Chapter 34 Previous Chapter

Chapter 34 Previous Chapter

Chapter 34 On the show

Che Xiao and Mr. Li have recently been living in a villa near Zizhuyuan.

The villa was just bought by Mr. Li, the richest man, just to make Che Xiao's life in the capital more convenient.

After receiving Zhang Chen's call, Che Xiao began to pack her luggage and said to Mr. Li, "I have to go out in the next few days to promote the movie and do a national roadshow."

"Where are they going? Who else is there?"

"Director Zhang, I, Zeng Li, and the Guangguang staff will probably be in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Hangzhou..."

Mr. Li remained silent, obviously unwilling, but he also knew that it was the actor's duty to cooperate with the film promotion: "Okay, I understand, but dear, think carefully about what I told you, being an actor is still too tiring."

"Okay, I'll think about it."

"when are we leaving?"

"Right away, the flight is in three hours."

"I'll send a car to take you to the airport."

"No need, the people from the Light will pick us up."

……

While Che Xiao was rushing to the airport, Zhang Chen unexpectedly received a call from Lao Li.

"Uncle Li, what's the matter?"

"Xiaochen, Mr. Li wants to start a film and television company and let me be in charge. I want to hear your opinion."

Zhang Chen took a deep breath. Mr. Li had mentioned at the wrap-up party that he wanted to enter the film and television industry. He thought he was just talking, but he didn't expect him to be serious about it.

However, Zhang Chen is not optimistic.

"Uncle Li, you and my dad are friends, so I'll tell you the truth. You are all outsiders. If you rush in, you will only be cheated. Our circle is very complicated. Apart from the star pay, other expenses are not transparent. It's too easy to fool you outsiders."

"For example?"

"A straw hat costs 6000 yuan, a pair of cloth shoes costs 3000 yuan, and the venue costs 2000 yuan a day. I directly reimburse you yuan. The key is that all the receipts are complete. How can you check it?"

"Uh?"

"Moreover, investing in movies requires more than just money. Without vision, no matter how much money you have, it will not be enough to lose money. Don't think our movie is successful. That's all an illusion. The country produces hundreds of movies every year, but less than one-third of them can make a profit."

"Let me tell you a true story. Earlier this year, there was a movie called Jiang Hu. It was a co-production between the mainland's Star Cinemas and teams from Hong Kong and Taiwan. It starred Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung, and was considered a very formal project.

But in the end, the film still lost money, and it was a huge loss, because the Hong Kong production team did not follow the filed script at all. They said there would be mainland actors, but there were none, and they said there would be a police line, but there was none.

Ultimately, the movie, which cost 4000 million yuan, could not be released in mainland China because it failed to pass the review, and only earned 1291 million yuan in Hong Kong.

What was the final result? The entire crew, including the director, actors, and backstage, all made money, but the investors lost money. This is Xingmei, one of the major cinema chains in the mainland. If you were an outsider like me, how much better do you think you can be than him? "

“Take our play as an example. If I want to cheat you out of your money, I have a hundred ways to do it.

In the early stage, I told you 200 million, and you invested it. Then during the filming process, the hotel room rate was 100 or 300 per night, did you know?
Do you know how much those props cost to make?

Do you know whether to use one or three photographic equipment, what specifications they are, and how much they cost?
Do you know how much film was used and how much each roll cost?
You don't know anything, so I can make a lot of money from it.

Then halfway through the shoot, I told you that the 200 million had been spent, and another 200 million would be needed to finish the shoot. Would you invest?"

"I……"

"If I don't invest the first 200 million, it will all go down the drain."

"Then I'll vote."

"Okay, after the filming is finished, the additional 200 million has been spent, but we still need to do post-production, which will require another 100 million. Will you invest?"

Old Li gritted his teeth and said, "I vote."

“After post-production, if the film is to be released, it needs a distribution company to take over the distribution. If no company is willing to take over, then it will definitely lose money.

The cost is 500 million, and you can get back at most 150 million, but it has no impact on us, because we have already received our share in advance, and there is also the money that was embezzled.”

Old Li's face had changed, but Zhang Chen continued, "Even if there is a company willing to distribute the film, a low-budget film distribution company would definitely not be willing to advance the distribution fee. You still have to pay for this part of the fee. Let's say it's 200 million. Can you pay it?"

"If it's not released, the movie has no promotion and the box office is bound to fail. If it is released, the 200 million cost will become 700 million. According to the 35% box office share ratio, the box office must be at least 2000 million to break even. How many movies in China can exceed 2000 million in box office revenue in a year?"

