Artists under the Rebirth of the Coal Boss

Chapter 273 A word to the wise! The darkest place is right under your nose!

Lin Xingzhuo's return to the capital was very unfortunate.
Mao Xiaotong is filming in the "Before Dawn" drama series, while Wan Xi is filming in the Republican-era romance drama "Shanghai Shanghai".
Zhao Yihuan, the most popular female artist under Tiger Shadow Star Entertainment, is currently busy filming the first season special episode of "Mao Pian".

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This was at Lin Xingzhuo's suggestion, and after discussions between the company and Li Hongchou, they referenced the filming style of Japanese dramas.

During the gap between the first and second seasons of "The Swindlers," a 90-minute special episode with a structure similar to a TV movie was filmed to maintain the show's popularity and buzz.

The first season special episode features the popular character Bi Chenxi, played by Zhao Yihuan.

This story unfolds through the life experiences of the second-in-command of the Fox Organization, creating a standalone side story.

This not only supplements the plot of the Fox Organization in "The Swindlers" and expands the world view of the whole series, but also lays some Easter eggs and foreshadowing for the second season.

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As for the two who expanded overseas...

Ai Shangzhen actively participates in various variety shows and commercial performances at the end of the year in South Korea;
While busy with her studies, Satomi Ishihara also joined the cast of James Wan's "Insidious" to begin preparations...

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So, Lin Xingzhuo, Zhu Yilong, and Da Peng, all from Tiger Shadow Star Brilliance, formed a gathering to welcome Guo Fan, who had just arrived in the capital and established his own studio.

Guo Fan is the second new director, after Li Hongchou, to be recruited by the company using a partnership system.

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Dingdingxiang Hot Pot, located in Guoxing Jiayuan, South Shou Ti Road, Haiding District, Beijing.

Lin Xingzhuo poured a full glass of Yanjing beer for Guo Fan, who had just graduated from school and looked rather green, and said expectantly:
"Director Guo, I heard from the head of the film and television production department that your first film has started preparations?"

Guo Fan quickly stood up to offer a toast, drank it all in one gulp, and said:
"Brother Zhuo, I recently saw an animated film online that I found quite interesting. I'm contacting the director, hoping to adapt it into a live-action movie..."

Lin Xingzhuo clinked glasses with Guo Fan, took a sip of wine, put down his glass, and said, "An animated film adapted into a live-action movie?"

Guo Fan said, "It's a mind-blowing stream-of-consciousness narrative work. It got 8.7 points on Douban, and netizens on Tianya said it was the best animated short film in China at the beginning of the 21st century."

Zhu Yilong, sipping his Wahaha drink, said, "The best animated short film from China in the early 21st century? That's an exaggeration?"

While eating a sesame seed cake, Da Peng said, "You mean that book by Li Yang, 'The Adventures of Li Xianji'?"

"I saw that this animation beat 'Bao Qiang vs. Sushi Man,' which was heavily promoted by my former employer Sohu Video, and just won the Best Animated Film Award at the China Internet Film Festival a couple of days ago!"

Guo Fan dipped a piece of beef tripe in sauce and said, "Yes, I think this animation has great potential for adaptation. I plan to submit the filming plan and funding requirements to the company at the beginning of the year..."

Lin Xingzhuo recalls that the live-action adaptation of "The Adventures of Li Xianji" performed very poorly at the box office.

With an investment of 1500 million RMB, the final box office was less than 800 million RMB, resulting in a serious loss.

This directorial debut by Guo Fan caused his career to collapse right from the start, plunging him into the darkest period of his career...

After years of hard work, he finally turned things around with "My Old Classmate," which also provided him with resources for his subsequent science fiction film creations.

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Lin Xingzhuo picked up a piece of fragrant pork rib roll and asked, "Have you ever thought about making a science fiction movie? The kind of heavy-industry movie?"

Guo Fan, while eating hot pot, paused for a moment and said, "Science fiction? A heavy industry movie? Of course I want to make one! I especially love James Cameron's Terminator 2!"

"However, in the archives of the film and television production department, I looked at the film and television dramas that our company has invested in since its establishment, as well as some co-produced works."

"Our company's main business is urban romance films, period dramas, and children's animated films... It doesn't seem like we have any genes for big-budget blockbusters..."

Lin Xingzhuo picked up a steaming hot rib roll and said:

"Next time, I'll take you to see another subsidiary, Tiger Vision. Our gene pool for heavy industry blockbusters is all stored there."

Guo Fan cooked a piece of tripe and said, "Brother Zhuo, the day after the studio was established, Brother Ye arranged for someone to take me to visit the headquarters of Tiger Eye Vision and Tiger Roaring Qilin Cinema."

"Our company does have technological reserves. However, our IP reserves are really too weak..."

"Heavy industry films are generally adapted from novels, comics, animations, games, and so on."

Da Peng, who has always been very interested in making movies, asked with a puzzled look, "Aren't Terminator and Star Wars original stories?"

Zhu Yilong understood Guo Fan's meaning and said, "Provided you have the talent and luck of Cameron and George Lucas."

Big Peng: "Uh..."

Guo Fan explained, "I believe the core selling point of heavy industry films is visual spectacle."

"Many of the wildly imaginative ideas in novels and animations were impossible to realize with the technology of the past, but now they can be achieved with top-notch visual effects and post-production..."

"High-investment, high-tech, and large-scale productions of heavy industry films often involve investments of hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars."

“The biggest fear for producers is losing all their money, while successful IPs like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Superman have already passed the test of the market.”

"If we use an original story, will audiences be willing to pay for a completely unfamiliar world and story? It's a huge gamble..."

