Chapter 270 He is the one I am looking for
Yang Liwen is very efficient at work. She didn't even mention the rejection to other crews, and the crew of "Operation Mekong" was quickly communicated.
[Bona Film Group] did not hesitate and gave a reply on the same day, agreeing to the request to convert the film remuneration into investment.
In this case, [The Demons Strike Back] will have to refuse.
Gu Wei received two important calls in succession, one of which was from Zhou Xingchi himself.
I hope I can persuade him to take on his own film.
Gu Wei was still quite surprised when he received Zhou Xingchi's call.
He grew up watching Zhou Xingchi's movies and has a good impression of him.
After all, the title of King of Comedy is not just talk. Many of the movies he starred in in the past can be called classics.
[The King of Comedy], [Flirting Scholar], [A Chinese Odyssey], [Kung Fu Hustle], etc. are all excellent works.
It’s a pity that Gu Wei is a relatively rational person. He likes Zhou Xingchi, but he doesn’t have any admiration for him, let alone change his decision for him.
Of course, Gu Wei was chatting quite enthusiastically with Director Zhou on the phone, praising him in various ways, giving Zhou Xingchi the impression that Gu Wei was his little fanboy.
At the end, he said regretfully that he couldn't take the role this time because his schedule was full, and he would definitely work with him next time if there was a chance.
After hanging up the phone, the smile on Gu Wei's face quickly disappeared.
Zhou Xingchi's Mandarin is average and he speaks relatively slowly, so he didn't say much in a conversation. To show his sincerity, he offered Gu Wei a higher salary on the phone, but unfortunately Gu Wei finally refused.
Zhou Xingchi is different after becoming a boss making movies than he was when he was an actor.
Now he is more like a businessman. When he makes his own movies, the first thing he has to consider is what factors have the greatest impact on the box office of the movie and how to maximize the profits.
If you look at it vertically, you can find that since Zhou Xingchi became a director, the protagonists of his movies have always been the hottest stars in the entertainment industry during that period.
In [Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons], we looked for Wen Zhang and Huang Bo, in [The Mermaid], we looked for Deng Chao, and in [Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons], we looked for Li Jiaheng.
He has always believed that a movie’s box office will be higher if the actors are popular.
The reason why they are so interested in inviting Gu Wei is that they have seen his high popularity and extremely strong box office appeal.
But in fact, when people watch Zhou Xingchi’s movies, the main reason they watch him is because of the three words "Zhou Xingchi". It doesn’t really matter who the leading actor is.
As long as the quality of the movie is good, everyone will go to watch it for Stephen Chow's sake.
The second call was from Yu Dong, chairman of Bona Film Group.
Compared with Zhou Xingchi, Yu Dong's attitude is more enthusiastic. This big boss is one of the real bigwigs in the film and television industry.
He also graduated from the Film Academy, but he studied management rather than acting or directing.
After graduation, he was assigned to work at the Beijing Film Studio. The director of the Beijing Film Studio at that time was Han Sanping, the current chairman of China Film Group.
With his hard work and excellent interpersonal communication skills, Yu Dong made a name for himself in the studio and was soon appreciated and promoted by Han Sanping, becoming the youngest section-level cadre in the history of Beijing Film Studio.
It was not until 1999, after accumulating many years of distribution experience, that Yu Dong left the public sector to start his own business and founded Beijing Bona Cultural Exchange Co., Ltd. - China's first private film distribution company, and obtained the first "Film Distribution License" issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
After years of development, Bona Film Group has become one of the private giants in China's film and television industry, comparable to Huayi, Guangguang and others.
It is only because of Yu Dong's strong official background and his previous work experience that Bona has actively cooperated with the official in recent years, and the style of works produced by the entire company tends to be mainstream red films.
"Mr. Yu, you are too polite. You are also my senior. We are all family, so of course we should be closer.
The last time I had dinner with Mr. Han, he mentioned you to me. I didn’t expect that we would have the opportunity to work together so soon.
Don't worry, I can't say anything else, but I do have some box office appeal. This collaboration will definitely make the movie a big hit.
If I didn't have this confidence, I wouldn't have taken the initiative to ask to use my film salary as a stake.
