

The most significant price increase was seen in the rare autographed copies of the first batch of 21500 "Fairy Tale" albums.

There are fewer than a thousand copies of this version in existence. Because the signature of Lu Jiang on it is the original version, and not the font that was fixed and continued to this day after "Fairy Tale" became a huge hit, the price of that batch has now risen to more than 1000.

Eight yuan has become 1000 yuan, which is almost the same as the increase in NetEase's stock price!

More than 10,000 commemorative vinyl records sold out in one day.

Lu Jiang and Warner made a fortune.

Because the packaging of these records even had advertisements—Yamaha pianos—they made 1000 million just by showing the logo!
In addition, there are various copyright revenues following the song's Grammy nomination.

If you do the math, the total revenue from "You" in Asia alone is almost equivalent to one and a half of Lu Jiang's previous albums.

The key point is that this isn't even the biggest part; Zhou Jianhui said that sales in North America have already exceeded 48.

Sales surged in the week following the Grammy nomination.

It is expected that Lu Jiang will receive the good news of sales exceeding one million before the Spring Festival, which is just over a month away.

It is currently estimated that each share will be worth at least one dollar.

Lu Jiang once again remarked that using the golden treasure chest was a wise choice.

After "You" was officially released in Asia, unsurprisingly, it became a hit everywhere in mainland China.

The song became a hit and sparked many discussions.

Countless fans are wondering, who exactly is Lu Jiang saying "You are beautiful" to?
Those who are close to Lu Jiang are unlikely to be curious about this issue.

Who else could it be besides Fan Binbin?
But outsiders, there's been a lot of speculation.

Among them, Jia Jingwen benefited the most from the joint hype of "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre" with Lu Jiang during this period.

The producers of "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre" also wanted to keep the topic trending for a longer time, so they started releasing information about the preparation process of "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre".

The announcement confirmed that Lu Jiang will play Zhang Wuji and Jia Jingwen will play Zhao Min.

The industry already knew about this, but most of the general public was unaware.

So now that the news has come out, the rumors about Lu Jiang and Jia Jingwen have reached a new level.

So in early 2002, Alyssa Chia successfully won her first "Heavenly King's Wife" title.

This also brings about many derivative effects.

For example, the "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre" project has become the most watched drama in the eyes of the public, second only to Lu Jiang's "The World's Number One".

The same applies within the industry.

Less than a week after the Grammy nominations were announced, several investors brought good news: the film purchase meeting and advertising sales meeting for "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre" had been scheduled and would begin as soon as Lu Jiang's filming wrapped up.

The number of TV stations and advertisers sending cooperation applications has surged, all thanks to Lu Jiang.

In the eyes of various agencies and actors, the drama has received far more attention than "The World's Finest" for a simple reason: the cast for "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre" has not yet been fully finalized.

As the most suitable of Jin Yong's martial arts novels to be adapted into a TV series, "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is very attractive to all kinds of actors.

Now, with Lu Jiang playing Zhang Wuji in this version, it's easy for actresses to want a piece of the action.

However, this could lead to some situations that Lu Jiang is not keen to see.

For example, three wealthy patrons carrying cash specifically requesting to play Zhou Zhiruo appeared this week.

Even Gao Yuanyuan received threatening phone calls offering her money to give up the role.

Even before the news of Gao Yuanyuan playing Zhou Zhiruo was officially announced, she was already being targeted.

That's incredibly powerful!

The three investors had somewhat differing opinions on this matter.

Singapore's Mediacorp is quite supportive, feeling that the offer is generous, so as long as the image isn't too bad, they're willing to accept it.

Wu's attitude was that as long as Lu Jiang and Jia Jingwen remained the same, everything else was fine.

Huanya's attitude is quite consistent with Lu Jiang's. In the selection of Zhou Zhiruo, those with connections are far inferior to Gao Yuanyuan. Therefore, he believes that the initial agreed-upon casting should be the priority, with quality as the top priority.

Lu Jiang directly proposed to resolve the issue through a vote, and as expected, Lu Jiang and Huan Ya alone accounted for more than 50% of the vote, so the casting process proceeded basically as initially agreed.

With the matter settled, Lu Jiang continued filming.

