Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 86 Is it because Mr. Wang can't make money by not making co-productions?

After signing the two contracts, Chen Shouzhe did not stay in the United States and returned to China directly.

Warner Bros. needs to evaluate the script and discuss investment with Chen Shouzhe after the budget is finalized. Because he has to prepare for two films, Chen Shouzhe did not bring back the money for "The Day After Tomorrow" but only bought some equipment.

At the airport, reporters encountered Chen Shouzhe, but they clearly didn't recognize him until he got into a car and was picked up.

"You're finally back! I've been so annoyed these past few days," Zhong Lifan complained.

“You’ll get used to it. I’m planning to start a new project, and I’ll be directing it myself. It’s a project for the company in the first half of the year,” Chen Shou said.

Zhong Lifan's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly asked, "What movie is it?"

"Animated film," Chen Shou said.

"what?"

When he drove back to the company, the media had already published news of his return to China. The audience wasn't interested, after all, he wasn't a celebrity and didn't have many fans.

But the film and television companies didn't care. They kept calling, asking if it was possible to get their hands on the film.

Zhang Qiang, in particular, said that as long as Chen Shouzhe asked Ali to get involved in the new project in Colombia, he would promise to give him shares.

How could Chen Shou possibly agree? He just gave a perfunctory answer.

Both "The Impossible" and "The Matrix" are in the pre-production stage, and the investment amount will be calculated before it is announced to the public.

Columbia has only mentioned collaboration; the project hasn't been officially launched yet. They will announce it again when the project is officially launched, by which time the actors will have already been selected.

The first thing he did upon returning to the company was to start drawing.

Unlike live-action films, which can be filmed with live actors, animated films are more complex and often take longer to make.

Chen Shou ignored the problem and began to focus on his creative work. The plot of animated films is usually very simple, but the production is very difficult. He hoped that his team could persevere.

I went to China Film Group afterwards, and they confirmed that "The Day After Tomorrow" has been imported and will be released in May, a fairly standard release date.

Director La said there was nothing he could do. There were so many movies this year, and without Han Sanping, things had really gotten out of control. The number of movies had increased from twenty to eighty. To avoid any appearance of impropriety, China Film Group specially arranged a decent holiday for him.

It will be released in April, so the release date is May.

The best periods are definitely the summer, National Day, Lunar New Year, and Spring Festival seasons; other periods are relatively less desirable.

When Han Sanping was in charge, he basically scheduled all the foreign blockbusters for the first half of the year, leaving the second half for domestic films. He would even release several foreign films at once, making them compete against each other.

La Dong clearly lacks the courage; otherwise, Han Sanping, who is sixty years old, wouldn't have retired. People now retire at sixty-five, while he had already retired at sixty.

One day in March, Chen Shouzhe received some good news.

According to an official announcement on the film industry website, one of the scripts submitted and approved in February was written by Chen Shouzhe.

[According to a notice from the Film Bureau, the new script "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" submitted by Shouzhe Film Industry has passed the script review and is permitted to be filmed. It is understood that this film is a patriotic film.]

Main theme?
For a time, all the major film companies were dumbfounded. How did a patriotic film suddenly appear?

Chen Shouzhe has gone mad. Why would he make a movie like this? Is it some kind of mission?

Upon seeing that it was a patriotic film, a large number of companies immediately fell silent. If it were a comedy film by Chen Shouzhe, they would have gone crazy for it.

Unfortunately, it's a patriotic film, and apart from those with missions to fulfill, I doubt many companies would be interested.

After all, this thing is notoriously unprofitable and difficult to get involved in.

It was truly unexpected for many that Chen Shou, a renowned commercial director, would choose to make a patriotic film.

A restaurant in the capital city was packed with people today, with all sorts of luxury cars parked in the parking lot.

Chen Shou drove over alone. Today was a private gathering, and Tao Le and Zhong Lifan were not invited.

Those invited are all big names in the film and television industry and top directors. Even actors, except for a few like Jackie Chan, are only qualified to come in.

A woman in her thirties was greeting guests at the entrance.

"Hello, Director Chen," the woman said to Chen Shouzhe.

"Hello, you're in charge of entertaining today," Chen Shou said.

"Yes, Director Chen, please come in."

Chen Shou nodded. This woman was none other than Han Sanping's only daughter.

Today's gathering is actually Han Sanping's retirement banquet. You can tell why he's holding a retirement banquet just by looking at the woman standing at the door. Third Master is introducing his daughter to them.

With the rise of the film and television industry, more and more people are getting older, and they are starting to form groups and leave their connections to the next generation.

This situation is unavoidable. He will have children in the future, and he can't just hand over his career to outsiders or ask his children to work in other industries.

To paraphrase Yan Hexiang's joke about Guo Qilin, do you have such an outstanding "father" in other fields? As the former leader, Han Sanping offended many people, but also helped many others. This retirement banquet was a private invitation from him, so everyone naturally gave him face.

Besides, he withdrew, that's not a big deal, he has to save face.

Not long after Chen Shou went in, the Wang brothers arrived.

It was filled with bosses from major film and television companies, including Yang Shoucheng from Emperor Entertainment Group, Wang Changtian, Stephen Chow, Xu Ke, the director, the great poet, Ning Hao, and others. They were either big names in the industry or renowned directors.

