Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

Zhuang Huai'an and Leo went to Los Angeles instead.

Accompanying him was the friend Leo mentioned, whom Zhuang Huai'an did indeed know: Mark Friesen, the head of Lionsgate's European operations.

But this old rascal is dishonest. It was only at dinner last night that Zhuang Huai'an learned that Mark was actually Leo's cousin. Although they don't place much importance on cousin relationships here, they are still connected by blood, which is at least more solid than friendship.

To quote Leo: "Since you're planning to go to Hollywood anyway, you might as well use what you know. Lionsgate is a rising force in Hollywood, and it's worthy of your status as a great director."

After landing in Los Angeles, Zhuang Huai'an declined Mark's invitation, because Yang Chen had already arrived a month earlier.

After getting into the Ford driven by Yang Chen, the two chatted about everyday things until they arrived at the hotel. After taking a shower, Zhuang Huai'an went to sleep. During this period, he had crossed several time zones, and even though he was in good physical condition, his biological clock was somewhat disrupted.

Wake up in the morning and embrace the sun!

I woke up feeling refreshed and full of energy!

Looking at himself in the mirror, Zhuang Huai'an couldn't help but exclaim: This kid is really handsome!

After ordering room service and having dinner, he went to Yang Chen's room, where the two discussed company affairs from the past month.

"Through my connections with MGM, I acquired one of their subsidiaries. Calling it an MGM subsidiary is an understatement; it was more like a front man for MGM executives."

Zhuang Huai'an asked, "A front man? Drawing a salary without working?"

"Yes," Yang Chen nodded and continued, "My classmate in Southern California told me that this small company was set up by White, one of the directors of MGM, and it was registered under MGM to earn publicity and distribution fees for low-budget films."

Zhuang Huai'an tossed him a cigarette, telling him to speak slowly.

As is well known, Hollywood is openly controlled by six giants, and other film and television production companies are basically dependent on them.

MGM, as an established company outside the Big Six, has been struggling with poor management and financial difficulties since the 90s.

But an established brand is still an established brand; its marketing channels are still very good, it's just that its own production capabilities are not so good anymore.

In this situation, some senior executives at MGM were naturally dissatisfied with the annual financial deficit, so they pulled a stunt.

He instructed close associates to set up shell companies, and then had MGM headquarters sign channel-sharing contracts with these shell companies. In this way, these shell companies could use the contracts to share the headquarters' publicity and distribution channels by paying only a small amount of money each year.

So how do these shell companies make money?

It's very simple. Normally, Hollywood companies collect marketing and distribution fees directly from the total box office revenue. So even if a movie loses money, the loss is only from the profit.

In response to this situation, MGM executives directly bundled marketing and promotion fees, which were divided into three different levels of marketing intensity: $50, $100 million, and $300 million.

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Of course, these high-level executives don't dare to get involved in big productions. Anyway, there are plenty of low-budget productions in North America every year, and these low-budget productions are enough for them to make a fortune.

After hearing this, Zhuang Huai'an exclaimed, "Awesome!"

This is the real deal – getting something for nothing! The capitalists' methods are terrifying. No wonder MGM went bankrupt. It's not entirely Wu Baige's fault!

"So, this subsidiary I acquired can also use MGM's marketing channels. That old fox White even promised to do free marketing for us for the first time, and at the highest level of $300 million!"

Yang Chen laughed smugly, but Zhuang Huai'an saw bitterness in his eyes. It wasn't surprising, after all, he had worked at MGM for ten years and only now learned the inside story of the company. Perhaps the reason for Yang Chen's bitterness was that he felt it was not worth it for himself.

Zhuang Huai'an sighed, then asked, "How much did the acquisition cost?"

"550 million US dollars, minus the initial marketing expenses, is equivalent to 250 million." Yang Chen chuckled self-deprecatingly, "That number is actually pretty good."

"They're the ones who're at 250, not us," Zhuang Huai'an patted him on the shoulder, offering words of comfort.

"I'm fine."

Yang Chen took a deep breath, composed himself, and continued, "Although it's just a shell company, I've contacted the staff I've worked with before. Most of them have seen your movies and promised that they'll come whenever they have time to work on something."

Look, with Yang Chen around, Zhuang Huai'an doesn't need to think about cooperating with other companies at all, at least not for his first film in Hollywood.

We still need to hurry up and see if we can produce a few more movies. After all, MGM won't last much longer. We need to take advantage of it before it goes bankrupt and squeeze as much money out of it as possible to establish ourselves in Hollywood.

However, MGM's film library is very valuable, so why don't you...?

Forget it, Zhuang Huai'an still felt he couldn't afford to offend him. He didn't want the butterfly effect of his intervention to bring him back to life.

"In addition, after I arrived, I sent your information to the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild. I just received an email a couple of days ago saying that it has been approved."

Zhuang Huai'an nodded. "If you want to make it in Hollywood, joining a union is a must. Even when recruiting crew members and actors, you have to register with the relevant union, otherwise you'll easily get into trouble."

"What about Wen Ziren? Have you heard anything from him?" Zhuang Huai'an asked again.

"I've already made contact," Yang Chen said with a smile. "After he found out that you were the one who asked him to make a movie, he rushed from Melbourne to the United States immediately. I arranged a hotel for him and his companions downstairs."

"Okay, why don't you give them a call and ask them to come up and have a chat?"

Zhuang Huai'an, a master of horror films and Hollywood's best tool, would naturally not let this opportunity pass him by.

Although Zhuang Huai'an can replicate the horror movie scripts he created, even with the same script, different directors will produce different results.

James Wan has already proven his abilities, and Chuang Huai-an has no intention of finding someone else to make films like "Saw," "Insidious," and "The Conjuring."

With this "tool" in hand, Zhuang Huai'an didn't even need to write the sequel script. The main reason was that it would be beneath him, a famous director, to make this kind of film.

A short while later, James Wan somewhat awkwardly led his good buddy Ray Whannell into the room.

"Director Zhuang, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Wen Ziren greeted him in Mandarin. His parents were Chinese, and he later majored in Chinese ethnic classification at the Melbourne Institute of Technology. His Mandarin was fluent and didn't sound awkward like an ABC (American-born Chinese) speaker.

Warner, standing to the side, also introduced himself in broken Chinese.

"Come, sit down and let's talk."

Zhuang Huai'an smiled and took out his Seven Star cigarettes, gesturing to the two of them. Wen Ziren waved his hand, and after taking the cigarettes, Warner surprisingly held the lighter up to his face first.

Seeing Zhuang Huai'an's surprised expression, Warner insisted on saying in broken Chinese, "Wen's father said that this is Chinese etiquette, to light a fire for a respected person."

Okay, okay, foreigner, you should learn something!

Zhuang Huai'an leaned over and lit the fire, then patted his hand in thanks, saying, "This gesture means thank you."

"Oh~" Wonar said with a look of understanding.

"OK, let's get back to the main topic."

Zhuang Huai'an looked at Wen Ziren, "President Yang should have shown you the script by now, right? What do you think?"

"Absolutely a genius idea!"

When talking about the film, James Wan relaxed a bit. "To be honest, I also thought about creating a story like Saw, but I only had that concept in my mind. I had no idea how to drive the plot forward. After reading your script, it was like a revelation."

Seeing Wen Ziren looking at him with admiration, Zhuang Huai'an smiled and said, "Just take it as you praising yourself a year from now!"

"Sign with me, and I'll give you the rights to direct all three of these films. Are you up for it?"

"dare!"

James Wan agreed without hesitation. Only a fool would refuse such a windfall!