Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 136 Choice

It takes only two hours to fly from Yanjing to Jiangcheng.

As the taxi crossed the Second Yangtze River Bridge, Ren Pingsheng looked out the window, his mind going over the information about Jiangcheng Huaqi Film and Television, the biggest investor in "Lost in Thailand".

In his previous life, after Xu Zheng went solo and filmed "Lost in Thailand," Huaqi sued Enlight Media. The lawsuit caused a great uproar, and even the background of Huaqi's boss, Liu Guangwei, was exposed.

Liu Guangwei made his fortune in the building materials business in his early years. With some spare cash, he was persuaded by a friend to invest in film and television. He produced a TV series that never aired and lost everything.

This time, making "Lost in Thailand" is another all-or-nothing gamble.

An amateur, short of money, and impatient—these are the three labels Ren Pingsheng attached to him.

The car stopped at the New World Department Store on Xudong Avenue. Ren Pingli straightened his shirt and went upstairs.

The company was even more shabby than I had imagined; a few desks were pushed together and piled high with documents.

Liu Guangwei sat behind the innermost table, his eyes were dark-rimmed, and several ashtrays were spread out in front of him, with cigarette butts piled up like a small mountain.

Upon seeing Ren Pingsheng enter, he abruptly stood up, causing the chair to creak on the floor.

"President Ren?" Liu Guangwei quickly came out to greet him, his face beaming. "President Ren, it's an honor to have you here! Welcome, welcome!"

He had a strong grip and pressed Ren Pingsheng onto the sofa. "Please sit down, please sit down. What would you like to drink? Tea or coffee?"

"Tea will do," Wang Pingsheng said, sitting down. His gaze fell on a framed photo of Liu Guangwei and another man against a construction site background. "Did Mr. Liu start out in engineering?"

Liu Guangwei paused for a moment, pushed the teacup over, and sat down himself. "Hey, Mr. Ren has a good eye. He used to work on construction sites and saved up some money."

"Then how do you project it as a movie?"

"Hey, don't even mention it," Liu Guangwei sighed, rubbing his face. "I just heard people say movies make money, so I wanted to jump in and make some cash. I lost money the first time and I didn't believe it, but this time... this time I've thrown away all my savings again."

As he spoke, his voice lowered, "We're really broke. We're even struggling to make some promotional materials. I heard that Mr. Liu's Gewara allows for a partnership where we sell tickets first and then split the profits. He earns service fees from the theaters, and he earns service fees from me too. As soon as the box office revenue is distributed, I'll settle the service fees immediately, without any delays..."

"Mr. Liu," Ren Pingsheng interrupted his rambling, "Guevara is just a ticketing channel. Whether it sells well or not depends on whether the audience is willing to pay for tickets."

"Unless you take out real money to subsidize ticket prices for the audience, but the problem is... do you even have the money to subsidize them right now?"

""

.

Liu Guangwei opened his mouth, then closed it again, unable to speak.

Ren Pingsheng picked up his teacup, blew on it to cool it, and said, "Mr. Liu, are you completely broke? How much did you actually spend on this movie?"

Liu Guangwei's eyes flickered as he avoided Ren Pingsheng's gaze and reached for the cigarette box.

Ren Pingsheng spoke directly in Jiangcheng dialect, "President Liu, I came here with sincerity, but you have to tell me the truth, otherwise I'll help you out."

A genuine local accent struck Liu Guangwei's heart.

His hand holding the cigarette paused.

After a few seconds of silence, he smiled wryly and made a gesture, "Seven million. Including the service fee for the issuance, it's a total of seven million, Mr. Ren. This is all my savings, and I still owe some money."

Ren Pingsheng nodded, without commenting on whether it was expensive or cheap.

He switched back to Mandarin, his tone becoming more direct: "Mr. Liu, let me be frank. The pre-release promotion for your film was terrible, and it's a low-budget, niche film. Cinemas won't be giving you any good screenings."

"The industry's current box office prediction for this film is between 800 million and 1500 million. It'll be a bit difficult for you to break even."

Liu Guangwei's face turned pale. He knew it was the truth, but he couldn't admit it.

"Mr. Ren, our film is really good! With Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang as the two male leads, as long as the promotion goes well, it'll definitely gross twenty or thirty million!"

"But the problem is there are only two weeks left. It's too late to do anything now. You know, I saw the trailer and it turns out it's a movie set during the Spring Festival travel rush. Why didn't you release it during the Lunar New Year holiday? The atmosphere doesn't match, and it's too hot to generate buzz. It'll be difficult to get screenings."

Liu Guangwei opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Ren Pingsheng looked at him and put the teacup on the table.

"Mr. Liu, I'll just ask you one question: do you want this film to survive?"

"...I want to," Liu Guangwei managed to squeeze out a single word.

"Then I'll give you two options," Ren Pingsheng said, holding up his finger. "First, I'll pay ten million to buy out your share and production rights to 'Lost in Thailand,' and you can cash out immediately."

"Ten million...?" Liu Guangwei's eyes widened.

"Yes, ten million," Ren Pingsheng said calmly. "Mr. Liu, let me do the math for you. According to the industry average revenue sharing ratio, the production company takes 36%. If you want to make a net profit of 300 million, you need to get at least 3700 million in box office revenue. And the money isn't given as soon as the movie is off the screens. It takes at least three to six months to complete the settlement process."

