Huayu: Starting from joining the mainstream entertainment industry in 96

Chapter 51: Using Old Han to Command the Lords
The window of the director's office at the Beijing Film Studio was open, and the early summer heat carried in the distinctive smells of film, machine oil, and dust from the factory area.

Han Sanping stubbed out another cigarette and slowly recounted to Wang Sheng, who was sitting opposite him, how his "poor relatives" from various places wanted to come and seek refuge. He then asked, "What do you think of this?"

"This is great news! A fantastic thing!"

Wang Sheng leaned forward, his eyes shining: "We were just worried about expanding our high-end business, and we didn't have enough equipment and skilled workers. They just delivered themselves right to our doorstep. This shows that we've chosen the right path; the market recognizes it, and our partner companies recognize it too!"

"I know it's a good thing, but this is such a big undertaking all at once. How are we going to take it on? How are we going to manage it?" Han Sanping frowned. "Everyone has their own agenda. The equipment is of varying ages, and the staff's skill levels are inconsistent. They come from all over the country. Coordinating them will just be a huge mess! We don't want to end up making money and getting ourselves into trouble instead."

"Factory manager, have you considered that this might be more than just making some money?" Wang Sheng's voice was lowered, but it carried an barely suppressed excitement: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"Oh?" Han Sanping looked up at him. "What opportunity?"

"An opportunity for consolidation!"

Wang Sheng explained, "Director, the higher-ups have been pushing for film system reform to break down departmental barriers."

How can we change it? Nobody knows.

Now, market demand has pushed us to this position.

Film studios are short of money and projects, but they still hold production and distribution rights, as well as hardware and experienced personnel.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "If our Beijing Film Studio can seize this opportunity to step forward, take the lead, and unite everyone into a cohesive force..."

Then we'll take orders centrally, coordinate equipment and personnel, and distribute profits according to performance. Doesn't this essentially form an alliance based on market projects?

Han Sanping's eyes deepened, clearly indicating that he was seriously considering Wang Sheng's words.

Wang Sheng pressed his advantage, saying, "With this alliance, we can mobilize a vast amount of resources."

It's entirely possible to organize factories within the alliance to jointly produce legitimate films, boost production capacity, and use quantity and quality to shake up the market.

Factory director, if we want to revitalize the film industry, we ultimately have to rely on commercial films. This 'wedding film' project I'm working on is at best a heart-lung revival for the industry. As for 'internationally renowned' art films, they've already decoupled from the domestic market. The job opportunities they provide and the market benefits they generate are negligible. The only beneficiaries are the directors and a small group of people..."

Isn't this just like creating a low-budget version of 'China Film Company'?

Han Sanping gradually came to his senses.

Previously, during the period of unified purchase and distribution, Chinese film companies controlled the distribution rights of domestic films, only giving film studios a small portion of the profits.

In 94, with the implementation of the "Ten Imported Blockbusters" policy, China Film Corporation became the only entity with the right to import foreign films.

Of the ten imported films released that year, "True Lies" stood out with a box office exceeding 100 million yuan.

Perhaps it's because of the profits brought by imported films, or perhaps it's because imported films have revitalized a portion of the urban film market... The distribution of domestic films has been completely opened up to film studios.

However, the screening rights, which stifle the film studios' ability to generate revenue, were not opened to them for many reasons.

In short, if film studios cannot set up their own 'cinema chains', they have no way to sell movie tickets to the public and recoup their losses.

Therefore, each film studio that owns the production and distribution rights is like a normal person who is missing a leg, and can only slowly wait for death.

but……

Han Sanping knew that there were prosthetic limbs there.

The film screening units in those cities in Jiangsu Province are very supportive of domestic films. They are willing to give them screenings and share profits generously. Their motives for doing these things are disgusting. In short, they want to destroy the provincial film screening units!
If this 'leg' were reattached...

hiss~
This has potential.

Han Sanping suddenly laughed and cursed, "You little rascal... You've been drawing such a big and round pie in the sky, but after all this time, you're trying to put me on the 'big brother' side?"

Wang Sheng immediately flattered with a grin: "Factory Director, this is not just a facade, it's what everyone wants! Besides you, who else has the courage and prestige to bring so many powerful figures together?"

