This director loves making friends.

After Xiang Huasheng left, Qin Keqing flipped through the so-called supplementary agreement and frowned.

The film "A Bittersweet Life" had a rather unusual origin. According to Win's Entertainment's initial understanding, it was a money-losing film made to save face for Stephen Chow and Anita Mui.

Yong Sheng Ken Investment likely didn't intend to recoup its costs; in fact, it was prepared to "give it away for free."

Therefore, there were not many obstacles in some agreements, and they were almost entirely discussed and decided by Qin Keqing and Zhang Min.

Of course, Yong Sheng isn't stupid; they certainly wouldn't skimp on the most basic things.

For example, Hong Kong's local box office revenue, which accounts for almost 99.9% of the total, as well as the copyrights for Taiwan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, all belong to Win's Entertainment.

They gave Qin Keqing the European and American copyrights that Yongsheng considered useless.

Win's Entertainment had no objection to this at the time, since almost none of Hong Kong's films, except for Jackie Chan's, could be sold to Europe and America.

Moreover, Qin Keqing's "Sweet Life" has a small budget, is directed by a new director, and has no stars. How can such a film be sold in Europe and America?

That's utterly delusional!

But "A Bittersweet Life" did just that, and it even grossed $42.6!

Since October 1983, the Hong Kong dollar has been linked to the US dollar under a peg system, with an official benchmark exchange rate of 7.8 Hong Kong dollars to 1 US dollar. The monetary base is fully backed by 100% US dollar assets. This system had been operating stably for nearly 10 years by 1993.

Even if there are occasional fluctuations, they are not significant.

In other words, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 7.8 Hong Kong dollars.

US$42.6 is equivalent to HK$332.28.

This is the price you'd pay to hire a top director from Hong Kong.

What frustrated Xiang Huasheng even more was that there was a trigger clause in the agreement, which would take effect if the box office in Hong Kong exceeded 1000 million, and Qin Keqing would also participate in the profit sharing for the box office revenue beyond 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. Of the extra 200 million, after deducting the share with the theater chain, Qin Keqing and Win's Entertainment would split the rest equally.

At the time, Win's Entertainment thought "A Bittersweet Life" was a flop and never expected it to gross over 1000 million at the box office.

However, after "A Bittersweet Life" won the Camera d'Or and the Special Jury Prize at Cannes, things might change.

Although Hong Kong is almost entirely a commercial film industry, precisely because of this, award-winning films rarely have low box office returns; 1000 million is still a possibility.

As for manipulating box office figures?

Xiang Huasheng had actually thought about it.

However, he had concerns.

The rights to "A Bittersweet Life" haven't been sold yet in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Japan. It used to be difficult to sell, and Win's Entertainment originally planned to package it with other films.

But now, because of the Cannes Film Festival award, the copyright has suddenly become a hot commodity, and many local film companies and theater chains have inquired about it. Win's Entertainment is no longer willing to sell it easily.

Win's Entertainment's idea was simple: they wanted to wait until the box office results for "A Bittersweet Life" in Hong Kong were available before discussing the rights for other regions.

If a film that wins two Cannes awards can gross over 1000 million at the Hong Kong box office, its copyright fee will be on a completely different level compared to other commercial films that gross over 1000 million.

A commercial film that grossed 1000 million in Hong Kong will definitely need to spend money on promotion when it is released in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, South Korea, and Japan, and the box office performance will be uncertain.

However, a Cannes award-winning film with a box office of 1000 million in Hong Kong comes with its own publicity, guaranteeing a minimum box office performance.

Of course, the higher the box office in Hong Kong, the more copyright fees will be sold. Xiang Huasheng is well aware of this, so it would be foolish to manipulate the box office figures.

Therefore, Xiang Huasheng hates bundled movies! He hates even more movies with revenue-sharing clauses!

Having signed the contract, Xiang Huasheng couldn't go back on his word. After all, Yong Sheng wasn't just about making a quick buck and leaving; they were now running a "legitimate" film company.

