1979: The child's mother is a celestial being.

Chapter 85 Asking for an exorbitant price, then negotiating on the spot (Please subscribe!)

"Mr. Owen, have you finished watching the movie?"

"I've finished watching it, it's fantastic. Although there are some parts of the plot I don't understand yet, I'm so glad that your movie will still be shown in Hong Kong, which gives me the opportunity to watch it a second or even a third time after I return to Hong Kong."

At noon, just as Chen Fusheng and his group returned to the hotel for lunch, Irving Rossell came looking for them.

Although Chen Fusheng had introduced the Hong Kong businessman to Deputy Director Shi and others that morning, he introduced them again face-to-face at this moment.

After greeting them, Irving also got some food and sat down to eat with them.

They started talking about business while eating.

Chen Fusheng originally thought that the other party just wanted to sponsor the clothes they would wear during the Cannes Film Festival, and he was still thinking about how much of a price to ask for.

Unexpectedly, Irving's ambitions were even greater than he imagined; he actually planned to insert small advertisements into their movies.

Good guy.

It turns out it was a big deal.

Chen Fusheng put down his knife and fork, trying his best to maintain his expression so that the other person wouldn't see through his inner joy.

Then, feigning difficulty, he said, "Mr. Owen, according to the information I have, 'Andhadhun' is scheduled to be screened in Hong Kong a few days after we attend the film festival, so your request is a bit difficult to fulfill."

"Can't it be postponed?" Owen was indeed taken aback by Chen Fusheng's smokescreen, but after carefully considering the other party's last sentence, he realized that it was only "a bit difficult," meaning it wasn't impossible.

He thought to himself: Chinese people like to beat around the bush when dealing with each other.

Chen Fusheng, of course, was unaware that the foreigner in front of him was trying to pin a label on him. After thinking for a moment, he didn't answer but instead asked, "I'd like to ask, Mr. Owen, how much are you planning to spend on advertising?"

That's a pretty direct question!
Irving thought about it for a while, then made a offer.

"fifty thousand!"

Hong Kong dollars?

"Yes, yes." Actually, Owen was thinking of $50,000, but if this Chinese man in front of him didn't know the market price and they could negotiate a deal for HK$50,000, that would be the best.

However, Chen Fusheng was not so easily fooled.

“Mr. Owen, your offer is not sincere at all. If HK$50,000 were for sponsoring our costumes at the Cannes Film Festival, I would be willing to continue the discussion with you. But if you want to insert advertisements into our film with this amount of money, it is obviously not enough, far from enough.”

Upon hearing this, Irving realized he had encountered a knowledgeable dealer and stopped trying to lower the price. He quickly corrected himself, "Sorry, I misspoke. It's $50,000. How about it, Chen? Isn't that a fair price?"

When Irving offered $50,000, everyone in the arena who could understand Chen Fusheng and Irving's conversation was tempted.

Xiao Lin, the representative of China Film Group, even wished she could agree to this risk-free deal on behalf of Chen Fusheng.

Even Deputy Director Shi raised his eyebrows slightly.

Only Chen Fusheng remained expressionless and composed.

He wasn't faking it.

Because he was still not satisfied with the $50,000.

"It's still too little."

The three words that came out of his mouth not only made Irving's heart sink, but also surprised his own people.

"So how much are you planning to ask for?" Owen felt a bit tricky, but after watching the movie "Andhadhun," he had a strong feeling that the movie was bound to be a hit in Hong Kong, so he really didn't want to give up this opportunity.

"$50 million."

"Cough cough..."

Chen Fusheng didn't expect that after he finished bargaining, Deputy Director Shi would choke on his water first.

"I'm fine, you can continue." Deputy Director Shi waved his hands repeatedly when he saw everyone's attention turn to him. He felt a little embarrassed, but he really didn't expect Chen Fusheng to be so bold as to bargain.

Even with his composure, he couldn't help but think to himself, "$50? Damn, this kid really dares to talk nonsense!"

Distracted by this, Owen also came to his senses and shook his head repeatedly at Chen Fusheng: "No, no, no, Chen, you're asking for the moon. $50 should be enough for me to buy the Hong Kong rights to your movie."

“Mr. Owen, the situation you described is that you have distribution channels in Hong Kong, while we don’t. In that case, $50 would indeed be enough to buy the copyright. But the truth is, the situation is exactly the opposite.” “Even so, $50 is too high. I can accept Hong Kong dollars.”

"No, $50 is actually not a lot. Let me explain."

Chen Fusheng started counting on his fingers to convince the foreigner in front of him—no, I mean, to explain:

"First of all, I don't know if Mr. Owen has seen the movie we made last year, 'Cow.' Even that completely art-house film grossed over HK$5 million in Hong Kong. Now, our movie, 'Andhadhun,' has a wider audience, and I'm sure you saw the audience's reaction in the theater just now... So, after this movie is released in Hong Kong, even if I'm being conservative, it should be able to gross HK$10 million, right?"

