Chapter 100: Meeting with Teacher Huang
Chapter 100: Meeting with Teacher Huang
"Then I will try to contact Zhang Ziyi's agent in the next two days to see what her attitude is."
Dong Jianqiang said this after seeing Zhang Chen hang up the phone.
It’s already mid-October, and there’s only one month left until The Shallows is released, so we have to hurry up and prepare for the promotion.
The sooner they finalize the female lead for "Eden Lake", the sooner they can devote their energy to the promotion of "The Shallows".
"The Shallows" is a film that Zhang Chen has high hopes for. If he wants to make a billion yuan, he must give his all in every aspect.
"Okay, go contact him. Oh, and be careful with his agent."
Zhang Chen didn’t know whether Zhang Ziyi’s agent was her brother or had been replaced by Ji Lingling.
But no matter which one it is, it's actually pretty bad.
In fact, Zhang Ziyi's brother does not possess any qualities of an agent. He is simply the product of one person's success that brings prosperity to everyone else.
In Zhang Ziyi's early days, her brother acted as her agent and caused a lot of jokes.
Later, she realized this and, for the sake of justice, removed her brother from the position of agent and replaced him with Ji Lingling, who was said to have returned from Hollywood.
But it's not much better than the previous one.
The ink-throwing cuteness, the fraudulent donation cuteness, the seduction cuteness, and the combined triple door incident almost ruined Zhang Ziyi's acting career, but Ji Lingling's response was not very smart when it happened.
It would be strange if he was so smart. As a Singaporean, he has no idea about the situation in China. I don’t understand why Zhang Ziyi gave the agency contract to him. Maybe she thinks that someone who came back from Hollywood is more prestigious.
"While you were on the phone just now, China Film Group called and informed us that they have an appointment with Guangguang and Huayi to discuss the promotion plan for The Shallows tomorrow."
If you want to achieve a box office of over 100 million, it’s not just talk. There’s a lot of work to be done behind the scenes.
We need to coordinate theater schedules, contact the media for publicity, and curb the spread of piracy.
It's not that easy to make over 100 million, even with Han Sanping's support.
Haven’t you noticed that so far, there is only one Zhang Yimou in the domestic billion-dollar club?
"Okay, I just cut out a few trailers for The Shallows and will show them to you all later."
Zhang Chen was busy working on the trailer a few days ago.
Trailers are a crucial part of the promotion of a movie before its release.
Usually, trailers contain some of the highlights of the entire movie. They neither reveal too much spoilers nor arouse people's curiosity, thus achieving the purpose of attracting the audience.
But some unscrupulous projects will cut all the essence of the entire movie into the trailer.
After watching the trailer, the audience thought the movie would be very exciting, but when they entered the theater they found out that the best parts of the entire movie were all in the trailer.
The next day, the producers and distributors of The Shallows all gathered in an office of China Film Corporation.
The person in charge was a director of the China Film Distribution Department, his surname was Lin.
The ones from Xingchen Entertainment are Zhang Chen and Dong Jianqiang.
The person from Huayi is Mr. Wang.
The light came from Zhang Zhao.
Zhang Zhao is a talented person specially invited by Wang Changtian, and he is fully responsible for all affairs of Enlight Pictures.
Historically, he was the real founder of Enlight Pictures, and it was he who proposed and implemented the ground-based distribution model.
Such a person is indeed a talented person, and he is also someone who can bend and stretch.
Everyone sat down on the sofa one by one. This was the first time that Dong Jianqiang met Zhang Zhao after leaving Guangxian, and it was also the first time that Zhang Chen met this great man.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Zhao took the initiative to greet the two of them.
"Hello Director Zhang, it's our first time meeting you."
"Jianqiang, everything that happened before was because of our different positions. I hope you don't take it to heart. Now we are in a cooperative relationship. Let's work together to make The Shallows a good success."
Zhang Zhao's meaning was very clear. There had been some dirty things in the past, but that was determined by their respective roles. Now that they each served their own masters and were still in a cooperative relationship, there was no need to continue.
Dong Jianqiang laughed and shook Zhang Zhao's outstretched hand generously: "Of course, we are all adults."
Fortunately, the situation was not as tense as I had imagined.
Director Lin and Mr. Wang were also laughing on the side.
The group briefly discussed the promotional plan for "The Shallows".
In fact, the first serious movie promotion in China started with "Hero". Before that, the concept of promotion basically did not exist.
Even now, the method is actually quite simple.
Internet promotion, hard advertising, premiere, celebration banquet, and finding some celebrities to speak well of the product, that’s roughly the process.
There are midnight shows, but the effects are very limited.
It's November, and it's so cold. Who would be sick enough to run out to watch a movie in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it be better to clean your gun in bed instead?
Not to mention now, even about 10 years ago, midnight shows were not particularly popular, unless they were as popular as "Avatar".
Nowadays, publicity still mainly relies on the media.
Various newspapers, magazines, entertainment news...
Although there are also Internet users, they are basically a fixed group of people, such as college students.
At that time, computers were still advanced gadgets, expensive, and not everyone could afford one.
This one has resources with several TV stations and can arrange exclusive interviews, while that one can help contact some magazines and shoot covers.
In short, the three companies involved in the issuance all brought out their best skills.
It was because Han Sanping said that China Film Corporation would use publicity resources that were no less than those for "House of Flying Daggers" to promote "The Shallows".
Guangxian was in its honeymoon period, and Wang Changtian was afraid that Dong Jianqiang would ruin his plans after going there, so he was particularly concerned about this release.
It is almost being run as an S-level project of the company.
Huayi’s situation was even simpler. This was their first time working with Zhang Chen. Although they did not get an investment share, they only got distribution, and it was a joint distribution.
But Huayi will definitely let Zhang Chen see the power of Huayi.
Although Huayi is the leader of the private film and television industry, Bona and New Picture will certainly not agree, but Huayi is also confident.
Before entering the film and television industry, the Wang brothers started out in advertising and had abundant resources in print media, which they could easily transfer to “The Shallows.”
After the publicity plan was finalized, everyone dispersed and went back to prepare.
Zhang Chen's phone rang again at an inopportune time.
Taking out his phone, Zhang Chen thought it was another female celebrity who came to inquire about roles, but unexpectedly it was not her this time, but Teacher Huang from the Performance Department.
"Ah, Mr. Huang Lei~"
"Zhang Chen, I saw on the news that you're back, so I just got Teacher Fu's phone number. What's up? Are you free tonight? I want to talk to you."
Teacher Huang is as always, the type of person who speaks in a carefree manner.
"Oh, of course I have time. Mr. Huang, tell me what time you are and I'll rush over."
Zhang Chen is very respectful to his teachers. Although Teacher Huang does not teach him, he is still a teacher at Beijing Film Academy after all. He has to give him this face even if he is extremely busy.
"It's 5 o'clock now, so let's set it at 7 o'clock. How about the Lao She Teahouse outside Dongzhimen?"
"Okay, I'll follow your arrangements." Zhang Chen agreed readily, but he was actually still thinking, isn't Guijie Street outside Dongzhimen? Where is the Lao She Teahouse on Guijie Street?
(End of this chapter)