But if the contract doesn't specify something, then we need to make up for it.

Yong Sheng's supplementary agreement details a number of terms.

For example, in addition to the copyrights in Europe and America stipulated in the agreement, the copyrights of all other countries and regions in the world, including some tribes in Africa that do not even have access to electricity, are also owned by Yongsheng.

This also included copyright issues in mainland China, which were subconsciously overlooked at the time.

Qin Keqing didn't actually overlook it, but rather felt that given the content of "A Bittersweet Life," it was impossible for it to be released in mainland China, so he didn't include the ownership of the mainland copyright in the title.

In fact, Qin Keqing only wanted the European and American copyrights at the time, and felt that getting the European and American copyrights was already a pleasant surprise. He didn't have any other ideas at all.

Yongsheng's supplementary agreement not only sought to seize the copyright in mainland China, but more importantly, it also included all copyrights except for the distribution rights in Europe and America—Qin Keqing only sold the distribution rights for $42.6.

In other words, under this supplementary agreement, Qin Keqing only has the distribution rights in Europe and America, not all the copyrights. Apart from the distribution rights, all the copyrights of "A Sweet Life" belong to Win's Entertainment.

Their eating manners were quite unsightly.

Qin Keqing could guess some of Xiang Huasheng's thoughts.

Hong Kong directors, even those like Wong Jing who are generally considered to be virtually guaranteed to make money, even if they're working with Stephen Chow on a film—which is practically a winning combination at the moment—only receive the overall package fee, not the film's copyright.

Therefore, Xiang Huasheng's creation of this supplementary agreement to "take back" the copyright doesn't seem excessive.

Actually, this supplementary agreement wasn't meant to force Qin Keqing to sign immediately; rather, it was more of a "notification."

Whether Qin Keqing signs or not makes no difference to Yong Sheng.

Does Qin Keqing really dare to sue Win's Entertainment in Hong Kong? No director or actor would dare to do that, at least not before 97.

After leaving Yong Sheng, Qin Keqing first took a taxi to a tea restaurant, then walked around the tea restaurant for a while before taking a taxi to a hotel.

I opened the door and went inside. The bathroom was running, and someone was taking a shower.

Qin Keqing did not disturb the people inside. Instead, he sat down and thought for a while before starting to look at "Make Friends".

At Cannes, he used 10 of his last 20 points on Peng Jiesi, and originally intended to use the remaining 10 points on Gilles Jacob, the artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival.

But after considering it, I realized it was useless.

The Cannes Film Festival is over, and he and Pierre Lissent have become close friends, so it wouldn't make much sense for him to remain just casual acquaintances with Gilles Jacob.

If he wants to attend the Cannes Film Festival again next year, he can get to know Gilles Jacob through Pierre Lissent.

It's better to keep 10 points for emergencies.

Qin Keqing looked at the available points.

"A Bittersweet Life" won the Golden Camera Award (+5 points) and the Jury Special Award (+5 points), that's all.

Qin Keqing frowned. Wasn't there a special contribution award from the Catholic Church that wasn't officially part of Cannes? Wouldn't they give some points for it?

No!

This dispelled Qin Keqing's idea of ​​taking "A Bittersweet Life" to various "unacceptable" film festivals to win awards. What's the point of making a fuss if you don't get any points?

In addition, although he won the Palme d'Or for his role as an extra in "Farewell My Concubine," he did not receive any additional rewards. It seems that one needs to become a member of the crew to receive a reward.

Now, with the bonus from "A Bittersweet Life", you have another 20 points.

Thinking of Xiang Huasheng's domineering attitude, Qin Keqing began to consider whether to give all 20 points to Peng Jiesi.

Alternatively, add 10 points to both Xiang Huasheng and Xiang Huaqiang, making them both "casual acquaintances".

Is it feasible?

Qin Keqing began to think about it seriously.