Chapter 151 1 Seeing Wumian Dao Chengkong
Chapter 151: The Sleepless Way
With a serious and responsible attitude.
I personally took a brief tour of the set of "Wulin Waijia".
Director Lu Hao found a deserted place and called Fan Wumian to report:
"Boss Fan, my friend happens to know someone in the crew. I'm on the set of 'Wulin Wai Zhuan' right now. I just made a careful observation for you."
"The crew is not large, and the total budget seems to be only about 800 million. It's similar to a stage play, and the scenes are very simple, but the actors' performances are quite interesting. It feels a bit like watching a Chinese costume version of "Friends."
"Also, the script seems a bit nonsensical. The actors are wearing tuxedos and speaking English. I think we need to be cautious and watch the sample first before making a decision. After all, the investment you gave me is only 300 million, and this is a business worth tens of millions."
On the other side of the phone.
Fan Wumian replied:
"You are taking advantage of me. The budget for the filming is not enough, can't you think of a way yourself? After all, you are a director who has appeared in Hollywood, and this is a project I invested in. If you use product placement everywhere, you can mobilize more funds."
“Hey, you’re also going to make a movie for me with the product placement you pulled?”
Director Lu Hao's tone was pleasantly surprised, and he added, "That's no problem. We can take advantage of your influence and advertisers will definitely be interested."
Considering that Director Lu Hao has a criminal record.
Fan Wumian did not forget to remind:
"Ad placement is very particular. Remember to let me review the plan before filming. These advertisers are our big sponsors and we cannot easily offend them. Whether the star agency's projects in the future can make money depends mainly on how many sponsors we can find for advertising. You must be careful."
"Okay boss, I'll ask you first when the time comes."
Let's get the topic back to business again.
Fan Wumian's voice continued to come from Director Lu Hao's phone, saying:
"It's barely understandable that there are characters wearing tuxedos in period sitcoms. Qianlong and the founding father of the United States were figures of the same period. Cixi even saw electric lights, rode in a Mercedes-Benz, and loved photography and Parisian perfume. It's normal to have a sense of disconnection."
The boss has spoken, what else does Director Lu Hao have to say?
Finally, I just followed the topic and replied:
"That's right. Even now, there are still many people in the mainland who think it's incredible that some countries had a per capita income of 10,000 or 20,000 US dollars in the 1970s and 1980s."
"I'll find a reason to contact the investors of this crew later."
“If you are lucky and the investor is willing to buy it, the price should not be too high.”
The reason why Director Lu Hao dared to say this is because domestic TV dramas are having a hard time.
Of the TV series filmed last year, about one-third failed to pass review and obtain screening licenses, and more than half of the remaining ones could not be broadcast during prime time, and were doomed to suffer heavy losses.
Online video websites are just getting started.
If companies that invest in TV dramas want to make money, they can only do so through TV stations.
Last year, there was a wave of investment in TV dramas. Investors invested a total of 20 to billion RMB, but actually only got back around billion RMB. Most investors lost a lot of money.
For example, "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" starring Liu Yifei, with an investment of 30 to million yuan, had a total profit of only more than million yuan, and it was very popular. As a hit, the profit margin was only about %.
Filming TV series is really not that profitable.
That’s why Director Lu Hao thought that as long as the investors of “Wulin Waijiao” could earn 2 to 3 million RMB, they would be able to sell the copyrights directly.
hang up the phone.
While the crew was resting, Lu Hao found Shang Jing, the director of "Wulin Wai Zhuan", and asked him:
"Hello, my name is Lu Hao. Did you know about the recently released movie "A Quiet Place"? I'm the assistant director of that movie, and I want to talk to you about something."
Director Shang Jing had a headache and said:
"Are they going to poach people from me again? They know that the actors in our crew are relatively cheap, so can't they leave some room for them? In the middle of filming, the leading actor is gone and leaves to another crew. How can we continue filming?"
"."
Ma Yingjie didn't know what the director had been through, but it seemed that he had a lot of resentment.
After talking about this and that for a while, he mentioned that he wanted to treat the investors of this drama to a meal.
He made an excuse by saying that his boss had given him a budget of 1000 million RMB and that he hoped to find a good drama in the mainland and have the channels to sell it to a TV station in Hong Kong and make some profit from the difference.
The style of "Wulin Waijia" is too peculiar. Director Shang Jing was very happy with the filming, but he was always worried that the TV station would not be willing to buy it.
The disadvantage of sitcoms is that each episode has a completely new story, which cannot arouse the audience's interest in following the series.
Since the ratings cannot be guaranteed, advertisers will naturally be unwilling to buy into the program. It will be difficult to find advertisers, and the TV station will certainly not offer a high price.
When Liu Yifei's "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" was sold to a TV station, the revenue from airing one episode was only 70,000 to 80,000 RMB.
Cheaper TV series only cost 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per episode, and some of them are not even wanted by any TV station.
When Director Shang Jing heard about the purchase budget of "1000 million RMB", he immediately became excited. He called the investor in front of Lu Hao and made an appointment to meet at Fengze Garden tonight to have a meal and chat.
That night.
It can be seen that the investors of "Wulin Waijiao" attached great importance to this business. They not only arranged a private room and ordered sea cucumbers, but also brought two bottles of aged Wuliangye.
