This director loves making friends.

Returning 30 to him personally?

Qin Keqing didn't expect Harvey Weinstein to be so bold. Miramax had only been acquired by Disney five months ago, and yet he dared to issue a ticket for 100 million and privately ask for a personal rebate of 30.

Okay, his name is Harvey Weinstein. He only asked for a $30 rebate and didn't ask for half back, which is already very "merciful".

Upon hearing Marco Müller's words, Xu Qing, who was in the bedroom, immediately flew into a rage and came out, saying angrily, "This is blatant robbery! The agreement was already signed, and now he's just going to change it like that?"

It wasn't a secret that "The Man from Nowhere" sold its European and American rights, and Qin Keqing didn't deliberately keep it a secret. Xu Qing knew about the sale of the film's rights, but she didn't know the specific price.

Marco Müller was not surprised to see Xu Qing come out of Qin Keqing's bedroom; he was used to such things.

In Europe, especially in the art-house film industry, if a director doesn't have a romantic relationship with a female co-star in a film... then he's definitely already had one with a male co-star.

Qin Keqing raised his hand to stop the rather agitated Xu Qing, and looked at Marco Müller: "Both of us have signed the agreement, and Miramax has also given a deposit of 20. Aren't they worried that if they don't pay the final payment on time, we can just withhold the deposit and not cooperate with them anymore?"

Marco Müller gave a wry smile and shook his head: "Harvey is really not afraid. Yesterday's agreement only had Harvey's name on it and hadn't been stamped with Miramax's official seal yet, so it's not legally effective."

His point was that the final payment would be made within a week of the agreement taking effect, but the agreement wouldn't be considered effective until Miramax's official seal was affixed. Even if we took the agreement to him, he could still delay making the final payment.

He can drag it out until the hype surrounding "The Man from Nowhere" completely dies down in Venice. By then, nobody in the North American market will remember the film, and if he wants it to be released there, he'll have to spend a lot of money on marketing and distribution, which will make it even less likely to fetch a good price.

He can then push the price even lower.

"Since the agreement hasn't taken effect yet, we'll refund the deposit and stop cooperating with him."

Xu Qing said angrily.

Marco Müller shook his head with a wry smile. "It's no use. If we dare to cancel the deposit, what he'll produce will be a legally binding agreement stamped with Miramax's official seal. In that case, we'll be the ones in breach of contract."

All he needs to do is hold a press conference and say we breached the contract. Who in North America would still buy our rights? In the end, we'd still have to sell them to him at a low price.

Xu Qing opened her mouth, wanting to refute.

But she couldn't find a rebuttal for a moment.

Harvey Weinstein's decision to sign the agreement without affixing the company seal was a strategic maneuver that allowed him to both defend himself and others, but ultimately damaged his personal character.

Who would have thought that the founder of Miramax Films, one of Hollywood's most important independent film studios, would play such tricks on the agreement when he sold Miramax to Disney for $8000 million just five months ago and still retained a significant number of shares?

If "The Man from Nowhere" misses the prime distribution window offered by the Venice Film Festival, who in North America will buy the rights? What those companies value is the hype, hoping to capitalize on that hype and release the film in North America with minimal marketing costs.

"What can we do? Do we just have to accept his blackmail?"

"This is already the best possible outcome."

Marco Müller was both angry and helpless.

He was right. Harvey Weinstein initially demanded a $50 repayment, and Mark Muller, as the middleman, certainly didn't want his reputation to be damaged.

In addition, he considered himself a good friend of Qin Keqing, so after much persuasion, Harvey finally "lowered" the price to 30.

Marco Müller must feel like he's been screwed over.

"Ke Qing, as the middleman, Miramax gave me a fee of $30,000, which I will use to make up the $300,000."

After hearing what Marco Müller said, even Xu Qing couldn't help but glance at him.

"This person... is actually quite kind."

Upon hearing this, Qin Keqing laughed instead.

Harvey Weinstein is all too familiar with this tactic.