"The World's Number One" is nearing its end, and if all goes well, filming is expected to wrap up a week before the Spring Festival.

February arrived quickly.

At this time, "you" had been released in mainland China for three weeks and had sold a total of 19 copies. This was quite an achievement given the rampant piracy.

However, the media are more concerned about the European and American markets.

Warner Music announced that "You" is about to surpass one million copies sold in Europe and America!

One million units sold in Europe and America is considered Platinum.

Lu Jiang is about to achieve a platinum status, which will be another historic achievement, so we must keep a close eye on him.

For Lu Jiang, Dao Le remains the most important thing.

"you" has been released in North America for four months.

Sales in the first three months were less than 330,000, and in October they were less than 70,000.

Later, with the addition of events such as appearing on Billboard, topping Billboard, and receiving a Grammy nomination, the company gained even more recognition.

Sales of "you" skyrocketed.

Especially after topping the Billboard charts and securing a Grammy nomination, "you" began its European release.

As a result, in January alone, sales reached nearly 500,000 units, and total sales reached around 950,000 units.

However, the commission per copy of "you" is not high.

The reason, of course, is that "you" is just a single.

Currently, the retail price of a single CD album in Europe and America is approximately $3 to $5.

A standard CD album, which has 8 or more songs, costs between $13 and $20.

"You" was originally a single CD, initially priced at only $2.99. After receiving a Grammy nomination, it was repackaged and the price increased to $4.99.

In North America, the percentage of average new singers at major record labels is around 10-15%, while the percentage of singer-songwriters is around 5-10%.

Fortunately, this situation is special. Lu Jiang's attempt to break into North America is still based on a contract with Warner Asia.

This involves territorial protection clauses.

Zhou Jianhui couldn't actually release his songs globally; he could only limit them to Asia. However, there were flexible ways to handle this.

Therefore, the release of "You" is now a collaboration between Warner Asia and Warner headquarters.
Warner headquarters initially took a 30% cut.

After receiving a Grammy nomination, the commission rate increased to 25%, with the remainder distributed according to Lu Jiang's contract with Warner Asia.

In total, Lu Jiang's commission was 45%.

This revenue sharing ratio is considered top-tier among large companies in Europe and America.

To achieve even more, one must become a top singer or establish their own label.

Lu Jiang felt it was too early to consider this, since they didn't even know if there would be another English song.

Looking back, Lu Jiang began to calculate the share of this round.

The 45% commission is not the final amount; packaging costs of around 20% will be deducted first.

That means if each album is priced at an average of $4, Lu Jiang would probably earn around 11.5 RMB.

So, with this million-sales volume, the commission would be around ten million RMB.

This only represents the revenue from single album sales.

There are also reportedly high revenue streams from copyrights and other sources. Zhou Jianhui and Li Chao are currently working on this, and the total value of the several copyright collaborations they have finalized so far has exceeded $80!
So the European and American markets are really lucrative!
Lu Jiang couldn't help but wonder if, after opening this batch of treasure chests, he could get a few more hit English songs to make an EP or even a standard album and earn even more money.

On February 5, 2002, a week before the Spring Festival, filming for "The World's Number One" wrapped up.

"Everyone, this is the last shot, so pay attention!"

As Ning Hao's shout rang out, all units went into standby mode.

Yu Bo's Duan Tianya, Cui Peng's bald-headed Gui Hai Yidao, Zhang Jin's Cheng Shifei, and the much more mature Princess Yunluo Shuchang.

The four people took their positions at their designated spots.

"start!"

At Lu Jiang's command, the four looked up at the huge plaque that read "Humin Mountain Villa," and then turned around in unison.

Duan Tianya: "If only Haitang could see this now."

Guihai Yidao: "Yes, because she will live forever in our hearts."

Everyone nodded and walked away hand in hand.

"Crack!"

Lu Jiang's final order was given.

Immediately followed by: "Filming wrapped!"

Everyone at the scene cheered.
After filming wrapped, there was a grand wrap-up press conference.

The following day, news that "Lu Jiang's 'The World's Number One' has wrapped up filming" dominated the Asian entertainment industry.

The original cast of "Meteor Garden".

A film directed by rising international singer Lu Jiang.

That's the kind of momentum we should have.

But it's not over yet.

