Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

Landed in Los Angeles in the middle of the night; Wynn's physical condition is amazing.

No need to adjust to the time difference, I can wake up smiling.

At the long-awaited Sugar Heart Company,

The head steward, Yang Chen, reported on the recent battle situation.

The James Wan brothers have already established their reputation in the horror film industry with films such as Saw, Insidious, Happy Death Day, The Conjuring, and Triangle, which is currently in post-production.

Unlike the previous four films, which had low budgets of a few million dollars, Triangle's production costs soared to $12 million due to location issues, mainly because renting a cruise ship was expensive.

"Furthermore, Industrial Light & Magic are Lucas's protégés, and their core personnel either own shares or have signed non-compete agreements with exorbitant penalties, making them impossible for MGM to poach."

Zhuang Huai'an asked, "What about other companies? Have you looked into them?"

"There are four top visual effects companies on the market today. Industrial Light & Magic is number one in overall strength, and Cameron's Digital Domain has its own STORM fluid simulation engine. For disaster movie scenes such as floods, storms and tsunamis, there is no rival."

Weta Digital, a New Zealand-based company, won 10 out of 11 Oscars for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" last year, and is currently riding high. They are known for their motion capture, realistic creature effects pipeline, and world-leading skin and hair rendering.

Finally, there's Sony's own graphics and visual effects company, which also has its own rendering pipeline, the prototype of Katana technology. Katana produces a strong sense of realism in lighting, materials, and urban scenes; Spider-Man is a prime example.

After giving a brief explanation, Yang Chen continued, "We've hired headhunters to follow up. These four core personnel are basically the same, the penalties for breach of contract are shockingly high, and there are also non-compete agreements. I think there's probably not much hope."

"If there's no hope, then forget it. We can just outsource it in the future."

Zhuang Huai'an didn't insist. He had originally planned to use MGM's money to support his own special effects company, but since it was so difficult, he gave up.

Special effects are an extremely expensive industry, and his current small frame simply can't handle it alone.

Besides, his ultimate goal in making movies is to make money!

Why insist on starting a special effects company? The future of the Chinese film market is already rotten to the core, and it's impossible for him to turn things around just because he started a top-notch special effects company.

They can produce films like "Asura" and "League of Gods" (left-handed versions), and "Shanghai Fortress," so why should they try to save the market themselves?

"Oh, by the way," Yang Chen continued his report, "but for the animation effects, the headhunter recommended a very suitable candidate, who is of Chinese descent."

"What's your background?"

"The man at Judah's Dream Factory is Chen Junwen, who is in charge of 3D animation special effects rendering."

Zhuang Huai'an searched his memory and actually found information about Chen Junwen.

They participated in the special effects production of films such as "X-Men 2" and "The Matrix," and were also part of the visual effects art team during the 08 Olympics.

"The four major visual effects companies have agreements, and DreamWorks should have one too, right? Are there any penalties for breach of contract?"

"No need, he's a special case."

Yang Chen shook his head and explained, "DreamWorks spun off its animation division last year. I heard that Judas and the other two were planning to merge the headquarters into Paramount. Chen Junwen wanted to go to the animation division, but Judas wanted to get a good price, so he forcibly kept the core personnel at headquarters. That's why Chen Junwen came up with the idea."

Zhuang Huai'an's heart skipped a beat. This was a good opportunity. He couldn't afford CG special effects, but 3D animation special effects were cheap, and "Kung Fu Panda" also needed a lot of talent.

At this point in time, DreamWorks is really showing some decency!

"Sign him as soon as possible, give him the top salary, and tell him we need a lot of talent, and we'll take as many as he can bring in!"

If it's no longer useful, just throw it away. This isn't China, a capitalist's paradise where there are plenty of loopholes to justify firing employees. Since they're not one of our own, we don't need to feel bad about it.

"Okay, should we sign with Sugar Club or MGM?"

"I don't want them to sign. I want to set up a separate company to house them so that they can get their work visas. Otherwise, it will be too troublesome to transfer documents between the two sides. I might as well have the artists from China come here to work."

"Okay, then we'll need to find an American to represent us."

Yang Chen thought for a moment, "How about using Lao Feng? We can also use Sugar Heart Company to cross-share with the new company, or we can use our shell company in the Cayman Islands."

"Let's cross over with shell companies; that way we can reduce our taxes."

Paying taxes domestically is fine, but in the US, people try to save money wherever possible; even capitalists don't have surplus funds!

"Okay, I'll arrange it. What should the new company be called?"

"hey-hey…"

Speaking of this, Zhuang Huai'an was no longer sleepy. "Let's call it Jingdong Animation Special Effects Company. It expresses the author's homesickness."

"Isn't this name a bit too obscure?"

Yang Chen asked in confusion, "And how do you translate this into English?"

"Let me think about it for a moment."

Such a classic name couldn't be left unused, so Zhuang Huai'an thought for a moment and decided to just use a direct translation, as long as the meaning was conveyed.

"It's called Eastern Spirit, the spirit of the East. It's usually abbreviated as ES, which is easy to remember."

"Okay." Yang Chen also thought the name was good.

"Also, get a few media outlets coming over later, preferably the Wall Street Journal or something. That old bastard Kirk has been having too easy these past two years; I'm going to stir things up!"

Zhuang Huai'an was still a little unconvinced. This time, he had to cut Kirk's butt with a knife to show him what he was made of!

"That's easy. Wall Street is practically treating you like Buffett. If it weren't for the limited resources, those media outlets would be eager to follow you back home."

"I don't like hearing that."

Zhuang Huai'an laughed and said, "To put it bluntly, that old Buffett was just born a few decades too early. If he were alive today, he might not be as awesome as me."

"That's true." Yang Chen agreed wholeheartedly, after all, his boss had single-handedly saved MGM Studios from bankruptcy and even doubled its market value.

With this kind of ability, I guess only Mr. Donald, the stock market guru, could do it!

Huh? Who's Donald?

...

The following day, a piece of news ignited Wall Street and swept through Hollywood.

just because,

Zhuang is an internationally renowned director, top screenwriter, winner of three major awards and two gold medals, an Oscar winner, founder of Sugar Heart Company, MGM director, Kirk's godfather, a stock market guru who doesn't trade stocks, the son of a miracle, the third sexiest man in the world, Anne Hathaway's ideal partner, and Huai'an.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he revealed his desire to partner with a film and television company to take Sugar Heart Pictures public.

It's perfectly normal for Sugar Heart Company to want to go public; Hollywood makes movies, but it also deals with finance.

But as everyone knows, Sugar Heart Company and Zhuang Huai'an are tied to MGM Studios. If they really want to go public and make money, how could they not bring MGM along?

So, the cunning frog keeps touching your belly!

Zhuang Huai'an doesn't want to play with MGM anymore!

After all, in the past two years, who in Hollywood doesn't know that Zhuang Huai'an is Kirk's godfather?

What does this mean? A hen that lays golden eggs has spawned in the wild!

In no time, film and television production companies across the United States went crazy. Those who knew Yang Chen waved checks at his door, while those who didn't publicly declared to the media that they would name any price as long as Zhuang Huai'an was willing to come!

Meanwhile, Kirk, far away in Las Vegas, also went mad.

Not a buddy?

I was just testing your limits, and you're doing this to me?

Didn't we agree not to use the "Longevity with Heaven and Earth" move?

Isn't it said that Chinese people are reserved?

Damn! Fake news!

It's all Fuka's fault... Morita Eimi!