I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

Chapter 23 Overseas Distribution Rights!
Standing in front of the big screen, Zeng Li looked at Scarlett and made a heart shape with her fingers.

"Ah! Sister Li, I love you like a mouse loves rice."

At this moment, international star Scarlett Johansson transformed into Zeng Li's devoted fan, screaming wildly.

“Gege…Sister Li, I really envy you, having an international celebrity fan.” Su Chang, standing next to Zeng Li, covered her mouth and laughed.

Zeng Li laughed along. These past two days, she and Scarlett had become as close as sisters, practically living and eating together. If she didn't know that neither of them were lesbians, she might have misunderstood.

"Yang, Li, we love you."

Scarlett's shout was heard by the audience, and immediately many of them started yelling at Fu Dalong and Zheng Guolin.

The two people, who were being admired by the foreigner, were so excited that they almost fainted.

They were nobody in China, but they unexpectedly gained a group of foreign fans after coming to Venice.

"Haha, it was worth it, it was worth it," Fu Dalong said with a smile.

As the same male lead, Zheng Guolin was so excited that his neck was congested with blood, and if he didn't control himself, his blood vessels would burst.

Judging from the reactions of everyone in the theater, the premiere of the film "The Great Tang Dynasty - Origins" was a great success.

The audience members who lingered in the theater for a long time before leaving enthusiastically recommended the film to their friends and neighbors.

In their words, this is the most anticipated film at this film festival, and also the greatest film ever made; not seeing it would be their loss.

This led to a large influx of people into the screening room when the movie was shown again.

The theater was immediately packed with people.

After the movie ended, everyone who came out of the theater was incredibly excited and immediately became promoters, trying to sell the film to others.

Due to the length of "The Great Tang Dynasty - Origins", only two screenings were held on the premiere day.

On the second day after its premiere, "The Great Tang Dynasty - Origins" received a high score of 3.9 in the festival's program.

It achieved the highest score among all premiere films.

Such a high rating is enough to demonstrate the excellence of this film.

The Venice Film Festival's program booklet, published daily, records the festival's viewing schedule, introduces the films being screened, interviews with filmmakers, and provides in-depth analysis of popular films.

At the same time, it also gathers the opinions of many media outlets and senior film critics, and scores the films in the main competition section daily (out of five points).

A higher score in the event program generally means a greater chance of winning an award.

Of course, it's also possible to be a hot favorite but end up with nothing to show for it.

The day after the premiere, Cheng Sheng, as the director, film producer, and investor, got busy with the coal mine owners.

He needs to hold informal talks with film distributors from various regions.

Cheng Sheng, who was going abroad for the first time and attending the Venice Film Festival for the first time, was a complete novice and knew nothing about negotiating overseas distribution rights for films.

Fortunately, Zeng Li has a little fangirl named Scarlett.

As a Venice Film Festival Best Actress winner, Scarlett Johansson has some knowledge of overseas distribution.

Last night, Cheng Sheng and Scarlett had a surprise conversation that lasted over an hour, during which Cheng Sheng learned about the intricacies of the situation.

That's why he dared to bring the coal bosses to meet with those film producers.

He has no intention of selling the film distribution rights now; it's just preliminary negotiations. He wants to wait until after the awards ceremony to formally discuss the final contract.

Although Scarlett Johansson did not reveal whether the film would win an award, judging from her words and actions, the chances of it winning an award are very high.

If you win an award and then sell the overseas distribution rights, the price could definitely double or triple.

After several days of negotiations, Cheng Sheng discovered that these film producers were all very cunning.

Knowing full well that "The Origins of the Tang Dynasty" is an excellent film, these distributors actually colluded to drive down the price, which is utterly despicable. Especially the American distributors, who actually wanted to acquire the distribution rights for the Americas for a mere million dollars—what's the difference between that and robbery?
Cheng Sheng, of course, would not agree.

He refused to believe that without Butcher Zhang, people wouldn't eat mixed-hair pigs.

Prices in Europe are higher than in the US, but not by much.

The publisher in the Japanese market offered the highest price, but it still didn't meet Cheng Sheng's bottom line.

As the region most deeply influenced by Chinese culture, Japan has the strongest affinity for Chinese history, especially the history of the Tang Dynasty.

The title of Emperor can be traced back to Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, who was the third successor. Emperor Gaozong was called Emperor, while Empress Wu Zetian was called Empress.

The title of the Japanese Emperor was also adopted from Li Zhi's work.

The film "The Great Tang Dynasty - Origins" was absolutely shocking to Japan.

If Japanese film distributors weren't blind, this movie would definitely break box office records if it were released in Japan.

Cheng Sheng did want to sell the film to Japanese distributors so they could see what the Tang Dynasty was all about, but the price they offered was too low and didn't meet his expectations, so he had to put the project on hold.

Since the major film companies want to lower the price, Cheng Sheng will definitely not let them succeed.

Moreover, he had no immediate plans to sell the overseas distribution rights.

Once the film wins an award, not only will the price double, but film distributors will also come knocking on our door.

Since that's the case, we might as well wait patiently.

10 number.

That is, the day before the film festival awards ceremony.

Cheng Shenggang walked into the hotel and saw Zeng Li.

"Sister Li, are you planning to go out?"

"Director Cheng, didn't you receive an invitation from Director Chia Chang-ko?" Zeng Li asked, puzzled.

"Oh dear, look at my memory, I almost forgot that today is the premiere of Director Jia's 'The World'."

Zeng Li's reminder made him remember.

Yesterday, Chia Chang-ko personally invited him to attend the premiere of the film "The World".

He was busy with his own things and forgot about it immediately.

Cheng Sheng glanced at Zeng Li. Her style of dress was simple and exquisite, and the clothes seemed to be tailor-made for her, showing off her figure while maintaining comfort and naturalness.

As expected of a beauty that only appears once every two hundred years at the Central Academy of Drama, she already exudes a mature and sophisticated aura. According to another memory, Zeng Li's shelf life is exceptionally long.

"I'll go back and change my clothes first, then we'll go together," Cheng Sheng said.

Zeng Li did not refuse. After Cheng Sheng changed his clothes and came down, the two went to the screening venue together.

After the two arrived, they first congratulated Jia Zhangke, then chatted for a few words before entering the screening room.

The screening room was already quite full, with an occupancy rate of over 50%. It seems that Jia Zhangke has a good reputation in Venice, unlike his premiere, which had an occupancy rate of less than 40%.

Cheng Sheng found a seat in the middle and sat down with Zeng Li. He noticed that Zeng Li's face was a little red from the cold and said, "Venice is not like China. You should wear a down jacket next time you come out."

After saying that, Cheng Sheng took off his coat and draped it over Zeng Li.

"Thank you, but the down jacket is a bit bulky and doesn't look good," Zeng Li said.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Sheng found it truly difficult to understand women's thoughts. This woman prioritized style over warmth and wasn't even afraid of catching a cold.

(End of this chapter)