Liu Guangwei's breathing became heavy. He had only invested a total of 700 million yuan, which meant that even before the movie was released, he didn't have to do anything, didn't have to bear any box office risk, and didn't have to wait for the long six-month accounting period. He could immediately make a net profit of 300 million yuan!

This is like a windfall!

But he didn't agree immediately. His greedy nature made him think that since the other party was willing to offer 1000 million, it meant the film could earn even more. "Then... what about the second one?"

"Secondly, agency marketing," Ren Pingsheng held up his second finger, "You retain your share, and I will be responsible for the marketing and promotion of the film. The service fee is 1.5 million, which is a bit higher than the industry standard, but I can guarantee you a minimum of 20 million in box office revenue. For every additional 10 million that exceeds 20 million, you will receive a bonus of 500,000."

A minimum of 20 million!

Liu Guangwei's breathing quickened. Based on a profit-sharing ratio of around 36%, the guaranteed 20 million meant he would receive at least 720 million.

Ten thousand, just enough to break even.

If the box office reaches over 45 million, he will earn more than the 3 million in Option 1!

Two little people started fighting in his head.

Choose option one, and you're guaranteed to make 300 million; the money is yours to keep.

Option two offers a guaranteed minimum return, and you can even try your luck with high box office returns!

Ren Pingsheng spread his hands, "handing over" the choice to him.

"By the way, Mr. Liu, there's something I need to make clear to you beforehand. Time is tight and the task is heavy right now. You have to pay me the 150 million service fee once the contract is signed. After all, I've already covered for you. I can't possibly have to pay for the work myself, can I?"

The color drained completely from Liu Guangwei's face.

150 million in cash?

Pay in full at once?

Where is he going to get 150 million in cash?

Ren Pingsheng looked at his stiff expression and his tone softened.

"Mr. Liu, this is actually quite easy to calculate. If you are confident in the box office, we can take a gamble together, but you need to put up 1.5 million in capital first. If you need the money urgently, Option 1 is safer, with a profit of 3 million immediately, without taking any risk."

The office quieted down, with only the faint sound of traffic outside the window.

Take a gamble?

Liu Guangwei glanced at Ren Pingsheng's ambiguous smile, and the greed in his heart was instantly overwhelmed by fear.

How could an outsider like him dare to gamble on an 8x box office miracle?

What if it doesn't arrive?

If it doesn't even reach 20 million, wouldn't he have wasted 3 million in profits and have to wait for more than half a year to receive his share of the profits?

Ren Pingsheng was in no hurry and slowly sipped his tea.

Two full minutes passed before Liu Guangwei finally spoke in a hoarse voice, "President Ren... really ten million?"

"real."

"Then I'll choose option one."

He let out a long breath and sat down in the chair.

"Ten million, and the 80% share and all copyrights owned by Huaqi will be yours."

He closed his eyes and then opened them again, as if he had finally unloaded a heavy burden.

"It's a pleasure working with you."

Stepping out of the building, the hot wind of Jiangcheng hit me in the face.

Ren Pingsheng got into a taxi and told the driver, "Go to Renjia Village in Jiangxia."

As the car merged into the traffic, he leaned back in his seat, a barely perceptible smirk playing on his lips.

-

From the very beginning, he never intended for Liu Guangwei to choose option two.

Liu Guangwei is an amateur, but he's not stupid. He definitely wants to gamble and try to get higher returns.

However, he can't even raise enough money for publicity and marketing, let alone the extra 1.5 million. The so-called 20 million guarantee is just a deceptive illusion for this greedy and cowardly businessman, giving him the illusion that he still has options.

Ren Pingsheng gave him two choices, but in reality, he only had one path to take.

Option 2 seems fair, but it's actually a mirage; Option 1 seems like a loss, but it's the only way out.

This is human nature.

The reason he was asked to choose option one was because Ren Pingsheng had calculated that even if nothing was done, according to the history of his previous life, the box office of "Lost in Thailand" would still be steadily around 3700 million.

Now that he's handling the promotion again, even without making huge claims, it's still very possible that it will break 5000 million.

This is precisely the source of his confidence in demanding a staggering ten million yuan buyout fee.

5000万的36%，是1800万片方分帐，他的80%份额能分到1440万，净赚440万。

More importantly, all derivative rights to this film belong to Shengping Vision, which means that the copyright to the Lost in the World series belongs to him.

This deal is a sure-fire way to make money.

but....

As Ren Pingsheng watched the street scene rushing past the window, a strange feeling flashed through his mind.

To my utter surprise, my first theatrical film after my rebirth was neither one I invested in nor one I directed.

It turns out it was bought from someone else.

He shook his head, dismissing the thought.

I've already booked my plane tickets; I'm going home to see my parents today.

Now that Shengping has become the main controller of "Lost in Thailand", the way things go from here on out will be different.

When I get back to Yanjing tomorrow, the first thing I'll do is, of course, meet with the person in charge of distributing this film.

He wanted to see how that oligarch, one of only two companies in the country with the right to distribute imported films, managed to turn such a film into this mess.

As far as I can remember, there weren't many movies to watch at that time; the entire summer movie season was almost empty.

A low-budget comedy that didn't even have a decent competitor, yet it still ended up in this ranking.

This shows how little the issuer values ​​the product and how little they care.

Huaying.

We need to have a good talk with them this time.