If you really manage to get this done, you won't just be the director of the Beijing Film Studio anymore; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call you a 'leading figure' on the road to reform in China's film industry!"

Don't flatter me!

Han Sanping chuckled and cursed, but the smile in his eyes was unmistakable.

Wang Sheng's words truly resonated with him, including his thoughts on commercial film strategy.

As an ambitious reformer, how could he not want to accomplish something great?

What appears to be a passive situation may actually be a historic opportunity to proactively break through the impasse.

He pondered for a moment, his expression turning serious again: "The idea is bold, but there are many difficulties in its implementation. Let's start with the most practical one: so many factories, so many people—can you handle it all? Can you manage it all?"

"Factory manager, we only need technical personnel. Lighting, photography, sound recording, makeup, props, editing—we want as many experienced workers as we can get. We don't need any management or administrative positions. We don't keep idle people, and we will never interfere in other companies' internal personnel arrangements."

Wang Sheng answered decisively: "Once you're here, you have to follow our rules."

Project management and financial allocation must be led by us, and we must assign trusted personnel to oversee them.

To put it simply, they provide the personnel and equipment, while we provide the brand, the projects, and the management, leading them to make money.

Han Sanping slammed his hand on the table: "Good, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. We need to have that kind of determination. Let's do it this way. I'll take the lead! I'll have the factory office notify all the brother units right now. If they're willing to come, let's talk openly!"

"..."

……

A few days passed.

Yu Dong and Chen Liang had already led their capable business team south to Zhejiang Province to explore the vast market for "personalized customization".

The 20-square-meter office of Shengying Media was already overburdened.

Under Han Sanping's instructions, two more offices next door were vacated, and simple signs reading "Business Department One," "Business Department Two," and "Dispatch Center" were nailed to the walls outside the offices. Ten more direct telephones were also installed.

at the same time.

Poor relatives speaking in various regional accents flocked to the scene.

In those days, apart from a few film studios that belonged to the "Big Eight" along with Beijing Film Studio, many local film studios were on the verge of bankruptcy.

For example, Fujian Film Studio, Hubei Film Studio, Henan Film Studio, etc.

These local film studios were far smaller than the "Eight Great Film Studios," which often employed thousands of people. Each studio had only a few dozen to a few hundred employees, and naturally, they didn't have as much equipment as the Beijing Film Studio. Scale determines the upper limit, and these film studios didn't want to take the risks of developing new businesses or invest in publicity; they just wanted to make money effortlessly.

Since Sheng Ying Media, the company behind Beijing Film Studio, is willing to cover equipment rental costs, wages for skilled workers, and even share 20% of the profits, it's a good opportunity to get rid of its personnel burdens.

These skilled workers, while not bringing their entire families, often brought their children with them.

The factory had 18 film studios, 72 16mm film cameras, a number of supporting equipment, more than 1,000 skilled workers of various kinds, and more than 300 children of employees from other factories. In total, there were nearly 2,000 people.

At that time, there were about 40 film studios in the country, 18 of which, plus the Beijing Film Studio, made 19, accounting for nearly half.

The Beijing Film Studio paid for and rented many houses near the studio to house these people. They also expanded the number of temporary workers in the security department in advance to assist in the management of public order and to provide them with on-the-job training organized by the Beijing Film Studio.

Shengying Media also rushed to open several photography training classes to train the children of factory workers who came to learn skills and work.

Shengying Media also established a human resources department at the right time. The head of the human resources department was Pang Guowei, a management employee borrowed from the factory. His daughter worked in customer service in the business department.

After completing the training course, a three-year labor contract must be signed, and it is not allowed to violate the contract. If any violation is made, a compensation of 10,000 yuan for the training fee must be paid, etc.

Pang Guowei and his men explained the company's rules to the children of these factory workers.

Since we're already here, let's just show some respect.

After a period of time, we got to know each other better.

Influenced by the children of the Beijing Film Studio, these children from other studios, who speak with various regional dialects and accents, are extremely familiar with Wang Sheng's legendary story.

In just over two months, they found meals for thousands of people. Don't you think the children of Beijing Film Studio are even more awesome?