In his previous life, this Hollywood mogul used underhanded tactics such as "not affixing an official seal to signed agreements and delaying final payments to lower prices" to swindle countless independent directors from all over the world.

This includes the famous Chinese director known as "Little Cannon," whose film was delayed for more than half a year by Harvey using similar tactics. In the end, Harvey was so angry that he publicly denounced Harvey as a fraud at the Shanghai Film Festival.

How could Qin Keqing not be wary of this move?

In his previous life, he worked in a film studio and did foreign trade in Guangdong Province, where he witnessed many high-end and low-end scams.

"If he wants to drag it out, let him drag it out."

Qin Keqing said slowly, his tone as relaxed as if he were talking about the weather, "The North American rights to 'The Man from Nowhere' are actually held by Zhiyuan Pictures."

Marco Müller was stunned by these words.

For the film "The Uncle", Qin Keqing also used a similar "package" approach to cooperate with Zhiyuan Pictures. He invested in the film under the name of Zhiyuan Pictures, but Zhiyuan Pictures only had the copyright for the entire Hong Kong region.

All other overseas copyrights, from beginning to end, were held by the person who initiated this project.

When the agreement was signed with Harvey, it was under the name of Zhiyuan Pictures. If there are no problems, Qin Keqing will provide Zhiyuan Pictures with a formal authorization letter to complete the process.

If Harvey wants to play dirty tricks, then this process will never end.

In other words, Zhiyuan Pictures, the production company behind "The Man from Nowhere," which signed the agreement with Harvey, does not own the overseas rights to the film.

Well, how should I put it? I can only say that it's similar to Harvey's approach.

The difference is that Harvey wanted to use this set to scam people, while Qin Keqing just wanted to use it to avoid being scammed.

"Go downstairs and order three breakfasts. Marco hasn't had breakfast yet, has he?"

Qin Keqing gave Xu Qing an instruction, then turned to ask Marco Müller.

"Not yet, I'll come find you as soon as it's light."

Marco Müller, being a clever man, immediately spoke. He knew that Qin Keqing had something to say to him that he didn't want Xu Qing to know.

After Xu Qing left, Qin Keqing told Marco Müller that Zhiyuan Pictures did not have the North American rights to "Uncle".

"What? This...this is illegal..."

Old Ma's first reaction was that Zhiyuan Pictures' actions were illegal.

However, he realized what he was doing before he could finish speaking.

If Qin Keqing simply needs to provide a supplementary agency agreement, it won't be considered illegal, right? Or maybe it is?

He couldn't figure it out for a moment.

But none of that matters.

The important question is, is the agreement between Zhiyuan Pictures and Harvey still valid?

"Harvey didn't know that Zhiyuan Pictures didn't have the copyright. He should be able to apply to assert his corresponding rights and get the court to rule the agreement valid."

Marco Müller asked somewhat uncertainly.

Qin Keqing smiled.

"None of these are important, and they are not problems at all. Cross-border litigation is inherently troublesome, and it will take at least three to five years to come to a conclusion. By then, 'The Man from Nowhere' will have already been pulled from theaters in Hong Kong."

Moreover, Zhiyuan Film Studio is just one of the thousands of shell companies in Hong Kong without a fixed office address. If Harvey wants to file a cross-border lawsuit, he may not even be able to find where to send the summons!

Marco, do you think if I were to steal Harvey's $20 advance payment, he'd panic? Would he have a way to get it back? He probably doesn't know that every year, a large number of companies like Zhiyuan Film Studio close down in Hong Kong.

Go to court?

Taiwan's eight major film distributors have been ripped off by these shell companies countless times over the years. If they could get their money back from buying "trailers" through lawsuits, they would have done it long ago.

"this……"

Marco Müller was dumbfounded. In all his years as a film selector at film festivals, he had met countless shrewd film distributors, but this was the first time he had ever met someone like Qin Keqing who had planned out his escape route from the very beginning.

He couldn't help but shake his head, secretly lamenting that he must never get involved in these capitalist businesses again. Dealing with these people, he feared he wouldn't even know how he was sold off in the end.