During the conversation.
Ma Yingjie was worried about ruining the business, so he drank some wine and ate some salted edamame, and said:
"It's such a coincidence this time. My boss's agent has made contact with a TV station in Hong Kong. They want to purchase a comedy to be broadcast in Southeast Asia and Formosa. Our company has a chance to make some money from it."
"I signed with Fan Wumian's company as a director. He is only 18 years old and hasn't even graduated from high school. He basically leaves all the chores to his agent." "Thank you, Mr. Shao, for your warm hospitality tonight. Director Shang's "The Story of the Kitchen Team" is great, but it's not certain whether this deal will be successful. I guess it will all depend on our Mr. Fan's final decision."
This is just looking for a reason to get it at a reasonable price.
It’s true that Fan Wumian is young.
But his ability to make money is so amazing that countless colleagues look up to him.
Mr. Shao, the investor of "Wulin Wai Zhuan", who is already in his fifties, said with emotion:
"Boss Fan is amazing. Recently, there was news that he spent 4000 million RMB to buy another courtyard house in Yanjing. I saw a jingle on the Internet, which goes, 'Who is the peak at the end of the star road? Once you see it, you can't sleep and the road becomes empty.'"
"The first A Quiet Place hasn't even been released yet, and it's signed with a Hollywood film company. It's estimated that it can make another 200 to 300 million?"
"I've never heard of his company doing film distribution business before. But I invested a lot of money this time, and your budget is a little low."
Talking about the train.
Ma Yingjie looked at Boss Shao and said with a smile:
"Mr. Fan is from Hong Kong, but his agent is from the mainland. He used to work at Hubei Radio and Television, so he knows more about these things."
"The task of selecting the TV series will be given to me this time. I am familiar with the situation of your project. Don't talk nonsense among colleagues. Just give me an accurate price. I will bring back a few sample episodes and let Mr. Fan and others take a look."
Director Lu Hao’s photos can be found in many news reports.
Boss Shao and Director Shang Jing are not worried about being cheated.
It's just that I never thought that before the TV series was finished, I met a buyer who wanted to buy it out as a package, and I wasn't sure how to make the offer.
Think of asking for a higher price to leave room for negotiation.
Boss Shao continued:
"I won't sell it for less than 1200 million. You guys are eating meat outside, I just want some soup."
This is a non-traditional martial arts comedy, and no one can tell whether its performance is good or bad.
The total shooting cost is about 800 million. By calling this price, there will be a direct profit of 50%, which is relatively safe.
in fact.
Mr. Shao has a good relationship with CCTV and has asked his acquaintances for information. The reply he got was that the content of the script of "Wulin Waijia" was too immoral and not suitable for broadcast on CCTV's channels.
This reply has scared Mr. Shao so much that he dares not continue to make additional investments, and he has been worried about the gains and losses for a long time.
Hearing this, Director Lu Hao quietly put his heart back in his stomach, thinking in his head that as long as they were willing to sell it, it would be fine.
He smiled bitterly and said:
"The production cost of Hong Kong TV series is not high. If the cost is too high, we may not make much profit. But I can't make up my mind about this matter. I will tell Mr. Fan's agent and ask him to discuss it with you in detail."
Boss Shao shook his head and said:
"Our company doesn't have the strength to sell TV series to Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, but with Mr. Fan's fame, we can give it a try. I'm not bragging, there are a lot of martial arts dramas and spy dramas, and you can't find a TV series similar to "Wulin Wai Zhuan" in the whole country."
"We started editing recently. My family and I watched a few sample episodes and found them very interesting," said director Shang Jing.
In fact, Director Lu Hao was also a little confused. Until now, he still didn't understand why Fan Wumian was interested in the TV series "Wulin Waijia".
We ate and drank until around 10 o'clock in the evening.
Ma Yingjie called Fan Wumian again and told him some key information.
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Far away in the port city.
Fan Wumian was still typing, busy taking time to write articles for the Huiwen Daily.
After finally gathering enough content for a book, the newspaper is trying to distribute the first physical volume of "Emperor of the Desolate Sky" through its own channels.
Upon learning that the investor of "Wulin Waijiao" asked for 1200 million RMB, Fan Wumian was ready to buy it.
of course.
It is not cost-effective to pay out of pocket, it is more economical to take out a loan from a bank.
On the one hand, it is because there is an opportunity to make some quick money from this drama and obtain the digital copyright at the same time.
On the other hand, only the first eighty chapters of "Wulin Waijia" were filmed, and the second eighty chapters were difficult to produce as the actors went their separate ways and their value skyrocketed.
As long as he takes on the project, he will immediately sign a new contract with the crew and then shoot more parts.
If there are 150 episodes, they can be divided into four or five seasons and broadcast slowly to maximize profits.
With Fan Wumian's current fame and the reputation and quality of "Wulin Waijiao", perhaps by licensing the first season to more TV stations for broadcast, there is a chance to make back the cost.
In its previous life, "Wulin Waijia" was licensed to CCTV at a buyout price of 20 per episode. Fan Wumian would never do such a stupid business.
He remembered that "Love Apartment 2014" broadcast in 4 successfully earned 1 million yuan just by digital copyright.
Today’s film and television companies cannot yet imagine how much money good dramas will make in the future.
(End of this chapter)