As soon as Chen Shou arrived, someone came over.

"Is Director Chen's new film a patriotic film?" Ye Ning asked.

"Hmm, the main theme, should Wanda participate?" Chen Shou asked.

“Sure.” Ye Ning nodded without hesitation. Their leader came from the military, so supporting the mainstream ideology was only right. Even if it resulted in a loss, Wanda would not back down.

They will always be Chen Shouzhe's partners. After all, they have made so much money with Chen Shouzhe. If they back down because of the mainstream ideology, who knows what will happen in the future?

Chen Shou was deeply moved. As expected of a wealthy family, they didn't hesitate to agree, even though Alibaba didn't say anything after hearing the main theme. This is what a true partner is like.

"Just a heads up, the film won't be officially approved or started filming until the second half of the year. By then, August First Film Studio and China Film Group will also be involved. I'll be using commercial methods to shoot this film," Chen Shou said.

"Commercial shooting techniques?" Ye Ning was hearing this term for the first time and immediately showed a curious expression.

However, when other people came over, Ye Ning didn't ask any more questions; for the first time, he didn't want to follow them.

"Director Chen, why didn't you make this foreign language film a co-production?" Wang Zonglei asked with a smile, holding a wine glass.

This guy has ulterior motives; he's trying to sow discord between Chen and others, implying that Chen is the only one enjoying the benefits alone.

Sure enough, the people around looked over when they heard this.

"The procedures for co-productions are too complicated. Didn't Huayi also make one? Why didn't they continue? Did they not make any money?" Chen Shou asked, feigning surprise.

Hearing what Chen Shou said, Ye Ning, who was standing next to him, almost burst out laughing. She quickly tried to hold it in, but her trembling shoulders betrayed her.

Wang Zonglei's face immediately fell. A few years ago, Huayi Brothers collaborated with a foreign company to produce a movie, inviting two kung fu superstars, along with Liu Yifei, Li Baibing, and others. The investment was 70 million US dollars, and with the promotional expenses, it was estimated to be around 90 million. As a result, the global box office was 1.28 million US dollars.

According to the rule that film investment doubles, at least 2 million in box office revenue is needed to break even, so 1.28 million US dollars is a complete loss.

Chen Shou's co-productions are profitable, so everyone hopes he will produce more co-productions. Huayi doesn't want to produce co-productions because their co-productions are losing money.

Faced with Chen Shouzhe's naive question, Wang Zonglei almost spat out blood.

"Hehe, of course it can't compare to Director Chen. Your movies have never lost money," Wang Zonglei said.

"It's not like I haven't lost money before. I almost lost money with 'Painted Skin,' but luckily the movie did alright, so there's hope for a sequel. After all, I wrote two movies in one go when I was writing the script," Chen Shou said with a deliberate sigh.

As time has passed, people in the film industry have come to know that the company that initially smeared "Painted Skin" was Huayi Brothers. Now that Chen Shou is trying to sabotage it, Wang Zonglei can't say anything. Everyone has used underhanded tactics, but once they've been discovered, they certainly can't admit it.

It can be done, but it cannot be said.

Wang Zonglei took a deep breath, maintaining his smile: "Huayi still hopes to continue working with Director Chen."

"That's great! I'm planning to shoot a patriotic film in the second half of the year. Are you interested, Huayi?" Chen Shou asked with a smile.

"Haha, let's talk about it later, let's talk about it later. Chairman Han is here, please excuse me." Wang Zonglei said with a laugh as he left.

After Wang Zonglei walked away, Wang Changtian walked over with a smile and said, "You almost suffocated him."

"It would be better if he were dead. This guy caused us a lot of losses," Chen Shou said coldly.

Wang Changtian and Ye Ning nodded, because they were both investors in "Painted Skin." Because of Huayi's mudslinging, the film's box office was abruptly interrupted during its peak. They both wished they could kill the two brothers.

Cutting off someone's money is like killing their parents.

The hatred between parents and children is irreconcilable.

It's no wonder they have a bad impression of Huayi; they're competitors.

The banquet began without any speeches. Everyone took their seats. Although Chen Shouzhe was a director, he was seated with the film and television bosses, along with Wang Changtian, Ye Ning, Yang Shoucheng, and Yu Dong.

Everyone ate, drank, and chatted. When it was almost time, Han Sanping and his daughter started toasting. When they came to Chen Shouzhe's side, everyone stood up.

Looking at this former bandit leader, when did it become his turn to go around offering toasts? But seeing his daughter beside him, one can understand.

Sure enough, when Han Sanping came over with a wine glass, he said, "Everyone, eat and drink well. Jia Nu is for all the uncles... Haha, Chen Shou is younger than you and is your classmate, so you don't need to pour for him."

"I'll fill it myself. Thank you for taking care of me all these years, Third Master." Chen Shou poured himself a glass of baijiu and downed it in one gulp.

Han Sanping smiled, clinked glasses with the others, and then went to the next table.

A dinner party revealed a bittersweet feeling. New talents emerge in every generation, and who knows what the film and television industry will be like without Zuo Shandiao?

(End of this chapter)