Okay, I'll wait for you to call me, and then I'll call Mr. Han and we can get together."
Compared with Zhou Xingchi, Gu Wei's conversations with Yu Dong were more casual. Although Yu Dong was superior to Zhou Xingchi in terms of status, there was always a close relationship between him and Gu Wei.
Yu Dong is Han Sanping's old subordinate. The development of Bona Film and Television from weak to strong is inseparable from Han Sanping's help and official support.
Gu Wei is now also a person that Han Sanping values very much. After several collaborations and his good relationship with Han Jianu, Han Sanping now not only meets all his requests, but also treats him as one of his own.
In addition, both of them graduated from film academy and are alumni, so there is a natural closeness between them.
It has to be said that having a formal education is extremely useful for some people. When you are truly capable, this identity will easily win the favor of your seniors who graduated from the same school as you.
Everyone will communicate more closely, and of course it will be easier to reach a cooperative relationship.
Of course, if you are at the bottom and can't do anything, no one will help you just because they are alumni. There are many people who add icing on the cake, but few who help in times of need. A blacksmith must be strong himself.
The movie "Operation Mekong" produced by Yu Dong is actually very fake.
At this time, mainstream movies have not yet gained popularity.
The company's previous film, "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy," was also jointly produced by Bona, Wanda Film and Television, Bayi Film Studio, China Film, etc., with the intention of sharing risks.
Unexpectedly, the box office finally reached over 800 million yuan, making a huge profit.
However, "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" is already very famous, and the reputation of "Yang Zirong" who goes up the mountain to fight the tiger in "Lin Hai Xue Yuan" is not only well-known to everyone, but also a classic in the hearts of a generation.
The bandit code "The king covers the sky and the tiger covers the earth, the pagoda suppresses the river monster" has been passed down from generation to generation as a "hot meme".
In contrast, far fewer people know the real events that Operation Mekong is adapted from.
Moreover, police and gangster films have always been the genre that Hong Kong films are best at. Although the film director Dante Lam is also a famous director in Hong Kong, it is impossible to shoot the story of mainland police in the style of Hong Kong police and gangster films.
In recent years, even the authentic Hong Kong-style police and gangster films produced locally in Hong Kong, with the participation of many Hong Kong movie stars, have not performed very well at the box office, not to mention that this film is bound to have a mixed style.
Moreover, the film has received support from the Ministry of Public Security, so the final content of the film must also be approved by the Ministry of Public Security. Random changes are definitely not acceptable.
Therefore, in order to consider the box office after the movie is released, Yu Dong can only work hard on the actors.
I hope to find an actor who can carry the box office to support "Operation Mekong".
Although Zhang Hanyu has good acting skills and has participated in many hit movies, if you study it carefully, you will find that his hit movies are basically collaborations with big directors, such as Feng Xiaogang's "Assembly" and Xu Ke's "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy".
Without the support of a famous director, it would be completely impossible for him to take on the responsibility alone.
In 2013, Zhang Han and Wang Luodan collaborated on a love movie "I Love You Because You Love Me", which only grossed 30 million yuan.
Later, the movie "Red Rush" starring him and directed by Li Ming also failed at the box office, causing heavy losses to the investors.
From this we can see that Zhang Hanyu is a good actor with good acting skills, but he is not a big star who can attract fans to watch movies.
At this time, "Left Ear" had just ended its screening, and Gu Wei naturally came into his sight.
The low-budget love movie was driven only by Gu Wei, and its box office performance almost caught up with the big IP movie "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" directed by Xu Ke and starring many movie stars.
At that time, Yu Dong knew that Gu Wei was the big star he was looking for to support the movie.
With Gu Wei joining, even if "Operation Mekong" does not perform well after its release, as long as it has the support of Gu Wei's fans, it can at least break even.
So when Gu Wei proposed to convert his film remuneration into shares, he agreed without hesitation. Those who can really make a company big in the film and television industry understand the importance of dividing the cake.
It is delicious to enjoy it alone, but between 100% of 100 and 50% of 500, it is obvious which one is more.
You can get more by finding someone to work with you to make the cake bigger. Sometimes sharing will not harm your own interests, but you will get more by expanding the base.
(End of this chapter)
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