Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 151: Not having 10 billion is the director's incompetence—I laughed in anger.
The concept of guaranteed minimum release has existed for many years, initially circulating in North America.

After a production company finishes making a film, it usually hands it over to a distribution company to distribute it to various theaters.

Either the production company has its own distribution business.

Distribution business is also divided into two types. One is revenue sharing distribution, which means that if the distribution company believes that a film has great potential and chooses to believe in the film, then it will take a percentage of the revenue.

If you lack confidence in the film, you can pay a fixed price. I'll release it in theaters for you, and whatever the box office results are, that's none of my business. I'll just take the money and leave.

The two models are generally for different films, and the distribution company acts as an intermediary.

The initial guaranteed release was actually an accident. A production company desperately needed money, but their film needed time to be released, which meant that the company might go bankrupt before the film was even released.

So they wanted to sell the movie quickly, so they found a distribution company, and after that company's evaluation, they bought the movie and had the distribution company release it in theaters.

The production company recovered quickly after receiving a sum of money, and the distribution company also made money from distributing the film, meaning they earned more money without even having to produce it.

This led to the rise of guaranteed minimum issuance.

It's essentially a risk transfer. The production company doesn't know how much money its movie will make, so it asks other companies if they can guarantee a minimum release. If they see the movie and decide that a minimum release is possible, for example, if the estimated box office is 1 billion, then they will pay the production company based on a 600 million box office figure. In that case, the actual box office figure has nothing to do with the production company.

If the amount exceeds 600 million, the guarantor company will make a profit; if it does not exceed 600 million, the guarantor company will lose money.

There are also performance-based agreements, such as how many billions my movie can reach. This is what my production company said. If it reaches that, you will give me a certain percentage of the box office revenue. If it doesn't reach that, I will make up for the remaining box office revenue.

This kind of bet is very risky. Chen Shou is currently relying on his own abilities to determine how many billions he reaches, and how much of that he will receive in return.

He's the only one in the entire country who can do this; no other director can.

This year's "A Chinese Ghost Story" and "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" have made many cinemas question their existence. Chen Shouzhe directed two movies, causing them to lose tens of millions of yuan.

But they couldn't say anything, because Chen Shouzhe had made them even more money, and they still had to treat him like royalty, wishing he could make more movies. What did it matter if they gave him a few points?

Wanda approached Jiang Wen in the first way: a guaranteed distribution deal. They'd give her a 10 billion yuan box office share, which, at 43%, would be 4.3 million yuan. If the production cost was 2 million yuan, Chen Shou could make double the money and leave.

As for the box office revenue afterward, that has nothing to do with them. If it exceeds 10 billion, Wanda will make money; if it falls below 10 billion, Wanda will lose money. It's that simple.

No matter what, bullets can't possibly lose money. Many people have asked Chen Shouzhe to guarantee the minimum profit for his previous films, and Wanda has asked him several times, but Chen Shouzhe has never agreed.

The guaranteed price won't be too high; any increase in the guaranteed price depends on the director's ability.

They'll increase your share of the profits to a certain extent; otherwise, they'll decrease it, and the director might even lose money.

You could say that guaranteeing a minimum is a huge gamble, betting on whether a hit product can be created.

Why are so many people willing to guarantee a minimum income for Chen Shouzhe's movies? He's never lost, and his profit-sharing percentage is so high. Who wouldn't want a minimum income guarantee? If it's a success, you can also enjoy Chen Shouzhe's tiered profit-sharing benefits.

"I ignored him. Don't worry, it's at least a billion," Jiang Wen said, patting his chest.

"How about we do one too? If it doesn't reach a billion, you can reduce your share," Chen Shou said with a smile.

"What about over a billion?" Jiang Wen asked with interest.

"Isn't it normal for it to exceed one billion?" Chen Shou asked, his eyes wide.

"What do you mean by that?" Jiang Wen was stunned.

“My movie script isn’t even worth a billion? If it’s not worth a billion, it’s definitely because you didn’t film it well, it’s the director’s responsibility, you should definitely compensate me,” Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Damn it, is he trying to show off to me?" Jiang Wen cursed after realizing what was happening.

“If I were to direct my own script, it would definitely gross over a billion. I haven’t made a movie that’s under a billion in a long time, but it’s different if you direct it,” Chen Shou said with a sigh.

Yu Qian and the others who had just walked over stopped in their tracks. The domestic film market is doing well now, and it's not uncommon for a movie to gross over 100 million yuan, but Chen Shou's statement that there are no movies with less than 1 billion yuan still almost made them choke.

I've seen people pretend, but I've never seen anyone pretend like this.

However, Chen Shou has the right to act like that. If he were to participate in any variety show now, he would definitely be more popular than the great poet Xiao Gangpao and the others.

The offers he's being offered for directing are now terrifying.

Directors also have a market value, a fact that many people probably don't know.

Many directors are actually mercenaries. If a director is good at a certain type of film, then a production company can take the script to them, make a film, and pay them a salary.

