Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

Yang Che coughed lightly: "Ten or twenty million in box office revenue is not as important to me as your clear thinking."

Wang Fei retorted, "Stop flattering me. If I didn't sing for you, there would definitely be a lot of trouble."

"That's true. The media will definitely say you look down on me. Well, I'm sorry to trouble you, Comrade Wang Fei."

"I've had a lot of unfair treatment."

"Look, look, he's in such a hurry again."

"..."

The two of them chatted on the phone for a whole hour, which was rather pointless.

Yang Che sang "Night in Ulaanbaatar" again, which received a round of applause, followed by praise from Leslie Cheung... Finally, Wang Fei reminded him to buy the copyright.

It was only then that Yang Che realized that Section Chief Jia had finally managed to write a song, and someone else had stolen it.

Let's make it up to each other when we have the chance; after all, we're from the same hometown.

The arts and culture scene in Shanxi Province is so insignificant; it needs support.

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.

Yang Che arrived at Tazhai early in the morning. When he arrived, Zhou Liren, Li Jian, and Yu Wenhao were already there.

"I plan to open a packaging factory in Shunyi."

The three of them were a little confused, wondering what was going on this time. Li Xiangdong didn't understand either, but his expression didn't change.

Yang Che and Li Xiangdong unfolded a map of Shunyi District on the whiteboard together. After pasting it on, he drew a circle in the area west of Houshayu and east of Wenyu River.

"There's a Jiuding Printing Factory here. They used to buy movie posters and other things. But that's not important. What's important is that I want to buy it, along with the factory and the surrounding 15 acres of land."

Li Jian casually asked, "It's industrial land now, will its land use be changed later?"

Yang Che paused for a moment, then remained noncommittal: "That's a matter for the future. Anyway, this land is designated for industrial use, and the price is 12 yuan per mu (unit of land area), with a 50-year leasehold. Even if we buy it and use it as a warehouse..."

As he said this, Yang Che pointed to the Capital Airport with the marker in his hand, then to the Huairou Film and Television Base, and then back to the other three points.

"It's suitable as a warehouse too. Of course, right now we mainly do printing and packaging business. In addition to existing film promotion-related printing business, corrugated cardboard packaging, etc., we also have your business resources, outdoor inkjet printing, real estate hoardings, event booths, etc. The factory is easy to maintain."

Yu Wenhao was even more confused: "Brother Che, what are you trying to do? I don't understand."

Yang Che raised an eyebrow and grinned: "I have a dozen or so veteran brothers, let's find them some work."

Yu Wenhao and Li Jian were immediately speechless, but they quickly realized that the boss's core objective was to buy land at a low price, and that opening a factory and employing people was just a side benefit.

However, Zhou Liren did not think so. If it were that simple, then Brother Che would not have specifically instructed people to apply for passports and Hong Kong and Macao travel permits.

"Old Zhou, please take good care of things. These next few days, I'll help Li Jian get the factory and land permits sorted out. Don't worry, I'll also talk to the leaders if necessary."

Zhou Liren scratched his head: "Brother Che, can I call Yuanhang and Shanghua over first?"

"It's up to you to decide."

"OK."

Li Jian asked, puzzled, "President Yang, can you tell me your ultimate goal? Even if the company's business is to diversify, it has nothing to do with these things."

Yang Che paused for a moment: "I want to get into cinemas, media, distribution, internal logistics, SP ringtones, and online games. These not only require professional talent, but also completely trustworthy offline partners. These dozen or so people and their families are just the beginning. In the future, I want to have business outlets in every province. The packaging business is just a preliminary step. Once we produce the posters for every movie, everything else will fall into place."

After listening to Yang Che's explanation, the group stared blankly, completely bewildered. They couldn't understand what SP (Service Provider) was, or what online games were...

Yang Che clapped his hands: "You really have to ask? Don't you know what 'the secrets of heaven are unpredictable' means? Alright, stop thinking about these things. In short, just know that your brother Che has long-term plans. Now, just do what you need to do."

After chatting for a while, Wang Danling, the clerk and secretary, came in with a printed copy of the "Saw 2" script.

A thick, long braid hung down her chest, swinging back and forth.

"Brother Che, the script is printed."

Unfortunately, Yang Che, who was brewing tea, didn't even look up: "Just put it here. Have you called Director Wu and General Manager Liu yet?"

"I called, they'll be there in about ten minutes."

"it is good."

Wang Danling wrinkled her nose, responded, and went out.

............

When Wang Fei was confirmed to sing "In My Song," Wu Shixian and Liu Chang grinned from ear to ear.

"Brother Che, I'm wondering, are you pursuing Wang Fei just so she can sing?"

"Old Liu, I've noticed that you're pretty good at everything except finding good film projects."

Liu Chang immediately fell silent. He wasn't ashamed; he was just powerless. He had a good script, but he couldn't understand it!

Saw 2 followed the same ideas that Yang Che had mentioned, and James Wan and Ray did a great job of making it.

Along with the script came the budget and cast list. Although the photos were blurry, it was still possible to tell who was who.

Lionsgate has high hopes for starting filming the sequel before the first movie has even been officially released. The quality of the first movie speaks for itself, and with a specific marketing strategy, there's no reason it shouldn't be a hit.

Instead of waiting for the cost of a sequel to skyrocket, why not make it now?

Of course, the budget for the second film was $240 million, which is quite a surge, especially considering that it was to be filmed in Toronto, Canada. There was nothing that could be done about it.

According to the agreement, Lionsgate invested $108 million for a 43% stake, Vertical Entertainment invested $132 million for a 52% stake, and the remaining 5% will be distributed as profits.

Yang Che did not disregard Wu Shixian's shares simply because Wu Shixian lacked funds to invest in Vertical Entertainment; Wu Shixian remained a director.

So 1100 million yuan was invested, and with the previous investment of 360 million yuan in "Let Love Rule", Doubao still has 2580 million yuan.

The land and factory purchases are estimated at 300 million yuan, yes, 12 yuan per mu. How much will that cost...?

"Old Wu, you'll be the producer of this film. Fly to North America in September; you won't have much to do then."

"Don't... It's not that I'm making excuses and refusing to make a trip. The script idea is yours, and you know best what kind of effect you want. To be honest, I have no interest in doing other projects before 'Waiting Alone' is taken off the screens."

Yang Che looked at Liu Chang and thought, "Never mind..."

Liu Chang was very self-aware: "Don't look at me like that. I can't find any good movie scripts, but I do have TV dramas. And Lao Zhou is keeping you busy running the factory. I'm very busy..."

"I wasn't planning on letting you go; you can't even speak fluent English..."

And so it was decided that Yang Che would fly to New York on September 10th. When he was finalizing these plans, a beautiful figure flashed through his mind, and he was momentarily lost in thought. Then, he pretended to sigh to the heavens, "I was planning to film 'Car 44' in September."