Chapter 204
A profit-sharing model with no upper limit and no lower limit
Although Ling Sui was so angry that she couldn't eat, getting angry couldn't solve the problem. She still had to call Tong Xiaoman and discuss with her what to do next as soon as possible.
When the reputation of a main actor in a work is ruined, the one who is most devastated is definitely the producer - unfortunately, it is Harvest Media.
Ling Sui could only comfort himself that good things come to those who wait, and maybe it was a blessing in disguise.
All economic losses caused during the period of reshooting, rescheduling, and re-examination and re-licensing must be recovered from the actor whose reputation was ruined. After all, before joining the crew, all the leading actors, including Ling Suisui himself, signed a risk agreement.
The content of this agreement even has a template. The legal department of Antenna, which is known as the "Pizza Hut of Nanshan", has rich experience in handling such incidents and has learned to prevent them before they occur.
Li Xiang is the focus of the whole play. Almost every supporting role has scenes with her, and Li Tian also has many scenes around her.
But it is already mid-June, and Ling Suisui will join the crew in early August. It was obviously impossible to complete the reshoot of Li Tian's scenes within just one and a half months. The director, photographer, venue, etc. all need to be coordinated, which is not an easy job.
Moreover, "Under the Wave" is currently facing a slightly embarrassing problem. Although there is a risk agreement and asking the actors for compensation is a foregone conclusion, the litigation process to recover the money will definitely be long. Before that, where will the money for reshoots or AI face-changing come from?
This is not a small amount of money, and it may not even be possible to get it back. Even if the lawsuit is certain to be won, but the actor whose filming was exposed insists on being a deadbeat and refuses to pay back the money, what can the crew do to him?
When facing a legal expert who is not afraid of wearing shoes even if he is barefoot, all threats within the legal scope will be ineffective against him. Therefore, Antenna and CCTV, as co-producers, were reluctant to pay the money, fearing that it would become a bad debt.
Even though Harvest Media stated that it would adjust the revenue distribution ratio of the series based on investment, both parties remained on the sidelines.
CCTV had not worked with Ling Suisui before, and because it was her first time acting in a period drama, her appeal in this area was unknown, so their expectations for the revenue from this drama were not high. And on the antenna side -
If it is a historical drama like "Peach Blossom Burning" that has a huge audience and can be operated in a commercial model, Ant Financial will definitely be willing to invest in it, but quality dramas are currently still in the stage of losing money to gain publicity, while period dramas have the advantage of being broadcast on satellite TV, but are a weak subject for online broadcasting.
Even if the leading actor is Ling Suisui, it is difficult to change the market rules.
It’s not that they were not optimistic about "Under the Wave", but the investment amount given before was almost the upper limit of period dramas, and no one expected any accidents to happen.
At present, Inspur's online broadcasting has already had a very good start. But no matter how much trust we have in her brand, apart from being the title sponsor, we will only invest in the first few episodes and see how the broadcast goes. If we force them to invest in all the series at once, the price will be pushed down very sharply. Antenna Video strongly disagrees. It's such a loss!
Seeing such a low offer, there was no way Tong Xiaoman would agree.
But the problem is that there is not much available funds in the account of Fengshou Media, and this year it has three idol dramas for newcomers.
After hearing about the difficulties of Fengshou Media, Ai Tianming contacted Ling Suisui immediately and said generously that he was willing to invest as long as he could get the required amount of money.
Unfortunately, before he could finish his time in the limelight, his family pulled him back.
Although investing in Ling Sui's drama is the right choice for Ai Tianming, this matter also depends on the circumstances.
This is not the initial stage of the wave, but the late stage when the work is taking shape and needs some patches. According to the agreement between Fengshou Media and several co-producers, the profits created by Inspur will be distributed first to the "founding founders" until the costs are fully covered, and then other companies that have "started halfway" will be distributed in proportion.
If Ai Tianming invests money at this time, he will probably only be ranked last, and the risk of losing money is too high!
Ling Sui could understand the Ai family’s attitude. If she were in a similar position, she would also have such considerations, as business is business.
Fortunately, she never relies on others to solve problems.
Ling Suisui tried to persuade Ai Tianming, who was about to throw a tantrum at his family over the matter, and said that he had already made some achievements before and was a well-known investor in the film and television industry, so he should never do such childish things again, as it would affect his image.
——More importantly, Ling Suisui doesn’t want to be described as “Da Ji” by others. He makes all the decisions. If they make money, it's because of his wisdom and bravery. If they lose money, it's because of her beauty. This principle is applicable throughout history and is well-known for its double standards.
So, since Ai Tianming is not capable of independent decision-making in the eyes of his family, and he cannot convince them through proper negotiations, he should not get involved. Ling Suisui says she will handle it herself.
Since there was no money in the company's account, she just injected capital personally. Other shareholders are welcome to follow suit and accept the dilution of their shares.
This is the signal that Ling Suisui is sending to the outside world: she is very confident in her work and will do a good job of reshooting. Otherwise, she wouldn't risk paying out of her own pocket.
After this shot of adrenaline, the voices that were trying to take advantage of the situation and criticize "Under the Wave" finally died down. Antenna and CCTV also breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the problem could be resolved, it was good.
With money, everything else will be easy. When to reshoot and who to find have become secondary matters, as it is still easy to find supporting actors.
