It's reasonable for me to be a three-time Golden Horse Award-winning director and an all-around

Chapter 64 The sheep are in position! Time to start harvesting! Hollywood company...

The Los Angeles sun was blazing in April.

Lu Rui stood in the arrival hall of Los Angeles International Airport, watching the crowds file out through the glass doors.

When Han Sanping and his negotiation team appeared, he immediately went to greet them.

"Chairman Han, this setup..." He glanced at the team members behind him, somewhat surprised, "Isn't it a bit too grand?"

Han Sanping took off his sunglasses, his gaze sharp. "We must be very careful when dealing with foreigners. We need to make sure that nothing goes wrong."

"That's true."

The more China Film Group attaches importance to it, the more at ease Lü Rui feels.

He has only been in the industry for a little over two years and knows nothing about the ins and outs of cross-border cooperation, so he definitely needs help from someone with experience.

With China Film Group backing them up, it won't be so easy for Warner Bros. to play tricks.

Moreover, both sides are currently committed to achieving cooperation, so the negotiations should not be too difficult.

After leaving the airport, the group checked into a hotel to adjust to the time difference.

The negotiations officially began the following day.

Lü Rui took out the pre-prepared Chinese translation script outline.

Since it's a Chinese localization, the main storyline and cast of main characters will inevitably be set in China.

However, he chose to retain the important subplot involving "Tesla" and "Edison".

His original idea was to shoot fewer scenes overseas to reduce the difficulty of filming.

However, with Warner Bros. as a partner, these scenes can naturally be made more complete and smoother.

"We don't have an advantage in the distribution markets of Europe, America, and Australia, so we have to hand it over to Warner Music, who will take the lion's share of the profits; but Southeast Asia is our territory, so we need to fight for a larger share..."

Most of the filming took place domestically, so we need to take a larger share of the production budget…

While negotiating with Warner, Han Sanping also took the time to guide Lü Rui, teaching him negotiation skills and helping him grow.

After a week of bargaining, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

Warner Bros. contributed 15% of the total investment and was responsible for casting actors and setting up sets overseas, as well as providing support during the filming process.

In exchange, Warner Bros. would take 60% of the box office revenue in Europe, America, and Australia, while the opposite would apply to Southeast Asia.

"Lv, Han, I wish our cooperation a complete success."

On the day of the signing, Alan Horn smiled broadly and hugged Lü Rui and Han Sanping respectively.

Twentieth Century Fox made a killing in that market of over a billion people with the movie "Titanic"!
Other companies could only watch and drool, but there was nothing they could do.

Fortunately, China later joined the WTO, but the annual quota of 20 imported revenue-sharing films was still too small and not enough to cover the revenue of the six major film studios and other independent film production companies.

However, co-produced films do not need to take up this quota, and the US version rights can be retained for future remakes.

For Warner, this is definitely a deal that guarantees a profit and will also allow them to successfully enter the Chinese market.

"Mr. Horn, I will send the complete script and project proposal to your company as soon as possible..."

Lu Rui smiled even more brightly than him.

Warner Bros. made a sure profit, and so did he.

He successfully acquired the Chinese-language copyright, and Warner Bros. promised to handle some of the special effects production, plus he wouldn't have to worry about any of the preparations in Hollywood.

More importantly, he successfully became a partner of Warner!
This opportunity will provide a pathway to Hollywood in the future, allowing them to utilize their channels to take their first step in Hollywood.

Production companies, distribution, internet, cinemas, streaming media...

In an instant, countless ways to exploit loopholes and exploit promotional offers flooded Lu Rui's mind, and he talked about them endlessly!
Is an investment of 7000 million enough?

On the way back to the hotel after leaving Warner, Han Sanping raised a new question.

He likes big productions, the bigger the better!

If it could be like "Hero," with hundreds of millions invested right from the start, that would be truly exciting!

Lu Rui saw through his ambition and smiled helplessly: "Chairman Han, that's enough. This isn't a special effects blockbuster. Our main concern is whether we can make money."

This is our first collaboration, so it's best to play it safe. Once we make money this time, everyone will be happy, and we can naturally scale up future collaborations.

"That's true." Han Sanping nodded, then changed the subject, "So, how much of a share are you planning to give to China Film Group this time?"

Lu Rui smiled and said, "Thirty percent, with China Film Group and Rui Vision each taking thirty percent."

"What about the remaining 25%?"

"Actors, filming locations, equipment, publicity, venues..."

Seeing Lü Rui counting on his fingers, Han Sanping chuckled: "Jiang Wen is wrong. You really are the type to take advantage of every opportunity! You think you can handle so much with such a small amount?"

"enough!"

Lu Rui already had a plan in mind.

It's important to know that investment shares can overflow and can even be auctioned off!

In its previous life, LeEco was able to participate in the investment of "The Great Wall" by taking advantage of Zhang Yimou and also paying a high price to buy a portion of the investment share.

Lü Rui also planned to do the same.

He plans to further split 25%, or 1750 million, and auction it off using a premium plus additional conditions.

The highest bidder, who can provide more resources, wins.
He grinned wickedly and said, "Chairman Han, do you believe it or not? They'll have to thank me later."

Han Sanping laughed heartily: "I believe you! Of course I believe you!"

Which film company wouldn't want the opportunity to participate in investing in projects in collaboration with Hollywood?

……

The next day, Han Sanping led the China Film Group team back to China.

His next step is to widely publicize the news of his collaboration with Warner, creating momentum for the subsequent "auction" of investment shares.

Lü Rui didn't rush to leave.

