Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 360 The Imperial Advisor's Difficult Path to Capital
Stephen Chow had a smile on his face, and the Wong brothers were all flattering him. It was a rare sight to see him like this, since he had lost all ties with the brothers after being swindled out of 80 million.

He has indeed made a lot of money thanks to Chen Shouzhe, and many people are now looking for him. However, he knows that he can make even more money with Chen Shouzhe.

The Wang brothers are unlikely to cooperate, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying their flattery.

In the end, Stephen Chow was asked to leave by La Dong and Ren Zhonglun. With the two of them working together, who wouldn't give them face?

Stephen Chow enjoyed the treatment. When they walked out of the venue, they saw Chen Shouzhe standing at the entrance.

At this moment, Chen Shouzhe was surrounded by many people, including Wang Yun, Huang Bo, Jiang Wen, Guo Fan, Wu Ershan, Wen Muye, and Wu Jing, all of whom were very close to him.

Many people who see this circle are envious, as these people standing together represent the Chinese film box office market.

Apart from Wang Yun, who is a special case, the rest are all directors, all trained by Chen Shouzhe.

Among them, Chen Shou was naturally the most important, with Liu Xiaobing, Ren Yuxin, and Yang Mi also by his side.

"Director Chen," Stephen Chow called out.

Chen Shouzhe looked up and saw La Dong and Ren Zhonglun beside him. He nodded to the two of them without saying anything.

Wang Yun glanced at the two of them smugly. Seeing Wang Yun mixed in with a group of famous directors, it would be a lie to say that the two of them were not envious.

These people understand perfectly well what they represent. Those who walked out of the venue, especially the actors, care even more about this group.

When the great poet came out, he was stunned for a moment. He was proud, that didn't mean he didn't care about the box office. These people standing together represented the pinnacle of the domestic entertainment box office. His inner pride did not mean that he wanted to integrate into it. He got into the car with his wife and left.

The Imperial Advisor did come over and chat with him. After the Le family fled, the Imperial Advisor was in a difficult situation. Chen Shouzhe had thought about winning him over, but he still wanted to become a source of capital.

After all, he made tens of millions of dollars by making movies for Zhang Dapao over the years.

You should know that Feng Xiaogang made tens of millions of yuan from making one movie. He made movies for so many years, but in the end, he was exploited miserably by Zhang Dapao.

Over the years, his dream has been to become a capitalist. He says he doesn't want to be held hostage by box office numbers, but deep down he still wants to make more money from his movies.

It was normal for him to be recruited by the Le family. Other companies couldn't offer him that much money, and the Le family was at the height of its power, making many promises, so he readily agreed to join them.

We've all seen the outcome: Mr. Jia ran away, and we don't know if he'll be back next week.

All of the Grand Preceptor's investment was lost, and even all the money he had earned over the years was poured into it.

He had hoped that the Yue family could carry him to the heavens, but instead they took him to hell.

When Zhong Lifan tried to win them over, they only had one request: stocks.

Chen Shouzhe naturally couldn't give it to him; no one else had it, so how could he possibly give him shares? Therefore, Chen Shouzhe refused.

However, I have a suggestion for him: set up his own studio, with Chen Shouzhe as a shareholder, so that he can enjoy the company's resources.

The directors who are now working with Chen Shouzhe are almost all following this model: they take advantage of the resources provided by Chen Shouzhe, develop their own networks, and some even start their own talent agencies.

In the end, Huanxi succeeded and brought him over; they're already preparing to film a new movie.

Chen Shou could only wish him good luck, after all, Huanxi was a listed company and they were very adept at using the tricks of fleecing investors.

It's possible that the situation will repeat itself, as seen in the movie "Catch the Demon," where even a national treasure might succumb to money.

After exchanging a few words with him, Chen led the group to the restaurant they had booked. There were dozens of people there. Huang Bo and Jiang Wen explained that their scenes had finished filming, and they were just wrapping up some shots. Shen Yijie, worried about wasting time going back and forth, decided not to come back.
The two have already started preparing for promotion. They are acting opposite each other in this movie, and they will also be competitors during the Lunar New Year season.

It all depends on how well the two of them do their publicity.

Although Jiang Wen guaranteed the film's minimum profit, she still had to participate in the signed promotional activities. It was impossible for her to sell the film and run away, or make hundreds of millions and then disappear. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

"You weren't involved in Stephen Chow's movies?" Jiang Wen asked casually.

"Yes," Chen Shou replied.

"Knowing you're involved, those people are still sticking around. What if you disagree later?" "This time, I'll let him choose for himself. I won't participate, and this investment isn't about holding onto the film industry."

"If they're not the ones managing the film industry investments, who's in charge of those investments?" Wang Yun asked curiously.

“Wanda will invest 50%,” Liu Xiaobing said with a smile.

"Really? Wanda ate so much, Mr. Liu, could you spare some?" Yang Mi asked immediately upon hearing this.

She had to think about her company's stock. The stock had risen quite a bit, so she sold some and put the money in her pocket.

Just buy it back when the price drops, and you can make a lot of money in the process.

This is how chives are harvested. Just like the tide, when the tide goes out, something is always left on the puddle.

"It can't be evenly distributed." Liu Xiaobing shook his head; how could he possibly give it away?

"President Liu's appetite is too big, 50%!" Wang Yun said enviously.

"Haha, Wanda Pictures has the resources to take it over," Liu Xiaobing laughed.

"Does Stephen Chow's side also have 50%?" Ren Yuxin asked.

"You left him so much?" Wang Yun asked in surprise.

“No, Xiaoxiaomeng also gets 20%, so we'll only give him 30%,” Chen Shouzhe said, shaking his head.

“So that’s how it is. I was wondering why he couldn’t give up much. But if he paid a premium, he could sell it for a lot. I heard it’s his script. How did you get so much?” Ren Yuxin asked.

Ren Yuxin clearly lacks intelligence capabilities, otherwise he wouldn't have said that.

“Mr. Ren doesn’t know that his script is adapted from Journey to the West, so…” Huang Bo explained from the side.

"Oh, I see." Ren Yuxin immediately understood.

Chen Shou still managed to control the relationship, but Wanda's 50% was still a bit too much.

Liu Xiaobing refused to give them to them, and there was nothing they could do. The others also didn't know about the transactions inside.

After the meal, everyone went their separate ways. Chen Shouzhe would go to Xiao Xiaomeng's place whenever he had free time to work on the post-production of the movie "Operation Red Sea".

The following days were mostly spent on post-production of the film. Shen Yijie returned with his team, having filmed for over a month, and was exhausted from the journey.

Chen Shouzhe was a bit darker, but he was even darker and did more things himself.

After all, it was his first film, and he was exhausted.

"Will you edit it yourself, or will you hand it over to someone else?"

Chen Shouzhe met him in Xiaoxiaomeng, and the two sat down to have a cup of tea.

Currently, Xiaoxiaomeng has three films in post-production: Journey to the West, which is being handled by Wuershan; Operation Red Sea, which is being handled by Chen Shouzhe; and Shen Yijie's film, which just returned, is also in post-production.

The director and editor can be the same person or different people. That's why it's said that the director and editor are inherently opposed.

Many directors don't want to edit because they're afraid they won't have the heart to hand over their films to others for editing, and they're also reluctant to cut out the shots they've worked so hard to film.

Some movies are too long, most likely because the director edited them himself and didn't control the length well.

"Director Chen, can you help me with the editing?" Shen Yijie made a decision that surprised even Chen Shouzhe.

"Are you sure?" Chen Shou asked, squinting.

"Mm." Shen Yijie nodded emphatically.

(End of this chapter)