The children of factory workers all exclaimed, "Our leader is awesome!"
……

The time came to July.

More than a month has passed.

The trainees have all graduated.

By seeking bank loans and loans from the Beijing Film Studio, Wang Sheng had Qian Qianjin contact the young master who dealt in equipment and order a large batch of equipment, including 100 MiniDV cameras.

The 6999 RMB package for two cameras is very popular in Beijing, I don't know why.

The "personalized customization" business has already spread throughout Zhejiang Province, riding the wave of public attention.

Many of the first people to "get rich" are already in their forties or fifties, and their children are of marriageable age, representing an astonishing market potential.

In just one month, the 16mm film-grade 'personalized customization' service received more than 400 orders, with an estimated revenue of 200 million.

The 16mm film standard edition 'custom-made' has a market price of 399999.

The 16mm film deluxe edition 'Personalized Customization' has a market price of 599999, which includes master-level wedding photography services and extends the length of the 'wedding movie' from about forty minutes to more than sixty minutes.

The 16mm film premium edition, 'Personalized Customization', has a market price of 699999. In addition to the services included in the standard and deluxe editions, it also includes a one-week private screening at a movie theater. If you were to book a movie theater separately, it would cost around 20.

In addition, there are various optional services, such as cinematic wedding photography and cinematic wedding venue setup services.

Surprisingly, out of these 400+ orders, 27% were for the Premium Edition, 46% were for the Deluxe Edition, and 27% were for the Standard Edition.

A 10% deposit is required for reservations. If you cancel your order one month before the start of the business, the deposit will not be refunded.

Even with only a 10% deposit, over 20 million yuan still flowed into the dedicated account for 'personalized customization'.

Of course, these people did not get married in the same month.

The earliest wedding date is mid-August to early September, and the latest is December of next year.

There were a total of eighty orders placed between mid-August and early September.

Each custom order requires a team of about twenty people to follow up and complete. More than a thousand technical workers gathered at the Beijing Film Studio and received about half a month of retraining were divided into small teams and sent to various places to complete the orders.

The agreement with each film studio is that the profit-sharing settlement will be completed within one month after the end of each quarter. This will be implemented starting next year, and this year's profit-sharing will be settled in January next year.

The projected revenue of over 200 million yuan is a complete annihilation compared to "Kong Fansen," which was released last month and only achieved a box office of over 30 million yuan by relying on a large number of companies booking screenings.

Kong Fansen is a film jointly invested and produced by Beijing Film Studio and Shandong Film Studio.

The production company can get about 35% of the distributable box office revenue, which is a little over ten million yuan. Beijing Film Studio and Shandong Film Studio then split it 50/50. After deducting the production costs, Beijing Film Studio can make a profit of about two million yuan. The extra profit comes from subsidies issued by the higher authorities.

Overall, the profits from the 'customized' business are definitely not as high as those from the Beijing Film Studio.

In addition to taking 60% of the profits from orders completed by its own equipment and employees, Beijing Film Studio also takes 20% of the profits from orders completed by other film studios.

Even if Beijing Film Studio takes 4% of the profit from each order, that's over 3000 million.

In reality, it's much more than that; the profits from optional services haven't even been factored in.

It's no wonder that Han Sanping's 'Dao Heart was shattered'.

Of course, "Kong Fansen" is a good movie, and the publicity task it undertook and successfully completed cannot be ignored, so we cannot simply consider the commercial aspects.

……

Monday, October 7.

evening.

The canteen at Beijing Film Studio was exceptionally busy and crowded.

Shengying Media then booked the entire place to host a welcome banquet for over 300 children of factory workers who joined Shengying Media as formal employees.

More than 300 new employees and more than 100 older employees who had joined the company a month or two earlier raised their Yanjing Beer and shouted at Wang Sheng, who was sitting at the main table, "Cheers, Boss!"

Han Sanping, sitting at the main table, looked around. "This is the Beijing Film Studio canteen! How did it suddenly turn into a gathering hall?"

　Hey guys, we're getting to the first movie we've covered. Any recommendations for low-budget comedies suitable for the Chinese market? Thanks!
　　

(End of this chapter)