In the past few days, Peter Griffin has sent him a lot of listings for Hollywood independent film production companies, and he plans to take this opportunity to visit them in person. He doesn't know when he'll be able to come back again.

If we can finalize this now, we can smoothly move forward with the new project while filming "The Prestige".

After seeing off the China Film Group staff at nine o'clock in the morning, Lü Rui immediately called Peter. "Are you busy?"

Peter put down his pen. "Lv, is something the matter?"

"I'd like to visit the company, but I'm not familiar with the area, so I need you to accompany me."

Peter glanced at the tasks the company had assigned him, and the pitifully small commission made him want to bang his head against his desk and die!
Thinking of Lü Rui's lavish lifestyle, he made a decision instantly, "Lv, wait for me, I'll go ask for leave first."

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, Peter Griffin stood up without hesitation and handed over his work to his colleague.

With his supervisor waving him away in disgust, he asked for leave from the company, drove his old Ford with Lu Rui in tow, and drove around Los Angeles.

Unlike the capital, Los Angeles has very few high-rise buildings because it is located in an earthquake zone; most of the buildings are low-rise.

This results in a very large urban area and a scattered distribution of independent film production companies.

After running around all morning, the two only visited three film companies that were interested in selling.

However, the negotiations did not go smoothly.

"Lv, don't be angry, those stupid guys are all mentally unstable..."

Inside the restaurant, seeing that Lü Rui was silent with a sullen face, Peter thought that the film company bosses he had met that morning had angered him, so he quickly tried to comfort him.

Those greedy guys, even though they were clearly on the verge of collapse, still offered increasingly outrageous prices, despite Lu Rui being of Chinese descent.

“Peter, I’m not angry. I’m just wondering if this is a waste of time? Will those people agree to sell at a low price?”

Lü Rui's question immediately stunned Peter Griffin.

He wanted to say "yes," but the reality was that Chinese, Indians, and Arabs were actually the ones being taken advantage of in Hollywood.

The best example is Sony.

This Japanese company got ripped off terribly trying to buy Colombia!

At the time, Coca-Cola almost ruined Columbia, even putting a bottle of Coke in the protagonist's and villain's movies, taking product placement to an extreme!
This resulted in a loss of up to $4000 million for the hugely invested film "One Flew Over the Labyrinth" in 1987!

Seeing the gap widening, Coca-Cola immediately decided to divest from Colombia.

At that time, Japan's economy was booming, and small businesses even bought the Empire State Building, while entertainment giant Sony jumped out waving its cash.

So in 1989, Sony acquired the nearly bankrupt Columbia for a whopping $34 billion and also assumed its $16 billion debt.

Then came more than a decade of losses!

In particular, in 94, Sony Columbia suffered a loss of a staggering $27 billion! This was the largest loss ever reported by a Japanese company at the time!

It wasn't until the new millennium, with the huge success of works like "Spider-Man" and "Men in Black," that they finally started to break even.

At this time, Lü Rui was also facing the same situation.

The independent film company bosses, seeing that he was Chinese, all wanted to rip him off, and the prices they offered were all higher than the last!

Seeing Peter remain silent, Lü Rui did not press the matter further.

For the next two days, the two continued to run to the company, but the situation did not improve at all.

Before we knew it, it was mid-July.

That day, Peter Griffin managed to ask his supervisor for another day off and went to the hotel where Lü Rui was staying.

But to his surprise, when they met again, Lü Rui suddenly asked him, "Peter, would you be willing to work for me?"

"Lv? I don't understand..."

"I'd like to register my own company, and you can be the person in charge on the surface, what do you think?"

Lu Rui had figured it out: rather than being taken advantage of, he would rather start from scratch.

However, being Chinese, he was bound to suffer losses when doing business here, so he planned to find a local to be the person in charge on the surface, while he would secretly control the situation through an offshore company to protect his own interests.

This kind of operation is not uncommon in Hollywood. There are so many small companies that nobody would pay attention to it at first.

Once we grow bigger and stronger, things might just work out in the end.

While Lü Rui was pondering, Peter could hardly contain his excitement!

"Lv, I do! I absolutely do!"

He had long been fed up with his supervisor's sour face. If it weren't for the need to support his family, he would have thrown his resignation letter in that guy's face long ago.

Now, Lü Rui is not only giving him a stable job, but also making him the person in charge on the surface.

Only a fool who doesn't believe in God would refuse such a good thing!

He wasn't worried at all that Lü Rui would lie to him.

After all, having cooperated for so long, he had a deep understanding of the Chinese boss's capabilities and financial resources.

Furthermore, Warner Bros. has already released details about the "The Prestige" project, and Lu Rui, as the director, is naturally on the list.

At the same time, he also has so many copyrights and scripts, as well as the box office and awards success of "Mystic River" in North America, plus his Silver Bear and Silver Lion director status...

No matter how you look at it, following Lü Rui is more promising than continuing to be a slave at WMA!
"Come on, let's talk about the follow-up arrangements..."

Seeing that Peter Griffin had agreed, Lü Rui began to discuss the follow-up matters with him.

Besides being an entertainment agent, this guy is also an excellent intermediary. Lu Rui is very confident in entrusting him with matters like company registration.

He just needs to hire another lawyer to keep an eye on things.

That afternoon, Peter Griffin promptly submitted his resignation to the WMA.

The next morning, he immediately began the various procedures for registering the company, embarking on a brand new journey in his life!
This will take a lot of time, and Lü Rui certainly can't stay in Los Angeles and wait.

Thanks to China Film Group's deliberate promotion, the "Fatal Prestige" project has attracted the attention of the entire mainland film industry.

A flock of bleating "little lambs" are waiting for him to fleece them!

(End of this chapter)