Lin Xingzhuo downed a whole glass of beer and said confidently:

"There's no rush with the IP issue. The company has already arranged for someone to communicate with Mr. Liu, a computer engineer at the Niangziguan Power Plant in Jinyang, and purchased the copyrights to all of his works."

"All of Mr. Liu's works have the potential to become super IPs!"

"The company is actively assisting him in applying for international awards. Once he wins a few major awards, the adaptation of the IP into film and television will be a natural outcome."

Guo Fan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Brother Zhuo, the situation at Tiger Eye Vision Group is actually quite urgent..."

"I see that Tiger Vision Group has several elite special effects teams working on research and development, exploring cutting-edge technologies. These are all huge money-burners!" "Given the size of the domestic special effects market, can Tiger Vision Group sustain itself like this?"

Zhu Yilong, drawing on his own experience as an extra, also said, "Brother Zhuo, these directors and producers in China don't like to spend money on technology."

Da Peng also said, "I heard from a friend at my former employer, Sohu Entertainment, that some celebrities have signed dual contracts, and their actual pay accounts for more than half of the production cost."

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Lin Xingzhuo thought to himself, "This is bad."

Guo Fan's words were a wake-up call!

Damn it! This time it's the blind spot right under our noses!!

Over the next decade, with capital flowing into the film and television industry, the production costs of film and television dramas will increasingly consist of star salaries and increasingly consist of special effects.

This situation did not change completely until the salary cap was fully implemented in 2019.

This is terrible, we're going to lose a lot of money!!
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Lin Xingzhu broke out in a cold sweat, but displayed the professionalism of a top actor, quickly regaining her composure and calmly fabricating a story:
"The domestic market is definitely not an option; the company has already established a presence in overseas markets..."

Hearing what Lin Xingzhuo, the company's top executive, said, everyone felt relieved. While enjoying hot pot and drinks, the conversation turned to the recent Copenhagen Accord and the smog in Beijing.

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Lin Xingzhu drank two glasses of wine and listened to the conversation, but his mind was filled with the latest operating report of Tiger Eye Vision Group from the previous quarter.

The books have gradually changed from being profitable to breaking even, with income and expenses balancing out...

Tiger Vision's continuous expansion through acquisitions has led to a steady increase in operating costs.

Once the French company BUF is acquired, it will definitely start to lose money!

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Relying on meager earnings from odd jobs in domestic films and television dramas, along with policy subsidies for children's animated films, is simply unsustainable.

After all, companies like Xu Ke in Huayu Entertainment, who are willing to invest heavily in technology, are extremely rare!

Currently, all film crews that purchase the Tiger Vision technology service package have opted for the most basic VIP service package.

There are two main reasons why these film crews buy special effects services.

One is the newly released "Notice on Several Tax Policy Issues to Support the Development of Cultural Enterprises" (Finance and Taxation [2009] No. 31), which allows film and television technology services to be tax-deductible.

Secondly, during the promotional period, they can boast that they used the same special effects as Tsui Hark's "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame" and John Woo's "Reign of Assassins"...

Damn it! How can we make a good movie production with these insects?!
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As for the children's animated series "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" and "Boonie Bears", these are the two IP series.

The policy subsidies are more than enough to support the hundreds of animators in Tiger Shadow Star's animation division.

However, subsidies are needed for special effects technology research and development to maintain the film industry's heavy industry teams.

Given the size of the domestic animation market in 2009, this was nothing compared to the vastness of the market; it was merely a drop in the ocean.

Unless you can tap into the toy and related merchandise market, that's a huge, lucrative market!
However, the national toy market in 2009 was in a state of rampant piracy and chaos, so let's not even mention it.

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Given the current situation, the more Tiger Vision invests in R&D and the more foreign unicorn companies it acquires, the more unsustainable its costs will become!
It can only rely on its parent company, Jinyuan Huwei Coal Industry, for financial support.

This is not a long-term solution...

What Tiger Capital lacks most right now.

It's about creating a super IP that can monetize these talents and technological reserves, achieving a positive cycle of technology, R&D, and profits!
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As for the copyright that was purchased this year from Engineer Liu at the Niangziguan Power Plant in Jinyang...

This is a case of "distant water cannot quench immediate thirst"!

They're developing too slowly!
According to the timeline of the previous life, the conditions for adapting Liu Cixin's works into film and television would not be met until after 2015.

In 2015, The Three-Body Problem won the 73rd Hugo Award for Best Novel!

This marks the first time an Asian work has won this award, causing a huge sensation in the international science fiction community for Liu Cixin and "The Three-Body Problem"!
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This year, the company visited Liu Cixin and purchased the film and television adaptation rights to the entire "Three-Body Problem" series for only 100,000 yuan, and the short stories for 50,000 yuan. If purchased as a package, an additional 30% discount could be obtained.

The price was negotiated so drastically that Lin Xingzhuo felt embarrassed and had the company's negotiator scrape together one million.

It's worth noting that after 2015, Liu Cixin became the number one science fiction writer in China!
The price for adapting a short story into a film or television series is 1000 million yuan, and the Three-Body Universe IP is valued at over 20 billion yuan.

The timing isn't right yet; it's like comparing heaven and earth.

In other words, forcing a film or television adaptation now would definitely result in a flop...

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After the four of them finished their meal, Lin Xingzhuo quickly asked Xiao Ma to drive him to the two-story office building that Huying Xinghui had recently rented in Block A of the China World Trade Center Phase III.

When I arrived at the company, I ran into Ding Ye, who had just returned to the capital...

(End of this chapter)