Chapter 337 I owe you a favor

Chapter 337 I owe you a favor

Chapter 337 I owe you a favor

Other resources don't matter.

Director Feng was able to find funds and has already entered the "100 million yuan box office club".

The reason why he made up an excuse to find Fan Wumian was simply because he had worked with Miramax and Sony Pictures before, and maybe he could help to make connections and sell the North American distribution rights of "The Banquet" at a high price.

In terms of influence in the Asian film and television circles, Fan Wumian is already way ahead of Director Feng. Whether it's funding, resources, or the ability to create good works, there is nothing wrong with him, which makes countless colleagues deeply envious.

At this moment.

Director Feng struck while the iron was hot and continued:
"The first A Quiet Place had such a high global box office, and Those Years and Crazy Stone were also very successful in Asia. If A Quiet Place 2 also succeeds, Mr. Fan will have a firm foothold in the international market."

"Don't forget to bring me along when the time comes. If you need anything, just ask me. I think there are many areas where we can cooperate."

"The CEO of Huayi Brothers often mentioned you, saying that if Crazy Stone was given to them to distribute, the box office would probably be a little higher. Bangxian Media is a latecomer and its strength is slightly weaker than Huayi."

Fan Wumian was worried about getting into trouble, such as being asked to help promote "The Banquet" to Miramax Films.

Hearing this, he just laughed and changed the subject vaguely:

"Kangxian Media is a new company, so its commission is relatively low, and there will be other opportunities for cooperation in the future. I have shot two other movies, but I am holding them back for now. I want to wait until the results of A Quiet Place 2 come out, and then I will ask if any company is interested. I am afraid that I will lose money if I am not careful."

Director Feng knows "Time Trap" and "This Man From Earth".

These are just two low-budget science fiction works with a low total investment, but because they are Fan Wumian's projects, they still attracted the attention of the industry.

According to the practice in the circle.

As long as a director succeeds several times in succession and proves his ability, the value of his subsequent works will skyrocket, but if he fails, he will be back to square one.

It’s just like playing a game and upgrading to pass levels. Generally, you have to succeed three times to advance to the next level, but if you fail at the next level, you have to downgrade and continue accumulating.

The vast majority of directors have to rely on one good work after another to stand out and be qualified to join the camp of "great directors".

The same is true for Fan Wumian.

The three films released in 2005 all performed very well at the box office. Just the international hit "A Quiet Place" was enough for him to break through the siege.

He has never failed, so before "Time Trap" and "This Man From Earth" actually failed, the outside world generally believed that they had extremely high commercial value, and many potential partners had extended olive branches to them.

The reason for holding back the release of these two films is that they want to wait for "A Quiet Place 2" and wait for the price to rise, and by the way, try to save some publicity and promotion costs by making some new noise overseas.

Seeing that even the two films produced by Fan Wumian's own company were still unsold, Director Feng had nothing more to say.

He lowered his voice and asked:
"Does Mr. Fan have any movies coming out in July or August this year? I'm not worried about others, but I'm afraid of running into you. Tens of millions of young people are your fans, and your box office appeal is terrifying."

Fan Wumian waved his hand and said:
"Of course not. I'm also afraid of commercial blockbusters like The Banquet. To be honest, the filming of Crazy Racer directed by Lu Hao will start after the Chinese New Year and is scheduled to be released at the end of June."

"Oh? Is it a work from the Crazy Stone series?"

"Yes, I wrote the outline of the script. It should be pretty good. It's also a low-budget black comedy movie, so it shouldn't be a problem to recoup the cost."

Director Feng looked at him strangely, thinking that this was too modest.

They kept saying that they were afraid of competing with commercial blockbusters, but it was still released around the same time as "The Promise", and actually successfully defeated "The Promise".

In this regard.

Director Feng suspected that Fan Wumian had heard the rumor from Miramax Films in advance that the quality of "The Promise" was not good, so he set the release date to a week after "The Promise".

The release time is really well chosen.

Other movies chose to give way to "The Promise", and "Crazy Stone" had a higher reputation than "The Promise". It successfully swallowed an elephant with a small budget, and occupied most of the market in the same period with a low-cost black comedy.

Even though The Banquet cost a full 1500 million US dollars, he really didn't dare to clash with Crazy Racer. After all, Fan Wumian could afford to lose, but Director Feng didn't dare to take any risks. He asked politely:

"Then my film The Banquet is scheduled to be released in August? There is more than a month in between, so this should be fine. There are only a few good months in a year, and it is difficult to completely avoid it."

"Wang Baoqiang is a signed artist under my company. He said he laughed like crazy while filming Lost on Journey. He said he had never acted in such a fun movie before. He also plans to release it during the Lunar New Year film schedule next year."

"After hearing what he said, I don't want to clash with Lost on Journey. Although Baoqiang is a silly kid, he can make him so happy, which shows that he is really funny."

