This director loves making friends.

Before taking "Uncle" to Venice, Qin Keqing had to confirm one thing: the film's release.

The previous film, "A Sweet Life," was invested in by Win's Entertainment, so Qin Keqing only needed to focus on the film's production. She didn't need to worry about things like distribution, promotion, and release.

Of course, he couldn't do anything about it back then, as Win's Entertainment wouldn't allow him to interfere with the film's release.

"The Uncle" was invested in by Zhiyuan Pictures, a newly established company by Qin Keqing. Although the money was used to sell the trailers, it was definitely considered an investment by Zhiyuan Pictures, not a film by Longxiang Pictures, which bought the trailers.

This is the first film produced after the establishment of Zhiyuan Pictures.

As for the scale of Zhiyuan Film Company, it was similar to most Hong Kong film companies of that era. The company had a registered address, but if you actually went to look for it at the registered address, you would most likely not be able to find the company.

Many things can be handled by specialized firms.

Well, to put it bluntly, it's just a shell company.

This is also why Taiwan's eight major film distributors spent money to buy "trailers," yet many films could not be delivered on time, leaving them helpless.

Many celebrities or directors, like Qin Keqing, register a film company, put together a decent-looking cast, and sell the "trailer" to one of Taiwan's eight major film distributors.

Although it was a shell company, it was able to deliver many films on time, but there were also some that, for various reasons, took the money but did not deliver.

Logically speaking, the eight major film distributors in Taiwan should be able to unite and "blacklist" such stars or directors—if they don't buy any of their films, the Hong Kong film producers and these stars and directors will definitely be in a panic.

However, many things do not develop according to logic or reason.

Since the eight major film studios in Taiwan are competitors, and even rivals, if one of them gets ripped off, the other seven might applaud it and say it's a good thing, and might even deliberately buy a movie by that star or director to celebrate.

Therefore, the idea of ​​a ban or anything like that simply doesn't exist.

In the past two years, due to the influx of hot money into Hong Kong, several more films have been approved for production. Stars are unable to keep up with the demand, so producers are raising salaries exponentially to "snatch" stars.

This triggered a series of chain reactions, with star salaries soaring, which in turn led to an increase in the salaries of other actors, and a significant increase in production costs.

Correspondingly, the cost for the eight major Taiwanese film companies to purchase "movie trailers" has also increased significantly.

The Taiwanese market is only so big. If the cost of buying trailers increases, the eight major film studios will earn less money. In addition, in order to "grab" high-profile movies with big stars, they engage in vicious competition with each other, making even less money, or even not making much money at all.

If one of the eight major film studios is in trouble, the other seven will definitely be laughing at them.

If none of them make money, then they've definitely hit rock bottom.

All these factors combined made Taiwan's eight major film distributors restless. So this year, they finally put aside their grudges and prejudices and united to establish the Taipei Film Distributors Union's Overseas Liaison Group for Domestic Films.

The purpose of this organization was to target Hong Kong film producers and shell companies.

Moreover, as soon as this organization was established, it not only made demands on Hong Kong, but also took the opportunity to establish its authority.

It's not about blacklisting companies and stars who haven't delivered their films on time. If they were really blacklisted, it would have too many implications and might provoke fierce resistance from Hong Kong. If they are "blocked" for a period of time and their films aren't sold to them, they'll be at a loss.

After all, they make money from Hong Kong films. If Hong Kong cuts off funding, their cinemas will have to close down. That's why Hong Kong filmmakers are so fearless.

There are techniques to establishing authority.

One of the conditions they negotiated with Hong Kong was to impose a "salary cap" on Hong Kong stars.

Hong Kong stars are naturally unhappy about the "salary cap," and many have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction, as the reduction in pay really affects their interests.

So they "carefully selected" and then announced a ban on Liu Jialing and Wang Zuxian for publicly expressing their dissatisfaction.

This "ban" is quite clever.

Liu Jialing is from mainland China and went to Hong Kong.

Wang Zuxian went from Taiwan to Hong Kong.

Wang Zuxian was also unlucky. She was blacklisted in her career, and in her love life, she was involved in a scandal because she was suspected of interfering in Lin Jianyue's marriage.