At this time, Lao Li was speechless: "Is the water... so deep?"

"It's so deep, there are so many tricks. What I told you is less than one tenth of it. Listen to my advice. Mr. Li has money to invest in movies, so it's better to donate the money. At least he can have a good reputation!"...

What is movie promotion? It is nothing more than creating topics, appearing on TV shows and live roadshows.

No matter what we do, there is only one purpose, which is to increase the exposure of the movie, let people know about this movie, and arouse curiosity to go to the cinema.

It sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult.

Especially for a movie like "The Darkness", without big stars and grand scenes, it is really difficult to mobilize the audience to spend money to buy tickets.

Guangguang probably saw the potential of "Dark Invasion" and worked hard on promoting it, trying to help make connections and get it on "A Date with Luyu" and "Super Interview".

The former is an interview program produced by Phoenix TV, and the latter is considered to be the earliest large-scale entertainment talk show in China. Both are currently popular programs.

Unfortunately, "A Date with Luyu" did not agree, probably because their standards were too high. Their interviewees are generally wealthy people, celebrities, etc., and they may not have been interested in "Dark Invasion".

But "Super Interview" was on the list and even cut in line.

On the 5th, Zhang Chen received a notice and rushed to Oriental Fengxing Media to record "Super Interview".

The hosts are Li Jing and Dai Jun.

The recording was in the afternoon, and the three of them had lunch together at noon. This is also a common practice, which can bring the guests and the host closer together and make the afternoon recording smoother.

Zhang Chen didn't remember what they ate or said specifically. He only remembered that Dai Jun kept telling dirty jokes during the entire meal. There were all kinds of dirty jokes, and no two were the same. His knowledge of dirty jokes was truly astonishing.

After recording "Super Interview", Zhang Chen immediately took the nearest flight to Shanghai to meet up with Che Xiao and others.

It really is true that 'you will be very busy from now on', they are really very busy, Dong Jianqiang has arranged a full schedule for them.

Seeing the schedule, Zhang Chen couldn't help but complain: "Even the donkeys in the production team wouldn't dare to be used like this~"

According to Guangguang's arrangement, these people were doing promotions in a cinema in Shanghai in the morning and had to appear at a roadshow in Chengdu in the afternoon.

A true aerialist.

Dong Jianqiang knew that Zhang Chen would definitely have some resistance, so he comforted him, "It will pass if you hold on. Now is the most critical time. We only have this week. Next Friday, "House of Flying Daggers" will be released. Whether you choose a bicycle or a motorcycle will depend on this time..."

Zhang Chen had no choice but to agree, because he wanted a motorcycle.

Even now, the publicity for "House of Flying Daggers" is overwhelming, and they will be drowned in it if they don't pay attention. What Dong Jianqiang said is actually right, whether they are a dragon or a worm, it all depends on this week.

When the roadshow started, they were really tired and spent most of their sleeping time on transportation. The average rest time for them was no more than 5 hours a day.

It’s painful, but it’s necessary.

In the early stages of a movie, publicity work is very important. The more people watch it, the easier it will be to build word of mouth, and theaters will not cut your screening schedule.

Piracy is rampant nowadays. A week after a movie is released, pirated copies are already selling like hot cakes.

Movies basically make money in the first two weeks, with the box office from the first weekend and the second week accounting for two-thirds of the total box office.

Zhang Chen also arranged a roadshow specifically for his hometown.

The audience was very enthusiastic. There are many directors coming from coal-producing provinces, such as He Ping, Jia Zhangke, and Ju Xingmao, but none of them can make commercial films.

In the original time and space, this record would be broken by Ning Hao in 06.

But now it has been replaced by Zhang Chen, and the year has been advanced to 04.

Due to economic reasons, the coal-mining provinces do not have any box office strongholds, but in terms of their share of the first weekend box office of "The Dark Invasion", the coal-mining provinces showed a different potential this time.

The distribution company was puzzled and could only attribute it to the fact that this was the director's hometown.

But Zhang Chen knew that it was probably due to the small storm caused by his parents and the booking of the entire theater by Haixin Group.

……

These days, everyone involved in "Dark Invasion" is under a lot of pressure.

Next Friday is the 16th, which is the day when "House of Flying Daggers" is released.

During this period, the publicity for "House of Flying Daggers" has been overwhelming, greatly squeezing their space.

If they want the name "Dark Invasion" to appear in the media, they often have to put in a lot of effort but only get one or two points of effect.

It is Wednesday now, and today is the day when "Super Interview" is broadcast.

(End of this chapter)