Fan Wumian re-adapted the script and added many new hilarious gags to "Lost on Journey", which is a "2.0 upgraded version" with quite good quality.

If it collides with "The Banquet", there will still be a chance to win.

Director Feng got the news in advance from the lead actor Wang Baoqiang, and choosing to avoid "Lost on Journey" was undoubtedly a particularly wise choice.

Fan Wumian raised the corners of his mouth and asked directly:

"We just happened to be talking about Wang Baoqiang. How about Director Feng, can you transfer his contract to me? I'll even owe you a favor. No matter if it's funding, my own schedule or other resources, as long as the conditions are not excessive, everything else can be negotiated." Director Feng was shocked when he heard this.

The favor that Fan Wumian owed was really valuable in his eyes.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if Fan Wumian were to appear in his movie as a cameo for a few minutes, there would be a chance that the box office would be increased by 30 to 40 million RMB.

In contrast, although Wang Baoqiang has pretty good acting skills and is becoming popular, the value he has created for the company is relatively limited.

Well known.

If a piece of land is favored by an oil businessman, it means there is probably oil hidden underground.

Director Feng was particularly moved, but he hinted:
"Mr. Fan really loves talent so much? Wang Baoqiang is honest and reliable. He even came to my house yesterday to wish me a happy new year. Huayi and I both value him very much and have given him several good roles."

With a calm tone, Fan Wumian nodded and said:
"It's okay. If it's transferred to me, it won't affect your scheduled cooperation. I think the Lost on Journey series is pretty good. I think they'll make two more movies."

"Detective Chinatown" will be filmed next year. If the golden supporting actor Uncle Da does not agree to cooperate, Fan Wumian wants Wang Baoqiang to take over.

By then, with an all-star cast, and if the film is released during the summer vacation of 2007 or the Lunar New Year holiday, there is a chance that the box office will break through the ceiling.

The international market is very important, and Fan Wumian does not want to lose the market in the Chinese-speaking regions. Besides, it is much easier to develop his business domestically.

On the other hand, there is a big shot in Hollywood who is thinking about seducing him. Fan Wumian has no way of giving in on such a matter. His scalp tingles just thinking about it.

When he learned that the film was being considered for a sequel to Lost on Journey, Director Feng thought it was reasonable and did not make a decision directly, but told:
"Okay, I'll discuss this with Baoqiang when I get back. This guy is quite loyal, and sometimes even my words don't work. I'll contact him after I've clarified everything."

"Okay, a forced melon is not sweet, let him be."

Fan Wumian talked to the chief director of the Spring Festival Gala again and mentioned that he would give the tickets to the artists under his management, hoping to get a few shots in them.

Just a small thing.

The middle-aged woman from last time had greeted us, and the director still remembered Zhang Liangying, so he reminded Fan Wumian:

"It's basically decided that she will perform on the Spring Festival Gala next year. It would be best to find a more festive song in advance, which will be very helpful for her future development."

Fan Wumian smiled and said:
"I have no shortage of songs. One of them, "Half Life of Snow" (student version), is particularly nice. I will ask Jane Zhang to lead the students in singing at the Spring Festival Gala next year."

"Oh? Then I'm relieved. The Lantern Festival Gala preparation team might be able to squeeze out a program. Is it too late to prepare now?"

".So urgent? There are still a dozen days left, so it should be no problem to work around the clock."

Fan Wumian finished speaking.

Director Feng said jokingly: "It is better to be impatient so as to make progress."

Hearing this, the chief director smiled and did not refute, but only said:

"Zhang Liangying is so lucky to have such an amazing fan."

Director Feng said:

"It should be that the closer you are to the red, the more red you are. Mr. Fan's luck is unmatched. He can make tens of digits from stock trading, and the artists under him have benefited from it."

Although social interactions are troublesome, it can be quite stress-relieving to interact with others more often.

The social atmosphere of this era was still relatively traditional, and the distance between people was obviously closer than it would be a decade later.

Fan Wumian was thinking about finding resources for other artists, so he asked the director:

"Can you spare some time to come out? I want to make a documentary about food to promote my video website. I will cooperate with your company and I will arrange the funds."

The other party was slightly puzzled and replied:

"Sure, then after the Spring Festival Gala, let's have a meal together and talk about it in detail?"

"Okay, I'll find a restaurant."

What I want to shoot is "A Bite of China".

However, filming the documentary was just a cover. Fan Wumian planned to take advantage of his stay in Yanjing to get to know more people from the Central Bank and obtain a video website license for Tudou.

Wang Wei, the founder of Tudou.com, once mentioned that the number of startups in the country that are developing video websites is probably over 100.

Even if most of them fail, there will always be one or two left.

Fan Wumian felt that instead of standing still and waiting for others to catch up, it would be better to further widen the gap with them and grab market share in advance.

If we start cooperation with Penguin Group early, we may have the opportunity to change the "three-legged tripod" pattern into one superpower and many strong ones, which is very promising.
(End of this chapter)