Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 145 Who do you think you are? Challenging the Great Poet?
"Congratulations, Director Chen."

"I didn't know you invested in movies. You have a good eye for talent. When will we collaborate on one?"

"Director Chen, I also have the idea of ​​becoming a director. When can you help me out?"

There were so many people greeting him that Chen Shouzhe didn't even have time to reply before the next person came over to join in the fun.

Only two or three hundred people showed up, but that's how this industry is; if you have any shame or shame, you're out of luck.

What if it succeeds?

Look at Wu Jing, she succeeded.

Moreover, we followed Teacher Yu's path, which means we should still go to the horse farm.

The celebration banquet was hosted by Chen Shou, and quite a few Hong Kong celebrities and artists came, all of whom had connections with Wu Jing.

When Wu Jing went to Hong Kong to develop her career, she accumulated a lot of connections there.

"Director Chen, the sequel will probably be a year or two from now. I'm still polishing the script," Wu Jing said.

"No problem, you can come to me if you need anything," Chen Shouzhe nodded.

"Director Chen."

A director from Hong Kong, also surnamed Chen, came over. He had previously worked with Stephen Chow on a comedy film.

"Hello, Director Chen." He naturally responded when the other person addressed him as Director Chen.

“We might have been one family eight hundred years ago,” the other person laughed.

“It should be possible four thousand years ago,” Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Director Chen, are you interested in collaborating?" the other party asked.

"What cooperation?"

"I want to film Journey to the West; I love this novel so much..."

Chen Shouzhe hadn't expected the other party to make this request; it seemed a bit like wishful thinking. After listening to his long rambling, Chen Shouzhe shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, I currently have no plans to adapt Journey to the West into a movie."

"Director Chen, I think we can collaborate. Journey to the West is very suitable for adaptation into a movie, and I believe I can adapt it very well." The other party was clearly still unwilling to give up.

"It's not just your opinion; whether or not Journey to the West can be made into a movie is not something you need to tell me. This is something my company should consider." Chen Shou rejected the other party without any mercy, and his cold tone startled Wu Jing, who was standing next to him.

He didn't really want to invite so many Hong Kong actors today, since Chen Shouzhe didn't have a very good impression of Hong Kong. Apart from Emperor Entertainment and Stephen Chow, who he had worked with, most of the people present had some connection with An Le.

Face flushed red when Chen Shouzhe rejected him so decisively; he hadn't expected Chen Shouzhe to humiliate him.

What I mean by "not just what you think" is that you have no right to tell me what to do.

I don't need you to teach me how to make movies. What qualifications do you have to teach me how to make movies? Besides being older, in what way can you compare to me?

This is my company's business, don't meddle. Who do you think you are?

After Chen Shou finished speaking, he walked away, not bothering to look at him again.

"Director Chen, I'm sorry, I..." Wu Jing was about to speak.

"Director Wu, I'm not feeling well, so I'll head back first." The other person glanced at Chen Shouzhe and interrupted Wu Jing, then turned and walked out of the venue.

Those around noticed this scene and were curious about what the two had just said, why they parted on bad terms, and why one of them even left.

"What's going on?" Wang Changtian asked as he walked up to Chen Shouzhe, holding a wine glass.

"Just an overconfident idiot who thinks this is twenty years ago, an era that needs Hong Kong capital. He actually wants me to give him Journey to the West. Who does he think he is?" Chen Shou sneered.

"Uh, really?" Wang Changtian asked in astonishment. He didn't even dare to mention the copyright of Journey to the West. It was said that Alibaba had offered 800 million to buy it out. A director from Hong Kong actually wanted the film rights. How confident did he have? Even he didn't have the courage to mention it. It could only be said that those people had been in the well for too long.

"Really, otherwise, could you leave and continue to embarrass yourself here? You didn't earn much this time," Chen Shou said with a smile.

"I regret it. If I had known it would be so profitable, I would have invested some too. The publisher gave me a fixed price, and I lost a fortune," Wang Changtian said.

"What does it matter? As long as I make money, that's all that matters," Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Alright, I'll try to follow up on all your projects next time," Wang Changtian said.

"Hehe, you're eyeing A Chinese Ghost Story, right?" Chen Shouzhe understood what he meant. The first A Chinese Ghost Story almost made 1.6 billion, and it was exclusively produced by Shouzhe Pictures. With Painted Skin before and A Chinese Ghost Story after, the two movies completely devoured the summer box office.

The second season is about to start filming. The script has been approved, and filming will begin in a few days. Who wouldn't want to join in?

The problem is that no one can get through, but Wang Changtian is cunning and can't wait to get up there right now.

"Are there any seats left?" Wang Changtian asked with a smile.

Chen Shou smiled, then immediately changed his expression and said, "No, wishful thinking."

Wang Changtian already knew that since the first movie was so good, even if the second movie was a little worse, it would still exceed 1.5 billion.