When the parties met to discuss the adjustment of income distribution, Ling Suisui hoped to increase the proportion of income from other TV stations purchasing broadcasting rights. Regarding the specific data, the two sides were deadlocked. Finally, Ling Suisui proposed a step-by-step ratio, and they barely reached a preliminary consensus.
The income distribution issue for satellite TV has been resolved, and Ling Suisui also has some ideas about online broadcasting.
She asked Antenna Video: "I heard that you want to introduce a performance mechanism for your own dramas, and settle the actors' salaries based on the number of views?"
It has to be said that this is proof that the platform’s voice has been further expanded after it gained control of the end-user channels. Antenna claims to "guide film and television practitioners to serve the audience", but in fact it is just to shift the risk and does not want to spend a penny more.
After all, its performance mechanism only provides downward adjustments for those who fail to meet the standards, but there are no upward rewards for hit dramas.
Antenna Video was very surprised. Did she want to turn the buyout into a profit sharing?
This won’t do—the platform has already prepaid part of the buyout fee for exclusive online broadcasting, and now they want to change it? Are you crazy? Do you know how many contracts and sponsorship amounts from advertisers are involved?
Fortunately, Ling Suisui did not plan to do anything big.
She said: "The exclusive online broadcasting rights we negotiated are signed for three years, and the antenna has the priority to renew the contract. What I mean is that the buyout will remain unchanged for the first three years, and I hope to share the subsequent member acquisition, advertising revenue, etc. with the platform. We just need to adjust the proportion of this part."
"As for the profit sharing method... there is no lower limit and no upper limit."
Oh no? This is the real profit sharing, and Antenna Video was even more surprised.
Although the long tails of Ling Sui's previous dramas are very good compared to other works, three years is indeed a bit long. Could it be that all her films are from the Freedom House series?
The platform does not completely distrust Inspur's long-tail capabilities. After all, Ling Sui's achievements are there. It's just that she seems a little overconfident.
Look at Tong Xiaoman next to her, another partner of Fengshou Media. Although she did not object out loud, it was obvious that the two of them had reached a consensus in advance, but looking at her expression, it seemed that she did not agree from the bottom of her heart, and she was just compromising with Ling Suisui.
This kind of negotiation is not something that can be decided by just sending a representative; there is still a lot of work to be done by all parties involved. Everyone left in batches. After getting on the bus, Tong Xiaoman finally smiled.
"They should have believed it," she said. "The people from the antenna looked at me several times before they left. They probably thought I agreed because I couldn't persuade you."
Yes, of course she was acting - if even the partners did not agree with Ling Suisui's behavior, the platform would feel that she was an outsider guiding insiders and they could take advantage of her.
When it comes to "taking advantage", no Chinese can refuse. From the perspective of the platform, they will certainly imagine that as long as the ratio is negotiated well, no matter how low the buyout price is after three years, it may not be cheaper than the meager share of the profits.
The highest-level business wars often only require the simplest routines. If you try to engage in psychological warfare, you will run into the trap of professional actors.
Under the guidance of Ling Suisui, the "new actor" Tong Xiaoman performed very well.
You know, this kind of performance is difficult. If you don't perform well, it won't work; if you perform more, it will seem fake. After all, they are the closest partners. It is impossible for Tong Xiaoman to destroy her own family in front of outsiders. This is not in line with her personality.
Ling Suisui praised her: "Sister Tong, if you don't become an agent, maybe you can switch to being an actor."
"That's still not possible." Tong Xiaoman refused, "It's very difficult to succeed in this industry."
"To be honest, the way you just acted deliberately to show off your intelligence and competence, and pretended to be innocent and arrogant, and to be elated with a little achievement, even someone like me who knows you so well would doubt whether it was real or just an act."
Ling Suisui: ...
Sister Tong was probably, perhaps, praising her instead of being sarcastic. By the way, she doesn’t have these bad habits, right?
Ling Suisui reflected on himself for a while and felt that he did not.
She thought for a moment and said to Tong Xiaoman, "Sister Tong, thank you for trusting me so much."
According to her idea, although the antenna did not pay more money, it did not have to give up any profits during the popular period. Although she can use this adjustment opportunity to profit from the profits three years later, who can say for sure about the long tail?
Fengshou Media does not belong to her alone. If a wrong decision is made, it will also affect Tong Xiaoman's interests.
"It's nothing." Tong Xiaoman said lightly, "I have always believed in you, otherwise why would I eat the cake you painted for me?"
Now she has a company and new actors, but the big plans she made back then are much more than that.
Ling Sui looked at his phone tactically. To achieve the goal, we must always take it step by step.
Tong Xiaoman snorted and didn't hold her against this matter.
In fact, from the first moment she saw Ling Sui, she felt her drive.
At that time, Tong Xiaoman knew that this daring girl, who dared to take risks and dared to think, was willing to take high risks and challenge high returns. Even if everything goes wrong, she will never lack the courage to start over.
People who pay too much attention to retreat and are too afraid of danger may walk more steadily but are destined to fall behind others.
People like Ling Suisui have the mentality of a strong person reaching the top.
The author has something to say:
*The profit distribution in this chapter is purely the author's imagination, and it is for the amusement of laymen. If there are insiders, just watch it for fun orz
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