Irving wanted to argue that no one can predict the future, but thinking about what happened while watching the movie, he felt that such an argument would be ineffective. He could only continue to criticize that $50 was too high and unacceptable to him.

Unaffected, Chen Fusheng continued, "Mr. Owen, please let me finish explaining the services included in this $50, and you will understand that I am not asking for an exorbitant price."

"Okay, you say."

"As I just mentioned, box office revenue is our core competitiveness. Next, I'd like to tell you about the projects included in this $50 package: First, providing your clothing brand with high-quality advertising ideas; second, advertising production; third, bundling the advertising with our film for promotion and distribution; and fourth, we're also offering free promotion for your clothing brand at this year's Cannes Film Festival."

Seeing that Owen was still processing his words, Chen Fusheng paused for a moment, then added, "Mr. Owen, you are a businessman, so you should know that advertising creativity, production, and promotion are all very expensive. So my quote of $50 is really not an exorbitant price."

Irving found himself somewhat smitten by the young Chinese man in front of him.

If the price of $50 hadn't exceeded his expectations by so much, he might have actually agreed to it immediately.

After a moment, Owen calmed himself down, looked at Chen Fusheng again with a hint of awe in his eyes, and said:

“Chen, your words are very tempting, but the offer of $50 is much beyond my expectations. I need to go back and think about it carefully. I look forward to talking to you again next time.”

"can."

Chen Fusheng admitted in his heart that his offer of $50 was a bit too high. After all, this was $50 in 1981. But business is all about asking for the moon and then bargaining. The other party had asked for HK$5, so it was reasonable for him to ask for $50.
But now he was a little worried that his price might scare the other party away, so he left some room for negotiation: "If Mr. Owen really wants to cooperate, then we can talk about the price next time."

His words did indeed light up Irving's eyes, and he really wanted to sit down and continue talking with Chen Fusheng. However, his professional ethics reminded him at a crucial moment that in business, one should not be hasty; whoever is hasty first will lose.

With Irving gone, Chen Fusheng naturally received a wave of shocked and complicated looks from Han Sanping and the others.

Even if Deputy Director Shi didn't know Chen Fusheng's background, he would have started to doubt his identity.

Lingzi couldn't help but ask directly, "How do you even know about advertising?"

"In my understanding, if a short film is a condensed version of a movie, then an advertisement is a condensed version of a short film," Chen Fusheng said with a straight face, spouting his fallacious logic.

Although it's a fallacy, after you hear it, you might actually find a bit of truth in it.

“Comrade Fusheng, isn’t $50 too high a price? It’ll scare people away,” said Xiao Lin, a representative from China Film Group.

“I’ve left room for negotiation next time. If I were the other party, I would probably continue to negotiate. Of course, I would lower my price a little next time, but not too much.”

Lingzi continued, "If the collaboration goes through, how do you plan to shoot the advertisement? And didn't you say that Hong Kong would arrange a screening of 'Andhadhun' during our film festival? Isn't that a contradiction?"

When Deputy Director Shi saw Chen Fusheng looking at him, he sighed, but still stood up and said on Chen Fusheng's behalf, "This kid is just bluffing. Hong Kong will wait until we go back before arranging the movie's release."

At this point, Deputy Director Shi paused for a moment, then added, "However, how long will it take to film this advertisement? They've already started promoting it over there. If it takes too long, we'll have to postpone the release, and all the initial promotional investment will be wasted."

“Shooting the commercial won’t take long. If Irving can reach a cooperation agreement with me sooner, I can take three days during the film festival to get it all done.” Chen Fusheng dared to say this because he already had the commercial in mind. Although it was a bit rough, as he just said, his core competitiveness was the huge success of “Andhadhun” in the Hong Kong market, so a rougher version was fine.

"So fast?" Although Han Sanping was still confused, he clearly understood Chen Fusheng's statement that it would only take three days to shoot the advertisement.

"These kinds of commercial clips in movies are only about a minute long. As long as you figure out how to shoot them, it's quick. I'd even say it would take more than three days."

"Damn, you make money way too easily, don't you?" Han Sanping couldn't help but swear, but he spoke for everyone.

"Is it easy? Because we traded resources from 'The Tuner' for it. Filming this movie wasn't easy for anyone, right, Comrade Gong Xue?"

Gong Xue: "Hmm?"

Upon hearing this, Deputy Director Shi tapped the table with his finger and said, "Comrade Fusheng, since it's as simple as you say, we should try our best to close this deal."

Chen Fusheng nodded to Deputy Director Shi.

"Alright, if everyone has finished eating, then go back to your rooms and rest for thirty minutes, and then we'll head to the venue together."

After Deputy Director Shi finished speaking, Chen Fusheng also stood up. However, to his surprise, just as he placed the bowl and chopsticks in the designated place, a somewhat familiar-looking Japanese film distributor walked towards him with a grin...

(End of this chapter)