Even more shockingly, Lin Jianyue's mother, Yu Baozhu, publicly denounced Wang Zuxian as a "prostitute" in the media on behalf of her daughter-in-law, Xie Lingling, stating that it was as if her son had spent 2000 million to hire a prostitute...

Yu Baozhu also declared that Wang Zuxian would never be allowed to step into the Lin family's home.

Under the double blow, Wang Zuxian became disheartened, which was the main reason why she retired from the film industry at the age of 26.

If Qin Keqing takes the 600 million yuan "trailer" payment from Longxiang Pictures and doesn't return to the mainland, this will be another film with indefinitely delayed delivery.

Qin Keqing certainly wouldn't do something so short-sighted.

"Shell companies" like Qin Keqing's Zhiyuan Pictures will find a professional distribution company to handle the distribution and scheduling of their films for theatrical release.

If you try to contact theaters directly without going through the distribution company, the theaters generally won't pay attention to such "shell companies".

Even the most "down-to-earth" Xinbao Cinemas is unwilling to schedule screenings for such companies.

If the distribution is done through a distribution company, the distributor has to pay the company about 15% of the distribution fee. Before 93, an entertainment tax of 17.5% was also deducted from the box office revenue.

However, starting in 93, the 17.5% entertainment tax was abolished and will not be levied again.

This is definitely good news for Hong Kong film companies; they're probably overjoyed.

However, for the Hong Kong government and its successors, given the current prosperity of Hong Kong's film industry, this is definitely a huge source of revenue. This money can be invested in many areas of Hong Kong that need funding...

If the government loses this revenue but still wants to operate according to the previous fiscal budget, how will it fill this "hole"? It will either have to borrow money or receive subsidies from the central government…

Compared to other fundamental changes, this is just a tiny, insignificant change made by a country that is good at stirring up trouble before leaving Hong Kong.

In addition to the revenue from the distribution company, the profits also need to be shared with the cinemas.

For films produced by small and medium-sized film companies, revenue sharing is divided into two models.

In the first scenario, the production company receives 40% and the theater receives 60%, with 5 screenings per day, and the production company covers the promotional expenses.

另外还有一种则是有明星有知名导演的电影，比例就是第1、2周5：5，第3周以后片方4，院线方6。

Films from Hong Kong's leading companies, such as Win's Entertainment and Golden Harvest, do not require distribution companies. Their films are prioritized for signing contracts with cinemas during the four major release periods: Chinese New Year, Easter, summer vacation, and Christmas.

其票房收入第1周60％分给片方，40％分给院方，如果继续上映，第2周5：5，第3周4周片方4，院方6。

During the production of Qin Keqing's "Uncle", many distribution companies contacted him, but he declined them all.

Because after Wang Yingxiang of Longxiang Film Industry spent 600 million yuan to buy the "trailer" of "Uncle", he casually connected the movie with Huang Baiming's Oriental Cinema.

Huang Baiming agreed for two reasons. First, he knew some of the inside story of what happened last time, and he wanted to get along well with Qin Keqing, in case someone became the governor's son-in-law.

Secondly, there was Wang Yingxiang's "encouragement" to Qin Keqing: "I've already contacted the cinemas for you, so you can't just take the money and run away with it!"

Huang Baiming's Oriental Cinema Line did not offer Qin Keqing the same treatment as those large companies, but instead gave small and medium-sized film companies a second revenue-sharing model.

也就是第1、2周5：5，第3周以后片方4，院线方6。

Although he didn't receive the same treatment as a big company, Qin Keqing benefited more from the second model because he negotiated directly with cinemas instead of a distribution company, saving about 15% in distribution fees.

When Huang Baiming learned that "The Man from Nowhere" would be screened at the Venice Film Festival and might even be the closing film, he was delighted and immediately adjusted his release date for September 16th, allowing a film with a pre-arranged release date to "give" its slot to "The Man from Nowhere".

September 16th falls in the off-season after the summer movie season, which isn't a great release date. However, the Venice Film Festival's closing ceremony and awards ceremony are on September 11th, making September 16th the most suitable release date for "The Man from Nowhere".