Just like Chen Shou was looking for Stephen Chow, he offered him a director's fee of ten million, and he could take away ten million as long as he made a good movie.

Stephen Chow's current price is around 20 million, which is about the same as that of top-tier actors.

But Chen Shou's offer was fifty million, and that price wasn't from domestic sources, but from overseas.

He went to film Gravity for Warner Bros. and he took home eight million dollars.

Therefore, the domestic offer for him was based on the price Hollywood offered him.

As the highest-grossing director in China, simply having his name on the box office can add 100 million yuan to the revenue. Doesn't Alibaba love big data?

According to big data surveys, the director that audiences are most looking forward to seeing in theaters is Chen Shouzhe, followed by Stephen Chow.

As a commercial film director, getting audiences to go to the cinema is already a success.

Chen Shouzhe had the confidence to say this, and Jiang Wen was speechless.

Yu Qian had just returned from work and didn't say anything. Luckily, his partner Lao Guo wasn't there. If he had heard it, he would probably have been furious. After all, the movie he made... well, it's a long story.

"Are the sweet potatoes ready yet?" Yu Qian interrupted Chen Shou's trembling halo and asked him if the sweet potatoes were roasted.

"almost done."

Chen Shou picked up a stick and poked around a few times, pulling out a few small sweet potatoes from the ashes below. After letting them cool for a while, he handed one to each of the two men, and packed the rest up to take inside for the others to eat.

I also took out the wrapped beggar's chicken.

Wrap the free-range chicken in dried lotus leaves, mix it with mud, and then put it in the stove to roast slowly.

"You like horse farms so much, why don't you get a bigger one?" Jiang Wen asked.

“This place will be demolished in a few years,” Yu Qian explained.

"What? This place is going to be demolished? What will happen to the horse farm?" Zhou Yun exclaimed in surprise.

"We're moving. There's a piece of land next door, and we're already negotiating. It's still a few years away, so once we move there, it won't be part of the capital anymore. The land is bigger, and the rent is cheaper. It might be a bit more troublesome to come here in the future, since it won't be the suburbs of the capital anymore. We'll be going directly to Beihe," Yu Qian said with a smile.

“It’s alright, this kid has money, just let him be filial to you,” Jiang Wen said, pointing at Chen Shou.

"That's only right. If the horse farm is built, I'll definitely invest in it." Chen Shou looked up and smiled, holding the child in one arm. The little boy was playing happily, banging on the stove with a stick and eating the sweet potato his father fed him.

November's film season is a breather, after October was suffocating. A patriotic film managed to dominate the National Day holiday box office, leaving all the commercial films feeling ashamed.

This kind of thing only happened forty or fifty years ago, when it was still a state-owned enterprise and there was no such thing as box office revenue.

Now, patriotic films have found a new path, surprisingly surpassing commercial films and becoming a new competitive arena.

Just like the youth films of the past two years, a large number of companies have set their sights on mainstream commercial films.

However, unlike youth films which have small investments and quick returns, patriotic films require substantial investments.

The investment in "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" reached 200 million yuan. Such a large-scale film investment is beyond their reach. Many companies are planning to raise funds to produce one.

Chen Shouzhe is now facing a disgusting situation. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Beijing Film Academy, and the school has extended an invitation to him.

However, Chen Shouzhe did not attend; he was filming a movie in Northwest China at the time.

The film academy hasn't said anything about his reasons, and almost a month has passed.

However, a teacher suddenly appeared on a TV program and made a veiled criticism of Chen Shouzhe.

"Some directing graduates, relying on their current status as big directors, disregard the school's nurturing and show no gratitude whatsoever."

These are the mentor's original words on the show. The reason for this was that the show went to the Beijing Film Academy campus and interviewed the teachers on its 65th anniversary.

One of the teachers, a very senior one, was interviewed and asked what he found most unforgettable about the school's role in nurturing students.

As a result, he said that, and netizens began to use their abilities to investigate one by one.

Ultimately, it fell on Chen Shouzhe's head.

First, there are only a handful of top directors in China right now. Second, many directors graduated from directing programs, and quite a few came from the cinematography department of Beijing Film Academy, such as director Guo Shi and Ning Hao.

The scope has narrowed considerably; he disregarded the school's nurturing of him and showed no gratitude whatsoever.

This refers to the directors who did not attend the 65th anniversary celebration.

Many people looked at the list of attendees for the 65th anniversary celebration. The National Teacher, the Great Poet, and Ning Hao were all there, but Chen Shou was the only one who didn't attend.

It's not necessary to mention who they're talking about, but it's definitely Chen Shouzhe.

He was ambitious and ungrateful; the school invited him to the anniversary celebration, but he didn't come.

They're not giving the school any face.

As public opinion grew, many people began to criticize Chen Shouzhe, saying that he did not attend the school's anniversary celebration, that he had no gratitude, that he did not repay his alma mater for its cultivation, and that he was ungrateful.

Chen Shouzhe only saw it the next day. When he saw the news, he laughed, but then he got angry and picked up his phone to make a call.

(End of this chapter)