This director loves making friends.

Qin Keqing originally thought that he would go to Yong Sheng with Lin Guobin to discuss the movie.

To his surprise, Zhang Min told him directly that he didn't need to go, as she was there on behalf of Yong Sheng. Otherwise, how could she have become the producer of "Sweet Life"?

Ok.

Qin Keqing was secretly relieved.

He really didn't want to go to Yong Sheng.

For certain special reasons, he always felt that Yongsheng was a den of dragons and tigers, and going there would be tantamount to walking into a trap.

I guess Zhang Min wouldn't want Qin Keqing to go to Yongsheng either.

Qin Keqing was negotiating with Zhang Min.

The negotiations were extremely intense, with neither side giving an inch and both trying to overpower the other.

After a heated debate and argument, Zhang Min, representing Yong Sheng, finally reached a difficult agreement with Qin Keqing's team.

Qin Keqing's team's package price is 600,000 yuan, which is his and Lin Guobin's film remuneration. As for how the two will split it, that is not within the scope of this negotiation, but a matter between Qin Keqing and Lin Guobin.

60 is not much.

Even actors like Lin Guobin, who are not yet well-known, are currently asking for 20 yuan.

A golden combination like Wong Jing and Stephen Chow would require an 800 million yuan fee, and that was the price six months ago.

Stephen Chow is currently dominating the top four spots on Hong Kong's film charts this year, and film companies other than Win's Entertainment are asking for 800 million HKD for him.

If you add Wang Jing to the mix, it's not even worth considering if it's less than 1200 million.

Compared to this, Qin Keqing and Lin Guobin's 60 yuan is practically a steal.

But that's not how you calculate it.

Lam Kwok-pan can only be described as somewhat famous; he has never played a leading role in a Hong Kong film and is incomparable to Stephen Chow.

Qin Keqing has some experience, but not much, and has never directed a film on his own. He is nowhere near Wang Jing's level, at least not yet.

Win's Entertainment was willing to offer a package fee of 60 yuan and invest in their group, so it's highly likely they weren't expecting to recoup their costs and were even prepared to "give it away for free".

face!

Win's Entertainment was willing to invest in "A Sweet Life" mainly to give face to Stephen Chow and Anita Mui.

Therefore, don't expect Win's Entertainment to invest a lot in "A Bittersweet Life".

An investment of 360 million.

This is Yongsheng's bottom line.

Zhang Min, representing Yong Sheng, negotiated with Qin Keqing and was responsible for lowering the price.

Yongsheng naturally wants to spend as little money as possible.

350 million, this is the final investment amount agreed upon by both parties.

This is Zhang Min's first time as a producer and her first time representing Win's Entertainment in this kind of deal. She certainly can't agree to a bottom line of 360 million. Doesn't Zhang Min have any pride?

Okay, Zhang Min was prepared to sign the 360 million contract directly with Qin Keqing; she really wasn't going to care about saving face.

Qin Keqing did not agree.

The difference between an investment of 100,000 or 100,000 isn't that significant.

It's confirmed that Lam Kwok-pan will play the male lead in "A Bittersweet Life." His salary is not in the 350 million range. At that time, Hong Kong films did not have big-name stars, and the production costs were not high.

In addition, "A Bittersweet Life" doesn't have many explosion scenes or big-scale events. With 350 to 50 million of the 100 million budget allocated to hiring other supporting actors and staff, the remaining money was enough to complete the filming and post-production.

The only concern is how to sell tickets without big stars.

In addition, when it comes to packaged movies, other conditions can definitely be negotiated.

The main box office markets for Hong Kong films are Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. The copyrights for these regions belong to Win's Entertainment, while the copyrights for regions like Europe and America, where Win's Entertainment is unable to sell tickets, belong to Qin Keqing.

Yong Sheng had no objection to this clause.

Apart from Jackie Chan's films, Hong Kong's films cannot be sold to Europe and America. Almost 99% of the box office revenue comes from Hong Kong itself, Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.

In addition, "A Bittersweet Life" also signed a revenue-sharing agreement, but Win's Entertainment added a trigger clause.

If the box office in Hong Kong exceeds 1000 million, the clause will be triggered, and Qin Keqing's team will only participate in profit sharing for box office revenue exceeding 1000 million.

For example, the Hong Kong box office of "A Bittersweet Life" was 1200 million. Of that, 1000 million would not be included in the profit sharing. The remaining 200 million, after deducting the share with the theater chain, would be split between Qin Keqing's team and Win's Entertainment.

Yong Sheng had no objection to this.

If a "face-saving" movie that has no hope of success actually manages to gross over 1000 million HKD in Hong Kong, Win's Entertainment would be laughing all the way to the bank.

With HK$1000 million in box office revenue in Hong Kong, Win's Entertainment has almost recouped its costs. They consider any extra profit a bonus.

Moreover, if "A Bittersweet Life" can really gross over 1000 million HKD in Hong Kong, such a small-budget film would be an absolute hit.

If a movie becomes a hit in Hong Kong, its box office performance will be excellent, whether in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, or even in South Korea. The copyright fees will skyrocket, with millions of dollars coming from selling the copyrights in just those few places.

This is pure profit.

In fact, when Qin Keqing brought up these "redundant" clauses, Zhang Min thought they were unnecessary.

When the news was reported to Win's Entertainment, they were all stunned. That kid from the mainland really had wild ideas, thinking that making movies in Hong Kong was just like picking up money.

According to internal statistics from Win's Entertainment, 189 films were released in Hong Kong cinemas last year, but only 29 of them grossed over HK$1000 million.

Of these 29 films that grossed over 1000 million yuan, none had an investment of less than 500 million yuan.

How could just any mainland Chinese come to Hong Kong to make a movie and have it gross over ten million? Especially since this guy is a complete novice who has never directed a movie on his own.

That's really wishful thinking; ignorance is bliss.

Why is Hong Kong's film market so prosperous?

It's not because of the high box office in Hong Kong, but because these Hong Kong films almost monopolize the Taiwan and Southeast Asian markets, which are the backyard of Hong Kong films.

Both the film industry and South Korea are important markets for Hong Kong films, especially South Korea, which is practically like a backyard for Hong Kong cinema.

Those places were the foundation of Hong Kong cinema's prosperity.

Qin Keqing was very satisfied with the signed contract.

He never expected things to go so smoothly, nor did he expect Yong Sheng to be so indifferent to him.

Of course, it was precisely because Yong Sheng didn't value it that he was able to obtain such favorable conditions, especially the European and American copyrights that he valued most.

Yong Sheng only had Taiwan and Southeast Asia as its voter bases, while Qin Keqing was eyeing Europe and America.

If "A Bittersweet Life" can make it into the main competition of the three major European film festivals, even if it doesn't win an award, it will still earn points and can sell the rights to Europe and America.

Films that make it into the three major European competition sections, I dare not say how many, can at least sell screening rights for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

With the agreement signed, "Sweet Life" was officially launched, and the next step was to find actors and staff.

There's no need to look for the male lead; he's already been cast.

Lin Guobin doesn't yet have the label of being a villain specialist. He's quite handsome, to be honest. He almost looks like Li Ming and was Mui Yanfang's boyfriend for many years. How could he possibly be as evil as he is in the movies?

He's good-looking, skilled, and can even design action scenes himself. He's good at real combat, and he's cheap too. This kind of male lead is really useful.

Qin Keqing was generally satisfied with Lin Guobin.

The next step is to consider the configuration of other roles and staff.