"How could we give it away so easily? Nobody's that stupid to hand over their money to someone else. Your earnings from just one movie are equivalent to our company's annual profit. Hasn't anyone come to you from above?" Wang Changtian asked.

"Yes, I've received quite a few phone calls these past two days, all wanting me to take the company public," Chen Shou sneered.

His face was full of disdain. Under the stock market crash, Huayi's value was halved, and its market value of 90 billion yuan is now only 40 billion yuan.

Enlight Media, on the other hand, remained remarkably stable. Although it experienced a significant drop, it gradually recovered, unlike other film and television companies.

After all, Enlight Media's main business is distribution and advertising, and with Wang Changtian issuing various announcements indicating that the company's operations were perfectly fine, the stock price was stabilized.

Huayi Brothers wasn't so lucky; they didn't achieve much. The good news, however, was that they announced a film that would be participating in the three major European film festivals.

It's laughable that a real estate company can only rely on movies to boost its stock price.

Many celebrities have also suffered losses, having invested in various media companies. The money they lost has been posted on Weibo, and it's shocking.

In this situation, the authorities also became anxious, only to discover in the end that the domestic film and television industry was riddled with problems.

Very few companies in the film industry can actually make money from movies; most of them are just exploiting investors in the stock market.

It has become a laughing stock around the world, with the market value of its largest private listed company depreciating by more than half in a short period of time.

With only 40 billion yuan, and without producing any films, they instead focused on real estate speculation.

How could the higher-ups not be anxious? Entertainment is, after all, one of the means of external propaganda.

It's worth noting that South Korea, with its so-called boy and girl groups, promotes its soft culture around the world, has reached the international stage, and has become one of the top five YouTubers.

However, the domestic publicity efforts are clearly insufficient. When many foreigners mention Asian countries, they still think of Japan and South Korea. This is the effect of publicity.

It has long been controlled by foreign media giants, and even domestically it has been severely affected. Only in recent years has things improved somewhat.

What we urgently need now is a company that can step forward and truly compete.

After looking around, I found that there is a company that focuses on film production. It is not listed on the stock market, but its company is the most profitable, and it doesn't make money from the stock market, but from movies.

This morning, someone even passed on a message to Chen Shou: if he's willing to go public, the higher-ups will give him the green light, just like they did with Huayi back then.

While others have to beg and plead to go public, Little Horse Productions struggled for years to achieve this, and has now become a third-rate production company. The release of the last installment of The Pacification became the final straw that broke the camel's back, silencing Little Horse Productions completely.

Wang Changtian listened to Chen Shouzhe's words with envy, thinking how difficult it was for him to go public, while it was so easy for Chen Shouzhe.

Raising funds is to help a company grow, and going public is to reward shareholders who have invested. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and it is always the shareholders who suffer.

Looking at domestic production companies now, the only one that can consistently make money in the film industry is Chen Shouzhe's Shouzhe Pictures. It would be best to list them on the stock exchange.

The problem is that they only need financing when they're short of money. They can make more money than most listed companies in a year just from movies and copyrights, so why would they want to give someone else a piece of the pie?

Besides providing money, can the financing also provide cultural output?
It's not like a factory; with money, you can expand the factory area and add production lines.

Having money doesn't guarantee a good project, and spending a lot of money can still result in nothing.

Just look at Little Horse; they invested so much money, and in the end, they got nothing.

China Film Group invested 200 million yuan, lost it all, and was severely criticized.

This industry isn't one where investing money guarantees profits, which is why Chen Shouzhe isn't optimistic about Alibaba.

They have money and ideas, but the problem is that the so-called big data completely misunderstands the meaning of the work. In their view, celebrity directors can make good works, big IPs will definitely be popular, and having fans will definitely attract audiences.

If that were true, Wall Street would have succeeded long ago.

Even if Chen Shouzhe wanted to screw them over, it would be easy. He could take some rubbish scripts, approach some big Hollywood directors, and ask them to collaborate with Chinese people. Once they saw that it was a script by a big director and Chen Shouzhe, they would definitely not lack investment.

If he really does that, these so-called big companies and big capital will suffer a terrible fate.

Chen Shou simply didn't want to do it, because he knew people would resent him.

Even if we were to do it, we couldn't explain it clearly.

I won't do it now. I'll wait until I've made enough money and have enough power before setting a trap for them.

"I really envy you. You underestimate your abilities. You already have no shortage of box office revenue. If you could win a major international award, you would be even more secure in the future, and you would have more leverage when speaking to those in power," Wang Changtian remarked.

"We can give it a try next year," Chen Shou said with a smile, as if he had just thought of something.

"What award?"

"An Oscar will do."

"You're really boastful. No one in China has ever won an Oscar yet. There are some in Taiwan, but they have cards and are part of the North American circle, so they're not really considered Chinese. The great poet has lived off a Palme d'Or for decades. If you can get an Oscar, there will never be another situation like An Le's."

"Then I'll give it a try and enjoy the approval treatment that great poets receive."

(End of this chapter)