The day after filming wrapped.

After returning to Beijing and resting for half a day, Lu Jiang went to China Film Group in the afternoon and met with the South Korean distributor through Han Sanpin's introduction.

The approximate broadcast time of "The World's Number One" in South Korea was determined on the same day.

In the future, "The World's Number One" will be broadcast around the same time as in mainland China and Southeast Asia.

In this way, the gimmick of "simultaneous broadcast in multiple countries" can be used for publicity afterwards.

Actually, achieving the original version was not easy.

South Korea's attitude and procedures for importing TV dramas are second only to Japan's.

Therefore, the initial goal of "The World's Number One" was not when it would be broadcast, but whether it could be imported into China.

Now, not only has the import been confirmed, but it has also been confirmed that it can be broadcast "simultaneously" with other regions, which is absolutely fantastic news.

The reason why the deal was finalized so quickly was only partly due to the project's high profile and the actors' popularity in South Korea; the majority of the credit was secured by the favorable relationship between the two countries.

2002 marked the 10th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, and the two governments promoted film and television cooperation.

Han Sanpin said that at least five Korean dramas will be imported this year, such as "Autumn in My Heart", "Winter Sonata", and "All About Eve".

Last year there were only two.

And there will be even more next year.

In other words, through the introduction of CCTV and provincial satellite TV channels, Korean dramas have achieved "officialization" in China this year.

The two countries began to promote film and television cooperation. China introduced Korean dramas, and South Korea naturally had to introduce Chinese dramas in return.

Lu Jiang's new work, "The Best in the World," became the subject of this introduction.

Lu Jiang felt quite saddened by this.

At that time, the Chinese people did not know that in the next fifteen years, the Korean wave would sweep across the country.

Lu Jiang was one of the victims.

He once had an ex-girlfriend who was obsessed with Korean culture. Damn, she would force him to watch all sorts of Korean dramas every night, and they were even in their original language!
It wasn't until she started using Korean-style stainless steel flat chopsticks that Lu Jiang finally couldn't take it anymore, broke up with her, and left.

The Korean wave is indeed rampant in the future. In order to calm them down, is it possible to produce a few more Korean dramas?

With that in mind, Lu Jiang asked Lao Lu to help him calculate the auspicious date after he got home.

I currently have more than a dozen boxes on hand. Having too many boxes takes up too much space and affects the production of new boxes.

At the same time, his needs are also very high.

There are not many Chinese songs left, the stock of TV dramas is almost gone, and there are no English songs left at all.

Now that he has been nominated for a Grammy and his popularity has reached its peak, it is the perfect time to consolidate and further advance his career with a variety of new works.

So it's time to start one!

The time was quickly calculated: 8 a.m. on Lunar New Year's Eve.

After setting a time, Lu Jiang continued working.

After receiving the Grammy nomination, he became much busier, but fortunately, the benefits came one after another.

Two days later, on the eve of the Lunar New Year, Lu Jiang reached an agreement with Japan to import "The World's Number One".

This time it wasn't due to policy connections, but rather a purely commercial transaction.

Lu Jiang's first two dramas were quite successful in Japan, and with his father's success in Japan, there were fewer obstacles to importing them this time.

Moreover, the number of invitations for other commercial performances has also increased significantly compared to before.

Indeed, this is a nation that reveres the strong.
Of course, the actual broadcast time of the work will probably be about a month later than in other places.

But that doesn't stop Lu Jiang from using it for marketing purposes.

The following day, the news that "Lu Jiang's 'The World's Number One' will be broadcast simultaneously in multiple Asian countries during the summer vacation" swept across the entire Asian entertainment industry.

These few simple words reveal a powerful "international flair".

Looking across the entire mainland, and even across the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, who else can achieve simultaneous broadcasting?
Lu Jiang has now done it.

No wonder he's an international star!
The next day was Lunar New Year's Eve.

Early in the morning, Lu Jiang received his first piece of good news.

"You" has sold over a million copies in Europe and America, achieving platinum status and making history once again!
Lu Jiang was quite satisfied with this successful start. After exchanging a few congratulatory words with Zhou Jianhui, he returned to his room, summoned his cheat code at the appointed time, and began unpacking the box.
(End of this chapter)