The Rise of Chinese Entertainment in 2008

"There is still more than 1.5 million yuan left that hasn't been used up."

Gu Ning said, "My original plan was to bring in another investor for the film's promotion."

However, I spoke with China Film Group, and they are quite optimistic about the film and are willing to advance two million yuan for publicity.

At that time, the money will be deducted directly from the box office revenue sharing, so there will be no need to recruit more people to participate in the investment.

The remaining 1.5 million will be kept for now. We'll see how the movie fares at the box office after its release and then decide whether to invest it in promotion.

If we don't invest in promotion, we'll just wait for the box office revenue to be distributed and then split proportionally.

If you have any opinions about this arrangement, please feel free to voice them.

He gestured to Peng Hui, who seemed about to say something, and smiled, "Leave professional matters to the professionals. We don't understand these things, but we do know that publicity is important, so we have no objections."

"Then the publicity arrangements are settled for now. Next, let's talk about the revenue sharing."

Gu Ning said, "Since we're not going to recruit people to participate in the investment, the original share quota needs to be adjusted."

Mr. Xiang and Mr. Peng each own 20%, Mr. Liu, who invests and serves as producer, owns 25%, and the rest is mine.

"Let's do as Director Gu says." Xiang Bai nodded with a smile.

Peng Hui was very satisfied and agreed when he heard that they had been given an additional 5% share.

"Alright, business's done. Let's get back to having fun."

Liu Sanxi called the waiter in and asked him to bring over a group of girls.

As for the previous ones, who remembers who they are?

They played until after 8 p.m., then the four of them had dinner at the club and went for a bath and massage.

Gu Ning and Liu Sanxi didn't leave the club until after 11 o'clock.

"It's so late, why don't you come to my place for the night?" Liu Sanxi said.

"Okay, this saves me money," Gu Ning said with a smile.

Liu Sanxi wanted to drive, but Gu Ning stopped him, and the two took a taxi back.

Back home, Liu Sanxi brewed a pot of tea and poured a cup for Gu Ning.

"Try it, I got it from my grandfather, but I can't tell the difference between good and bad."

Me too.

Gu Ning smiled, took the tea, and said, "They're probably only willing to invest because of you, right?"

"I already said that they were afraid of being scammed, and they only invested because I guaranteed their investment," Liu Sanxi said.

Seeing that he was unwilling to talk about it, Gu Ning didn't ask any further.

He didn't think much about the initial investment from Bai and his partner.

However, neither of them sent anyone to supervise the funds, and they readily agreed to the share he set, so he gradually began to understand the situation.

Even the most generous coal mine owners wouldn't be this generous, especially since the two are just second-generation coal miners.

They were probably willing to invest because of Liu Sanxi's identity.

For the two of them, the profit or loss of the investment was not important; Liu Sanxi's personal connections were the most important thing.

However, since Liu Sanxi didn't want to talk about it, he didn't press the matter.

Anyway, my past life experience proved that Liu Sanxi was a person I could befriend.

"I slept."

Gu Ning finished her tea and stood up.

"Wouldn't you like another drink?"

"I can't sleep because I've drunk too much."

As Gu Ning spoke, he entered the room he had previously stayed in.

…………

For the next few days, Gu Ning had nothing to do but attend classes and think about what movie to make next.

With the winter break approaching, the school has assigned final homework.

The final assignment for the photography department is to shoot a short film, with no strict time limit.

Gu Ning was too lazy to film another one, so she just used the previous one as her assignment.

Xu Bing didn't say anything about it, since for Gu Ning, the final assignment wasn't very meaningful.

After waiting for three days, Director Chen finally called.

He didn't say anything on the phone, just told him to go to China Film Group in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, Gu Ning arrived at China Film Group with some trepidation, but was quickly overwhelmed by a pleasant surprise.

Director Chen summoned him to meet with a director in charge of publicity for the railway department.

The other party agreed to his proposal, but made a request.

The railway department needs to be added to the list of production companies at the beginning of the film.

These aren't just conditions, they're practically angelic!

Seeing that Gu Ning agreed, the other party not only promised to help speed up the review process, but also said that as long as there were no fundamental issues, it wouldn't be a problem.

They also said they would get railway departments in various regions to help with the publicity.

After seeing the leader off, Gu Ning and Director Chen returned to his office.

"Director Chen, thank you so much." Gu Ning's voice was still tinged with excitement.

The railway department's involvement and promotional efforts are far more effective than spending two million yuan on advertising.

"That has little to do with me."

Director Chen explained the reasons behind it.

The railway department has indeed been under great pressure in recent years, and detailed data can only be compiled after the Spring Festival travel rush ends each year.

But by then, the public had already done all the criticism they could.

If we go back a few years, the criticism will have been ignored, since we wouldn't have heard it anyway.

However, in recent years, with the increase in internet users, people can now hurl insults online.

When people from all over the country gather together, public opinion naturally arises.

However, the railway authorities are powerless to address these situations.

Although the number of passengers traveling during the Spring Festival travel rush increases every year, the number of people returning home for the New Year also increases.

In particular, last year's large-scale snow disaster prevented many people from returning to their hometowns for the Spring Festival, and this year even more people are returning home.

The railway authorities did not expect a film to make the public understand their difficulties.

But as the saying goes, doing something is better than doing nothing.

Anyway, they don't need to invest any costs; the promised publicity is just putting up some posters at the station.

The production company had to pay for the posters themselves.

If it works, that's a credit; if it doesn't work, that's just hard work.

"That was all thanks to Director Chen's help in making the contact. If I had to go myself, I might not have been able to find it," Gu Ning said.

"Alright, if you really want to thank me, just go to China Film Group for all your publicity and distribution from now on," Director Chen said, waving his hand.

Gu Ning quickly assured him, "Don't worry, from now on, all my films will be given priority to China Film Group."

"I'll remember that."

Director Chen smiled and said, "With the railway department involved, there's not much that needs to be changed in the film. The review should be completed in a few days. Once it's approved, China Film Group will arrange publicity as soon as possible."

You also need to coordinate the actors' schedules and prepare for the promotional tour.

"Don't worry, Director Chen, I'm ready at any time," Gu Ning said.

…………

After leaving the Central Film Studio, Gu Ning contacted Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang.

There are no problems with Wang Baoqiang, but there are some problems with Xu Zheng.

He also starred in "Crazy Racer" and has started promoting it now.

Fortunately, he wasn't the lead actor, so he was still able to find time to participate in the promotions.

However, it's definitely impossible to participate throughout the entire process; it needs to be discussed with the production crew.

The railway department is very efficient; he received a call from Director Chen on the 25th informing him that the dragon emblem had been obtained.

The film is scheduled for release on January 26th, the first day of the Lunar New Year. China Film Group will begin promotional activities starting tomorrow.

After ending the call, Gu Ning excitedly pumped his fist, then called Liu Sanxi and said, "Old Liu, our publicity campaign can begin now."

"I understand." Liu Sanxi nodded.

……

China Film Group said they would start promotion the next day, but in reality, it would take a few more days.

These days, movie promotion methods are almost entirely limited to things like posting promotional posters in the media and cinemas.

Media promotion includes some print media and variety shows.

All of these preparations take time.

However, the next day, many comments appeared online about movies that had recently been released and those that were about to be released.

These posts were all made by "big V" accounts.

Nowadays, there isn't really a concept of "big V" (influencer/influencer), but some people on the internet are already using various methods to gain followers and monetize them.

The earliest examples were probably Baidu Tieba and QQ Space, where some people posted inspirational articles to attract followers and then drive traffic to e-commerce merchants.